ACM TechNews, Wednesday, August 21, 2024

Welcome to the August 21, 2024 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

Personalized Brain Pacemaker for Parkinson's

University of California, San Francisco researchers created personalized “brain pacemakers” for four patients with Parkinson's disease. The researchers implanted electrodes in the patients' brains and developed personalized AI algorithms based on each patient's most bothersome symptom. The researchers found the personalized treatments halved the amount of time patients experienced their most bothersome symptom.
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EU Greenlights Chip Factory in Dresden

The European Commission approved a new silicon chip factory in Dresden, Germany. The approval allows the German federal government to provide €5 billion of financial support for the new European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (ESMC), a joint venture of Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC, Germany's Bosch and Infineon, and the Netherlands' NXP. Production is expected to start at the factory in 2027, with a focus on chips for the automotive industry.
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ACM USTPC Calls for Public Investigation to Prevent Repeat of CrowdStrike Incident

ACM's U.S. Technology Policy Committee (USTPC) released a statement on the global outage caused last month by a faulty CrowdStrike update, noting that while the cybersecurity technology company provided some information as to how the outage happened, more details are needed. ACM USTPC urges all aspects of the incident be thoroughly, publicly investigated, to guard against such incidents in the future.
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U.S. Firms Warn Against ‘Unprecedented’ Hong Kong Cyber Rules

Some U.S. firms warn that proposed cyber regulations in Hong Kong could be used by the Hong Kong government to access to their computer systems. The Asia Internet Coalition is among the bodies critical of new rules that, officials say, are designed to protect critical infrastructure from cyberattacks. A key objection was to proposed investigative powers for authorities that would allow them to connect their equipment to critical computer systems owned by private firms, and even to install programs on them.
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AI Assistant Monitors Teamwork to Promote Effective Collaboration

An AI assistant developed by computer scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology can oversee teams of humans and AI agents, aligning their roles and intervening as necessary to improve teamwork toward a common goal. The AI assistant can infer the humans’ plans and understanding of one another and, when issues arise, align their beliefs, ask questions, and provide instruction.
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Pakistan Internet Slowdown Blamed on National Firewall

Pakistan's Internet speeds have slowed, in some cases to less than 50% of its usual capacity. Pakistan Software House Association said the economy could lose $300 million as a result of business interruptions related to the Internet slowdown, attributing it to the implementation of a national firewall. Minister for Information and Technology Shiza Fatima blamed the slow connections on the use of virtual private networks, and said the government has not imposed any restrictions.
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Smart Hives Boost Sustainable Bee Keeping

Dirk de Graaf of Belgium’s University of Ghent and a team of researchers from 13 European nations developed a real-time beehive monitoring system that can detect problems and suggest interventions. The system is comprised of several sensor-equipped digital combs per hive, around which the bees build their combs. The researchers monitored nearly 400 colonies across 13 European countries for three seasons, and developed algorithms that interpret data from the hives to determine which require interventions and to provide tailored instructions to beekeepers.
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Pentagon's New Supercomputer to Boost Defense Against Biothreats

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) announced a new supercomputer and rapid response laboratory (RRL) intended to bolster its Chemical and Biological Defense Program's Generative Unconstrained Intelligent Drug Engineering (GUIDE) program. The supercomputer will use AI modeling, simulations, threat classification, and medical countermeasure development in conjunction with the RRL to improve biodefenses.
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Heart Data Unlocks Sleep Secrets

University of Southern California computer scientists developed open source software that could allow for the development of inexpensive, DIY sleep-tracking devices by anyone with basic coding knowledge. Their model uses heart data and a deep-learning neural network to assess sleep stages. The automated electrocardiogram-only network accurately categorizes sleep stages. The researchers said it outperformed commercial sleep-tracking devices and other models that also do not utilize electroencephalogram data.
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Worldcoin Battles with Governments over Your Eyes

Governments increasingly are concerned the Worldcoin biometric cryptocurrency project, headed by OpenAI's Sam Altman, is building a global biometric database with minimal oversight. The initiative's goal is to scan the eyes of every human, issue online "World ID" passports to prove users are human, and make payments to users in Worldcoin's WLD cryptocurrency. Governments have raised concerns over reports that operators of Worldcoin's iris-scanning devices are encouraging users to allow Worldcoin to use their iris scans to train its algorithms.
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Hollywood Union Strikes Deal for Advertisers to Replicate Actors' Voices with AI

A deal between the Hollywood actors' union SAG-AFTRA and online talent marketplace Narrativ will allow actors to sell the rights to replicate their voices with AI to advertisers. The agreement ensures actors will have control over the use of their digital voice replicas and will receive income from the technology equal to at least the SAG-AFTRA minimum pay for audio commercials. Brands will need to obtain an actor's consent for each ad using their AI-generated voice replica.
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Ikea Employees Are Getting New AI Drone Coworkers

Ikea will roll out autonomous AI-enabled drones at its Maryland-based distribution center, where they will work side-by-side with human employees to check inventory. The drones from Verity can identify and photograph product storage locations using an algorithm, use a custom indoor positioning system to access higher levels, and reroute their paths using obstacle detection capabilities to avoid collisions. Ikea already uses 250 drones at 73 locations in nine countries, but this marks the first time they will work alongside human employees.
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