Meet the AI Godfather get his thoughts on the future, plus much more!

Hey Ai5ers,

This week’s Ai5 brings a whirlwind of AI innovation, policy shifts, and big questions about the future. From FAA rule changes that could finally put delivery drones in your driveway, to YouTube testing AI-powered age verification, to Geoffrey Hinton’s warnings about superintelligent AI, the race between technological progress and societal safeguards is in full swing. Plus, a brain-focused AI for ICU patients, and political controversy over U.S. chip sales to China.

Happy reading!

Today's Ai5:

🛒 Delivery drones may soon take off in the US. Here's why
👶 YouTube to begin testing AI-powered age verification system in the U.S.
👀 The 'godfather of AI' reveals the only way humanity can survive AI
🤓 An AI Model for the Brain Is Coming to the ICU
☝️ Can Trump's China deal on Nvidia chips prompts security concerns

Prompt of the Day 🎨

Football season is here at last, the prompt:

"Create a photo-quality image of a group of friends (five people, at least one female) participating in a lively and energetic fantasy football draft. Set the scene in a 'man cave' filled with sports effects, including: posters, memorabilia, and decor using [insert popular NFL team here]. Each friend should be wearing their own favorite team's colors and gear, not matching the cave decor. The room should also feature [insert personal effects: snacks, drinks, team scarves, trophies, or favorite fan items]. At the top, add the title 'Fantasy Football – Let the games begin' in the Lobster font."

Delivery drones may soon take off in the US. Here's why 🛒

Delivery drones are so fast they can zip a pint of ice cream to a customer’s driveway before it melts.

Yet the long-promised technology has been slow to take off in the United States. More than six years after the Federal Aviation Administration approved commercial home deliveries with drones, the service mostly has been confined to a few suburbs and rural areas.

That could soon change. The FAA proposed a new rule last week that would make it easier for companies to fly drones outside of an operator’s line of sight and therefore over longer distances. A handful of companies do that now, but they had to obtain waivers and certification as an air carrier to deliver packages.

While the rule is intended to streamline the process, authorized retailers and drone companies that have tested fulfilling orders from the sky say they plan to make drone-based deliveries available to millions more U.S. households.

Full article by Dee-Ann Durbin

YouTube to begin testing AI-powered age verification system in the U.S. 👶

YouTube on Wednesday will begin testing a new age-verification system in the U.S. that relies on artificial intelligence to differentiate between adults and minors, based on the kinds of videos that they have been watching.

The tests initially will only affect a sliver of YouTube’s audience in the U.S., but it will likely become more pervasive if the system works as well at guessing viewers’ ages as it does in other parts of the world. The system will only work when viewers are logged into their accounts, and it will make its age assessments regardless of the birth date a user might have entered upon signing up.

If the system flags a logged-in viewer as being under 18, YouTube will impose the normal controls and restrictions that the site already uses as a way to prevent minors from watching videos and engaging in other behavior deemed inappropriate for that age.

Full Article by Michael Liedtke

The 'godfather of AI' reveals the only way humanity can survive superintelligent AI 👀

Geoffrey Hinton, known as the “godfather of AI,” fears the technology he helped build could wipe out humanity — and “tech bros” are taking the wrong approach to stop it.

Hinton, a Nobel Prize-winning computer scientist and a former Google executive, has warned in the past that there is a 10% to 20% chance that AI wipes out humans. On Tuesday, he expressed doubts about how tech companies are trying to ensure humans remain “dominant” over “submissive” AI systems.

In the future, Hinton warned, AI systems might be able to control humans just as easily as an adult can bribe 3-year-old with candy. This year has already seen examples of AI systems willing to deceive, cheat and steal to achieve their goals. For example, to avoid being replaced, one AI model tried to blackmail an engineer about an affair it learned about in an email.

That’s why it is important to foster a sense of compassion for people, Hinton argued. At the conference, he noted that mothers have instincts and social pressure to care for their babies.

Full article by Matt Egan

An AI Model for the Brain Is Coming to the ICU 🤓

THE CLEVELAND CLINIC is partnering with San Francisco–based startup Piramidal to develop a large-scale AI model that will be used to monitor patients’ brain health in intensive care units.

Instead of being trained on text, the system is based on electroencephalogram (EEG) data, which is collected via electrodes placed on the scalp and then read out by a computer in a series of wavy lines. EEG records the brain’s electrical activity, and changes in this activity can indicate a problem. In an ICU setting, doctors scan EEG data looking for evidence of seizures, altered consciousness, or a decline in brain function.

Currently, doctors rely on continuous EEG monitoring to detect abnormal brain activity in an ICU patient, but they can’t monitor every individual patient in real time. Instead, EEG reports are typically generated every 12 or 24 hours and then analyzed to determine whether a patient is experiencing a neurological issue. It can take two to four hours to manually review a day’s worth of brainwave data.

Full article by Emily Mullin

Can Trump's China deal on Nvidia, AMD AI chips prompts security concerns ☝️

President Trump’s reversal on previously blocked chip sales to China has sparked cries that the White House is selling out America’s security concerns in a bid to raise revenue.

The unusual deal doesn’t just raise legal questions. Experts say the U.S. should be wary of turning over American-made technology that could boost its adversary’s AI capabilities, at a time when the two countries are fiercely competing for dominance.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that the administration would consider other similar arrangements in spite of legal concerns.

Full article by Rebecca Beitsch and Julia Shapero