Author: The Conversation

If you’re a paid subscriber to ChatGPT, you may have noticed the artificial intelligence (AI) large language model has recently started to sound more human when you are having audio interactions with it. That’s because the company behind the language model-cum-chatbot, OpenAI, is currently running a limited pilot of a new feature known as “advanced voice mode”. OpenAI says this new mode “features more natural, real-time conversations that pick up on and respond with emotion and non-verbal cues”. It plans for all paid ChatGPT subscribers to have access to the advanced voice mode in the coming months. Advanced voice mode sounds strikingly…

Most space mission systems historically have used one spacecraft designed to complete an entire mission independently. Whether it was a weather satellite or a human-crewed module like Apollo, nearly every spacecraft was deployed and performed its one-off mission completely on its own. But today, space industry organizations are exploring missions with many satellites working together. For example, SpaceX’s Starlink constellations include thousands of satellites. And new spacecraft could soon have the capabilities to link up or engage with other satellites in orbit for repairs or refueling. Some of these spacecraft are already operating and serving customers, such as Northrop Grumman’s mission extension vehicle.…

Generative artificial intelligence is poison for human creativity, according to conventional media wisdom. “Plagiarism machines” is how Breaking Bad author Vince Gilligan has described the large language models (LLMs) used to train the likes of ChatGPT and Claude. Hundreds of copyright claims have been filed against AI companies – from Stable Diffusion (sued by Getty Images) to Midjourney (sued by a group of artists). Most famous is the New York Times vs Open AI case, which many lawyers think raises such conundrums that it might go to the US Supreme Court. Sony Music fired off 700 legal letters to AI companies threatening retribution for any music theft. Many artists have…

What parent hasn’t been there? It’s been a long day, you still have dinner to make, maybe lunches for tomorrow too, and you just don’t have the energy to wrangle your kids into a new art project or plead with them to pick up a book. Instead, you give in when they beg for more iPad time. Or maybe they promise they’ll do their homework after just a few more YouTube videos, and it’s easier to agree than have another argument. Now you’re not only exhausted, you feel like a bad parent too. If this resonates with you, you’re not…

Have you ever wanted to make a $150,000 gamble? If you’re right, you open a new window to the universe. But if you’re wrong, you’ve just wasted a lot of money and time. That is exactly what my team did when we pointed the Keck telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawai’i at what looked like empty space, hoping to reveal the hidden gas that shrouds all galaxies in the universe. There were cheers in the control room when we realised our gamble had paid off. In a study published today in Nature Astronomy, we reveal the first detailed picture of the…

Two astronauts have carried out the first-ever commercial spacewalk, using new less-bulky spacesuits designed by SpaceX. Tech billionaire Jared Isaacman (who also funded the mission) and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis together spent almost half an hour outside their spacecraft at an altitude of some 700 km, further from Earth than any human since the Apollo Moon landings. The brief jaunt into the void is a significant milestone for commercial spaceflight, with the spacecraft, suits and the overall mission all being SpaceX productions. What’s so interesting about the mission? The Polaris Dawn mission stands out for several reasons. In terms of science…

South Africa is poised to become a major player in the global energy transition, thanks to its vast renewable energy resources (sun and wind) and its plans for green hydrogen production. Green hydrogen is produced through electrolysis, where renewable electricity splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. Unlike grey hydrogen, which is derived from fossil fuels, green hydrogen emits no greenhouse gases – only water vapour. It is seen as a good alternative to fossil fuels in sectors that are hard to electrify, such as heavy industry, aviation and long-haul transportation. We are chemical engineers, with over five decades of combined experience in the…

As someone who helped set up one of the first iPhones back in late 2007 on live TV, I found the launch of the first iteration of Apple’s smartphone an exciting time. At the launch in June of that year, a grinning Steve Jobs proudly held up that early device to the obvious delight of Apple fans. Did the late Apple founder know then that he would change the future of mobile communication forever? That breakthrough device was revolutionary, transforming the way people interact with each other. At a launch event on Monday, September 9, Apple released details of its new…

When the International Astronomical Union announced in 2006 that Pluto was being demoted from its status as the Sun’s ninth planet, many astronomers and non-experts alike were shocked. Pluto remains an important object for study, though. Today it is considered one of many dwarf planets beyond Neptune, in a doughnut-shaped region of mostly icy debris orbiting the Sun called the Kuiper Belt. These outskirts of the solar system remain largely unexplored. They were first reached by US space agency NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft; it flew close to Pluto in 2015, revealing spectacular images of the dwarf planet’s surface and atmosphere. But there’s still plenty to learn.…

Boeing’s crew transport space capsule, the Starliner, returned to Earth without its two-person crew right after midnight Eastern time on Sept. 7, 2024. Its remotely piloted return marked the end of a fraught test flight to the International Space Station which left two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams, on the station for months longer than intended after thruster failures led NASA to deem the capsule unsafe to pilot back. Wilmore and Williams will stay on the International Space Station until February 2025, when they’ll return to Earth on a SpaceX Dragon capsule. The Conversation U.S. asked former commander of the International Space…