1. One thing that helps
Deepfake videos and images are causing more and more chaos every day. UK startup Surf Security has developed a tool to spot fake content and combat misinformation.
This tool, available as a plugin to their browser, claims up to 98% accuracy in detecting deepfakes. It uses neural networks to analyze audio inconsistencies in around 2 seconds. What’s more, it can be used on both recorded or live audio feeds. If you’re doubting whether the person on your video conference is real or just AI, this tool can help you. It’s so easy to clone another person’s voice that fraudsters have used cloned voices to scam people. A tool that can identify fake voices in real-time is necessary to help fight misinformation and scams that target vulnerable people.
2. One to be wary of
Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT are becoming so integrated in our lives (certainly in mine) which means that the potential impact of a hack grows everyday. Like any piece of tech, LLMs are not immune to hacks. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated the capability to jailbreak AI-equipped robots from a number of different tech companies.
Dubbed as RoboPAIR, the researchers only had to get the APIs (input methods) of these robots and use "prompt injection" where they can push code that the robots will execute. This means that the researchers could bypass the safety nets of the AI to make the robots do their bidding. For example, they can command an autonomous car to ignore traffic rules, tell a robodog to turn on its human or make any smart robot into a spy. More alarming is the fact that when given malicious commands, the robots would even offer suggestions on how to carry out the harm! Thankfully, the researchers have informed the respective manufacturers of what they’ve discovered before publishing their report.
3. One to amaze
Move over Perseverance. We might be sending dogcats for space exploration in the future. Wheels pose problems on extraterrestrial surfaces and being grounded all the time can make it difficult to explore rugged terrain. That is why researchers from China are banking on their dogcat robot to do the exploring.
Unlike a rover, the quadpedal robot can leap in low gravity. This makes it better equipped to traverse harsh terrain. It can even reorient itself midjump just like a cat in freefall! Instead of focusing on heavy stabilisation, the researchers used a “model-free” control system to give the dogcat coordinated motion. This also solves problems with leg imbalance and uncontrollable spinning. Seven hours of reinforcement learning allowed the robot to refine its movements and make stable jumps and landings.
It is hoped that this dogcat or catdog robot will explore smaller planets and asteroids more effectively. Just don’t give its APIs to anyone!