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There are now few of you that haven't been exposed to AI, not always by choice. Some of the better articles follow:
A Swiss startup named PremAI
is raising $100 million USD so that law firms and hedge funds can own their own AI instead of renting it. The
private AI infrastructure is meant for companies that canot send sensitive data through Anthropic or OpenAI.
Their offering includes Fluso, an encrypted AI workspace that automates projects and runs agents. The basic
appeal is for a product that never uses a third-party cloud and is privilege protected.
MIT has developed a memory algorithm
that lets robots remember where you left something. Called DAAAM, it commbines computer vision with 3D mapping so
that robots can track objects over time and answer simple questions about where they are. (Handiness seems to
have won over surveillance.) DAAAM stands for Describe Anything, Anywhere, Anytime, at Any Moment. The system
already works well enough to be used in real time although it is not available for consumers yet. (But you can
find a tongue-in-cheek derivation in our current Electronic Quill article titled The Dorkville
Polka.)
Researchers at the University of
Florida have taught AI to analyze and detect Alzheimer's disease risks from retinal photos. The algorithm
examines the retina's arteries and optic nerve with a system that is non-invasive and less
expensive than brain scans. It can
identify these risk factors decades before symptoms appear.
A robotic
exoskeleton has been developed that identifies how stroke survivors relearn to walk. The data allow
therapists to respond to a patient's movements and adapt therapies as the walking evolves over time. Results
indicate that patients attained a greater range of motion, took longer and higher steps, and had greater muscle
control than with current therapies.
We have barely figured out how humans think. We are now confronted with the same
problem: we really don't know how LLM's reach their conclusions or how to predict when they will fail. It's called
unpicking AI's mind and is causing headaches for researchers and companies. Basically, algorithms are built on artificial
neural networks. Those networks combine into complex architectures. The basic units of information are accurate, but the
resulting code frequently has mistakes. The next step involves continuous retraining. Through trial and error, the
algorithm improves. Yet we don't know how or why. A new theory/method is developing called mechanistic interpretability.
Anthropic, Alphabet, and OpenAI are leading the effort. One major roadblock has appeared: algorithms are advancing
faster than our ability to understand them. We ask for explanations, we ask them to analyze each other, we ask them to
compete against each other. But with the speed of their development, we lag further behind. At the same time, they are
rapidly learning more about us. Human competition enters the fray: how do we encourage responsible disclosure among ourselves, particularly
in the cut-throat environment now prevailing.
Engineers at
MIT have fabricated an ultrasound wristband for a human to wear which captures the movement of tendons, ligaments, and
muscles under the skin. This data will then be used to train robots which at the moment have trouble with tasks like
grasping a cup. The goal is dexterous hand motion, initially under human control but eventually without it.
Also at MIT, a method is being developed
to enable AI algorithms to do more than combine data. The LLM's will be able to restructure, not just reiterate. Not just
respond to commands, but make decisions and change strategies. We are talking about algorithms that make Nobel-Prize-Worthy
discoveries on their own.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge claim
they have made the world's first vaccine totally AI produced that could protect against large groups of viruses
and prevent pandemics. The product is like a "super-antigen" that could train the immune system to protect against
families of viruses, even if they mutated or jumped from animals to humans. The first trials, on 39 people, are said
to be followed by 200 humans. Results so far are said to be "modest" but encouraging.
Secret strategies apparently being tested at
Microsoft show that the company is planning to make people addicted to its new AI Scout assistant. The discovery
highlights a growing concern over using AI to manipulate and control people's emotions and actions. The process involves
growing an ecosystem that people will depend on daily. It appears that the system is already being tested on more than
1,000 employees at the company.
Now on to July art treats:
Jerry Ross Barrish
uses plastic found materials to build charming figures and assemblages. He tells us, "Capturing gesture, form, and
movement to bring life to this refuse is the essence of my art."
Inci Eviner begins her performance and video works with
drawings, which you can see here. She focuses on power and politics affecting the female body, but the drawings especially
bring us closer to the passion and power of her vision.
Many of us are familiar with the paintings of
Willem-de-Kooning. Less well-known are his drawings, shown at the Art Institute of Chicago. Always seeking
invention and new forms, De Kooning would
sometimes draw with his eyes closed.
The British Museum
gives us an extraordinary opportunity to view the works of Egyptian scribes scribbled on papyrus. The Egyptians were
immensely proficient in math, which they used to organize and manage their lives. Along with the numbers, you will see
paintings and little models of people engaged in their daily activities.
Karoliina Hellberg fills her works with a
multitude of signs and symbols, merging the ordinary with the ethereal. She tells us, "the same space contains diferent
truths."
Gabriela Sincich marries the natural and feminine
worlds. She sometimes uses the dip pen and ink drawing technique, a laborious process that demands concentration
and tremendous patience.
Maruzio Cattelan is known for
his provocative and frequently outrageous works, like macabre observations on futility and helplessness. His cynical
comments on human existence are difficult to look at yet hard to turn away from.
The Central Saint Martin's College of Art and Design in London treats us to
the BA Fashion class
of 2026. Enjoy the vivid imagination and unbridled curiosity of these talented newcomers to the fashion world.
Lovers of unusual contemporary architcture will enjoy seeing the Metropol
Parasol in Seville, Spain. Designed by the German architecture studio J Mayer H and engineering firm Arup,
the timbered canopy floats above food markets, bars and restaurants.
Alex
Chinneck has built some eye-popping displays for Dior in the U.S. Fantasy and
surrealism fill these windows along with a sense of delight.
c. Corinne Whitaker 2026
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