Scientists create world’s first ‘AI child’

Chinese scientists have created the world’s first ‘AI child’, an entity displaying behaviour and capabilities similar to those of a three- or four-year-old human child.

Named Tong or ‘Little Girl’, the world’s first AI child is a massive step in the direction of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). Unveiled at the Frontiers of General Artificial Intelligence Technology Exhibition, the AI model is reportedly capable of autonomous learning and may display a level of emotional engagement not seen in AI development before.

What sets Tong apart from other AI creations is that she has the power to independently assign tasks to herself, based on her own values and ideals. Evolving and improving continually, Tong is capable of autonomous learning and “has her own joy, anger and sorrow”.

Man trains for marathon with fridge on back

Daniel Fairbrother was practicing running with a fridge strapped to his back in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, Britain, when he was stopped by police officers, thinking he was fleeing from a crime.

Fairbrother explained that the fridge, which he dubbed Tallulah in tribute to a scene from the film Cool Runnings, was helping him train for the London Marathon, where he will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon carrying a household appliance (white goods). Fairbrother’s record attempt is also to raise money for charity group Diabetes UK.

Extra-terrestrial items found in ancient trove

In 1963, in a gravel pit in Alicante, Spain, archaeologists discovered an ancient collection, known as the Treasure of Villena, which consisted of 59 objects made from gold, silver, amber and iron.

Back then, the researchers noted that the gold-plated pommel of a sword hilt and the bracelet were made up of ‘a dark leaden metal [which is] shiny in some areas and covered with a ferrous-looking oxide that is mostly cracked’.

A new study published in the journal Trabajos de Prehistoria, says after testing the two iron pieces, scientists say they ‘are the first objects found in the Iberian Peninsula that were made with material from beyond planet Earth’.

Though it’s not clear who made the objects or where they originated, the two items, crafted between 1400 and 1200 BC, are both the first and oldest meteoritic iron objects found in that region of Spain and ‘could [have] come from the same meteorite that that crash-landed on Earth around one million years ago’.

Bats invade home

Monica and Isaiah Grant rented a home in Savannah’s Ardsley Park neighbourhood less than a year ago, and encountered their first bat in January. After several more bat encounters in the ensuing days, they discovered the house was infested with the flying animals.

“No one expects this, like I have never even seen a bat except for at the zoo,” Monica Grant said. Exterminators who viewed the home told her the situation was “worse than anything they have ever seen.” The couple and their two children, ages two and eight months, are now staying with a neighbour and have received rabies shots as a precaution.

Published in Dawn, Young World, March 2nd, 2024