Catch up on this month’s round-up of the latest hosting and tech news. Here’s what we’ve uncovered since our last edition.
AI Spy
The head of the UK Secret Intelligence Service, Richard Moore, and the director of the CIA, Bill Burns, have disclosed that their organisations are now using generative AI to improve intelligence operations. In an article for the Financial Times, they detailed how they are using AI to assist with tasks such as summarising extensive data, generating ideas and filtering essential information from the masses of data they collect. The intelligence chiefs also emphasised how important AI has become in keeping their operations safe, with the technology being developed to maintain confidentiality.
Both agencies have also partnered with innovative companies in the UK, US and other countries, as well as combining cloud technology with AI, in order to help their data scientists improve intelligence analysis. For instance, MI6 now uses large language models to analyse extremist content online to understand how extremist language evolves, this in turn enables agents to infiltrate groups more effectively.
Musk Mars Mission
Space race entrepreneur, Elon Musk, has revealed that his company, SpaceX, intends to launch its first uncrewed Starship missions to Mars in 2026. The timing is due to the fact that in November 2026 there is a short window of time in which the two planets are relatively near to each other, making the journey considerably quicker and less complex.
Due to the short window of opportunity, Musk has also said that he plans to send up to eight of his Starship fleet. While a huge venture, it will enable Space X engineers to evaluate the spacecraft’s landing reliability, which will be crucial in ensuring safety for the first crewed missions due to commence in 2030. The 2026 and 2030 flights are the first major steps in Musk’s ultimate ambition to establish a self-sustaining city on Mars within the next two decades.
Space X has developed several different types of reusable spacecraft, two of which, the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, are used to transport people and payloads to orbit. At 400 feet, SpaceX’s Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built and is intended to travel between planets. Also designed to be reusable, it has already completed a number of orbital flight tests around the Earth, with the last one, in June 2024, the first to successfully land.
Scammers Shut Down
Back down to Earth, two UK firms have been dissolved following fraudulent activities that targeted the elderly. DT Care Ltd and Amolin Solution Limited were found to have conned pensioners in their 70s and 80s out of hundreds of pounds by cold calling them and telling them their computers had serious security issues. During the calls, the companies pretended to be well-known IT firms, such as Microsoft, and persuaded their victims to pay for services that weren’t needed or indeed provided.
Based in Worcestershire and East Sussex, both firms were ordered to cease operations by the High Court in Manchester after an investigation conducted by the Insolvency Service. The Insolvency Service described the companies’ methods as both aggressive and unscrupulous and indicated that it was likely that while both firms were registered in the UK, they were actually operating from India.
AI Mainframe Move
Research by IT services provider, Kyndryl, shows 9 out of 10 enterprises are now using or planning to use generative AI tools in their mainframe systems in a bid to improve data management and enhance decision-making. Extremely powerful machines often used by large organisations, mainframes are being increasingly turned to for handling resource-intensive AI workloads. Additionally, the Kyndryl report claims that companies are also saving a combined £9 billion a year by updating their mainframes, with some returns on investment reaching over 200%.
The chief reason for deploying AI on mainframes, according to the report, is to strengthen data security and comply with growing regulations. However, due to industry-wide skills shortages, especially in AI and cybersecurity, many firms find it difficult to recruit new talent, leaving three-quarters seeking external expertise for their projects.
Teen Builds Robot
A 13-year-old student from Belfast has successfully constructed a Lego robot that can solve a Rubik’s cube. The next-gen developer accomplished the feat by writing over 5,000 lines of Python code and equipping his robot with colour sensors and moving arms that could twist and rotate the cube. The robot is so advanced it can tackle the puzzle from any starting position.
The student’s project was part of an initiative from his school’s creative digital technology hub, which was launched last year to give students more opportunities to get involved with programming and robotics. Open to students across north Belfast, the hub aims to encourage the next generation of talented innovators in a city that has the second fastest-growing knowledge economy in the UK and a global reputation for its technological know-how.
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