What's in this week's issue?

A pseudo-religion dressed up as technoscience promises human transcendence at the cost of extinction.

The US computer scientist, inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil is a prophet of transhumanism, the movement that advocates for the possibility, even the moral imperative, of technologically tinkering with the human condition to enhance our cognition and eventually transcend our biology.

In his book The Singularity is Nearer — a sequel to The Singularity is Near (2005) — Kurzweil says that humanity is about to enter a new epoch in the history of intelligence: the merging of humans with artificial intelligence (AI). He borrows the ‘singularity’ metaphor from the physics of black holes: as we fall into the abyss of ever-improving computing power, what it means to be human seems to be on the verge of breaking down.

Ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic games, France added AI-powered CCTV cameras across the capital, initially as a temporary measure, but the experiment is set to continue until March 2025.

These cameras were used to analyze live images to identify predefined movements which would then send an alert to operators who could take action. The algorithm-driven cameras were used for the detection of forgotten luggage, population density, and crowd movements.

While the security crackdown has become a necessary step ahead of major events, not everyone is happy with the prolonged use of AI surveillance. Félix Tréguer, who is a member of the French advocacy group La Quadrature du Net, spoke to TechRadar: “The ongoing experiments are the first step towards the legalization of these technologies.”

Easy Cloud News

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AI News

• 🤖 AI systems that can train robots to function in the real world (link)

• 🤪 OpenAI’s talent retention woes (link)

• 👔 Recruiters find AI use has become rampant in job applications (link)

• 📉 Is AI actually making workers more productive? (link)

• 📱 Made by Google 2024: Pixel 9, Gemini, a new foldable and other things (link)

AI Tools

• 📚️ Talefy: Read interactive AI stories or generate your own (link)

• 🎨 NEX: Create images with our controllable and IP-consistent generative models (link)

• 🌊 Flowith: An AI assistant that enhances productivity and streamlines workflows (link)

• 🎸 Song Demo: Create music with AI (link)