Startup Skyward Wildfire says it may forestall catastrophic fires by stopping the lightning strikes that ignite them. Thus far, it hasn’t publicly revealed the way it does so, however on-line paperwork counsel the corporate is counting on an method the US authorities started evaluating within the early Sixties: seeding clouds with metallic chaff, or slender fiberglass strands coated with aluminum.
It simply raised thousands and thousands of {dollars} to speed up its product improvement and broaden its operations. However researchers and environmental observers say uncertainties stay, together with how effectively the seeding may go below various circumstances, how a lot materials would should be launched, how steadily it must be executed, and what kinds of secondary environmental impacts would possibly end result. Learn the total story.
—James Temple
OpenAI’s “compromise” with the Pentagon is what Anthropic feared
OpenAI has reached a deal that may permit the US navy to make use of its applied sciences in labeled settings. CEO Sam Altman stated the negotiations, which the corporate started pursuing solely after the Pentagon’s public reprimand of Anthropic, had been “positively rushed.”
OpenAI has taken nice pains to say that it has not caved to permit the Pentagon to do no matter it desires with its expertise. The corporate revealed a weblog publish explaining that its settlement protected towards use for autonomous weapons and mass home surveillance, and Altman stated the corporate didn’t merely settle for the identical phrases that Anthropic refused.
Nevertheless it’s not but clear if OpenAI can construct within the security precautions it guarantees because the navy rushes out a politicized AI technique throughout strikes on Iran, or if the deal might be seen as adequate by workers who needed the corporate to take a more durable line. Strolling that tightrope might be tough. Learn the total story.
—James O’Donnell
