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AI took another step into Hollywood today with the launch of a new filmmaking tool from showbiz startup Flawless. The product — named DeepEditor — promises cinematic wizardry for the digital age. For movie makers, the tool offers photorealistic edits without a costly return to set. Flawless has showcased several use cases. One transfers an actor’s performance from one shot to another. Another...
Stalling growth in the Dutch tech sector has sparked urgent calls for fresh funding streams. New data released today reveals the number of new startups in the Netherlands is declining. The country is also suffering from a severe lack of local investors. The findings emerged in the State of Dutch Tech report by Techleap, a non-profit that supports startups and scaleups in the Netherlands. The...
Deepfakes have become alarmingly difficult to detect. So difficult, that only 0.1% of people today can identify them. That’s according to iProov, a British biometric authentication firm. The company tested the public’s AI detective skills by showing 2,000 UK and US consumers a collection of both genuine and synthetic content. Sadly, the budding sleuths overwhelmingly failed in their...
UK-based startup Humanoid has just shared a first look at its prototype humanoid robot — the HMND 01. It’s not here to overthrow humanity (yet), but it may walk, work, and possibly even out-dress you. At 5’9” and 154lbs, the “labour automation unit” is the coworker who never calls in sick, never complains about overtime, and somehow always looks sharp. Yes, HMND 01 comes with a range of...
A Ukrainian drone tech firm has unveiled an alternative to GPS navigation. Sine.Engineering built the system to counter Russia’s electronic warfare, which has wreaked havoc on GPS signals. To dodge the interference, Sine invented a satellite-free replacement. The approach is inspired by time-of-flight (ToF) methods, which began tracking aircraft long before the advent of GPS. Unlike GPS, ToF...
European tech leaders Helsing and Mistral have formed a pact to build new military AI systems. The partnership brings together two of Europe’s top startups. Helsing, a defence tech firm based in Germany, was valued at €5bn last year. Founded in 2021, the company develops software for weapons, vehicles, and military strategy. Its systems have been deployed in battlefield simulations, fighter jets...
My colleagues and I at Purdue University have uncovered a significant imbalance in the human values embedded in AI systems. The systems were predominantly oriented toward information and utility values and less toward prosocial, well-being and civic values. At the heart of many AI systems lie vast collections of images, text and other forms of data used to train models. While these datasets are...
Long admired for its progressive policies and open economy, the Netherlands is making an aggressive play to become Europe’s next tech powerhouse. By blending AI with sustainability and a strong ethical framework, the country attracted $2.5bn in tech investments in 2024 alone — a 39% surge from the previous year. With a government-backed push for responsible innovation, the Netherlands is...
The idea of a humanlike artificial intelligence assistant that you can speak with has been alive in many people’s imaginations since the release of “Her,” Spike Jonze’s 2013 film about a man who falls in love with a Siri-like AI named Samantha. Over the course of the film, the protagonist grapples with the ways in which Samantha, real as she may seem, is not and never will be human. Twelve years...
Swiss foodies could soon be served an experimental new delicacy: cultivated burgers. The lab-grown cuisine is the brainchild of Dutch scaleup Mosa Meat. Founded in 2013, the company cultivates beef from cells extracted from cows. The blend is then formed into burgers that are indistinguishable from the mince on supermarket shelves. The lucky cattle, meanwhile, amble back to the farm. Mosa calls...