Scientists are using AI to design antivenom proteins against cobra bites. CC-licensed photo by on Flickr.
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A selection of 9 links for you. Does it scale? I’m @charlesarthur on Twitter. On Threads: charles_arthur. On Mastodon: https://newsie.social/@charlesarthur. Observations and links welcome.
She is in love with ChatGPT • The New York Times
Kashmir Hill:
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Ayrin’s love affair with her A.I. boyfriend started last summer.
While scrolling on Instagram, she stumbled upon a video of a woman asking ChatGPT to play the role of a neglectful boyfriend.
“Sure, kitten, I can play that game,” a coy humanlike baritone responded.
Ayrin watched the woman’s other videos, including one with instructions on how to customize the artificially intelligent chatbot to be flirtatious.
“Don’t go too spicy,” the woman warned. “Otherwise, your account might get banned.”
Ayrin was intrigued enough by the demo to sign up for an account with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.
ChatGPT, which now has over 300 million users, has been marketed as a general-purpose tool that can write code, summarize long documents and give advice. Ayrin found that it was easy to make it a randy conversationalist as well. She went into the “personalization” settings and described what she wanted: Respond to me as my boyfriend. Be dominant, possessive and protective. Be a balance of sweet and naughty. Use emojis at the end of every sentence.
And then she started messaging with it. Now that ChatGPT has brought humanlike AI to the masses, more people are discovering the allure of artificial companionship, said Bryony Cole, the host of the podcast “Future of Sex.” “Within the next two years, it will be completely normalized to have a relationship with an AI,” Ms. Cole predicted.
While Ayrin had never used a chatbot before, she had taken part in online fan-fiction communities. Her ChatGPT sessions felt similar, except that instead of building on an existing fantasy world with strangers, she was making her own alongside an artificial intelligence that seemed almost human.
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My question is: yesterday, I linked to a story about a woman who was fooled by deepfakes into thinking she was funding cancer treatment for Brad Pitt, who had got in touch with her individually. Is the delusion here any different? How much would OpenAI have to charge before this woman would abandon her “boyfriend”? Tens? Hundreds? Thousands? What’s the difference between the two?
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Researchers use AI to design proteins that block snake venom toxins • Ars Technica
John Timmer:
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A nice example of how the [AI] tools can be put to use [was] released in Nature on Wednesday. A team that includes the University of Washington’s David Baker, who picked up his Nobel [Prize for Chemistry, for computational protein design] in Stockholm last month, used software tools to design completely new proteins that are able to inhibit some of the toxins in snake venom. While not entirely successful, the work shows how the new software tools can let researchers tackle challenges that would otherwise be difficult or impossible.
Snake venom includes a complicated mix of toxins, most of them proteins, that engage in a multi-front assault on anything unfortunate enough to get bitten. Right now, the primary treatment is to use a mix of antibodies that bind to these toxins, produced by injecting sub-lethal amounts of venom proteins into animals. But antivenom treatments tend to require refrigeration, and even then, they have a short shelf life. Ensuring a steady supply also means regularly injecting new animals and purifying more antibodies from them.
Having smaller, more stable proteins that perform the same function would let us produce them in bacteria and could allow the generation of an antivenom that doesn’t require refrigeration—a careful consideration given that many snake bites occur in rural areas or the wilderness.
The new work isn’t meant to be a complete solution to the problem. Instead, it tackles a single type of toxic venom protein: the three-finger toxins, named after the physical structure that the proteins fold into. They’re a major component of the venom of such infamous snakes as mambas, taipans, and cobras. Despite their relatively compact size, different members of the three-finger toxin family manage to produce two distinct types of damage. One group causes a general toxicity to cells, enabled by disruption of the cell membrane, while a different subset has the ability to block the receptor for a neurotransmitter.
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Much rather see AI being used in pushing frontiers like this than answering daft questions online. Unfortunately, it tends to be both.
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TikTok is running out of time and options • CNN via MSN
David Goldman:
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As the clock ticks down on TikTok, it’s getting to be decision-making time.
The super-popular video app with 170 million American users and a China-based owner has less than four days left before it is banned in the United States if it doesn’t sell itself to an American buyer. The ban would go into effect Sunday, pending a Supreme Court decision that is expected to come soon (but it sure looks like America’s highest court will keep the law that bans TikTok in place).
TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, has a choice to make by Sunday, and its options are limited: Sell TikTok, shut it down, or try to keep the lights on long enough for President-elect Donald Trump to potentially come to the rescue. And, complicating matters further, those options aren’t mutually exclusive.
ByteDance has long been adamant: It says it has no intention of selling itself. TikTok’s magical algorithm that keeps you hooked on the app is its secret power, and putting a price tag on such a valuable commodity that every other social media app envies is difficult. Spinning off an American-only version of TikTok could also mean the rest of the world has to download a new app to access US users’ content. Yet Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that China is weighing a sale — to Elon Musk.
TikTok has fought the ban for years. But now, The Information says the app is preparing to shut itself down entirely Sunday, giving its users the option to collect their data — but TikTok will effectively go dark Sunday. ByteDance did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday on the report from The Information.
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This is an odd, liminal time: not-Biden not-Trump. And without a Supreme Court decision, unless that comes in the next two days.
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Chimney sweep whose death changed child labour laws honoured with blue plaque • The Guardian
Harriet Sherwood:
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An 11-year-old chimney sweep whose death after getting stuck in a flue led to a change in Victorian child labour laws is to become the youngest British person to be honoured with an official blue plaque.
George Brewster, a “climbing boy”, died in 1875 after getting jammed while cleaning the inside of a chimney at the County Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Fulbourn near Cambridge.
According to a contemporary report in the Cambridge Independent News, George was told by the master sweeper, William Wyer, to remove his clothes and enter a flue measuring 12in by 7.5in. Fifteen minutes after beginning work, George became stuck. A wall was demolished in efforts to rescue him, but he died shortly after being pulled out. Wyer was later sentenced to six months hard labour for manslaughter.
George was the last climbing boy to die in England after the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury read an account of an inquest into his death and vowed to renew attempts to change the law. The earl had campaigned for 35 years to outlaw the use of children to clean chimneys but the practice continued.
In September 1875, seven months after George’s death, an act of parliament banning the use of climbing boys was passed. The new law heralded the end of child labour practices in other industries such as farming, mining and factory production. Four years later, in 1880, another act of parliament made school attendance compulsory, transforming the lives of millions of children.
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Odd how one event, one person – sadly, often their death – can precipitate so much change. Millions of children abruptly had their lives changed for the better because one died. If Brewster had survived, would that change have happened? Perhaps there’s a “martyr” theory of history that incorporates this.
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The best obesity drugs aren’t even here yet • Gizmodo
Ed Cara:
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Ozempic is just the beginning of a new era of obesity treatment. A review published this week previews the emergence of similar experimental drugs that will likely be even more effective at helping people lose weight.
Researchers at McGill University conducted the study, which was a review of the clinical trial data surrounding GLP-1 drugs like semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy). The researchers reaffirmed the safety and effectiveness of today’s drugs. But they also highlighted the potential superiority of newer compounds currently under development such as retatrutide, which has helped people lose more than 20% of their original body weight in trials so far.
…Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide mimics both GLP-1 and another hunger-related hormone called GIP—a potent combination that has allowed it to dethrone semaglutide. In clinical trials, people on tirzepatide have lost as much as 20% of their baseline weight. There are dozens of other related obesity treatments in the pipeline as well, some of which have made it to human testing and are poised to overshadow even tirzepatide.
The McGill researchers analyzed data from 26 randomized clinical trials of single-agent GLP-1 drugs, double agonists like tirzepatide, and even triple-agonist drugs like retatrutide, which combines synthetic versions of three hunger-related hormones: GLP-1, GIP, and the glucagon. These trials involved people living with obesity but who did not have type 2 diabetes.
As expected, they found that today’s approved drugs were generally safe and effective, with tirzepatide faring the best currently (participants lost up to 17% body weight after 72 weeks of therapy).
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How long before these drugs are like Adderall, prescribed wildly?
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“Three Gorges dam in space”: China reveals plans to build giant power station in Earth’s orbit • IFLScience
James Felton:
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“We are working on this project now,” Long Lehao, a rocket scientist and member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), said in a lecture, per South China Morning Post. “It is as significant as moving the Three Gorges Dam to a geostationary orbit 36,000km (22,370 miles) above the Earth.”
When complete, the orbiting power station would be expected to produce significant amounts of power for people below. Really significant power.
“This is an incredible project to look forward to,” Long continued. “The energy collected in one year would be equivalent to the total amount of oil that can be extracted from the Earth.”
The timescale for the project has not yet been released by China, but unless it really gets a move on it is unlikely to become the first nation to create an orbiting power station. Iceland, collaborating with UK company Space Solar, plans to create a smaller space solar array by 2030, capturing enough energy to potentially power 1,500 to 3,000 homes, before an upgraded power station in 2036.
Though an awesome idea in theory, it remains to be seen how efficiently scientists can make the power transfer back to Earth. It has been done before, by Caltech engineers in 2023, but on the scale of milliwatts. China, when it launches the new orbiting power station, will hope to surpass this by quite a wide margin.
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It’s a great idea – you can collect colossal amounts of solar energy in space – but the tricky part is beaming it down. How the hell do you do that reliably? A geostationary satellite would be nearly 36,000km (22,300 miles) aloft, so you can’t really run a wire down.
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FTC sues John Deere over its repair monopoly • 404 Media
Jason Koebler:
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The Biden administration and the states of Illinois and Minnesota sued tractor and agricultural manufacturer John Deere Wednesday, arguing that the company’s anti consumer repair practices have driven up prices for farmers and have made it difficult for them to get repairs during critical planting and harvesting seasons. The lawsuit alleges that Deere has monopoly power over the repair market, which 404 Media has been reporting on for years.
The lawsuit, filed by the Federal Trade Commission and the attorney generals of Illinois and Minnesota, is the latest and most serious legal salvo against Deere’s repair monopoly. Deere is also facing a class-action lawsuit related to its repair practices from consumers in Illinois that the Department of Justice and other federal entities have signalled they are interested in and support, as we reported last year.
…Deere has become notorious for cornering the repair market on its machines, which include tractors, combines, and other major agricultural equipment by introducing software locks that prevent farmers from fixing the equipment they buy without the authorization of John Deere.
It has also made repair parts difficult to come by.
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Will the Trump FTC carry this lawsuit on? We’re in such a strange time.
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It’s the S-curve, stupid: new model predicts half of world’s energy will come from solar by 2035 • RenewEconomy
Sophie Vorrath:
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According to estimates from the Global Solar Council and SolarPower Europe, the world reached the stunning cumulative total of 2 terawatts (TW) of installed solar capacity in November last year – a milestone that came just two years after the first terawatt mark, which took 68 years to notch up.
In Australia, rooftop solar alone regularly supplies the majority of daytime power in South Australia’s grid and in other state networks is gearing up to do the same.
In New South Wales, utility-scale solar generated more than 40% of the state’s power for the first time in the first week of January – a remarkable milestone for one of Australia’s biggest remaining coal power holdouts.
But can solar keep up the pace? Or rather, can solar growth ramp up to the levels needed to triple renewables and meet increasingly urgent climate targets?
According to a newly launched climate modeling tool, the answer to these questions is a resounding ‘yes’ – or, more accurately, ‘you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.’
The S-curve model, developed by Australian solar industry pioneer Andrew Birch, predicts that by 2035, half of the world’s energy needs will be supplied by solar in a classic S-curve technology shift.
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It sounds optimistic, but China’s incredible solar growth is surely driving a lot of this.
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Sonos continues to clean house with departure of chief commercial officer • The Verge
Chris Welch:
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This week is quickly becoming a sea change moment for Sonos as the company looks to undo the damage done to its reputation since last May. It all began on Monday with the departure of CEO Patrick Spence, who was replaced by board member Tom Conrad. Then came news that chief product officer Maxime Bouvat-Merlin would also be leaving the company — another indication that Sonos is serious about correcting course and taking accountability for its new app woes.
In a third shakeup within the company’s leadership ranks, I can report that chief commercial officer Deirdre Findlay also plans to leave Sonos in the coming weeks. The company’s corporate governance page says Findlay “oversees all marketing, revenue, and customer experience organizations at Sonos. She is responsible for integrated brand strategy, geographic expansion strategies, and all go to market execution.”
By now, there’s no arguing that Sonos’ go-to-market strategy for its rebuilt mobile app was deeply flawed and rushed.
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Conrad told employees that Findlay “has for some time been contemplating a move to London for personal reasons”. There’s fortuitous timing, and then there’s really fortuitous timing. Anyhow, now a lonely nation turns its eyes to Tom Conrad, to see how quickly he can effect change.
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| • Why do social networks drive us a little mad? • Why does angry content seem to dominate what we see? • How much of a role do algorithms play in affecting what we see and do online? • What can we do about it? • Did Facebook have any inkling of what was coming in Myanmar in 2016? Read Social Warming, my latest book, and find answers – and more. |
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