Musk picking fights online, AI changing understanding of language learning,Festo Automation Experience, multi-chain Web3, and where FTX Went Wrong

Musk Responds To Critical Sen. Ed Markey With Memes

It's been a tough couple of weeks for Twitter.

First, they had to deal with the fallout from their decision to let people pay for verification on iOS. Then, they were forced to shut down Blue signups after a wave of fake accounts impersonating high-profile users flooded the platform.

Now, it looks like things are only getting worse. In a recent tweet, Senator Ed Markey said that he was worried about impersonation on Twitter and asked Elon Musk if he could help him "fix" it. Musk responded by saying that perhaps Markey's real account sounded like a parody because his profile picture showed him wearing a face covering.

Markey didn't take too kindly to Musk's reply and warned that Congress could take action against Musk and his many companies if he doesn't straighten things out. "One of your companies is under an FTC consent decree. Auto safety watchdog NHTSA is investigating another for killing people," Markey writes. "And you're spending your time picking fights online?"

The senator's concerns about impersonation on Twitter aren't unfounded—after Twitter rolled out the ability to pay your way to verification on iOS last week, a wave of fake verified accounts impersonating high-profile users flooded the platform.

Musk later announced that Twitter will ban users who impersonate others on the platform, but fake accounts still persisted, forcing Twitter to shut off all Blue signups in response. Read more...

How AI is changing scientists’ understanding of language learning

Language is a messy business. From casual conversations between friends, to bickering between siblings, to formal discussions in a boardroom, authentic conversation is chaotic. It seems miraculous that anyone can learn language at all given the haphazard nature of the linguistic experience.

Children must have a grammar template wired into their brains to help them overcome the limitations of their language experience—or so the thinking goes. This template could contain a “super-rule” that dictates how new pieces are added to existing phrases; children then only need to learn whether their native language is one where the verb goes before the object (as in “I eat sushi”), or one where it goes after the object (as in “I eat sushi”).

But new insights into language learning are coming from an unlikely source: artificial intelligence (AI). A new breed of large AI language models can write newspaper articles, poetry and computer code and answer questions truthfully after being exposed to vast amounts of language input. And even more astonishingly, they all do it without the help of grammar rules.

Even if their choice of words is sometimes strange or nonsensical or contains racist, sexist and other harmful biases, one thing is very clear: The overwhelming majority of the output of these AI language models is grammatically correct. And yet, there are no grammar templates or rules hardwired into them. Read more...

Festo Introduces New AI-based Platform For Predictive Maintenance, Quality, And Energy Optimization

The future of manufacturing is here, and it's powered by artificial intelligence.

Festo introduces the Festo Automation Experience (AX), a new AI platform for predictive maintenance, predictive quality, and energy optimization. Using advanced analytics, Festo AX maps data to learn a component, machine, product, or energy system’s healthy state. It provides actionable information to correct anomalies when data begins trending out of normal.

This new solution from Festo improves machine utilization and quality, lowers waste, and ensures energy optimization. It provides a bridge between advanced analytics arising from operational technology and IT-based business intelligence. Festo AX gives companies a tool to be more competitive and sustainable; it also provides original equipment manufacturers with a notable differentiator for their machines and systems.

Festo finds that Festo AX can improve process transparency by 100%. It can lower waste by more than 50% and product rejection costs by more than 45%. Machine availability can improve by more than 25%. Unplanned downtime can fall by more than 20%. Read more...

OKX Chain Partners With RockX To Provide Interoperability Solutions For Web3

OKX Chain (OKC), an EVM-compatible layer one blockchain, announced today that it has “integrated with RockX, which claims to be one of Asia’s largest staking solutions and institutional-grade blockchain access node providers, to provide cross-chain node services for users to access the OKC ecosystem.”

With this integration, users and developers will be able to enjoy full access to all OKC-based protocols through RockX and build on a secure and programmable smart contracts platform for Web3 decentralized applications.

RockX is the native blockchain of the global cryptocurrency derivatives exchange, OKX (formerly OKEx) and is powered through Cosmos, an interoperable and expanding network of sovereign blockchains.

RockX and OKC’s integrated infrastructure will include an open-source all-in-one multi-chain Web3 interface enabling a seamless experience for both developers and users to build, scale and launch their own dApps with low gas fees.

Wallet platforms that OKC currently supports include OKX Wallet, MetaMask, Phantom WalletConnect, and tokenPocket among others. Read more...

The One Way You Can Tell where FTX Went Wrong

It’s been a tough week for cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Not only did it get hacked, but people are calling for its CEO to be jailed for fraud.

But what’s really interesting about this whole thing is that the hack happened because FTX was doing something that a lot of people in the crypto world think is stupid: it allowed its customers to use FTT (its native crypto token) as collateral for borrowing other crypto assets or cash.

And this whole situation has illustrated one of the biggest challenges facing crypto companies right now: how do you manage risk responsibly without making your customers feel like they don't have enough control over their funds?

Here's the thing: cryptocurrency exchanges have traditionally been very opaque about how they manage their finances, which has led to some pretty sketchy behavior on their part. And while there's nothing inherently wrong with using FTT as collateral, it seems like an unnecessarily risky move given that crypto-natives tend to avoid anything that resembles traditional finance (TradFi).

So given the insistence of crypto-natives to avoid the failings of traditional finance (TradFi), what has the reaction been from people in the industry?

One of the more reasonable calls to action has been the urging for cryptocurrency exchanges to implement “proof-of-reserves” to combat the huge loss in credibility the collective body of cryptocurrency exchanges just felt. Read more...