The week's developments in AI, quantum, and biotech, explained | 10.04.24

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In this week’s AI & DeepTech digest, we explore how US-China tensions spurred a hefty $6.6bn TSMC investment in Arizona, Belfast-based Neurovalen’s noninvasive neurotech for anxiety, and the AI agents with a greenlight for oncology diagnostics — would you trust an AI doctor? 

Plus keep reading for Viking AI’s, Microsoft’s AI PC announcement, and Elon’s tangible Mars vision — alongside the coolest AI tools to speak, create and write.

— Charlie and the Research & Intelligence Team 

PS. CogX Transatlantic Accelerator Early Bird offer closes on 15th April: If you are or know a UK startup they can apply for over $20k worth of support to attend, exhibit and network at CogX Festival in LA on 7th May here

Innovation and Releases

💰 Sino-US tensions prompt huge US investment in TSMC, as $6.6bn proposed to build a new semiconductor facility in Arizona. The move, integral to the CHIPS and Science Act, aims to bolster US manufacturing resilience and reduce reliance on foreign semiconductors.

🧠 Neurotech startup greelit for noninvasive anxiety treatment. Belfast-based Neurovalens specialises in head-mounted neurostimulation devices that target the brain and nervous system. They are developing similar tech to treat insomnia and obesity-related cardiometabolic risk. 

💬 Silo AI launch Viking LLM family to support Nordic languages and prevent their decline in the digital age. The open-source models include Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish, addressing the lack of linguistic data for these low-resource languages.

❤️ Finnish startup detects heart disease through your phone's motion sensors, specifically targeting atrial fibrillation. This tech from CardioSignal has gained clinical validation for its accuracy, positioning it as a more direct alternative to wearable tech. 

💻 Microsoft is set to announce AI PC’s in Seattle on May 20 as Windows laptops get Arm-powered. The company is confident its upcoming Snapdragon X Elite processors will outperform Apple’s M3 MacBook Air in CPU and AI tasks.

AI Tools of the Week

🗣Speak Aqua Voice is a voice-driven text editor for creating and editing documents via voice commands. 

🤝Create Off/Script is a community-driven platform turning user ideas into real products, handling logistics and manufacturing while creators keep intellectual property rights. 

📝Write MathHandwriting is an AI tool that transforms handwritten maths equations into digital LaTeX code.

Latest Research

🦴 MIT engineers have developed flexible 'skeletons' for soft robots: modular, spring-like structures that optimise the performance of live muscle fibres to power biohybrid robots. The devices maximise the natural muscle tissue movement, leading to improved robotic function.

🔐 Researchers use biochemistry to authenticate art and secure passwords against future quantum threats. The method uses DNA to create a cryptographic one-way function, ensuring that the process cannot be reversed or decoded, even by quantum computing. 

 ⚛️ Researchers made a quantum leap in taming superconductors, blending them with a material that conducts electricity only on its surface, so it can be precisely controlled with magnets. This development could lead to more stable and reliable quantum computers. 

🩺Autonomous AI agents can make clinical decisions in oncology with specialised medical tools integrated to handle text, radiology, and genomic information. Validated in clinical oncology scenarios, these agents have shown high accuracy and effectiveness in patient care workflows.

In case you missed it

Musk just gave another Mars speech with SpaceX — this time his multiplanetary mission vision actually seems tangible.

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🚀 Remember to register your interest for CogX Festival LA 7 May!