Tech News Digest: Fusion, AI Porn, and Cognitive Fingerprinting

By Maya Schmidt

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the seventeenth bi-weekly Tech News Digest by the GISA Technology and Security Initiative. Our goal is to give you an easy-to-read overview of what has been happening in the world of technology and security. To do so we have chosen a few of the top news stories from the last two weeks and present you with a summary. If you are interested in learning more follow the links below.

Fusion Power Re-Emerges

Several private fusion companies are moving from the small-scale lab to the larger electrical grid, with plans from General Fusion (Canada), Tokamak Energy (UK), Commonwealth Fusion Systems (USA), Helion Energy (USA), TAE Technologies (USA), and First Light Fusion (UK) all rapidly emerging with plans for their next-to-last prototypes of power stations. Fusion power has remained the great white whale of the energy industry since the 30s. Advances in technology now leave us tantalisingly close to a clean energy future.

The timeline for all of these projects runs from now through to the early 2030s, with the goal being to have power stations feeding their respective energy grids by this point.

Read more at The Economist.

AI Pornography

AI company Replika is restoring erotic role play for some users with its AI chatbot as of the 25th of March, 2023. This and similar “AI relationships” are being hotly debated for their relative psychological benefits and drawbacks, with some predicting that these relationships could supersede human bonds.

There are also growing concerns about the threat of AI and deep fake porn becoming increasingly widespread. Serious issues arise around blackmail using faked pornography.

Read more at Dazed.

Cognitive Fingerprinting

Professor Nita Farahany identifies how ChatGPT exemplifies the beginnings of the capacity to begin mapping individual cognitive patterns in her latest book, The Battle For Your Brain. More direct attempts at achieving this are currently underway with Elon Musk’s Neuralink and Zuckerberg’s Meta.

Read more at The Guardian.

Whilst you are here!

The Graduate Press is currently raising funds for our 5th-anniversary print edition and we need your help. The last 5 years at the institute have seen some incredible highs and lows and TGP has been there for them all. Now TGP wants to immortalise that history.

If you can, we are currently accepting donations via our GoFundMe page. And if you would like to be involved with The Graduate Press and the 5th-anniversary edition you can email us at gisa.thegraduate@graduateinstitute.ch or via Instagram.