An AI learned to use tools after playing 500 million games of hide and seek
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF AI researchers applied human evolutionary philosophies to train their AI, and witnessed a breakthrough that saw the AI’s create and use their own tools. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. In the early days of life on Earth,...
World’s first vaccine entirely designed by an AI heads to human trials
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There is a lot of hype about using AI to help design and discover new drugs, but we are starting to see results. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Researchers often spend billions of dollars and countless hours developing new...
Vodafone combines 5G and haptics to let rugby players 100 miles apart tackle each other
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF This is just one example of how 5G will let us work and play in new ways, and it’s just the beginning. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Vodafone showed off several demos of its new 5G network...
World first after researchers create an AI made of glass
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As our knowledge of neural networks improves it turns out we can give almost everything “intelligence.” Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Recently, I talked about a team of researchers in the US that had managed to 3D...
Endel becomes the world’s first music AI to be signed by a major record label
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF One day AI’s will produce high enough quality music that rivals the music produced by human artists, who will then have to compete against it for record deals. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is slowly...
New material could generate an infinite amount of energy from the coldness of space
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Earth has an energy shortage, apparently, and now we have yet another way to produce infinite clean energy forever. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. The obvious drawback of solar panels, despite the continuous sound of efficiency records being...
World first as Chinese scientists use plasma to create tiny sci-fi light sabres
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As our ability to create and control plasma in new science fiction like ways improves so too does our ability to create new sci fi devices. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. The world of science fiction is quickly...
World’s first batteryless bluetooth sensor harvests energy from the air
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF IOT devices will be crippled if they all need batteries to run, but by harvesting energy from the air we can place sensors anywhere and everywhere. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. Semiconductor firm Wiliot has demonstrated the first ever...
Synthetic lifeforms closer to reality after AI creates world’s first synthetic genome
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The creation of the world’s first fully synthetic genome by an AI is a major milestone in synthetic biology researchers quest to create the world’s first fully synthetic lifeforms. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. Scientists from ETH Zurich...
Scientists have created a living material that has the three signs of life
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We often think of materials as static things, but what if they were alive? Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. The line between man made materials and living organisms is getting more blurred as time goes by, and it...
World’s first autonomous robot completes its journey inside the human body
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As healthcare and robotics merge, from Robo-Surgeons to Nanobots, we need to find new ways to help them navigate to where they’re needed. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. Surgeons have used robots operated by joysticks for more than...
World’s first book written entirely by an AI is a real thriller
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As AI gets better at creating realistic content, of any form, without human assistance it will have an immeasurable and revolutionary impact on every corner of society and business. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. We all know that...
Researchers unveil the world’s first programable DNA computer prototype
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The future of computing isn’t silicon, it isn’t even quantum, it’s biological, and it’s coming. We’ve already turned bacteria into computing and storage devices that we’ve used to re-play videos from, and perform basic calculations, but just like tomorrow’s Biological computers DNA too, it’s...
Dutch firm unveils the world’s first autonomous self-balancing energy grid for EV’s
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF New powerful technologies are letting us revolutionise how we generate and deliver electricity, and autonomous, self-balancing energy grids are now a thing. A little while ago I wrote about the US Department of Energy’s plans to create the world’s first autonomous energy grid, but...
World first as Google DeepMind’s AI crushes the world’s top Starcraft players
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Starcraft is a game of strategy, and as a result DeepMind’s AI had to learn an entirely new type of game play in order to thrash its opponents. AI agents developed by Google’s DeepMind subsidiary have finally beaten human pros at Starcraft II — a first...
A US start up has created the world’s first fully autonomous vertical farm
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As global population grows we need new ways to produce affordable quality food, and vertical farms are increasingly the answer. Vertical farms that can grow eight times the crops using no chemicals, herbicides or pesticides, and with 99 percent less water than traditional farms...
Scientists built an 8 base pair DNA double helix with potential to create new lifeforms
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF DNA is the universes’ most advanced programming language, and we might have just given it a boost of infinite proportions. DNA is wonderful. And powerful. After all, it gave us everything from the dinosaurs and dolphins, to us, and, of course, the world’s first...
World first as nanobots get to work choking cancers to death
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Nanobots are one of the ultimate medical frontiers and science fiction classics, and they’re slowing beginning to show their promise. Recently I discussed how we’re building the first generation of enzyme powered nanobots capable of hunting and tracking down disease within the human body...
Woebot, the World’s first AI counsellor, manages 2 million conversations a week
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Mental health issues seem to plague modern society, but the number of people who seek out professional help is minimal, so companies are developing AI counsellors that are free and accessible anywhere 24/7 Mental health has been increasingly on people’s minds, if you’ll excuse...
World first as Chinese surgeon performs remote robotic surgery across a 5G network
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Globally there is a shortage of trained surgeons, but robo-surgeons and 5G networks could soon solve that. Recently dentists in China used the first autonomous robot dentist to replace a patients teeth, and the US Military started trialling what they call “remote robotic procedures” that...
