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H+ Weekly - Issue #338
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This week - OpenAI API is now available with no waitlist; order a designer baby; current state of lab-grown seafood; and more!
MORE THAN A HUMAN
orderdesignerbaby.com
This website tries to imagine how ordering a designer baby could look like. Its aim is to draw attention to this topic and start a conversation around it before it becomes a reality to deal with.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
OpenAI’s API Now Available with No Waitlist
OpenAI API, which includes access to GPT-3 text generator, is now available to everyone - no waiting on the waitlist. The company cited it was possible thanks to "safety progress" and included safety guidelines they put in place to make sure GPT-3 does not cause problems.
How AI Is Deepening Our Understanding of the Brain
Can artificial neuron networks teach us anything about how the brain works? For a panel at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting this month, the answer is yes. Deep learning wasn’t meant to model the brain. In fact, it contains elements that are biologically improbable, if not utterly impossible. But that’s not the point, argues the panel. By studying how deep learning algorithms perform, we can distill high-level theories for the brain’s processes—inspirations to be further tested in the lab.
ROBOTICS
Hospital robots will save the lives of hundreds of premature babies
Doctors in the UK are looking into how telemedicine could help doctors share their expertise with colleagues across the country. This technology has already been used at Liverpool Women’s and Alder Hey children’s hospitals and could enable doctors from smaller hospitals access high-level experts in real-time.
Robots Won’t Close the Warehouse Worker Gap Anytime Soon
Amazon, Walmart, FedEx and many other companies are investing in automating their warehouses. More and more robots are being deployed to tackle worker shortages. But as advanced as these robots are, they still can't do the most challenging, and important, work inside fulfilment centers: picking the many products stored on shelves. They’re simply not smart enough.
BIOTECHNOLOGY
No Bones, No Scales, No Eyeballs: Appetite Grows for Lab-Grown Seafood
This article from Scientific American shines a light on companies that go after another big source of animal-based protein source - seafood - and how they are trying to grow salmon, tuna, crab or shrimp meat in a lab and how they plan to scale it up to industrial scale.
Devious ‘Tardigrade’ Malware Hits Biomanufacturing Facilities
This sounds like a plot of a cyberpunk story - a malware named Tardigrade hit a biomanufacturing facility, lock their computers and demanded ransom for unlocking them. This event, which before Covid-19 might have gone unnoticed, highlights growing the importance of biotech.
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Conrad Gray (@conradthegray)
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