WEBVTT - Tech News: AI Getting Armed and More Dangerous 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:12.319 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:16.120 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host Jonathan Strickland, 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:19.360 Diamond Executive producer with iHeartRadio and how the tech are you. 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:25.080 It's time for the tech news for Tuesday, August twenty ninth, 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:28.960 twenty twenty three. We got a lot of heavy talk 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:33.559 about AI to get through today. First up, US Senator 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:38.200 Chuck Schumer will host an insight forum focused on AI 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:42.839 on September thirteenth. His office has confirmed there will be 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:47.120 several important folks in tech who are present at this event. 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:51.880 One of those is Elon Musk, who co founded open 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:55.000 Ai before he left that organization to go make his 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:59.960 own AI development team with Blackjack and well never mind. 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:04.400 Another is Mark Zuckerberg, which makes me wonder if Schumer 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:07.960 is prepared to keep Musk and Zuckerberg apart, since you 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:11.000 never know when they'll revert back to being high school 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:15.480 alpha male types and starts scrapping in the hallway between classes. 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:18.480 Eric Schmidt is also supposed to be there. He was 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:23.319 the former CEO of Google. Sundar Pichai, who is the 0:01:23.400 --> 0:01:26.840 current CEO of Alphabet, which is Google's parent company. He's 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:30.319 going to be there, and of course Sam Altman, the 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:33.840 CEO of Open AI itself, will take part in this, 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:37.319 and the conversation is going to be a lot around 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:41.320 like the risks and benefits of AI and the development 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:46.839 of a US policy on regulating artificial intelligence. Now, these 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:48.640 folks are not going to be the only ones there, 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:51.800 which is a good thing, because if the only folks 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:54.680 at the table happen to be the ones who are 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:58.880 eager to avoid as much regulation as possible, you probably 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:02.000 wouldn't make a whole lot of progress. Schumer's office says 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:05.760 that there will be representatives from civil rights groups and 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:09.000 worker advocacy groups and creatives and that sort of thing 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:12.920 as well. The proceedings themselves will actually be done behind 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:16.680 closed doors, so there won't be any reporters allowed inside 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:19.359 while this is going on, but Schumer says his office 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:22.840 will release essentially a summary of what went on during 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:27.160 the discussions. I suspect the tech executives will do their 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:32.960 best to reduce any impact of proposed regulations because otherwise 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:36.040 that kind of affects their bottom line. Now, I do 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:39.960 think a serious discussion about artificial intelligence does need to 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:42.880 happen as soon as possible, and I don't just mean 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:46.920 generative AI. That gets a lot of headlines, but it 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:51.120 is not the one and only application of artificial intelligence 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:54.959 by far. For example, according to Jared Keller, who was 0:02:55.000 --> 0:03:00.000 writing for Military dot Com, the US Army will potentially 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:03.080 they soon conduct tests in which they will mount the 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:07.720 Army's new sig sour x seven squad rifle to a 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:12.280 four legged robot provided by Ghost Robotics. The Army already 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:16.000 did a similar test with a robot from Ghost Robotics, 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:19.160 and they used an m for a one carbine in 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:23.160 those tests. Representatives for the Army have said these tests 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:28.320 are to explore human machine interaction in Army operations, but 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:31.600 they do not necessarily indicate that there is a plan 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:35.600 for these robots to be quote unquote deployed down range. 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.760 That is, the Army might test the stuff out, but 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:43.320 that doesn't necessarily mean that in the not two distant future, 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:47.240 four legged robots armed with machine guns will be blasting 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:50.960 their way through combat zones. So let's just test chill out. 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:55.640 Critics have repeatedly voiced concerns about arming semi autonomous and 0:03:55.680 --> 0:04:00.760 remotely controlled devices, arguing that can lead to conflict escalation 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:04.200 and that the act of ending a human life should 0:04:04.240 --> 0:04:09.000 be entirely up to another human, which, y'all, I understand 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:11.400 that on one hand, but it's really messed up to 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:15.080 think about it, right, Like, no, this should be left 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.320 to a person who will then be left to try 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:19.839 and deal with that trauma. But at the same time 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:22.080 you think, well, sure it should be up to a 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:27.040 person and not just automated, because that is really super 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:30.640 dark and grim. But then I am admittedly a hippie 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:33.919 dippy type who isn't so big on the concept of 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:37.520 ending human lives in the first place. Anyway. It's not 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:41.520 just human rights advocates who have voiced concerns. Several robotics companies, 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:46.760 including famously Boston Dynamics, have protested the move to weaponize 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:50.039 the technologies that they work on. Last year, those companies 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:53.960 released an open letter that in part reads, quote, we 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:57.000 believe that adding weapons to robots that are remotely or 0:04:57.040 --> 0:05:01.240 autonomously operated, widely available to the public, and capable of 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:05.200 navigating to previously inaccessible locations where people live and work 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:10.880 raises new risks of harm and serious ethical issues. Weaponized 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:14.640 applications of these newly capable robots will also harm public 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:18.240 trust in the technology in ways that damage the tremendous 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:22.880 benefits they will bring to society end quote. Obviously, this 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:25.800 has not stopped the US Army and other nations are 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:30.320 similarly experimenting with weaponized robotic platforms. So I guess you 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:34.760 could say that unless everyone around the world agrees to 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:37.960 back off on doing this and then actually follows through 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:41.160 on that promise, the only other option you have is 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:44.680 to develop the stuff yourself, which again is pretty grim. 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:49.400 But wait, it gets even scarier. So not to be outdone, 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:53.640 the US Air Force is seeking a research budget to 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:58.279 build at least a thousand unmanned aircraft that can operate 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:03.479 autonomously and I'm talking being weaponized aircraft. These vehicles would 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:07.160 serve as wingmen to human pilots and would provide support 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:10.680 and cover during combat operations. They could also be sent 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:14.400 on suicide missions to achieve combat goals in scenarios where 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:18.320 the possibility of survival is approaching zero. As such, the 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:22.120 aircraft would need to be autonomous and armed. One candidate 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:25.320 for the vehicle that the Air Force could potentially use 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:29.480 in this program comes from a company called Kratos Defense. 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:32.080 It actually makes me wonder if the company chose that 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:35.080 name after the character from the God of War franchise. 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:37.719 That game came out in two thousand and five, and 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:40.880 the company that is now known as Kratos Defense actually 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:44.479 chose that name in two thousand and seven, two years 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:48.920 after the game came out. If that's the case, yikes. Anyway, 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:53.320 the platform itself is called Valkyrie, which is really another yikes. 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:58.279 Valkyrie were Odin's war maidens who would escort fallen warriors 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:02.200 to Valhalla. Force has been using the Valkyrie aircraft as 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:05.760 a support platform for connectivity purposes, essentially acting like a 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:10.800 network bridge between other aircraft and other autonomous vehicles that 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:14.400 are under Air Force control. But current plans involve using 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:17.880 a Valkyrie in a simulation to identify, chase, down, and 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:21.720 then take down a target over the Gulf of Mexico 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:26.560 in in a test of its capabilities, which is a 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:30.240 triple yikes really, as you can imagine. Critics have protested 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:33.320 this initiative as well, with the same sort of arguments 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:36.040 that they make for the four legged robots being armed 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:38.600 by the army, But the Air Force will be requesting 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:41.520 a nearly six billion dollar budget to pursue this plan 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:46.040 over the course of the next five years. Today is 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:49.400 the first day of Google's Cloud Next conference, an event 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:52.360 where AI will be one of many topics under discussion. 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:57.160 Google will launch an interesting tool at this conference called Synthid. 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:02.200 This tool applies a watermark to AI generated images. The 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:05.280 watermark is meant to be unnoticed by human eyes, so 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:06.720 when you look at the picture, you don't see that 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:09.360 there's a watermark there, but it's meant to be easily 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:13.840 detectable with any AI detection tool, which is pretty clever. 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:16.960 The watermark won't affect how we perceive the image, but 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:19.720 will also reveal itself to be the product of AI generation, 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:22.880 and Google says the watermark's design is such that you 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:25.240 could edit the image, You could crop it, you could 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:28.440 deform it, stretch it in various ways, and the watermarks 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:32.040 should be unaffected. Google engineers haven't gone into a lot 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:34.120 of detail about how this works because they don't want 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:37.160 to tip their hand too much lest folks immediately find 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:39.439 ways to gain the system and get around the tool. 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:42.400 But they have also said that this is really just 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:45.400 the beginning of Synthid. This tool is going to face 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:48.920 real world tests. People will find ways around it. Like, 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:51.920 that's just a fact, and the engineers at Google are 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:55.040 saying this, and that's going to prompt changes and improvements 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:57.600 on Google side, and that's just how things work. It's 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:01.280 essentially the exact same pattern we saw with captures. There 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:03.760 are lots of reasons that you would want to employ 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:06.680 a tool like this, ranging from everything from preventing the 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:10.640 spread of misinformation with deep fakes to avoiding the problem 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:14.040 of just mixing up images of actual real world things 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.160 with AI generated images of stuff that may or may 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:20.280 not exist. So there are a lot of different practical 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:22.640 applications for this technology. I'm sure we'll hear a lot 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:26.600 more about it as the Cloud Next conference continues. General 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:29.679 motors will be talking more about how it is using 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:35.120 conversational AI as the Cloud Next Conference continues, specifically with 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:38.280 the on Star service. So on Star is a connected 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:41.360 feature built into some vehicles that lets the driver get 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:46.640 support for all sorts of things ranging from the quasi 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:51.000 trivial to the very serious. GM is using conversational AI 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:55.080 to handle the more mundane, low urgency requests. You know, 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:57.520 like if you want to use on Star to help 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:01.439 guide you in navigating to your final destination in your 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:03.760 car that doesn't have to be a human being to 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:08.400 actually manage that. That could be an AI agent helping 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:11.360 you with that task. For stuff that's more important, like 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:16.280 reporting a crash or asking that you know someone like 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:20.160 an EMT be sent to your location, those calls get 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:24.800 routed to human operators, which is totally understandable, and by 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:28.840 offloading the low urgency stuff to AI, GM says it 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:31.240 has decreased the weight time to get in touch with 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:33.880 human operators, and obviously that's a good thing if you 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:35.920 really need to speak to someone in the event of 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:39.280 an emergency. According to GM, the response to the AI 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:43.120 assistance has been mostly positive among drivers, and this is 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:45.520 the kind of implementation I can really get behind, using 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:49.040 AI to offload less important tasks so that people with 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:52.199 specialized knowledge and training can handle the more important ones, 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:57.120 particularly ones that benefit from a human touch. Okay, we've 0:10:57.160 --> 0:10:59.040 got a lot more news stories to go, but let's 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:11.760 take a quick break. Okay, we're back, and next up, 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:15.120 we've got another story with artificial intelligence, along with some 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:19.439 arguably dumb real behavior. At least in my opinion, it's 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:23.760 pretty dumb. So Elon Musk, owner of x formerly known 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:27.800 as Twitter, and the CEO of Tesla, live streamed a 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:33.199 demonstration of Tesla's upcoming full self driving Version twelve software 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:36.359 with him sitting in the driver's seat of a Tesla. 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:38.920 This version of full self driving has yet to be 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:43.079 released to Tesla owners, and during the demo, Musk broke 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:46.520 a California law which says you're not supposed to have 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:49.360 a phone in your hand while you're operating a vehicle. 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:53.480 Elon Musk definitely did do that. Follow up on that, 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:57.199 police are not going to pursue Musk for this because 0:11:57.200 --> 0:12:01.400 no police officer directly witnessed it happening. That's a prerequisite 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:04.320 for charging someone if it's just a video or whatever. 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:07.120 Cops did not see it at the time, they will 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:10.439 not go after Musk. Plus, even if they did, the 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:12.880 penalty for your first offense can be as low as 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:16.120 a twenty dollars fine, so it's not like it wouldn't 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:21.439 mean anything. Also, Musk was technically violating Tesla's own policies 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:24.640 because the company says that full self driving is a 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:27.240 hands on feature and that drivers are supposed to keep 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:29.920 their hands on the steering wheel at all times, and 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:33.960 Elon Musk definitively did not do that, so he was 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.040 defying his own company's policies. But anyway, let's put all 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:41.360 that aside for now. During this demonstration, at one point, 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:44.760 Musk actually had to take control of the Tesla to 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:47.760 prevent it from running a red light. That's not a 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:51.200 great moment when you're demonstrating the supposed full self driving 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:55.280 capability of your vehicle. Musk also used Google to look 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:58.760 up Mark Zuckerberg's address and then showed it on camera, 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:02.440 but he said that doesn't to doxing anyone because you 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:05.320 could just google the way he did. To be fair 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:08.440 to Tesla, there were several segments of the drive in 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:13.280 which the vehicle navigated through construction zones and roundabouts and 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:17.559 didn't have any performance issues. Musk also pointed out that 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:21.600 Tesla's now rely solely on optical cameras rather than sensors 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:25.200 like LDAR. Another interesting note is that Musk did this 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:28.720 demonstration while his company is preparing to defend itself in 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:32.680 the first of a couple of oncoming court cases that 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:36.040 are arguing that the company's driver assist features led to 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:39.679 fatal accidents. So the first court case should begin in 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:44.720 California in mid September. And it's a civil lawsuit stems 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:47.640 from a twenty nineteen accident in which a Tesla owner 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:51.360 named Micah Lee died when his Tesla, which was in 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:55.599 autopilot mode, veered off a highway. It collided with a 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:59.320 tree and then burst into flames. Two passengers in Lee's 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:03.000 car suffered suitvarious injuries, but survive the crash. The second 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:07.400 court case is scheduled for October in Florida and centers 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:10.360 on a different crash that happened in twenty nineteen. That's 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:13.400 when Stephen Banner's Model three failed to detect a big 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:16.480 rig truck that was crossing the road ahead of him, 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:21.480 and his Tesla collided with the trailer, which killed Stephen Banner. 0:14:21.880 --> 0:14:25.120 I can't imagine the lawyers at Tesla are super thrilled 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:28.480 about Elon Musk showing off full self driving on a 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:32.120 live stream, especially in a demonstration that required him to 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:36.000 take over to avoid running a red light. While simultaneously 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:39.880 preparing for these court cases, Microsoft will soon release version 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:43.400 one seventeen of the Edge web browser and will actually 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:47.000 be removing some features in the process. Microsoft said the 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:50.280 decision to remove the tools was to quote improve end 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:54.320 user experience and simplify the more tools menu end quote. 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:57.680 As reported by The Verge, truth be told, I hadn't 0:14:57.720 --> 0:14:59.760 even heard of these features at all, so it's quite 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:02.200 poossible that very few people are making use of them. 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:05.560 Then again, according to at least some statistical analysis firms, 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:08.600 Microsoft Edge commands just five percent of the web browser 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:11.520 market in total, so you could argue very few people 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:15.840 are making use of Edge full stop anyway. The features 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:22.400 affected are picture dictionary citations, math Solver, kids Mode, and 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:25.320 grammar tools. If you are one of the few elite 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:29.840 that this actually will affect, you have my condolences. Microsoft 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:33.520 will push this update out of the beta phase. In 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:36.560 mid September, Carl Bode of tech Dirt wrote a piece 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:39.600 explaining how e byte companies, through a trade organization called 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:42.920 People for Bikes, has lobbied lawmakers in the United States 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:45.360 to make exceptions for e bikes in various right to 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:48.680 repair laws. Essentially, these companies are trying to make sure 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:51.520 that they can maintain control of the entire ecosystem for 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:54.520 their products, rather than open up so that customers can 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:58.160 either perform their own maintenance and repairs or to seek 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:01.600 those from an independent repair shop. The argument that the 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:03.960 group has been making is one we have heard before, 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:07.320 that this is really for the customer's safety. The group 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:09.440 argues that allowing people to do their own maintenance and 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:12.560 repair could lead to an increased risk of stuff like fires, 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:15.840 and while e bikes have been one of those electronic 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:18.720 products that have had problems with batteries catching on fire, 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.400 that has had more to do with poor manufacturing processes 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:26.080 than anything else. In fact, when pressed to cite figures 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:28.400 about how many fires were the result of an e 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:31.120 bike owner trying to do their own repairs, a rep 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:34.440 for the group said that the stories were quote unquote anecdotal, 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:36.800 which is another way of saying, I don't have any 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:40.560 evidence that this is actually a thing. And apparently these 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:43.640 lobbying efforts have been pretty effective, with e bikes getting 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:46.880 exceptions and several right to repair laws around the United States, 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:50.560 though not as tech Dirt reports in Minnesota. However, the 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:53.920 Minnesota law did make exceptions for game consoles, medical equipment, 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:57.480 and cars. Back in two thousand and eight, California voters 0:16:57.480 --> 0:17:00.880 approved initial funding for a high speed rails within the state. 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:03.560 This is the same system that would later prompt Elon 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:05.400 Musk to say the whole thing was a huge waste 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:07.600 of money, and that a hyper loop system would be 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:11.080 faster and more effective. Of course, the hyper loop failed 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:13.800 to materialize, and despite several companies trying to make it 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:16.679 a thing, it has never manifested, at least not in 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:20.840 the way that Musk initially promoted it anyway. In the meantime, 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:23.560 over those years, the project for high speed rail has 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:27.000 moved forward, though very slowly, with the state engaged in 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:30.840 construction across hundreds of miles in California while still working 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:34.840 to receive environmental approval for some key stretches, and now 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:38.080 that project is officially putting out an RFQ, or Request 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:41.000 for Qualifications to look for vendors who would provide the 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:43.520 actual trains that will travel on those rails once they 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:46.919 are finished. Interested companies will need to respond to the 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:51.280 RFQ by November. The California High Speed Rail Authority will 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:53.879 consider the candidates and then narrow the search in early 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:56.439 twenty twenty four. To qualify, the companies will have to 0:17:56.440 --> 0:17:58.520 be able to build trains that can operate at speeds 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:01.360 of two hundred and twenty miles per hour, with tests 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:03.639 as high as two hundred and forty two miles per 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:07.920 hour at least according to Los Angeles news outlet KTLA five. 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:11.080 The company selected will have to build all the trains 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:13.639 for the system and provide access to spare parts for 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:17.199 thirty years, which is important. Here in Atlanta, we have 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:19.720 a train system where the company that made the trains 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:24.000 doesn't exist anymore, so getting replacement parts requires a lot 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:26.960 more work. The authority's goal is to have the high 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:29.760 speed rail service in action by twenty thirty. Personally, I 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:31.800 have my doubts that it will be ready by then, 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:34.960 simply because these projects are so huge and complicated, and 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:38.320 made even more complex through local and state politics, which 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:41.640 change with every election. But here's hoping California is able 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:44.760 to see this project come to completion and perhaps serve 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:47.800 as a model that other states could follow. The lack 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:50.600 of high speed rail lines across the United States is 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:54.920 pretty embarrassing. Our final story is about how some hackers 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:57.960 say they have infiltrated a company called web Detective, which 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:02.000 makes spyware, and they have subsequent deleted all the device 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:05.399 information that the company had, which will make it impossible 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:09.600 for web Detective to collect additional data from those compromised devices. 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:13.080 According to Engadget. That means around seventy six thousand devices 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:17.480 will no longer be spying on their owners. Not all 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:21.240 heroes wear capes, some of them wear hoodies. All right, 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:25.000 that's it for the tech News for Tuesday, August twenty 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:28.399 ninth to twenty twenty three. I hope you are all well, 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:38.560 and I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech Stuff 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:43.160 is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:46.720 the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:51.280 your favorite shows.