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AI helps read papyrus scroll burnt to crisp during Vesuvius eruption
Previously hidden text revealed without unrolling scroll discusses stoic philosophy on ethics, art and human behaviour The surviving part of an ancient scroll that was burnt to a crisp when Mount Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago has been virtually unwrapped and read with help from artificial intelligence. Researchers uncovered 20 columns of previously hidden…
A viral doomsday scenario aims to shake Europe out of its AI complacency
Does a thought-experiment about US ascendancy in the technology say as much about AI jitters as it does about the reality? It’s 2031 and the US and China are about to tear Europe into pieces. The US ploughed vast sums into datacentres and the EU did not. China built robots and Europe did not. American…
France to ditch Palantir’s AI data tools in favour of domestic provider
Move to ChapsVision is to avoid ‘strategic dependencies’, says PM amid concern about reliance on US-controlled tools France’s domestic intelligence service is to ditch AI data tools from the US tech company Palantir in favour of a domestic provider in an effort to avoid “strategic dependency”, the prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, has said. “We must…
Anthropic’s alliance with pope on AI harms: all in good faith or ‘Vatican-washing?’
Experts say AI firm’s engagement with Vatican risks creating ‘feelgood’ discourse that lacks critical examination Why did Anthropic’s founder sit beside the pope during a warning about AI? In the first major written teaching of his papacy, Pope Leo XIV took artificial intelligence to task. The pontiff delineated the technology’s most concerning threats to humanity:…
‘Hidden datacentre tax’ costing Irish households millions, report says
Datacentres used 22% of country’s electricity last year, pushing up household bills, study suggests Energy demand by datacentres in Ireland has added hundreds of euros to household electricity bills in a pattern that could be replicated across Europe, according to a report. Ireland’s growing number of datacentres last year used 22% of the country’s electricity,…
Molière Ex Machina: AI used to create ‘new work’ by beloved French playwright
Comedy debuts at Versailles featuring dialogue, music, costumes and scenery created with help of AI tool Le Chat Europe live – latest updates Molière is to the French what Shakespeare is to the English: the last word in historical literature, drama, wit and satire. Now, more than 350 years after his death, the 17th-century dramatist…
‘Being human helps’: despite rise of AI is there still hope for Europe’s translators?
A booming tech sector has disrupted translation jobs in publishing – but they could be needed for a while longer yet In February 2022, while he was plugging away at rendering the US writer Dana Spiotta’s novel Wayward into French, the literary translator Yoann Gentric decided he needed a bit of light relief. He would…
Europe’s AI translation industry told it risks reputation by partnering with US firms
Partnership between top startup DeepL and Amazon comes amid concern about Silicon Valley’s monopoly over digital infrastructure AI companies in Europe risk losing their world-leading status in the field of machine translation, industry figures have said, after the decision by one of the continent’s leading startups to partner with Amazon’s cloud computing division provoked alarm.…