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AI News Anchor Debuts On UK's Channel 4

1 week 1 day ago
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Variety: A news special on Britain's Channel 4 titled "Will AI Take My Job?" investigated how automation is reshaping the workplace and pitting humans against machines. At the end of the hour-long program, a major twist was revealed: the anchor, who narrates and appears throughout the telecast reporting from different locations, was entirely AI-generated. In the final moments of the special, the host says: "AI is going to touch everybody's lives in the next few years. And for some, it will take their jobs. Call center workers? Customer service agents? Maybe even TV presenters like me. Because I'm not real. In a British TV first, I'm an AI presenter. Some of you might have guessed: I don't exist, I wasn't on location reporting this story. My image and voice were generated using AI." The hour aired Monday at 8 p.m. as part of the "Dispatches" documentary program, which Channel 4 says is now the first British television show to feature an AI presenter. The "anchor" was produced by AI fashion brand Seraphinne Vallora for Kalel Productions and was guided by prompts to create a realistic on-camera performance. "The use of an AI presenter is not something we will be making a habit of at Channel 4 -- instead our focus in news and current affairs is on premium, fact checked, duly impartial and trusted journalism -- something AI is not capable of doing," said Louisa Compton, Channel 4's head of news and current affairs. "But this stunt does serve as a useful reminder of just how disruptive AI has the potential to be -- and how easy it is to hoodwink audiences with content they have no way of verifying."

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UK Cyclist Receives 3D-Printed Facial Prosthetic After Crash Left Him With Third-Degree Burns

1 week 1 day ago
A cyclist who received severe third-degree burns to his head after being struck by a drunk driver has been fitted with a printed 3D face. The Guardian: Dave Richards, 75, was given a 3D prosthetic by the NHS that fits the space on his face and mimics his hair colour, eye colour and skin. [...] While recovering, he was referred to reconstructive prosthetics, which has opened the Bristol 3D medical centre, the first of its kind in the UK to have 3D scanning, design and printing in a single NHS location. Richards, from Devon, said surgeons tried to save his eye but "they were worried any infection could spread from my eye down the optic nerve to the brain so the eye was removed." [...] He called the process of getting a 3D-printed face "not the most pleasant." He added: "In the early days of my recovery, I felt very vulnerable, and would not expose myself to social situations. It took me a long time to feel comfortable about my image, how I thought people looked at me and what they thought of me -- but I have come a long way in that respect."

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Nvidia, Oracle to build 7 supercomputers for Department of Energy, including its largest ever

1 week 1 day ago
100,000 Blackwell GPUs and 2,200 exaFLOPs make for a big system

The US Department of Energy is partnering with Nvidia and Oracle to build seven new AI supercomputers to accelerate scientific research and develop agentic AI for discovery. Two of these systems, located at Argonne National Laboratory, will together form the DOE's largest AI supercomputing infrastructure.…

Brandon Vigliarolo

Nearly 90% of Windows Games Now Run on Linux, Latest Data Shows

1 week 1 day ago
Nearly nine in ten Windows games can now run on Linux systems, according to data from ProtonDB compiled by Boiling Steam. The gains came through work by developers of WINE and Proton translation layers and through interest in hardware like the Steam Deck. ProtonDB tracks games across five categories. Platinum-rated games run perfectly without adjustment. Gold titles need minor tweaks. Silver games are playable but imperfect. Bronze exists between silver and borked. Borked games refuse to launch. The proportion of new releases earning platinum ratings has grown. The red and dark red zones have thinned. Some popular titles remain incompatible, however. Boiling Steam noted that other developers appear averse to non-Windows gamers.

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