Financial Times
Stanford University researchers have developed what they say is the first brain implant capable of decoding and vocalizing imagined words. Four severely paralyzed participants had electrode arrays from the BrainGate BCI consortium implanted in their motor cortex, the brain area that controls speech. They were asked to either attempt to speak or silently imagine a set of words. AI models were then trained to recognize patterns of neural activity associated with units of speech and knit them together into sentences.
From "Brain Implant Decodes Inner Speech"
Financial Times (08/14/25) Clive Cookson
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NIST News
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released its Lightweight Cryptography Standard to protect small, resource-limited devices like IoT gadgets, RFID tags, and medical implants from cyberattacks. Based on the Ascon algorithm family, the standard offers four variants for tasks such as authenticated encryption, hashing, and customizable hash sizes. Ascon supports secure data encryption, authentication, and integrity verification while conserving energy, time, and memory.
From "NIST Finalizes ‘Lightweight Cryptography’ Standard to Protect Small Devices"
NIST News (08/13/25)
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The New York Times
ACM AAAI Allen Newell Award recipient Margaret Boden died July 18 at 88. A pioneer in cognitive science, she used the language of computers to explore the nature of human thought and creativity, offering insights about the future of AI. Though skeptical of AI matching human conversational depth, she saw computation as key to understanding thought. Boden herself, however, was not adept at using computers. “I can’t cope with the damn things,” she once said.
From "Margaret Boden, AI Philosopher, Dies at 88"
The New York Times (08/14/25) Michael S. Rosenwald
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CNN
At the Ai4 industry conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday, ACM A.M. Turing Award laureate Geoffrey Hinton expressed skepticism about how tech companies are trying to ensure humans remain “dominant” over “submissive” AI systems. Instead of forcing AI to submit to humans, Hinton suggested building “maternal instincts” into AI models, so “they really care about people” even once the technology becomes more powerful and smarter than humans.
From "Hinton on How Humanity Can Survive Superintelligent AI"
CNN (08/13/25) Matt Egan
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Mexico News Daily
Three students originally from the state of Chihuahua in Mexico won first place at the 2025 World Robot Contest in Beijing, triumphing in the “DOBOT Intelligent Manufacturing Challenge—Moon Landing Challenge.” Their project involved designing, programming, and building robotic arms to simulate a moon landing. “This historic achievement not only makes Chihuahua proud, but also all of Mexico,” the state government said.
From "Mexican Teens Win First Place at 2025 World Robot Contest"
Mexico News Daily (08/12/25)
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Associated Press
Pro-Russia hackers are likely behind suspected sabotage at a dam in Norway in April that affected water flows, according to police officials. During the incident, hackers gained access to a digital system that remotely controls one of the dam’s valves and opened it to increase the water flow. A three-minute long video showing the dam’s control panel and a mark identifying a pro-Russian cybercriminal group was published on Telegram in April.
From "Pro-Russia Hackers Suspected of Dam Sabotage in Norway"
Associated Press (08/13/25) Emma Burrows
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