>>21544188

TYB

Governor Newsom seeks to harness the power of GenAI to address homelessness, other challenges

Sep 5, 2024

SACRAMENTO — Governor Newsom today announced a new state effort to explore how generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) can help combat the housing and homelessness crisis, as well as support fiscal analyses for the state budget. The state is inviting developers to create and present innovative AI solutions to these challenges identified by state agencies for the benefit of Californians.

“As the birthplace of the tech industry and the fifth largest economy in the world, California isn’t afraid of progress. We’ll deploy every tool to address some of the most vexing issues of our time, including the housing and homelessness crisis. California has the technology and the innovative spirit — let’s put them to use for the public good.”

California is leading the way in the adoption and development of GenAI technologies. GenAI is already changing the world, and California will play a pivotal role in defining that future.

As part of Governor Newsom’s GenAI executive order, earlier this year, the Governor convened a summit on GenAI with leaders from across industries – including technology, labor, government, and academia – to discuss how the state can best use this transformative technology to better serve the people of California. California is home to 32 of the world’s 50 leading GenAI companies, high-impact research and education institutions, and a quarter of the technology’s patents and conference papers.

State agencies and departments began analyzing potential uses for GenAI and developed critical challenges within state government, particularly focusing on issues that impact vulnerable populations. Today, the Governor announces the first step in the process to potentially adopt GenAI to address the following issues identified by state agencies:

• Easing homelessness and connecting people to treatment by better identifying available shelter and treatment beds, with GenAI solutions for a portable tool that the local jurisdictions can use for real-time access to treatment and shelter bed availability.

• Creating housing with more data and accountability by creating clearer insights into local permitting and development decisions and deploying tools to support every community in building enough homes for all its residents, including vulnerable populations.

• Supporting the state budget by helping state budget analysts with faster and more efficient policy, fiscal analyses across state programs, and policies to spotlight shared needs and statewide opportunities for more efficient and effective deployment of the state’s budget resources.

These challenges follow the state’s May announcement of partnerships with leading companies for five specific challenges seeking GenAI solutions, including new proofs of concept to explore how GenAI could help address challenges like traffic congestion and language accessibility, and more. Earlier this month, Governor Newsom announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with NVIDIA to collaborate on cutting-edge AI efforts to support students, educators, and workers learn new skills.

“The innovator community jumped at the chance to partner with the state to explore if GenAI can benefit our residents and our workforce,” said Government Operations Agency Secretary Amy Tong. “This overwhelming response, along with the ongoing work, shows us that we can embrace GenAI’s many opportunities while taking appropriate measures to approach it safely and responsibly.”

On September 26, the state will host developers of large language models (LLMs) to present demonstrations of the most current functional capabilities of their GenAI tools related to these challenge statements. This is not a formal procurement process but market research, often used by the state to identify what’s currently in the marketplace.

https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/09/05/governor-newsom-seeks-to-harness-the-power-of-genai-to-address-homelessness-other-challenges/

NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Undocking

September 6, 2024

Watch live as Boeing's Starliner spacecraft departs from the International Space Station for a landing at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. The uncrewed spacecraft is scheduled to autonomously undock from the station at approximately 6:04 p.m. EDT (2204 UTC) Friday, Sept. 6, to begin the journey home, weather conditions permitting.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on June 5 for its first crewed flight, arriving at the space station on June 6. As Starliner approached the orbiting laboratory, NASA and Boeing identified helium leaks and experienced issues with the spacecraft reaction control thrusters. For the safety of the astronauts, NASA announced on Aug. 24 that Starliner will return to Earth from the station without a crew. Wilmore and Williams will remain aboard the station and return home in February 2025 aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with two other crew members assigned to NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission.

https://www.space.com/boeing-starliner-crew-flight-test-earth-return-webcast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79y0yZs0dc

Bronze Diana Statue Recovered from Titanic Wreckage in New Expedition

September 4, 2024

A bronze statue has been recovered in the first salvage expedition of the Titanic since 2010.

Diana of Versailles was last spotted in 1986 among the wreckage of the infamous passenger liner, which sank during its maiden voyage in a desolate corner of the North Atlantic 112 years ago. RMS Titanic Inc, a Georgia-based company that owns the legal rights to the wreck, shared the rediscovery on Monday, along with new photography that captures how the ship continues to be subsumed by the sea floor. RMS Titanic told the Guardian that a large section of the railing that surrounded the bow's forecastle deck (the upper deck of the front of the vessel) had broken off.

"The discovery of the statue of Diana was an exciting moment. But we are saddened by the loss of the iconic Bow railing and other evidence of decay which has only strengthened our commitment to preserving Titanic's legacy," Tomasina Ray, director of collections for RMS Titanic, said in a statement.

The RMS Titanic crew spent 20 days excavating the site. This involved mapping the wreck and debris field and taking more than 2 million of the highest-resolution pictures of the site to date. This data and more will be made widely accessible so that "historically significant and at-risk artifacts can be identified for safe recovery in future expeditions," the company said in a statement, as quoted by the Guardian.

Well-preserved artifacts from the Titanic can fetch small fortunes at auction. In April, a gold pocket watch recovered from the body of John Jacob Astor, the richest man on the Titanic, sold at a UK auction house for £1.18 million ($1.47 million). The sale of the watch surpassed the previous record-holder for most expensive Titanic artifact, a violin that played as the ship sank, which fetched $1.6 million in 2013 via the same auctioneer, Henry Aldridge & Son.

Objects related to the Titanic, auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said at the time, "reflect not only the importance of the artifacts themselves and their rarity but they also show the enduring appeal and fascination with the Titanic story.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/article/bronze-diana-statue-recovered-from-titanic-wreckage-in-new-expedition/ar-AA1q09qA