Skip to main content

Microsoft Pledges $4 Billion for AI Education Training Programs

2 months 1 week ago
Microsoft has pledged more than $4 billion in cash and technology services to train millions of people in AI use, targeting schools, community colleges, technical colleges and nonprofits. The company said it will launch Microsoft Elevate Academy to help 20 million people earn AI certificates. Microsoft President Brad Smith said the company would "serve as an advocate to ensure that students in every school across the country have access to A.I. education." The announcement follows Tuesday's news that the American Federation of Teachers received $23 million from Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic for a national AI training center. Last week, dozens of companies including Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI signed a White House pledge promising schools funding, technology and training materials for AI education.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

msmash

AMD warns of new Meltdown, Spectre-like bugs affecting CPUs

2 months 1 week ago
Low-severity bugs but infosec pros claim they are a 'critical' overall threat – patch accordingly

AMD is warning users of a newly discovered form of side-channel attack affecting a broad range of its chips that could lead to information disclosure.…

Connor Jones

Shiny object syndrome spells doom for many AI projects, warns EPA CIO

2 months 1 week ago
Chasing the hype without a clear use case? You may crash and burn

US Environmental Protection Agency CIO Carter Farmer has a blunt message for AI hype-chasers: Shiny-object syndrome too often drives teams to leap into AI without defining a clear use case or vetting their data, leaving them to wonder why it doesn't work.…

Brandon Vigliarolo

Animal Diseases Leapt To Humans When We Started Keeping Livestock

2 months 1 week ago
Researchers analyzing DNA from 1,313 ancient humans across Eurasia found that zoonotic pathogens first appeared in human populations around 6,500 years ago, coinciding with the transition from hunter-gatherer societies to livestock farming. The genomic study, published in Nature, identified 5,486 DNA sequences from bacteria, viruses and parasites in blood remnants from bones and teeth spanning 37,000 years. Zoonotic pathogens were detected only in remains 6,500 years old or younger, peaking around 5,000 years ago when pastoralist communities from the Steppe region migrated into Europe with large herds. The plague bacterium Yersinia pestis first appears in the dataset between 5,700-5,300 years ago.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

msmash