1. As part of the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the European Union, Portugal wants to focus on the adoption of the first EU law on artificial intelligence, based on transparency and respect for user rights. Portugal also hopes to work with the US administration. More info here.
2. Following the removal of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, the European Commission has said that it is no longer acceptable for social media giants to make key decisions on removing online content themselves. Prabhat Agarwal, an official who heads the eCommerce unit at the European Commission’s DG Connect, stressed that the EU wants to restore the balance between effective content removal and preserving freedom of expression online. More info here.
3. On January 14, 2021, members of the European Parliament‘s special committee on artificial intelligence called for consideration of the risks that next-generation artificial intelligence applications may entail, particularly with regard to discrimination, employment and social exclusion. More info here.
4. The team of researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder has developed a new device, the Xiao, which can be worn like a ring or bracelet, and which extracts energy from your own body heat. The device can generate about 1 volt of energy for every square centimeter of skin surface. The Xiao is stretchable, can repair itself when damaged, and is recyclable. More info here.
5. Researchers at Cornell University have created a low-cost method by which soft-surface robots can detect physical interactions – pats, bumps, hugs. The USB camera inside the robot captures shadow movements on the robot’s skin from hand gestures and classifies them using machine-learning software. The technology was developed as part of work on robots that could guide people to secure locations during evacuations. However, this kind of robot would need to be able to communicate with people in extreme conditions. The robot would guide a person through a smoke-filled hallway by detecting the pressure of that person’s hand. More info here.
6. The robot created by Columbia Engineering has learned to predict the future actions and goals of its robot partner based on just a few initial video frames. The study is part of a broader effort to equip robots with the ability to understand and predict the goals of other robots based solely on visual observations. More info here.
7. Researchers at the University of California – San Diego have discovered that systems that counter deepfake (an image processing technique that combines images of human faces using artificial intelligence techniques) can be fooled. It is possible to create deepfakes that are resistant to attacks, even though the person creating them may not be aware of the machine learning model used by the detector. More info here.
8. Scottish biotech startup BioLiberty has created the robotic glove using artificial intelligence to help people with hand paresis regain hand muscle function. The system detects the intention to perform a grip by using electromyography to measure the electrical activity generated by the nerve stimulating the muscle. The algorithm then converts the intent into force to help the user strengthen their grip on an object. More info here.
9. Start-up Nuro plans to begin delivery operations in California in driverless cars as early as next year. The vehicles are designed to travel up to 35mph (56km/h) and will be limited to operating only in good weather conditions. More info here.
10. Microsoft has put its Azure Quantum solution to use in a test version. Azure Quantum is a powerful public cloud ecosystem where companies can run and test applications that use quantum computing services. More info here.
