AI is creating fake legal cases and making its way into real courtrooms, with disastrous results

Michael Legg, UNSW Sydney and Vicki McNamara, UNSW SydneyWe’ve seen deepfake, explicit images of celebrities, created by artificial intelligence (AI). AI has also played a hand in creating music, driverless race cars and spreading misinformation, among other things. It’s hardly surprising, then, that AI also has a strong impact on our legal systems. It’s well known that courts must decide disputes based on the law, which is presented by lawyers to the court as part of a client’s case. It’s therefore highly concerning that fake law, invented by AI, is being used in legal disputes. Not only does this pose issues of legality and ethics, it also threatens to undermine faith and trust in global legal systems. How do fake laws come about? There is little doubt that generative AI is a powerful tool with transformative potential for society, including many aspects of the legal system. But its use comes with responsibilities and risks. Lawyers are trained to carefully apply professional knowledge and experience, and are generally not big risk-takers. However, some unwary lawyers (and self-represented litigants) have been caught out by artificial intelligence. AI models are trained on massive data sets. When prompted by a user, they can create new content (both text and audiovisual). Although content generated this way can look...

Read More........→March 22, 2024

Man Ignores Naysayers to Revive Tiny Sparrow with CPR – Watch the Moment his Patience is Rewarded

Submitted by Costakis Constantinou: In a heartwarming video, a 67-year-old actor from Cyprus became determined to use his CPR expertise to save a tiny, helpless sparrow. The avian creature was found unconsciousness following an “unfortunate pool mishap”. In the background of the video, you can hear a chorus of teasing and snickering, with voices urging him to dispose of the seemingly lifeless bird—but Costakis Constantinou remained undeterred. “Nobody thought this was possible or even worth trying,he  however, stayed focus and patiently continued,” his son Rolandos told GNN. With unwavering determination, he persistently, applied his life-saving skills until, against all odds, the sparrow gradually regained consciousness, fluttering back to life. “I can say with confidence that he was very, very happy, relieved, and satisfied when the little sparrow open its eyes and flied away.” When Rolandos rewatched the video again (see below), he got emotional and telephoned his dad to tell him how proud he was. “In the past he saved two people from heart attack by applying CPR. For some reason my father is at the right place the right time.” “I wanted to surprise him by sending over his video,” said Rolandos in an email. “I’m so proud of him.”Watch the moment his patience was rewarded…Man Ignores Naysayers to Revive Tiny Sparrow...

Read More........→March 20, 2024

Atlanta Science Festival returns to inspire discovery for all ages

A middle-school student experiences an Emory chemistry lab during a recent community outreach event.The Atlanta Science Festival returns March 9 to 23, inviting curious kids and adults to explore all things science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Experts in these fields — including many members of the Emory community — will serve as educational guides for more than 150 interactive events. “The Atlanta Science Festival aims to bring the community together through their shared love of science,” says Meisa Salaita, co-founder and co-executive director of Science ATL, the engineers of the festival. “Through these events, we hope to inspire and empower the next generation to pursue their dreams.” Participants can take a crash course on the basics of AI, create an herbarium of medicinal plants, go into the field with researchers studying microplastic pollution in a stream, take a behind-the-scenes tour of the latest advances in healthcare technology and even get a taste of the physics of cheese making. Now in its 11th year, the Atlanta Science Festival was co-founded by Emory, Georgia Tech and the Metro Atlanta Chamber. “We have grown into a mainstay of Atlanta,” says Salaita, noting that many of the events fill up quickly. “The festival is something that people look forward to every spring.” Click here for highlights...

Read More........→March 13, 2024

Cultivated Biosciences secures US$5 million seed funding amid US market launch in 2025

(Image credit: Cultivated Biosciences)07 Mar 2024 --- Cultivated Biosciences, a Swiss biotech start-up, has recently announced the closure of its US$5 million seed funding round. This financial milestone will boost the development of its innovative yeast cream in collaboration with the food industry, setting the stage for a US market launch slated for 2025. The latest funding round attracted a group of investors led by Navus Ventures, a Dutch venture capital firm with a focus on sustainable food and energy systems. The investors were drawn to the company’s progress following a US$1.5 million pre-seed round in September 2022. “This funding validates our innovative approach and enables us to introduce our revolutionary yeast cream to the market,” says Tomas Turner, Cultivated Biosciences’ CEO. “We aim to make alternative dairy products appealing to traditional dairy consumers, not just to reduce CO2 emissions from dairy production but also to tap into a multi-billion dollar market opportunity.” Innovative yeast cream: In the dairy-free sector, efforts to replicate the dairy experience involve utilizing plant-based proteins combined with vegetable oils and various additives such as emulsifiers and texturizers. These attempts aim to recreate both the sensory and functional characteristics of dairy products. Cultivated Biosciences...

Read More........→March 12, 2024

Why does a leap year have 366 days?

Bhagya Subrayan, Purdue University You may be used to hearing that it takes the Earth 365 days to make a full lap, but that journey actually lasts about 365 and a quarter days. Leap years help to keep the 12-month calendar matched up with Earth’s movement around the Sun.After four years, those leftover hours add up to a whole day. In a leap year, we add this extra day to the month of February, making it 29 days long instead of the usual 28. The idea of an annual catch-up dates back to ancient Rome, where people had a calendar with 355 days instead of 365 because it was based on cycles and phases of the Moon. They noticed that their calendar was getting out of sync with the seasons, so they began adding an extra month, which they called Mercedonius, every two years to catch up with the missing days. In the year 45 B.C.E., Roman emperor Julius Caesar introduced a solar calendar, based on one developed in Egypt. Every four years, February received an extra day to keep the calendar in line with the Earth’s journey around the Sun. In honor of Caesar, this system is still known as the Julian calendar. But that wasn’t the last tweak. As time went on, people realized that the Earth’s journey wasn’t exactly 365.25 days – it actually took 365.24219 days, which is about 11 minutes less. So adding a whole day every four years was actually...

Read More........→March 04, 2024