Category: Innovation

British musicians release a silent album to protest plans to let AI use their work

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Inductees Dave Stewart, left, and Annie Lennox of Eurythmics pose in the press room during the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on, Nov. 5, 2022, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — A new album called “Is This What We Want?” features a stellar list of more than 1,000 musicians — and the sound of silence.

With contributions from artists including Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, Cat Stevens and Damon Albarn, the album was released Tuesday to protest proposed British changes to artificial intelligence laws that artists fear will erode their creative control.

The U.K. government is consulting on whether to let tech firms use copyrighted material to help train AI models unless the creators explicitly opt out. Continue reading

Trump’s AI ambition and China’s DeepSeek overshadow an AI summit in Paris

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Police patrol outside of the entrance to the Grand Palais, which will be the venue for an upcoming AI Action Summit, in Paris, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

By SYLVIE CORBET and KELVIN CHAN Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — The geopolitics of artificial intelligence will be in focus at a major summit in France where world leaders, executives and experts will hammer out pledges on guiding the development of the rapidly advancing technology.

It’s the latest in a series of global dialogues around AI governance, but one that comes at a fresh inflection point as China’s buzzy and budget-friendly DeepSeek chatbot shakes up the industry.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance — making his first trip abroad since taking office — will attend the Paris AI Action Summit starting Feb. 10, while China’s President Xi Jinping will be sending his special envoy, signaling high stakes for the meeting. Continue reading

AI is a game changer for students with disabilities. Schools are still learning to harness it

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Makenzie Gilkison stands in the main lobby at Greenfield Central High School, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024, in Greenfield, Ind. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press

For Makenzie Gilkison, spelling is such a struggle that a word like rhinoceros might come out as “rineanswsaurs” or sarcastic as “srkastik.”

The 14-year-old from suburban Indianapolis can sound out words, but her dyslexia makes the process so draining that she often struggles with comprehension. “I just assumed I was stupid,” she recalled of her early grade school years.

But assistive technology powered by artificial intelligence has helped her keep up with classmates. Last year, Makenzie was named to the National Junior Honor Society. She credits a customized AI-powered chatbot, a word prediction program and other tools that can read for her.

“I would have just probably given up if I didn’t have them,” she said. Continue reading

What is Bluesky, the fast-growing social platform welcoming fleeing X users

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FILE – The app for Bluesky is shown on a mobile phone, left, and on a laptop screen on June 2, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Disgruntled X users are again flocking to Bluesky, a newer social media platform that grew out of the former Twitter before billionaire Elon Musk took it over in 2022. While it remains small compared to established online spaces such as X, it has emerged as an alternative for those looking for a different mood, lighter and friendlier and less influenced by Musk. Continue reading

As coal plants shut in Romania, some miners transition to green energy while others are reluctant

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Sebastian Tirintica speaks next to solar panels in the RenewAcad training center in Petrosani, southern Romania, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

By ANCA GURZU, Cipher News undefined

PETRILA, Romania (AP) — For many years, Sebastian Tirinticǎ worked in a coal mine, just like his father and grandfather before him.

These days, Tirinticǎ, now 38, is largely surrounded by solar panels and wind turbines as he travels across Romania to train former coal workers and others for jobs in renewable energies.

It’s been a huge professional shift for a worker from one of the main coal regions of this formerly Communist Eastern European country.

“It’s hard to unglue yourself from something you did your entire life,” said Tirinticǎ, who has a short beard sprinkled with grey hair. “It’s hard to start again from zero, and not everyone has the strength and courage to do it.” Continue reading

AI may not steal many jobs after all. It may just make workers more efficient

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Customer Experience Representatives Stanley Solis, center, and other representatives take calls at an Alorica center, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Imagine a customer-service center that speaks your language, no matter what it is.

Alorica, a company in Irvine, California, that runs customer-service centers around the world, has introduced an artificial intelligence translation tool that lets its representatives talk with customers who speak 200 different languages and 75 dialects.

So an Alorica representative who speaks, say, only Spanish can field a complaint about a balky printer or an incorrect bank statement from a Cantonese speaker in Hong Kong. Alorica wouldn’t need to hire a rep who speaks Cantonese.

Such is the power of AI. And, potentially, the threat: Perhaps companies won’t need as many employees — and will slash some jobs — if chatbots can handle the workload instead. But the thing is, Alorica isn’t cutting jobs. It’s still hiring aggressively. Continue reading

From Paris to Los Angeles: How the city is preparing for the 2028 Olympics

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Tom Cruise carries the Olympic flag during the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony at the Stade de France, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

By JAIMIE DING and ANDREW DALTON Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It’s Los Angeles’ turn for the torch. Mayor Karen Bass accepted the Olympic flag at the Paris closing ceremony Sunday, before handing it off to a key representative of LA’s local business — Tom Cruise — who in a pre-recorded trek via motorcycle, plane and parachute kicked off the countdown to 2028.

The city will become the third in the world to host the games three times as it adds to the storied years of 1932 and 1984. Here’s a look forward and back in time at the Olympics in LA. Continue reading

First Green Roofs, Then Solar Integration, Now Volcanic Ash Is the Way To Cool Our Cities

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By Emese Maczko

A 2023 study by the University of Technology, Sydney found green roofs when combined with solar panels, not only increased biodiversity and solar output by 107% but also reduced temperatures by a significant 8° C (46° F).

Green roofs are experiencing a resurgence in interest since a new study published in January 2024 demonstrated that volcanic ash in green roofs stabilizes temperatures, keeps weeds away, is resilient to extreme weather, drains water efficiently, and is low maintenance. Continue reading

Beneath offshore wind turbines, researchers grow seafood and seaweed

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Workers aboard a small boat check lines of seaweed and mussels crops at Kriegers Flak offshore wind farm, about 15 kilometers off the Danish coast, Baltic Sea, Denmark, Tuesday June 18, 2024. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

By JAMES BROOKS Associated Press

KRIEGERS FLAK OFFSHORE WIND FARM, Denmark (AP) — In a small boat bobbing in the waves between towering offshore wind turbines, researchers in Europe’s Baltic Sea reach into the frigid water and remove long lines stretched between the pylons onto which mussels and seaweed are growing.

It’s part of efforts to explore multiple uses for remote wind parks far out at sea, such as fresh seafood production.

Run by the Swedish state-owned power firm Vattenfall and Denmark’s Aarhus University, the four-year project started in 2023 off the Danish east coast at Scandinavia’s largest wind farm, Kriegers Flak. With its first harvest just 18 months later, it’s already showing signs of early success. Continue reading

Coffee, sculptures and financial advice. Banks try to make new branches less intimidating

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A Bank of American branch in the Williamsburg section in Brooklyn, New York, is shown on Thursday, May 16, 2024. The branch was previously used as a studio space for a sculptor. The clean, airy branch features sculptures by the artist who was previously in the space, as well as additional art from around the neighborhood. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

By KEN SWEET AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s like Sephora or Starbucks now offered a checking account.

After years of closing or mostly neglecting physical bank branches across the U.S., the nation’s largest banks are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on refurbishing old locations or building new ones, and in the process changing the look, feel and purpose of the local bank branch.

Many of these branches are larger, airier, and meant to feel more comfortable for those walking in with difficult financial questions. Others are being designed as “third spaces” to allow local nonprofits or community representatives to hold workshops or seminars for customers or neighbors. They are a contrast to the marble-clad temples to finance built 50 or 75 years ago and the stale cookie-cutter branches that more recently cluttered suburban malls. Continue reading