Nightwaves etc., Gregory Manchess

Watered-down version of statement to be issued at end of Montreal summit instead offers ‘ever closer association’

The EU has backed away from its offer to Canada to start talks on becoming an “associate member” after disagreements between members states just as an EU-Canada summit was set to begin in Montreal.

A draft of a joint statement to be issued after the end of the summit, which runs Thursday and Friday, showed a watered-down version offering “an ever closer association of Canada to the EU, short of full membership itself”.

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Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Former Yahoo CEO and early Google engineer Marissa Mayer is catching a lot of flak for how she uses AI. In an interview about her new app Dazzle, an AI assistant that learns from your camera roll, Mayer poses what she believes is an impressive flex for the product: It helped her come up with three bullet points about her 10-year-old daughter for a birthday presentation at school, describing her as "empathetic, creative, and an animal lover."

It's a vague description, like a generic horoscope -- it could probably describe a lot of 10-year-olds. Some onlookers, like progressive activist Leah Greenberg, marveled that "the fact that Marissa Mayer would voluntarily disclose this to a reporter is a pretty good demonstration of how deeply the culture of Silicon Valley has diverged from the rest of humanity." [...] After publication, Mayer defended herself in a long X post. She claims she was not relying on Dazzle to explain her child to her, but rather, she was testing what her prototype could do -- it resurfaced photos of "forgotten kindergarten projects," like a "snake devenomer" or "sandcat playground," illustrating her daughter's creativity and care for animals.

Fair enough. But Mayer remarks in the same interview that people could also use her AI to outsource the mental load of "figuring out the theme for your child's birthday party." She says she's used her app to plan a playdate for her daughter, book family activities on vacation, and decide what to be for Halloween. She even proposes that her AI assistant could coordinate plans with her husband's AI assistant. When the reporter asks her if it's depressing to imagine this "frictionless future planned by AI," Mayer replies, "I haven't really thought that through." The bigger question is: What should we outsource to AI? "What feels like grunt work to someone might be a meaningful part of parenthood for someone else," says Fortune's Emma Hinchliffe.

Michael Tasner, Founder and CEO of No Joke Marketing, adds: "Customers are drowning in AI slop, and they can spot it. Use AI for the low-stakes work behind the scenes. Keep the moments that matter to your customers human. Human connection is becoming the new premium."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

To do so it will have to drop old habits.

Rex Chang TW has added a photo to the pool:

Above the Hozu River in Arashiyama, the round windows of Yusai-tei frame a wall of autumn maples, and a polished black table returns each circle as its twin. Early light, an empty room, and a low seat to line up the horizon.

Arashiyama, Kyoto, Japan

Een man is woensdagavond door overvallers bedreigd met een vuurwapen en geslagen met een hamer. Hij is gewond naar het ziekenhuis gebracht.

Sparta is uitgeschakeld in de KNVB-beker. De Rotterdammers leken tegen Fortuna Sittard op weg naar uitschakeling, maar sleepten er in de slotminuut een verlenging uit. Na 120 minuten stond het 2-2, waarna Fortuna na een bizarre strafschoppenserie aan het langste eind trok. Sparta-doelman Filip Bednarek stopte twee penalty's, maar dat bleek niet genoeg om uitschakeling te voorkomen.

Google is working with NASA to develop a robotic medical assistant that could help astronauts on future deep-space missions. Chocolate Factory's public sector VP Jim Kelly said in a Tuesday blog post that the company's latest moonshot could take its technology far beyond the lunar surface, with Google's public sector arm partnering with NASA's Human Research Program, Johnson Space Center's robotics team, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to develop a robot that could assist astronauts with medical tasks, cargo handling, and routine maintenance. The robotics project builds on the Crew Medical Officer Digital Assistant (CMO-DA), an AI-powered medical decision-support system Google has been working on with NASA since last year. CMO-DA, which is powered by the Red Hat-supported open source local AI tool RamaLama, is already being evaluated on Earth-bound copies of computers used aboard the ISS. It’s designed to run AI models locally for evaluation of medical issues, which will be a key part of future space missions due to the communications lag between Earth and astronauts in deep space. “An astronaut on a future deep space mission to Mars could face severe operational challenges—including round-trip communication latencies of up to 44 minutes, making real-time medical guidance for crew nearly impossible,” Kelly said in this week’s blog post. Google and NASA envision the robot as an assistant to a human crew medical officer, helping with medical tasks and doing other work when bedside assistance isn't required. “To maximize its utility for a lean crew, the robotic system is designed as a versatile 'payload' handler capable of managing cargo, logistics, and equipment,” Kelly explained. “When not needed for routine maintenance like organizing tools or securing compartments, it can pivot to medical support.” As one example of its potential use, the Google public sector VP explained that, were someone to experience severe back pain potentially caused by kidney stones, the robot could fetch and prep an ultrasound machine, leaving the crew medical officer to interpret the scan and decide on treatment. “The ultimate goal is to build a robotic system that can execute a variety of tasks via simple voice instructions, under the astronauts’ direct supervision and command,” Kelly said. “For instance, the robot might be directed to assist with routine health monitoring—such as capturing basic vitals or simple ultrasounds—under the strict guidance of a human crew medical officer.” So, not a full-fledged digital medical officer as much as an extra set of hands for an overworked human doc. As for the status of the project, it doesn't appear to have advanced too far yet. Google outlines several technologies being explored, including JPL's work adapting satellite situational-awareness tools originally used to track objects in orbit to help the robot navigate 3D spaces. The project remains at the proof-of-concept stage, with early laboratory demonstrations conducted, but Google hasn't confirmed whether a fully integrated, space-ready robot exists. Kelly explained that Google used DeepMind's MuJoCo physics simulator to test the robot's movements, and that the system scored an initial 85 percent success rate in early lab tests involving locating and moving a medical bag – not exactly proof that it's ready to assist with medical procedures, but it's a start. Google referred us to NASA for questions, but the space agency declined to get into specifics. The agency only told us it's working on a variety of "super intelligence" (eye roll - that's AI to those of us operating in reality) projects for its many missions, and that it's working with partners to assess them for future applications. ®