What's new this week
Track the frontier of science and technology and locate the core dynamics.
The U.S. will restrict China from using clouds such as Azure and AWS to train large AI models.
The first case of mankind to receive a brain-computer interface chip implantation, Musk: recovery is good!
The U.S. Agency for International Development and other institutions plan to publish a handbook on artificial intelligence in global development
Italian regulators say ChatGPT violates EU privacy laws.
The first evidence of "human-to-human" transmission of Alzheimer's disease has been found in the UK.
The European Union launches the first cybersecurity certification scheme for digital products.
The U.S. Department of Defense updated the "List of Chinese Enterprises".
The German "electric field chip" was introduced, and the energy consumption of training AI was reduced to 1 20
Europe's 2035 ban on gasoline vehicles may be postponed.
The U.S. will restrict China from using clouds such as Azure and AWS to train large AI models.
Federal Register.
This was announced in an interview with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo on Jan. 26Plans to restrict foreign customers, especially Chinese customers, from using the services of U.S. cloud computing vendors to train large AI models.
On January 29, the U.S. Department of Commerce officially announcedProposal for additional measures to respond to a national emergency related to significant malicious cyber conductIt explicitly requires U.S. vendors such as Microsoft and Amazon to verify the identity of foreign users when providing cloud services, restricts foreign actors' access to U.S. cloud service products, and requires detailed reporting of foreign transactions for training AI models.
With the rise in popularity of artificial intelligence models, the United States regards this as another important position in strategic competition with China, and often uses "**" as an excuse to securitize commercial issues in an attempt to restrict China's development. In October 2023, Biden** issued the Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence, directing the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to propose regulations that require providers of certain cloud service products to report when foreign actors use their services to train large models, preventing the model from potentially being used for malicious cyber activity.
However, there is also opposition to Biden's policy measures in the US industry. Carl Szabo, general counsel of Netchoice, a tech industry group, said the U.S. Department of Commerce is enforcing Biden's "illegal" executive order, arguing that requiring U.S. cloud companies to report on the use of their resources by non-U.S. entities "for training large language models" could hinder international cooperation.
The first case of mankind to receive a brain-computer interface chip implantation, Musk: recovery is good!
National Business Daily.
Recently, Elon Musk, the founder of the brain-computer interface company Neuralink, announced on the social ** platform X that humans have received brain-computer interface (neuralink) chip implantation for the first time, and the implant is recovering well.
It is reported that Neuralink is currently designing a device that converts brain signals into action, focusing on two applications: one is to restore human vision, and the other is to help people who cannot move their muscles to control devices such as smartphones, and even restore the whole body function of people with spinal cord injury.
On September 19, 2023, Neuralink said it had received approval from an independent review committee to conduct first-in-human trials to implant devices in the brains of paralyzed patients. Neuralink claims that the human trial will last for six years, and participants will first participate in an 18-month study, after which they will spend at least two hours a week on brain-computer interfaces. Neuralink's trial plans are ambitious, with the goal of operating on 11 people in 2024 and more than 2. by 203020,000 surgeries.
According to McKinsey's estimates, the potential market size of global brain-computer interface medical applications is expected to reach $40 billion in 2030 and $145 billion in 2040. In China, giants such as Huawei and iFLYTEK have been deploying brain-computer connection.
The U.S. Agency for International Development and other institutions plan to publish a handbook on artificial intelligence in global development
On January 26, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) plan to publish the "AI in Global Development Playbook" and solicit opinions from the whole society on the main concerns of global artificial intelligenceIt aims to integrate the principles, guidelines, and best practices of NIST's AI risk management framework into social, technological, economic, and offshore governance. The consultation will close on 1 March 2024.
A total of 18 concerns were raised in the manual, covering three main areas:opportunities, risks and barriers to AI; an enabling environment for the development of responsible AI; AI policy, protection and public participation. Currently, agencies are looking for empirical data and other reference materials relevant to the development of the new manual.
Italian regulators say ChatGPT violates EU privacy laws.
***informationweek
Recently, Italian regulator Garante has formally filed charges against OpenAI, claiming that its product ChatGPT violates the European Union's data protection regulation General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The regulator did not publicly disclose the nature of the specific allegations made against OpenAI, but said the allegations stemmed from months of investigation into the company's data practices. OpenAI was asked to respond within 30 days. Under Europe's GDPR rules, OpenAI could face fines of up to €20 million or 4% of its global annual revenue.
Italy was the first Western European country to restrict ChatGPT. Italian regulator Garante is one of the most active in the EU in assessing whether AI platforms are compliant with the EU's data privacy regime. Its investigation into OpenAI began in 2023, when regulators said ChatGPT may have violated GDPR rules because of its illegal collection of personal data and the lack of a system to verify the age of minors. After a brief ban in 2023, OpenAI agreed to add new pages and forms on its ** to provide more transparency about its data practices, and ChatGPT was subsequently relaunched in Italy.
At present, OpenAI said that its practices are in line with the privacy laws of the European Union, and the company will actively work to reduce the need for personal data to train systems such as ChatGPT, and conveyed its intention to continue constructive cooperation with Garante.
The first evidence of "human-to-human" transmission of Alzheimer's disease has been found in the UK.
***nature
A recent study published in the British journal Nature Medicine shows:For the first time, clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of Alzheimer's disease has been found in people receiving cadaver-derived growth hormone**. Studies have found that amyloid, a marker of the disease, can be transmitted from person to person under certain conditions and cause damage to the brains of those who receive the relevant **. But researchers also say the risk associated with human-to-human transmission is likely to be small.
The University College London team, which led the study, emphasizedThe study doesn't suggest that diseases like Alzheimer's disease are proven to be contagious, but it does raise concerns about the risk of human-to-human transmission of such proteins during certain medical and surgical procedures, which could lead to brain diseases decades later. From a public health point of view, there is no need to worry about the so-called "contagious" dementia disease, as the old ** methods associated with it are no longer used. Susan Kohlhaas of the Alzheimer's Research Centre in the UK agrees, arguing that the findings do prove an unusually rare instance of Alzheimer's spreading from person to person, but also stresses that such cases are unlikely today, a finding that could help researchers find new ways to talk about the disease.
The European Union launches the first cybersecurity certification scheme for digital products.
The European Commission recently adopted the European Cybersecurity Certification Scheme, which is known as the European Cybersecurity Scheme on Common Criteria (EUCC).This is the EU's first cybersecurity scheme for certifying information and communication technology (ICT) products, and it provides a set of rules to ensure the trustworthiness of ICT products throughout their lifecycle.
It is reported thatThe EUCC belongs to the EU Cybersecurity Certification Framework. The objective of the framework is to improve the level of cybersecurity of ICT products, services and processes in the EU market. It achieves this by developing a comprehensive set of rules, technical standard requirements, standards and procedures, which are applied across the EU. The new EUCC scheme is on a voluntary basis and allows ICTs** to certify technology components (chips, smart cards), hardware and software, etc., through an assessment process generally understood in the EU.
The first phase of the EUCC program will last approximately one year and will focus on the establishment of public and private Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs). The EU wants to introduce a faster and more efficient certification scheme through the EUCC, allowing businesses within the EU to compete at national, EU and global levels.
The U.S. Department of Defense updated the "List of Chinese Enterprises".
U.S. Department of Defense "List of Chinese Enterprises" * Sputnik News Agency.
On January 31, the U.S. Department of Defense updated the list of so-called "Chinese enterprises" operating directly or indirectly in the United States in accordance with the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021. More than 10 Chinese companies were newly included in the list. According to the U.S. Department of Defense**, the companies added to the list include memory chip manufacturer YMTC, artificial intelligence (AI) company Megvii Technology, lidar manufacturer Hesai Technology, and technology company Dongfang Netpower.
The 2024 U.S. National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) boosts the list's impact, and under Section 805 of the Act, the U.S. Department of Defense is prohibited from contracting with any company on the list in the coming years.
Reuters reportedWhile listed businesses will not be banned immediately, they may take a toll on their reputations and issue warnings to U.S. entities and companies about the "risks" of doing business with them. In addition, the U.S. Department of Defense move could put pressure on the U.S. Treasury Department to sanction these companies.
The German "electric field chip" was introduced, and the energy consumption of training AI was reduced to 1 20
Schematic diagram of SEMRON chip design.
German technology company Semron has unveiled a new neural network-controlled device, MEME capacitors, that operate from an electric field instead of an electric current, improving energy efficiency and reducing hardware costs to run AI models directly on smartphones, VR devices, and other mobile devices.
SEMRON was co-founded in 2020 by Engineering graduates Kai-Uwe Demasius and Aron Kirschen of the Technical University of Dresden. In 2016, the two of them preliminarily submitted an invention patent for "memory capacitors", a special component that is the key to the calculation of SEMRON "electric field chip".
Traditional computer chips are made of transistors, which cannot store energy, they simply act as "switching hubs" that control the passage of electric current. SEMRON's "memory capacitors" are made of conventional semiconductor materials and operate using the principle of "charge masking". The Memory Capacitor controls the electric field between the top and bottom electrodes through a "mask layer". The "mask layer" is controlled by the chip's memory, which can store the different "weights" of the AI model, i.e., "the knobs that control and fine-tune the performance of the model as it processes data or is trained." The "electric field chip" minimizes the movement of electrons, which in turn reduces energy consumption and heat spillage. On this basis, SEMRON implements a "3D stack" that uses the heat dissipation characteristics of the electric field to place up to hundreds of layers of "memory capacitors" on a single chip, greatly improving the computing power of the chip.
Semron said that due to the shortage of AI computing resources, many large startups that rely on computing power to train models are at risk for survival. The company's "electric field chip" can reduce computing power energy consumption, expand application scenarios, meet the best needs, have strong market adaptability and competitiveness, and can alleviate the shortage of computing power to a certain extent.
Europe's 2035 ban on gasoline vehicles may be postponed.
***carcoops
Lutz Meschke, Porsche's chief financial officer, said in an interview on January 25 that Europe's plan to phase out gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035 could be delayed. Meschke arguesWhile high-end EV manufacturers can operate with zero subsidies, the "phase-down" of EV subsidies in parts of Europe, such as Germany, may lead to a shift in the mass market towards EVs.
In March last year, the European Parliament in Strasbourg voted 340 in favor, 279 against and 21 abstentions, and adopted the "2035 European Agreement on Zero Emissions of New Combustion Cars and Vans" reached by the European Commission and the European Council. The agreement stipulates that Europe will stop selling new combustion engine cars and vans by 2035, but does not include large commercial vehicles.
However, Germany and Italy, which are major auto manufacturers, have risen up against the EU's proposal to ban the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035, eventually forcing the European Commission to agree not to ban the sale of models that use synthetic fuels. In September last year, Britain postponed its planned ban on new petrol and diesel models by 2030 by five years, citing the fact that the previous target would impose an unaffordable cost of living. It can be seen that policy-driven is moving towards market-driven.
It remains to be seen whether the EV market will be able to "range" as European consumers become more conservative due to a lack of reliable charging networks, rising EV and energy**, and hastily ending EV subsidy schemes.
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Authors: Wang Tianyi, Zhao Lujie, Su Minrou, Liu Chenghao, Xue Fengxu.
Editor: Li Xiyue.
Compiled by: National Institute of Innovation and Development, Tongji University.
Producer: School of Politics and International Relations, Tongji University, School of Foreign Chinese, Tongji University.
Supervisor: Research Base of International Governance in Cyberspace, Tongji University.