Month: October 2021

Categories
Robots

The red-hot new bitcoin ETF could get too big for its own good and warp the futures market, JPMorgan says | Business Insider

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When the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF debuted last week, it received a rush in inflows, making it the fastest ETF to surpass $1 billion in assets. However, according to JPMorgan, the futures-based ETF has a major fault that might result in poorer returns for investors if the fund’s assets grow too large. This is due to the fact that the ETF’s underlying asset is not bitcoin. Instead, the ETF owns bitcoin derivatives that use futures contracts to try to mirror the cryptocurrency’s return profile. Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has resisted requests for the SEC to approve a spot bitcoin ETF, preferring instead to approve a futures-based fund. 

Source: https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/bitcoin-futures-etf-too-big-contango-cryptocurrency-proshares-2021-10 

Categories
Artificial Intelligence

The Vatican is worried about artificial intelligence | America Magazine

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According to Christof Kochat a recent symposium on the challenges of artificial intelligence, by mid-century, humans will be immersed by numerous, versatile, extremely intelligent autonomous entities, and this will significantly alter our future—including whether or not we have any. Dr. Koch was speaking to a gathering of around a hundred academics, diplomats, and journalists at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, where he is the head scientist of the Mindscope Program. The Vatican hosted the conference, which focused on “the challenge of artificial intelligence for human society and the idea of the human being,” at the Cancelleria, a 15th-century Renaissance palace in Rome. 

Source: https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2021/10/26/artificial-intelligence-vatican-241717 

Categories
Drones

Here’s Why This New Mysterious Air Force Drone Contract Is A Big Deal | The Drive

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As part of the clandestine Off-Board Sensing Station program or OBSS, the US Air Force has granted drone firm Kratos a contract to design and pilot tests an unmanned aircraft. The OBSS program’s specifics are insufficient, but it has a strong, overriding emphasis on affordability. There are signs that this is part of a broader shift in the Air Force’s attitude toward so-called “attritable” platforms, which Kratos has previously stated that it is well equipped for on the design and production fronts. Kratos was given the OBSS contract by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) late yesterday, according to a daily contracting notice released by the Pentagon. The deal has a basic value of slightly under $17.7 million, with an extra option worth $31.4 million if exercised. 

Source: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/42884/heres-why-this-new-mysterious-air-force-drone-contract-is-a-big-deal 

Categories
Space Force

92% of Active-Duty Troops Have Been Vaccinated as Mandatory Deadlines Near | Military.com

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As service deadlines for acquiring the vaccine approach, more than 92 percent of active-duty personnel have gotten at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Despite the fact that deadlines for full immunization have passed, nearly 103,000 service members have yet to receive their first injection. According to numbers given by the services, this includes approximately 48,600 Army soldiers, 7,000 Navy sailors, 15,500 Air Force airmen and Space Force Guardians, and 26,800 Marines. With the Air Force and Space Force deadline approaching in less than four weeks, aircrew and Guardians who have not yet been immunized will miss the deadline unless they choose to acquire the Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine within the next two weeks. 

Source: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/10/07/92-of-active-duty-troops-have-been-vaccinated-mandatory-deadline-nears.html 

Categories
Machine Learning

US Air Force teams with UK on machine learning demo | C4ISRNET

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The Air Force Research Laboratory and the United Kingdom successfully showed new combined machine learning algorithms, demonstrating the nations’ capabilities to cooperate on artificial intelligence deployment in aid of warfighters. The partnership is part of a four-year Autonomy, and Artificial Intelligence Collaboration (AAIC) Partnership Agreement signed in December 2020 between the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) of the United Kingdom. The partnership’s primary agency is the Air Force Research Laboratory, but the Office of the Under Secretary for Research and Engineering, the Navy, and the Army are also involved. This was the first of a planned series of demos. 

Source: https://www.c4isrnet.com/artificial-intelligence/2021/10/20/us-air-force-teams-with-uk-on-machine-learning-demo/