Hello, this is Kasmira. The eight edition of the ITU's AI for Good Summit got officially underway yesterday – its focus ostensibly on the positive scenarios in which artificial intelligence can be used for the benefit of humanity.
This year, the cavernous bunker of the International Conference Centre was transformed into an illusion of a utopian world – one where AI revolutionises medicine, helps cure depression, and where AI-powered exoskeletons assist people with injuries to walk again. (Visit our website for more coverage on this later today).
AI wizards were working their magic to ward off the AI's darker side – the one where cyber crime and misinformation explodes, biases increase, and human rights are undermined. But conversations about the risks of AI – and how to regulate them – were also inevitably a focal point of discussions as well, as this interview with the ICRC on the worrying use of AI in the battlefield, shows. |
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Robots playing football at the AI for Good Summit in Geneva, 30 May 2024. (Geneva Solutions/Michelle Langrand)
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The ITU’s annual AI for Good Summit
has become a flagship event attracting thousands of tech enthusiasts to Geneva to see robots eerily imitating the living world. Here are some of our favourite innovations currently being presented at this year’s edition.
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⚽︎Score!
If robots could master the world’s most popular sport, that would mean their motor skills could be at a human level. That’s at least the idea behind Robocup, a yearly football tournament bringing some 30 robotics teams from universities worldwide. The winning teams then pass on the code to next year’s competitors so they can build on it and improve the robots, explained Emilio Palma, a student at ETH Zurich and a member of the Nomadz team showcasing one of its earlier projects.
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🐾Your steely best friend.
Xiaomi’s Doberman-looking CyberDog 2 doesn’t need to be fed or taken out, but it will certainly keep its owners entertained. It can bark, walk, backflip and talk back... At around $1,500 in China, it may come cheaper than caring for an actual dog, but we’re not sure it will ever really replace man’s best friend.
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🐝Beekeeping it simple.
Some of the best innovations appear as the least sophisticated ones. Beekee’s bright yellow carryable server is an example of that. It is used by NGOs to bring learning courses to remote areas without internet connection at a low cost and has been deployed in over 30 countries already, according to co-CEO Vincent Widmer.
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🌊HEADWINDS.
The US aid pier in Gaza has run into trouble after a part of the port broke off on Wednesday, reportedly due to bad weather, forcing the US military to suspend deliveries two weeks after the $320 million structure began operations.
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What’s next.
The damaged parts will be taken for reparations, which could take more than a week. Some 137 trucks of aid were transported in that time, according to the World Food Programme. The initiative faced scepticism from the beginning by the aid sector, which has repeatedly said that the most efficient way to deliver aid to Gazans going hungry is land transportation, though Israel’s raid into Rafah has halted aid deliveries from Egypt.
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Here's what else is happening
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