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Formula 1 Racing Teams Are Winning With AI

McLaren’s is using AI to support its Formula One team and enhance car performance, simplify operations, and further grow its business.

The company’s Director of Business Technology, Dan Keyworth, recently shared how McLaren is using AI to gain an edge over their competition:

• Virtual replicas of cars simulate real race conditions, helping teams test and refine strategies before the rubber hits the track.

• AI simulations optimize crucial decisions like pit-stop timing and tire selection, with accuracy that’s “almost scary,” as put by Keyworth.

• McLaren’s miniature server rooms travel with the F1 team to each race location, allowing them to process new data in real time during the race.

Other teams, including Red Bull and Aston Martin Aramco, are also embracing AI. Aston Martin Aramco leverages "data lakes" and predictive analytics to assess tires, weather, and track conditions, enhancing decision-making. CIO Clare Lansley noted that these tools free up engineers to focus on improving car performance.

In a sport where milliseconds determine the outcome, the use of AI signals a shift in how Formula One teams approach the race—not just on the track, but in the data wars behind the scenes. 🏎️💨

Drone Warfare Revolutionizes Ukraine Conflict

Ukraine's use of drones and AI in warfare has been rapidly evolving and unprecedented, transforming the nature of combat on the modern battlefield.

• The country is collecting vast amounts of war data to train AI models, including over two million hours of combat video footage since 2022, according to Reuters.

• An initiative called OCHI consolidates and evaluates video footage from over 15,000 drones operating on the frontlines.

• A system called Avengers, used by the Ukraine Defense ministry, centralizes footage from drones and can reportedly detect around 12,000 Russian military assets weekly using AI identification techniques.

Oleksandr Dmitriev, founder of OCHI, told Reuters that this data “is food for the AI: If you want to teach an AI, you give it 2 million hours (of video).”

Meanwhile, Russia has ramped up its drone production efforts as well, reportedly manufacturing thousands of Shahed drones domestically to bolster its offensive operations in Ukraine.

Coming up: further miniaturization with nano-drones, more autonomous AI-powered drones that perform coordinated missions in swarms, and the development of hypersonic drones.

War just got a lot more complex with AI.

WOMAN IN TECH

Meet Emmanuelle Charpentier & Jennifer A. Doudna, the 2020 Nobel Laureates in Chemistry

Celebrating this week’s Women in Tech 🥳: Meet Emmanuelle Charpentier & Jennifer Doudna, the scientists who earned the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on CRISPR-Cas9.

The gene-editing technology is considered one of the most significant biological breakthroughs since discovering the structure of DNA.

Born in France, Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier earned her PhD in microbiology from the Pasteur Institute in 1995. Her work focused on bacterial RNA molecules, eventually leading her to the Umeå Centre for Microbial Research in Sweden, where she made her groundbreaking CRISPR discoveries.

Born in the US, Dr. Jennifer Doudna completed her PhD in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School in 1989. As a professor at Yale, she made a major breakthrough in RNA research by visualizing one of the first complex RNA molecules.

Their Journey Together:

• 2011: Dr. Charpentier discovered tracrRNA, a critical molecule in the CRISPR system, while studying harmful bacteria.

• Early 2012: She partnered with Dr. Doudna, an RNA expert, to transform this discovery into a unique new DNA-editing tool.

• Late 2012: Their work led to CRISPR-Cas9. Described as molecular "scissors," CRISPR-Cas9 is a genetic tool that allows scientists to precisely edit DNA sequences.

Why CRISPR Matters?

CRISPR is revolutionizing science and medicine. It holds immense potential for treating genetic conditions such as cancer, hepatitis B, and high cholesterol. In agriculture, it’s helping develop pest-resistant crops and improve food security.

Researchers are even exploring bold possibilities like reviving extinct species.

A Legacy of Inspiration

Dr. Charpentier and Dr. Doudna did not only transform genetic science but also made history, becoming the first all-female team to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. 😎

Robots Setting Records: Fair Game or Not?

Toyota's humanoid robot has made history by setting a Guinness World Record for the longest basketball shot by a robot, sinking a basket from almost 25m away. The “CUE” bot uses machine learning to adjust its posture and arm movement and shoot near-perfect shots.

CUE’s first attempt hit the rim and bounced away, but it was able to land the shot on its second try. The robot also holds a record for most consecutive free throws by a bot after it made 2,020 of them in a row.

While it's an impressive engineering achievement, some argue that awarding records to machines isn’t quite the same as recognizing human accomplishments. What do you think?

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