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Toby Walsh

Professor of AI at UNSW, Research Group Leader, Data61
Toby Walsh is a Professor of Artificial Intelligence at UNSW, and Research Leader at Data61 (formerly NICTA) in the Optimisation Research Group where he leads the Algorithmic Decision Theory project. Data61 is Australia's Centre of Excellence for ICT Research.

He has been Editor-in-Chief of two of the main journals in AI: the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, and AI Communications. He is currently Associate Editor of one of the leading journals in computer science, the Journal of the ACM covering the area of Artificial Intelligence

Who is Sam Altman, OpenAI's wunderkind ex-CEO – and why does it matter that he got sacked?

Nov 21, 2023 04:00 am UTC| Technology

On Friday, OpenAIs high-flying chief executive Sam Altman was unexpectedly fired by the companys board. Co-founder and chief technology officer Greg Brockman was also removed as the board president, after which he promptly...

The US just issued the world’s strongest action yet on regulating AI. Here’s what to expect

Nov 01, 2023 07:12 am UTC| Technology

On Monday US President Joe Biden released a wide ranging and ambitious executive order on artificial intelligence (AI) catapulting the US to the front of conversations about regulating AI. In doing so, the US is leap...

Bard, Bing and Baidu: how big tech's AI race will transform search

Feb 10, 2023 06:07 am UTC| Technology

Today, if you want to find a good moving company, you might ask your favourite search engine Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo perhaps for some advice. After wading past half a page of adverts, you get a load of links to...

Can machines invent things without human help? These AI examples show the answer is ‘yes’

Dec 08, 2022 10:44 am UTC| Technology

The question of whether artificial intelligence (AI) can invent is nearly 200 years old, going back to the very beginning of computing. Victorian mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote whats generally considered the first...

An AI named Cicero can beat humans in Diplomacy, a complex alliance-building game. Here's why that's a big deal

Nov 25, 2022 14:43 pm UTC| Technology

In a rare piece of good news from Meta, artificial intelligence researchers at the company have just announced a scientific breakthrough. Their AI program named Cicero can now play the board game Diplomacy at a human...

How to preserve our privacy in an AI-enabled world of smart fridges and fitbits? Here are my simple fixes

Apr 23, 2022 08:25 am UTC| Technology

The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the total entropy of a system the amount of disorder only ever increases. In other words, the amount of order only ever decreases. Privacy is similar to entropy. Privacy is...

Holding big tech companies to account: do their employees have the power?

Aug 25, 2018 07:52 am UTC| Insights & Views Technology

When it comes to the tech giant Google, secret plans to launch a new search service in China prompted a furious reaction from more than 1,400 of the companys employees. A staff letter, obtained by Buzzfeed and published...

Economy

KOSPI Plunges Over 8% as U.S.-Iran War Sparks Global Risk Aversion and Profit-Taking

South Koreas KOSPI index tumbled sharply on Wednesday, falling more than 8% and triggering a temporary halt in stock trading as investors reacted to escalating geopolitical tensions and rising energy prices linked to the...

China Factory Activity Surges to Five-Year High as Demand Boosts Manufacturing PMI

Chinas manufacturing sector showed strong momentum in February, with factory activity expanding at the fastest pace since December 2020, supported by stronger domestic and overseas demand. A private-sector survey released...

Gold Prices Rebound in Asia as U.S.–Iran Tensions Support Safe-Haven Demand

Gold prices moved higher during Asian trading on Wednesday, recovering some of the sharp losses from the previous session as investors reassessed demand for safe-haven assets amid escalating geopolitical tensions between...

Asian Markets Slide as Middle East Conflict Sparks Oil Price Surge and Inflation Fears

Asian financial markets fell sharply on Wednesday as investors rushed to reduce exposure to previously crowded trades in gold and semiconductor stocks. The market downturn was driven by escalating concerns that a widening...

Dollar Hits Three-Month High as Middle East Conflict Drives Energy Prices and Market Volatility

The U.S. dollar surged to a three-month high during early Asian trading on Wednesday as escalating tensions in the Middle East pushed investors away from the euro and toward safe-haven assets. The growing conflict...

Politics

Michael Whatley Wins North Carolina GOP Senate Primary, Setting Up High-Stakes Battle With Roy Cooper

Michael Whatley, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, has won the Republican primary for North Carolinas open U.S. Senate seat, according to media projections. The victory positions Whatley for a closely watched...

U.S. Officials Review Tencent’s Stakes in Epic Games, Riot Games Over Security Concerns

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly evaluating whether Chinese technology giant Tencent Holdings Ltd (HK:0700) should be allowed to keep its ownership stakes in several major video game...

U.S. Begins Charter Evacuations as Iran Conflict Disrupts Middle East Air Travel

The United States has begun facilitating charter evacuation flights for American citizens stranded across the Middle East after the escalating U.S.-Israel military strikes on Iran severely disrupted global aviation and...

U.S. Preparing Possible Corruption Charges Against Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez

The Trump administration is reportedly preparing a potential criminal case against Venezuelan interim president Delcy Rodriguez as part of broader efforts to increase U.S. leverage over Venezuelas government, according to...

Trump Defends Extended U.S.-Israel Military Campaign Against Iran

U.S. President Donald Trump has defended the ongoing U.S. and Israeli military campaign against Iran, signaling that the conflict could last longer than initially expected. The operation, which began with coordinated...

Science

SpaceX Pivots Toward Moon City as Musk Reframes Long-Term Space Vision

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has revealed a significant shift in the companys near-term space exploration strategy, announcing that SpaceX is now prioritizing the development of a self-growing city on the Moon rather than focusing...

SpaceX Prioritizes Moon Mission Before Mars as Starship Development Accelerates

Elon Musks SpaceX is shifting its near-term space exploration strategy, choosing to prioritize a return to the Moon before pursuing missions to Mars, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report citing sources familiar...

NASA and SpaceX Target Crew-11 Undocking From ISS Amid Medical Concern

NASA has confirmed that the agency, in coordination with SpaceX, is targeting no earlier than 5 p.m. Eastern Time (2200 GMT) on Wednesday, January 14, for the undocking of the SpaceX Crew-11 mission from the International...

Neuralink Plans High-Volume Brain Implant Production and Fully Automated Surgery by 2026

Elon Musks brain-computer interface company Neuralink is preparing for a major expansion, announcing plans to begin high-volume production of its brain implant devices and transition to a fully automated surgical procedure...

Jared Isaacman Confirmed as NASA Administrator, Becomes 15th Leader of U.S. Space Agency

The U.S. Senate has officially confirmed billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman as the new NASA administrator, making him the 15th leader in the agencys history. The confirmation, which took place on Wednesday, marks...

Technology

Defense Contractors Move to Drop Anthropic AI After Trump Administration Ban

Major U.S. defense contractors are expected to remove Anthropics AI tools from their supply chains following a directive from the Trump administration, even though legal experts say the ban could face serious challenges in...

OpenAI Explores New Code-Hosting Platform to Reduce Dependence on GitHub

OpenAI is reportedly developing a new code-hosting platform that could eventually compete with Microsofts GitHub, according to a recent report citing sources familiar with the initiative. The project is still in its early...

Facebook Outage Disrupts Thousands of Users Across the United States

Meta Platforms Facebook experienced a widespread outage on Tuesday that affected thousands of users across the United States, according to data from Downdetector.com, a website that tracks service disruptions for major...

Lockheed Martin Secures $1.9B U.S. Air Force Contract for C-130J Training and Maintenance Systems

Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has secured a $1.9 billion indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to support the C-130J Maintenance and Training System IV (JMATS IV)...

OpenAI and U.S. Defense Department Update Agreement to Clarify AI Usage Terms

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that the company is working with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to update their existing agreement, reinforcing clear boundaries around how OpenAIs technology, including ChatGPT, can...