Boston Public Library Aims To Increase Access To a Vast Historic Archive Using AI
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: Boston Public Library, one of the oldest and largest public library systems in the country, is launching a project this summer with OpenAI and Harvard Law School to make its trove of historically significant government documents more accessible to the public. The documents date back to the early 1800s and include oral histories, congressional reports and surveys of different industries and communities. "It really is an incredible repository of primary source materials covering the whole history of the United States as it has been expressed through government publications," said Jessica Chapel, the Boston Public Library's chief of digital and online services. Currently, members of the public who want to access these documents must show up in person. The project will enhance the metadata of each document and will enable users to search and cross-reference entire texts from anywhere in the world. Chapel said Boston Public Library plans to digitize 5,000 documents by the end of the year, and if all goes well, grow the project from there. Because of this historic collection's massive size and fragility, getting to this goal is a daunting process. Every item has to be run through a scanner by hand. It takes about an hour to do 300-400 pages.
Harvard University said it could help. Researchers at the Harvard Law School Library's Institutional Data Initiative are working with libraries, museums and archives on a number of fronts, including training new AI models to help libraries enhance the searchability of their collections. AI companies help fund these efforts, and in return get to train their large language models on high-quality materials that are out of copyright and therefore less likely to lead to lawsuits. "Having information institutions like libraries involved in building a sustainable data ecosystem for AI is critical, because it not just improves the amount of data we have available, it improves the quality of the data and our understanding of what's in it," said Burton Davis, vice president of Microsoft's intellectual property group. [...] OpenAI is helping Boston Public Library cover such costs as scanning and project management. The tech company does not have exclusive rights to the digitized data.
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Live facial recognition to expand across the country amid Government overhaul of neighbourhood policing
The technology will be deployed to catch 'high-harm' offenders with new rules to support its use and ensure 'safeguards and oversight', the Home Office said.
First Match of the Day lineup after Gary Lineker's exit is revealed with TWO legendary England strikers on the punditry panel - as new hosts all vow not to post about controversial issues
Only one of the three presenters will take part in Saturday's season curtain-raiser, given the trio have agreed to share hosting responsibilities throughout the campaign.
Donald Trump's summit with Putin will be a 'listening exercise', White House says
Officials yesterday confirmed that the high-stakes talks will take place in Alaska's largest city, Anchorage, with the US President 'determined to try to end this war and stop the killing'.
The Yorkie is at risk of EXTINCTION: Yorkshire Terriers - once loved by celebrities like Audrey Hepburn - have declined in popularity by 80% since 2013 as Brits shun the traditional pup for more 'fashionable' breeds
They're the small and scrappy mutts that make the perfect pint-sized companion. But Yorkshire Terriers could be at risk of extinction thanks to a huge decline in popularity, vets have warned.
American tried to assassinate her lover's enemy on Birmingham street wearing flip-flops and a summer dress - then the Daily Mail tracked the fugitive down
Aimee Betro, 45, was found guilty on Tuesday of travelling 4,000 miles from her Wisconsin home to carry out a 'hit' on a man in Birmingham.
Google and IBM Believe First Workable Quantum Computer is in Sight
IBM and Google report they will build industrial-scale quantum computers containing one million or more qubits by 2030, following IBM's June publication of a quantum computer blueprint addressing previous design gaps and Google's late-2023 breakthrough in scaling error correction.
Current experimental systems contain fewer than 200 qubits. IBM encountered crosstalk interference when scaling its Condor chip to 433 qubits and subsequently adopted low-density parity-check code requiring 90% fewer qubits than Google's surface code method, though this requires longer connections between distant qubits.
Google plans to reduce component costs tenfold to achieve its $1 billion target price for a full-scale machine. Amazon Web Services quantum hardware executive Oskar Painter told FT he estimates useful quantum computers remain 15-30 years away, citing engineering challenges in scaling despite resolved fundamental physics problems.
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Woman in her 30s is killed by falling branch in park 'while walking with child'
The incident happened near the Buncer Lane entrance of Blackburn's Witton Country Park, Lancashire, just after 8.30pm on Monday.
JK Rowling pens searing 'review' of Nicola Sturgeon's autobiography as the pair's clash over gender rights rumbles on
Nicola Sturgeon's old nemesis, Harry Potter author JK Rowling, has once again taken a potshot at the former Scottish First minister by trolling her new autobiography 'Frankly' in a ruthless post online.
I investigated Shannon Matthews' disappearance - here's the moment I KNEW her mum Karen was responsible before the lies came crashing down
Shannon was nine-years-old when she was reported missing in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, back in February 2008.
Kelly Clarkson bombshell as Brandon Blackstock obituary reveals he was in a relationship with her 'assistant'
Kelly Clarkson's late ex-husband Brandon Blackstock had a 'loving partner' at the time of his death, according to his newly published obituary.
Learner drivers will be tested on their CPR skills in updated theory test
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) said motorists are often 'first on the scene' when someone suffers a cardiac arrest.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's ex Maria Shriver seen with rumored love interest a decade after they were first linked
The 69-year-old journalist and ex-wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger cut a casual figure as she strolled with the political consultant and pundit, 64, in Los Angeles.
Sloppy AI Defenses Take Cybersecurity Back To the 1990s, Researchers Say
spatwei shares a report from SC Media: Just as it had at BSides Las Vegas earlier in the week, the risks of artificial intelligence dominated the Black Hat USA 2025 security conference on Aug. 6 and 7. We couldn't see all the AI-related talks, but we did catch three of the most promising ones, plus an off-site panel discussion about AI presented by 1Password. The upshot: Large language models and AI agents are far too easy to successfully attack, and many of the security lessons of the past 25 years have been forgotten in the current rush to develop, use and profit from AI.
We -- not just the cybersecurity industry, but any organization bringing AI into its processes -- need to understand the risks of AI and develop ways to mitigate them before we fall victim to the same sorts of vulnerabilities we faced when Bill Clinton was president. "AI agents are like a toddler. You have to follow them around and make sure they don't do dumb things," said Wendy Nather, senior research initiatives director at 1Password and a well-respected cybersecurity veteran. "We're also getting a whole new crop of people coming in and making the same dumb mistakes we made years ago." Her fellow panelist Joseph Carson, chief security evangelist and advisory CISO at Segura, had an appropriately retro analogy for the benefits of using AI. "It's like getting the mushroom in Super Mario Kart," he said. "It makes you go faster, but it doesn't make you a better driver." Many of the AI security flaws resemble early web-era SQL injection risks. "Why are all these old vulnerabilities surfacing again? Because the GenAI space is full of security bad practices," said Nathan Hamiel, senior director of research and lead prototyping engineer at Kudelski Security. "When you deploy these tools, you increase your attack surface. You're creating vulnerabilities where there weren't any."
"Generative AI is over-scoped. The same AI that answers questions about Shakespeare is helping you develop code. This over-generalization leads you to an increased attack surface." He added: "Don't treat AI agents as highly sophisticated, super-intelligent systems. Treat them like drunk robots."
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Whole new meaning to brushing your teeth... toothpaste made from human HAIR can halt decay
The researchers discovered that toothpaste made from human hair can repair damaged teeth better than fluoride-based products - and even completely halt the early stages of decay.
ANDREW GRIFFITH: Almost four million people are signed off with no requirement to find a job. That's not fair on all the hard-working taxpayers who subsidise those languishing on benefits
If you ever wanted to know what the warning lights flashing red on the economy look like: this is it. Unemployment up for the tenth month in a row.
EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Nicole's hit musical loses producers £4.5million
Nicole Scherzinger has failed to help make any money for the producers of Sunset Blvd on Broadway.
Threads Now Has More Than 400 Million Monthly Active Users
Meta's Threads has surpassed 400 million monthly active users, adding 50 million in the last quarter and closing the gap with rival X in mobile daily usage. "As of a few weeks ago [there are] more than 400 million people active on Threads every month," said Instagram head Adam Mosseri. "It's been quite the ride over the last two years. This started as a zany idea to compete with Twitter, and has evolved into a meaningful platform that fosters the open exchange of perspectives. I'm grateful to all of you for making this place what it is today. There's so much work to do from our side, more to come." TechCrunch reports: X, meanwhile, has north of 600 million monthly active users, according to previous statements made by its former CEO, Linda Yaccarino. Recent data from market intelligence provider Similarweb showed that Threads is nearing X's daily app users on mobile devices. In June 2025, Threads' mobile app for iOS and Android saw 115.1 million daily active users, marking a 127.8% increase compared to the previous year. On the other hand, X reached 132 million daily active users, reflecting a 15.2% year-over-year decline.
However, Similarweb found that X's worldwide daily web visits are well ahead of Threads, as the [...] social network saw 145.8 million average daily web visits worldwide in June, while Threads had just 6.9 million.
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Brian Cox says Scots film festival was too small for his film premiere - after getting £540k of taxpayer cash
Succession actor Brian Cox has snubbed his homeland for the launch of his latest film, even though it was handed cash by the Scottish Government.
Anna Wintour considering nepo baby to take over her role at Vogue as interviews enter 'final rounds'
Anna Wintour is reportedly eyeing someone already within the Vogue family to take over one of the most high-profile jobs in fashion media.