Toggle light / dark theme

Google announced the general availability (GA) of generative AI services based on Vertex AI, the Machine Learning Platform as a Service (ML PaaS) offering from Google Cloud. With the service becoming GA, enterprises and organizations could integrate the platform’s capabilities with their applications.

With this update, developers can use several new tools and models, such as the world completion model driven by PaLM 2, the Embeddings API for text, and other foundation models in the Model Garden. They can also leverage the tools available within the Generative AI Studio to fine-tune and deploy customized models. Google claims that enterprise-grade data governance, security, and safety features are also built into the Vertex AI platform. This provides confidence to customers in consuming the foundation models, customizing them with their own data, and building generative AI applications.

Customers can use the Model Garden to access and evaluate base models from Google and its partners. There are over 60 models, with pals for adding newer models in the future. Also, the Codey model for code completion, code generation, and chat, announced at the Google I/O conference in May, is now available for public preview.

Google’s aiming to make it easier to use and secure passwords — at least, for users of the Password Manager tool built into its Chrome browser.

Today, the tech giant announced that Password Manager, which generates unique passwords and autofills them across platforms, will soon gain biometric authentication on PC. (Android and iOS have had biometric authentication for some time.) When enabled, it’ll require an additional layer of security, like fingerprint recognition or facial recognition, before Chrome autofills passwords.

Exactly which types of biometrics are available in Password Manager on desktop will depend on the hardware attached to the PC, of course (e.g. a fingerprint reader), as well as whether the PC’s operating system supports it. Beyond “soon,” Google didn’t say when to expect the feature to arrive.

Possibly a move to freeze and stall the tec, like the bio ethics clowns who were able to freeze bio tec. But, China wouldnt sign on to any freeze, thankfully. And the tec has already spread across 3rd world countries.


WASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday he has scheduled three briefings for senators on artificial intelligence, including the first classified briefing on the topic.

In a letter to colleagues on Tuesday, the Democratic leader said senators need to deepen their understanding of artificial intelligence.

“AI is already changing our world, and experts have repeatedly told us that it will have a profound impact on everything from our national security to our classrooms to our workforce, including potentially significant job displacement,” Schumer said.

A raft of industry experts have given their views on the likely impact of artificial intelligence on humanity in the future. The responses are unsurprisingly mixed.

The Guardian has released an interesting article regarding the potential socioeconomic and political impact of the ever-increasing rollout of artificial intelligence (AI) on society. By asking various experts in the field on the subject, the responses were, not surprisingly, a mixed bag of doom, gloom, and hope.


Yucelyilmaz/iStock.

A team of security researchers at Georgia Tech, the University of Michigan and Ruhr University Bochum in Germany has reported a new form of side-channel attack that capitalizes on power and speed management methods used by graphics processing units and systems on a chip (SoCs).

The researchers demonstrated how they could steal by targeting data released by the Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) mechanisms found on most modern chips.

As manufacturers race to develop thinner and more energy-efficient devices, they must train their sights on constructing SoCs that balance power consumption, heat generation and processing speed.

SAN FRANCISCO, June 1 (Reuters) — Hackers have stolen data from the systems of a number of users of the popular file transfer tool MOVEit Transfer, U.S. security researchers said on Thursday, one day after the maker of the software disclosed that a security flaw had been discovered.

Software maker Progress Software Corp (PRGS.O), after disclosing the vulnerability on Wednesday, said it could lead to potential unauthorized access into users’ systems.

The managed file transfer software made by the Burlington, Massachusetts-based company allows organizations to transfer files and data between business partners and customers.

Fun thought experiment today:


What if today’s ultra-wealthy— the Musks, Bezoses, and Zuckerbergs of the world— decided to demonstrate the true extent of what AI can do today? What if money were no object? Let’s think about some ambitious, albeit costly, applications of current AI technologies that are already within our grasp.

Personal Protection Army

In the realm of personal security, AI-driven technology offers a tantalizing glimpse into the future. Imagine a scenario where, instead of a cadre of bodyguards, a personal drone swarm follows you around, providing an unprecedented level of safety and protection.

Security guards are extremely useful, some would say necessary. But they can be quite expensive and there simply aren’t enough of them to put them everywhere they need to be.

In Europe, people living in Switzerland have been privy to witnessing a patrol bot, developed by a robotics start-up from ETH Zurich called Ascento, that could soon take the place of human security guards. The machine has thus far been successfully acting as a guard for Swiss security firm Securitas AG.

A video released by ETH Zurich shows just how agile the new security guard is, allowing him to patrol many locations without missing a step (pun intended!) Clearly this new bot has got what it takes to monitor many locations and a variety of terrian but can it do so with the attention that a human can provide?

Researchers have developed a quantum key distribution (QKD) system based on integrated photonics that can transmit secure keys at unprecedented speeds. The proof-of-principle experiments represent an important step toward real-world application of this highly secure communication method.

QKD is a well-established method of providing secret keys for secure communication between distant parties. By using the quantum properties of light to generate secure random keys for encrypting and decrypting data, its security is based on the laws of physics, rather than computational complexity like today’s communication protocols.

“A key goal for QKD technology is the ability to simply integrate it into a real-world communications network,” said research team member Rebecka Sax from the University of Geneva in Switzerland. “An important and necessary step toward this goal is the use of integrated photonics, which allows to be manufactured using the same semiconductor technology used to make silicon computer chips.”