Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has delivered a landmark speech outlining the nation’s AI policy, which will require datacenter builders to contribute more energy than they consume and mean AI companies must reach agreements with local artists and media before using their content. “Let me make this crystal clear – not everything produced in Australia is up for grabs,” Albanese said, a reference to both content and the nation’s energy and water resources. The PM said Australia will therefore legislate to require builders of large new datacenters to become net generators of energy, rather than consumers, by funding electricity generation projects to meet their needs and pay for associated work to bolster energy grids. The policy also requires datacenter operators to pay for water infrastructure and make minimal environmental impacts. The PM expects Australia’s states and territories to sign up to his plan so the nation can offer expedited approval processes for datacenter builds and consistent operating standards that apply across the country. Nationwide laws, Albanese argued, will make Australia a more attractive destination for inbound investment by making it easier for AI companies to plan new datacenters – and perhaps offset other elements of the policy that are more onerous than laws in other countries. “Australian writers, musicians, artists and journalists, must retain ownership and control of their work,” Albanese said. “Anything less is theft.” He said Australia’s approach “will ensure Australian writers, artists and journalists retain ownership over their work, meaning no company should use Australian creative works to train AI without the artist’s control.” The PM added his view that no country has given artists and rights-holders sufficient control of how AI companies use their works. Albanese didn’t say how he plans to enforce that control, but his speech framed the effort to do so as getting ahead of AI before big players get too much power. Albanese asked his audience to imagine how much better off Australia would be if it had regulated social media a decade before the 2024 introduction of a ban on children aged under 16 accessing such services. He also compared the AI plan to past landmark reforms won by the global labor movement, such as winning a minimum wage and fixed working week. The PM also said that without regulations of this sort, Australia will effectively outsource its security to big tech companies. “If we are always dependent on someone else, somewhere else, we will be vulnerable,” he said. The AI policy aims to instead make Australia stronger. Albanese argued that Australians should not see AI as a threat to jobs, but that strong policy can make the technology a means to create new ones – beyond employment created by a short-term datacenter construction boom. The PM wrapped his speech by suggesting AI can stand for “Australia’s Interest” as well as “artificial intelligence.” ®

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Today's New York Times features an article (non-paywalled gift link) about a phenomenon called "terminal lucidity." Someone who's been lost to advanced dementia for years suddenly snaps back into focus. They recognize family, bring up old memories, hold a real conversation. Or so the stories go.

Reports go back to antiquity, but it was all anecdotal until a researcher at the University of Wisconsin persuaded a hospice to let her put cameras in its memory care unit. She caught it four times with one patient, a retired middle school teacher named Mary. The tapes are not what you'd expect from the old stories. Nobody sits up and sings hymns. Mostly it's a few clear words that the people in the room don't notice at the time. Neuroscientist Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston has a good piece on whether any of this is real, and what it would mean for dementia research if it is. Neurosurgeon and devout Catholic Dr. Michael Egnor (writing before the U. of Wisconsin research came out) thinks that terminal lucidity is evidence for the existence of the immortal soul.

OpenAI is reportedly developing a screen-free, portable smart speaker meant to act as a personalized home computer and humanlike AI companion. "It will help control smart-home appliances, play media, answer questions, respond to messages and tap into the range of capabilities offered by OpenAI's ChatGPT," reports Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter. The device, expected to be unveiled this year and released in 2027, would mark OpenAI's first major hardware push after acquiring Jony Ive's io Products. Bloomberg reports: Apple sued OpenAI last week, accusing the company of stealing trade secrets. But OpenAI believes that the device veers significantly from anything Apple has on the market today and that it's unlikely that it violates trade secrets belonging to the iPhone maker, the people said. OpenAI's success in hardware will hinge on bringing a novel approach to the market -- something it aims to do with the smart speaker. For instance, the device's technology is meant to become increasingly personalized and proactive as it gains a deeper understanding of its owner over time, according to the people.

OpenAI envisions the device anticipating needs, surfacing information proactively and serving as an expert on its user, they said. Though the speaker is designed to stay in the home, it will be easy to move around the house. OpenAI believes the product's defining feature will be its personality and ability to connect on a humanlike level with users. The speaker incorporates mechanical elements that can move on their own, creating a sense that it is alive and not just an object responding to commands. The machine also will draw on personal information such as emails to better understand its owner. The goal is for the device to feel like a companion and become a physical manifestation of OpenAI's ChatGPT. Still, the exact plans could change as the company works through the development and legal process.

The device's communication abilities will rely on a more advanced version of the ChatGPT Voice Mode -- GPT-Live -- that OpenAI rolled out this month. The new voice mode is designed to act more like a human. It can listen and talk at the same time, adapt more naturally during conversations, and quickly process information. Though the new product resembles a speaker, OpenAI internally describes it as the first of its kind: a computer built for AI to help make busy people more productive. It includes a camera and other sensors that help it understand a user's surroundings and context, as well as advanced AI models beyond those available on conventional smart speakers. Another central difference is that the device includes a rechargeable battery, allowing it to be carried from room to room throughout the day. A user could bring it into the laundry room while doing chores, move it into the kitchen for cooking assistance, and later place it in a living room or bedroom to have it play music. It can also remain plugged into a single room if the customer chooses.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.