Month: March 2022

Enlarge / A Deepmind Health webpage sits displayed on the screen of an Apple Inc. iPhone in this arranged photograph in London, U.K. on Monday, Nov. 26, 2018. Three years ago, artificial intelligence company DeepMind Technologies Ltd. embarked on a landmark effort to transform health care in the U.K. Now plans by owner Alphabet Inc. to wrap the partnership into its Google search engine business are tripping alarm bells about privacy. Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images (credit: Bloomberg | Getty Images)

A former DeepMind employee has accused the artificial intelligence group’s leadership of mishandling multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment, raising concerns over how grievances are dealt with at the Google-acquired company.

The female member of staff, whom we call Julia to protect her identity, claimed in December 2019 that a senior researcher at the London-based group had sexually assaulted her twice, threatened suicide, and alluded to previous instances of rape, among other concerning behavior.

DeepMind, one of the world’s most respected AI companies, employs more than 1,000 people, including renowned research scientists. It said Julia’s “allegations were investigated thoroughly, and the individual who was investigated for misconduct was dismissed without any severance payments.”

Enlarge / Intel’s Arc GPUs will begin shipping in laptops soon. (credit: Intel)

Maybe you’ve heard about it: After years of rumors and occasional false starts, Intel is leveraging its experience building integrated GPUs to enter the dedicated graphics business. The company’s Arc GPUs will be trickling out throughout 2022, and Intel’s stated goal is to shake up a market that has been dominated by Nvidia’s products (and AMD’s, but let’s be honest, mainly Nvidia’s) for years now.

That process formally begins Wednesday with the launch of the first Arc GPUs for laptops. These Arc mobile GPUs first made an appearance in January when they were obliquely mentioned (with no model numbers, specs, or other technical information) in some of the laptop makers’ product announcements. Now that those PCs are closer to shipping, Intel is talking a bit more about what you can expect from its first serious effort to produce modern dedicated GPUs.

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  The five Arc GPU models being announced today are based on two chips: the low-end ACM-G11 and the high-end ACM-G10.

The Arc mobile GPUs’ branding mirrors the division between Intel’s Core i3, i5, and i7 processors; the company is launching a pair of Arc 3 GPUs now, and one Arc 5 and two Arc 7 models will be coming in the “early summer.” These five products are based on two different dies. The lower-end die, the ACM-G11, is the basis for the two Arc 3 GPUs, while the Arc 5 and Arc 7 are based on the larger ACM-G10.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

Over the last few decades, there’s been a heavy emphasis on techniques that fall under the concept of “proactive policing.” These generally involve identifying the areas of a city that have the highest crime rates and applying more aggressive policing in those locations. While there have been some successes, the approach has often bred resentment, as methods like stop-and-frisk policing generated antagonism between the police and the communities they were meant to help.

In a 2018 report on proactive policing, the US’s National Academies of Science examined approaches meant to keep intensive policing from creating friction with communities. The report found that one promising technique, called “procedural justice,” lacked evidence of efficacy—we couldn’t tell whether it consistently reduced crime and/or improved community relations.

So, some of the people behind the National Academies report decided to change that, running their own controlled study on procedural justice in three US cities. The results aren’t decisive, but they suggest the technique might reduce crime and community friction.

Enlarge / A health worker administers a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to an elderly resident at Ichilov medical center in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Monday, Aug. 2, 2021. (credit: Getty | Bloomberg)

Update 3/29/2022, 4 pm ET: Swiftly following authorization from the Food and Drug Administration earlier Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced it is updating its recommendations to allow people ages 50 and up as well as certain immunocompromised people to receive a second booster dose of either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.

“Today, CDC expanded eligibility for an additional booster dose for certain individuals who may be at higher risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a statement. “Boosters are safe, and people over the age of 50 can now get an additional booster 4 months after their prior dose to increase their protection further. This is especially important for those 65 and older and those 50 and older with underlying medical conditions that increase their risk for severe disease from COVID-19 as they are the most likely to benefit from receiving an additional booster dose at this time. CDC, in collaboration with FDA and our public health partners, will continue to evaluate the need for additional booster doses for all Americans.”

The agency also announced that adults who received a Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and a Johnson & Johnson booster dose more than four months ago are now also eligible to get a second booster dose using an mRNA vaccine (Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna).