Google’s AI may be less accurate after change to review process: Report
Behind the generative artificial intelligence responses that Google gives users is an army of people who rate the responses for accuracy. However, a new policy change is raising concerns that Google’s Gemini AI may become more prone to giving inaccurate answers.
It’s potentially a major concern, particularly as Gemini gives automated answers to searches related to healthcare.
TechCrunch reported that Google changed the rules for rating AI-generated responses for its contractors from the company GlobalLogic.
Previously, GlobalLogic contractors could skip rating a response for accuracy if they didn’t know much about the subject.
But now, Google will not allow the contractors to skip rating the prompts.
TechCrunch saw emails from concerned contractors.
One contractor asked, “I thought the point of skipping was to increase accuracy by giving it to someone better?”
AI can occasionally engage in “hallucination,” a catch-all term for inaccuracies it creates.
Additionally, an early Google AI answered searches that asked how to keep cheese from falling off pizza by suggesting adding glue.
“Raters perform a wide range of tasks across many different Google products and platforms,” Google spokeswoman Shira McNamara told TechCrunch. “They do not solely review answers for content, they also provide valuable feedback on style, format, and other factors. The ratings they provide do not directly impact our algorithms.”
China building fastest train in the world, expected to top 600 mph
China is developing a mode of transportation that could transform the travel industry. In about a decade, developers expect a “floating train” that can reach speeds of more than 600 mph to be the next way to get around the country.
Chinese developers are now testing their “T-Flight” train, a mode of transport that shoots through a tube-like system designed to reduce air pressure and propel it forward. Simply put, the “hyperloop” technology eschews the need for wheels.
The project has already set a world record speed of nearly 400 mph, overtaking the Shanghai maglev, the world’s fastest passenger train in operation. While the train hasn’t reached its full capacity, developers expect it to accelerate to 621 mph.
Advocates for the train said it will make commutes for China’s booming population faster as they navigate the sprawling country. Developers also project that the high-speed network will connect China’s government to neighboring countries.
China isn’t alone in conducting trials using hyperloop technology. Switzerland, the Netherlands, the U.S. and Canada are among the countries looking to compete. India has also shown interest and said that its research will start in 2026.
The United States, once considered a leader in designing the rail system, has now fallen behind other countries.
In 2013, Elon Musk proposed using hyperloop technology to reduce travel time between Los Angeles and San Francisco. That idea became his company, Hyperloop One. However, it ceased operations last year.
While the technology will reportedly reduce greenhouse emissions, it is costly to implement, requiring a significant infrastructure overhaul.
China has spent close to two decades developing a high-speed rail network. Thousands of miles link 93% of the nation’s cities.
World’s first nuclear fusion power plant set to be built in Virginia
Virginia is planning to build the world’s first grid-scale nuclear fusion power plant. This week, Commonwealth Fusion Systems announced the project, which aims to produce 400 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 150,000 homes, by the early 2030s.
“In the early 2030s, all eyes will be on the Richmond region, and more specifically Chesterfield County, as the birthplace of commercial fusion energy,”Commonwealth Fusion Systems Co-founder and CEO Bob Mumgaard said. “Virginia emerged as a strong partner as they look to implement innovative solutions for both reliable electricity and clean forms of power.”
To support the initiative, the state has provided $2 million in funding and multiple tax incentives, while the Department of Energy has also contributed additional funding.
“This is an historic moment for Virginia and the world at large,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a statement. “Commonwealth Fusion Systems is not just building a facility, they are pioneering groundbreaking innovation to generate clean, reliable, safe power, and it’s happening right here in Virginia. We are proud to be home to this pursuit to change the future of energy and power.”
Fusion technology mimics the energy-producing process of the sun, combining hydrogen isotopes under extreme heat and pressure. Powerful magnets confine these elements, generating heat that produces steam to spin turbines and create electricity. Generating nuclear fusion energy produces no greenhouse gases, and unlike fission, avoids long-living radioactive waste, while eliminating the risk of a meltdown.
However, achieving the intense heat necessary for fusion remains a significant challenge. Partly because of this, fusion is currently four times more expensive than nuclear fission, and experts warn the project could encounter delays due to fusion technology still being in its infancy.
The energy demands in Virginia make the project particularly relevant. The state hosts the largest global market for data centers, with facilities that consume energy on par with small cities. Over 35% of all data centers worldwide — and nearly half in the U.S. — are located in Virginia.
With energy requirements from these facilities in the state expected to triple from 10,000 megawatts today to 30,000 megawatts by 2040, Virginia faces an urgent need to expand its power capacity.
Spread of false claims of Steve Harvey’s death blamed on AI-article
A false news story claiming comedian and long-time “Family Feud” host Steve Harvey has died circulated this week. Now, the media site “The Wrap” says that original now-debunked story was generated by artificial intelligence.
The article’s headline reportedly read, “Steve Harvey Passed Away Today: Remembering the Legacy of a Comedy Legend.”
The story was posted by Trend Cast News on Tuesday, Dec. 17. The article gained traction after being shared by NewsBreak, which is a news aggregate site that generates articles with AI, and reportedly has more than 50 million monthly users.
Straight Arrow News found the hoax article on NewsBreak’s site had apparently been removed as of the morning of Thursday, Dec. 19.
Harvey hasn’t publicly addressed the story but he has been active on his social media accounts throughout the week.
Other social media users wasted no time expressing relief the article wasn’t true.
Additionally, this isn’t even the first time there’s been a Steve Harvey death hoax. The comedian responding to one last year with a meme of himself.
This also isn’t NewsBreak’s first run in with AI-generated articles spreading false rumors.
The news aggregate site reportedly published news of a Christmas Day mass shooting in New Jersey that turned out to be a hoax.
The site is also reportedly under scrutiny for publishing several stories with erroneous information about a Colorado-based food bank’s distribution times.
NewsBreak told Reuters earlier this year that when it “identifies any inaccurate content or any violation of our community standards, we take prompt action to remove that content.” Although the site didn’t specify any safeguards it had in place.
However, NewsBreak did add a disclaimer to its site in March, noting, its content “may not always be error-free.”
Pair of astronauts stuck in space at ISS as return to Earth further delayed
Boeing Starliner astronauts stuck in space at the International Space Station received news that their return to Earth faces further delays. The two arrived at the ISS more than six months ago for an eight to 10-day voyage.
Multiple mechanical issues with the Starliner forced NASA to return the capsule without Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams in September. The astronauts stayed behind at the ISS due to safety concerns.
The SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon Capsule launched in September was supposed to return Wilmore and Williams home in February 2025.
However, NASA announced on Tuesday, Dec. 17, that they pushed back the date of SpaceX Crew-10’s February launch. Wilmore and Williams’ replacements will travel aboard the SpaceX Crew-10, which is now on track to launch no earlier than late March 2025.
SpaceX Crew-10 team reportedly needs time to “complete processing,” a debriefing on ongoing research and maintenance aboard the ISS before Williams and Wilmore can return to Earth on the Crew-9.
NASA has not revealed how long that may take.
The extended stay in space reportedly prompted concerns for the astronauts’ health. Although, other NASA astronauts have stayed on the ISS longer.
A “Twin Study” kept astronaut Scott Kelly aboard the station for 340 days from 2015-2016. Most recently, astronaut Frank Rubio became the first American to spend more than 365 straight days in space.
Is your Wi-Fi router a national security risk? US government weighs ban
TP-Link is the bestselling Wi-Fi router internationally and on Amazon. Now, the U.S. government is considering banning these devices over cyberattack risks.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, investigators at three agencies, Commerce, Defense and Justice, are looking into these Chinese-made routers.
In October, Microsoft said it was tracking “a network of compromised small office and home office (SOHO) routers” known as CovertNetwork-1658 and said “routers manufactured by TP-Link make up most of this network.”
The network has been used by multiple “Chinese threat actors” to gain access and launch cyberattacks.
This comes more than a year after Microsoft “uncovered stealthy and targeted malicious activity … aimed at critical infrastructure organizations in the United States.”
Microsoft said Volt Typhoon is “a state-sponsored actor based in China that typically focuses on espionage and information gathering.” The company said it “tries to blend into normal network activity by routing traffic through compromised [small office and home office] network equipment, including routers, firewalls and VPN hardware.”
“These small office home office routers were not themselves the intended targets,” FBI Director Christopher Wray testified in January. “The targets, of course, were our critical infrastructure, but what the Chinese were doing were using these easy targets to hide and obfuscate their role in the hacking of our critical infrastructure.”
In August, two lawmakers pressed the Biden administration to investigate TP-Link, calling it a “glaring national security issue.” Along with being in homes across America, the letter noted that TP-Link devices are also on U.S. military bases.
Straight Arrow News reached out to TP-Link to comment on these investigations. The company didn’t immediately respond.
A spokesperson did tell the Journal, “We welcome any opportunities to engage with the U.S. government to demonstrate that our security practices are fully in line with industry security standards, and to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the U.S. market, U.S. consumers, and addressing U.S. national security risks.”
The Chinese embassy in Washington said the U.S. is using the guise of national security to suppress Chinese companies, something both sides have accused the other of in an ongoing tech tit-for-tat.
If the U.S. government went forward with banning TP-Link routers, it would be the biggest such move since the Trump administration labeled China’s Huawei and ZTE national security threats and ordered the tech be ripped out of U.S. infrastructure.
Any action against TP-Link would likely fall on Trump’s second term.
TP-Link was founded by two brothers in China in 1996. As tensions between China and the U.S. worsened, in October, TP-Link announced its new global headquarters would be in the United States.
The company said the move is “reinforcing our commitment to the U.S. market and enhancing our ability to innovate and compete on a global scale.”
Enormous demand for AI could lead to US and Canada blackouts
Growing demand for artificial intelligence could lead to blackouts across the United States and Canada as soon as next year. The warning on Tuesday, Dec. 17, came from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), an industry watchdog.
NERC predicts that electrical consumption will increase by 15% over the next decade. The report comes as AI resources like ChatGPT and Apple’s Private Cloud Compute servers expect to see data center power usage double in just the next four years.
Electricity regulators are concerned that the U.S. and Canada’s power grids won’t be able to keep up with demand, saying “the shortfall” could lead to “blackouts during peak demand periods” in the United States and Canada in 2025.
The watchdog’s prediction comes as the U.S. is currently facing challenges with a slowly growing renewable energy market and as the country tries to cut its reliance on fossil fuels.
Expanding the grid to make room for expanding AI data centers has reportedly been a national security priority for the outgoing Biden administration. The White House says that it is pushing to get clean energy deployed quickly so it can meet the enormous energy needs of AI.
Industry experts say they expect a surge of new data centers with the incoming Trump administration.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to cut regulations on fossil fuel energy, which would boost the tech sector, and as the surge in AI demand continues, some AI companies have turned to nuclear energy to power their expanding operations.
New weapon system aims to make every shot count: Weapon of the Week
Historians often credit Col. William Prescott with the famous command, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.” He supposedly gave the advice to British troops marching on Bunker Hill. However, whether he actually said it is subject to debate among historians.
What’s not up for debate is the phrase’s intention, make your shot count. That’s why the Smart Shooter SMASH 2000L and the SMASH Hopper are being featured in this week’s weapon of the week.
While the rifle may have been the 20th century soldier’s best friend, in the 21st, their fire control system probably isn’t far behind. One likely candidate for that role is the SMASH 2000L. Built by Smart Shooter, an Israeli defense contractor with operations in the U.S., it’s an electro-optical fire control system that works on just about any gun available.
“So it’s real simple. All you do, it acts like a standard reflex sight,” Scott Thompson, vice president and general manager of Smart Shooter Inc. said. “So you get like a dot reticle. You look through the field of view, that’s your aiming point, right? And so once you decide you’re going to engage something, you hit the button, it starts to do the calculation to that target, and you’ll see a crosshair pop up.
“All you do is move. You hold the trigger down, you hold it down, and you move the crosshair into the disturbed reticle, and it does not release the round until this says it has 100% solution. That’s why it’s so accurate.”
The Weapons and Warfare team caught up with Thompson at the Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting, where he walked through the system’s finer points.
“The other thing is that once you’re locked on a target, it continues to update the ballistic solution. So that’s why we can hit moving targets,” Thompson said. “That’s why you can be unstable, you can be wounded, you could be exhausted, you could be inexperienced, you know, with general weapons. It doesn’t matter. Once you’re locked on that target, the system will hit that target.”
But what really caught our eye was the SMASH Hopper. A lightweight remote-controlled weapon station, the Hopper, when paired with their fire control system, helps operators engage ground targets and small UAVs, or drones.
Soldiers can also use the SMASH Hopper in a fixed position or mounted to a vehicle.
“So, basically, the same technology, same thought process and what we’re trying to do here is demonstrate our ability to have a mobile counter UAS capability,” Thompson explained. “There’s obviously, this is a huge threat for the Air Force. They’re worried about air bases, you know. And so we can, because they don’t have a lot of kinetic solutions at this point. And this is one of the best that that’s out there right now. We think so.
“We have it mounted to a vehicle right now, but even a dismounted soldier if they’re setting up camp. Yeah, normally comes with a tripod. Yeah, it’s a little security, automated security, right? We’ve had it on UGVs. We’ve got it on small robots and tunnels. We’ve had it on telescoping masts. So, because it’s so lightweight, it can integrate to almost any kind of platform, it’s really easy.”
Access all Weapons and Warfare podcast episodes here.
Boeing’s Orca, the next evolution in submarine warfare?
Submarines have long been iconic elements of advanced naval fleets, and have also made their mark on the big screen. From “The Hunt for Red October” to “Crimson Tide” and even the ill-fated “Down Periscope,” submarines have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide.
While Hollywood can play at high stakes on the high seas, real-world decisions involving submarines are far from fictional. Just lately, military leadership around the world is investing in the next evolution of underwater deterrence.
Meet the Orca. Although it shares its name with a low-budget 1977 thriller, the similarities end there. This autonomous modular platform, built by Boeing for the U.S. Navy, is a first-of-its-kind vehicle capable of serving in a wide range of mission types in open water.
The Orca measures 51 feet long on its own. When outfitted with Boeing’s largest payload section, which is 34 feet long, the Orca can even stretch to 85 feet.
Powered by a diesel-electric engine, the Orca can travel more than 7,400 miles on a full tank. To put that into perspective, that’s the distance from the coast of southern California to China, making it possible to travel great distances without needing to resupply or carry life support systems.
Technically known as an Extra Large Uncrewed Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV), the Navy initially ordered four in 2019 before increasing the order to six.
Ann Stevens, Boeing’s vice president of maritime and intelligence systems, explained the significance of this addition.
“The Navy added a sixth vehicle to that contract as a test article, which has been really great because we were able to get that vehicle into the water over a year ago and be able to really start seeing how it’s performing, learning about, you know, the different hardware and software that’s in that vehicle, and putting it through its paces operationally before we deliver the vehicles that’ll get fielded to the fleet,” Stevens said.
These vehicles represent an expanded array of strategic and tactical options for a service increasingly focused on possible threats in the Pacific, particularly from China.
Stevens noted that the Orca will allow the Navy to carry out previously unattainable missions, and change the game in undersea warfare.
“You know, what are the capability gaps that are still elusive to them? And, you know, do we see the potential for this technology to expand to, you know, a vehicle that doesn’t require a host ship, a vehicle that can go, you know, 6,500 nautical miles and traverse the ocean,” She said.
While the hardware of the Orca is well on its way to proving its worth, Army Intelligence Officer Jon Molik emphasized the importance of its autonomous capabilities.
“So what we need to continue to work on is these vehicles being able to do things like conduct a cyber attack or cyber defense at the same time as communicating with the joint fires environment and the GPS and navigation environment,” Molik said, “All of these things have to happen in concert, and that’s again, a challenge to do when it’s fully autonomous. But I suspect that the Navy, as well as all those other services, will get this done in the next few years.”
The Orca also represents the ability to fill areas of need for a branch struggling to modernize and stay ahead of potential adversaries.
“You know, you can see in the news the challenges that we’re facing, you know, building the next ballistic class of submarine, the Columbia, trying to build enough Virginia class submarines, and looking at our near-peer threats and the gap that is there. I feel like this is just a great capability to help complement that gap that we’re seeing right now,” Stevens said of the challenges facing the Navy.
The U.S. is not the only country working to develop XLUUVs. Last November, a team of British engineers successfully demonstrated an autonomous submarine of their own. Built by BAE Systems and called the “Herne,” it has already completed the first set of in-water trials and demonstrations.
Boeing expects to deliver the first Orca to the Navy in early 2025. The Navy will then conduct a series of tests, the crew will gain certification and then the first Orca will finally be mission-ready.
Amazon invests $10 billion in Ohio data centers to drive AI evolution
Amazon is adding to its major Midwest technology hub investment while helping to shape the future of artificial intelligence. The company will invest $10 billion dollars in Ohio over the next five years.
The company will use the money to expand its Amazon Web Service data centers. They house equipment for powering AI, machine learning and other cloud computing technologies.
Data centers provide the power behind everyday tasks like prompting ChatGPT, streaming movies and performing Google searches.
The latest investment is in addition to Amazon’s $7.8 billion plan for Ohio announced in 2023 and the more than $6 billion it has already spent in the Buckeye State.
State officials said the investment will bring hundreds of jobs through the end of 2030.
Amazon has already contributed around $3.8 billion to the state’s gross domestic product. Their contributions support more than 4,700 jobs annually and create demand for telecommunications, software development and power generation workers.
While the company currently has seven data centers in central Ohio, it’s unclear how many more they will build. However, Amazon plans to expand into other parts of the state.
“As reliance on digital services continues to grow, so does the importance of data centers; they are critical to today’s modern economy,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said.
There are currently more than 2,500 data centers in the United States, with Amazon Web Services holding a 31% market share of online computing resources. That’s more than Microsoft, Google and IBM combined.