AI with 500 million years of evolutionary data creates unseen genetic sequence

Jak Connor | Artificial Intelligence | Jan 24, 2025 2:33 AM CST

Researchers have plugged 500 million years worth of evolutionary data into an AI and asked it to create genetic code. The results were surprising as the AI produced protein sequences never-before-seen by researchers.

AI with 500 million years of evolutionary data creates unseen genetic sequence

The project is headed by scientists at the EvolutionaryScale and Arc Institute, and a new paper published in the journal Science details their findings. According to the team, the new AI model called ESM3 is capable of simulating brand-new protein sequences that can be used by researchers to develop a deeper understanding of how proteins work and ultimately be used in various scientific fields such as health.

As with every AI tool, the underlying technology requires large swaths of data for it to be functional, which is why, to create ESM3, the team trained the AI on 771 billion tokens that generated 3.15 billion protein sequences, 236 million protein instructions, and 539 million protein annotations.

Continue reading: AI with 500 million years of evolutionary data creates unseen genetic sequence (full post)

Perplexity AI assistant goes head-to-head with Google's Gemini

Jak Connor | Artificial Intelligence | Jan 24, 2025 2:03 AM CST

While AI Chatbots such as ChatGPT and Claude have established their place in the market as general-purpose tools - Perplexity has carved out a niche for one specific function: AI-powered search.

Perplexity AI assistant goes head-to-head with Google's Gemini

While most tools have some capability to scour the internet for search results, Perplexity takes this process a little bit further, offering comprehensively sourced answers with a heavily research-focused functionality. As part of Perplexity's strategy to expand into a broader AI ecosystem - a new app entitled 'Perplexity Assistant' was released on the Google Play Store.

The Assistant utilizes reasoning, search, and apps, to help with daily tasks ranging from simple questions to multi-app actions. Allowing users to, for example, book dinner, find a forgotten song, call an Uber, and more. Recently, at Samsung Unpacked, we saw Google Gemini's assistant on full display, boasting a range of similar-sounding capabilities. Most notable was the ability to 'chain together' tasks. For example, asking Gemini to search for restaurants near you, and to send that to a specific contact in a text message.

Continue reading: Perplexity AI assistant goes head-to-head with Google's Gemini (full post)

Every game unveiled at Xbox Developer Direct and their trailers

Jak Connor | Gaming | Jan 24, 2025 1:32 AM CST

Microsoft has taken gamers behind the scenes at Xbox Developer Direct with a glimpse at Xbox's latest offerings for early 2025. Multiple anticipated games have been given release dates, and a surprising new title was officially announced. Here's everything you need to know.

Every game unveiled at Xbox Developer Direct and their trailers

Developer Direct opened with a revival of an old, beloved franchise following the reveal of Ninja Gaiden 4. With 10 years having passed since the franchise's last entry, the team at Team Ninja and PlatinumGames have partnered with Xbox Game Studios to bring you a sequel.

The game will be set in the heart of a fictional, near-future Tokyo, with an all-new protagonist, exciting new gameplay mechanics, and next-generation visuals. The title is slated for a release in the fall of 2025, coming to Xbox Series X/S, PC, and PS5.

Continue reading: Every game unveiled at Xbox Developer Direct and their trailers (full post)

Ubisoft unveils Animus Hub, a COD-style launcher for every Assassin's Creed game

Jak Connor | Gaming | Jan 24, 2025 1:02 AM CST

Ubisoft has officially unveiled the Animus Hub, a new Call of Duty HQ-style launcher that is designed to provide Assassin's Creed players with a single place to access all the latest Assassin's Creed games.

Ubisoft unveils Animus Hub, a COD-style launcher for every Assassin's Creed game

The Animus Hub was originally codenamed "Assassin's Creed Infinity" but was later rebranded to the Animus Hub, and for those unfamiliar with the Call of Duty HQ launcher, the Animus Hub will be a seamless entry point for all of the latest Assassin's Creed games as players will be able to access a timeline of recent heroes within the franchise.

As GameRant brilliantly points out, the Animus Hub represents Ubisoft's commitment to reimagining how players interact with the franchise, and by creating an HQ launcher for AC and naming it the Animus Hub has elevated the in-game animus from being a simple plot device to a fully interactable experience. Ubisoft explains in its blog post the Animus Hub isn't a stand-alone launcher and will be fully integrated into the latest Assassin's Creed release, Assassin's Creed Shadows, and all future Assassin's Creed games.

Continue reading: Ubisoft unveils Animus Hub, a COD-style launcher for every Assassin's Creed game (full post)

Scientists subject AI to 'pain' after being inspired by electrocuting hermit crabs

Jak Connor | Artificial Intelligence | Jan 24, 2025 12:34 AM CST

A team of researchers has subjected several large language models (LLM), the underpinning technology powering artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT, to a series of tests that evaluate whether they can experience pain/pleasure.

Scientists subject AI to 'pain' after being inspired by electrocuting hermit crabs

In a new study that has yet to be peer-reviewed, researchers from Google DeepMind and the London School of Economics and Political Science came up with a series of tests designed to evaluate the experience level of an LLM. The team was inspired by experiments that involved researchers electrocuting hermit crabs to see how much pain they were willing to endure before they left their shells.

The same principle was applied to nine different LLMs, with the researchers giving each of the AIs the goal of achieving the highest score possible. However, there were only two available options.

Continue reading: Scientists subject AI to 'pain' after being inspired by electrocuting hermit crabs (full post)

iPhone's with TikTok installed are being sold on eBay for $50,000

Jak Connor | Mobile Devices | Jan 24, 2025 12:01 AM CST

The banning of TikTok across the United States and its unavailability in both app marketplaces has created enough demand that people are now selling smartphones with the app installed.

iPhone's with TikTok installed are being sold on eBay for $50,000

TikTok was banned across the United States on January 19 as the US government determined last year the app was a national security risk for its ties to the Chinese government. The banning involved the app being removed from both app marketplaces (iOS and the Play Store), and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) were banned from hosting the service.

However, the latter part of the ban has now been revoked thanks to President Trump's 75-day extension he granted, but the app still isn't available on app marketplaces, meaning users who didn't already have the app downloaded on their device aren't able to access it.

Continue reading: iPhone's with TikTok installed are being sold on eBay for $50,000 (full post)

Assassin's Creed Shadows requires RTX 4090 for 4K 60FPS with maxed-out ray tracing on the PC

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jan 23, 2025 5:05 PM CST

Ubisoft has just confirmed that its new Assassin's Creed Shadows will be launching March 20, unveiling the PC system requirements at the same time.

Assassin's Creed Shadows requires RTX 4090 for 4K 60FPS with maxed-out ray tracing on the PC

Assassin's Creed Shadows will support ray traced global illumination and reflections, an in-game benchmark tool for performance analysis, ultrawide resolution support, uncapped frame rates, and more. Ubisoft recommends an Intel Core i7-13700K or AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor, and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16GB for 1440p 60FPS with RT on the Enthusiast setting, or the RTX 4090 24GB for 4K 60FPS with RT on the Extreme setting.

Pre-orders for the game include the Standard Edition of the game for $69.99, the Digital Deluxe Edition for $89.99, and the Collector's Edition will cost a whopping $229.99. Here's what you'll get with Assassin's Creed Shadows in Digital Deluxe Edition and Collector's Edition form:

Continue reading: Assassin's Creed Shadows requires RTX 4090 for 4K 60FPS with maxed-out ray tracing on the PC (full post)

DOOM: The Dark Ages releases on May 15: requires RTX 4080 or higher for 4K 60FPS at Ultra

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jan 23, 2025 4:04 PM CST

Mark your calendars gamers and prepare the time off because DOOM: The Dark Ages has a release date of May 15... and you might want to upgrade your PC with NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card.

DOOM: The Dark Ages releases on May 15: requires RTX 4080 or higher for 4K 60FPS at Ultra

DOOM: The Dark Ages not only has a release date but it also finally has its PC system requirements, and a new gameplay trailer. DOOM: The Dark Ages will require a higher-end CPU, 32GB of RAM, 512GB or more of SSD space, and an AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card for 4K 60FPS on Ultra settings.

id Software explains a new generation of idTech is here with idTech8 powering DOOM: The Dark Ages: "id Software's most ambitious title yet, DOOM: The Dark Ages pushes new standards in visual fidelity and performance with the power of idTech8. Taking full advantage of modern hardware on all platforms, idTech8 ushers in a new era of gameplay performance and visual fidelity featuring all-new dynamic interactive ray-traced lighting and shadows, higher-fidelity image quality, increased gore and destruction and so much more".

Continue reading: DOOM: The Dark Ages releases on May 15: requires RTX 4080 or higher for 4K 60FPS at Ultra (full post)

NViDIA teases quad-slot, triple-fan GPU prototype with rotated PCB: could be Blackwell TITAN

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Jan 23, 2025 3:03 PM CST

We all remember that insane quad-slot, triple-fan purported GeForce RTX 4090 Ti prototype, with an interesting rotated PCB... well, NVIDIA's detailing of its new GeForce RTX 50 series Founders Edition GPUs give us a tease at what would've been a MONSTER graphics card.

NViDIA teases quad-slot, triple-fan GPU prototype with rotated PCB: could be Blackwell TITAN

NVIDIA posted a new video showing off a concept design that features a quad-slot, triple-fan cooler that we've seen leaked over the last few months, after a functional card was found and sent to the team at GamersNexus to deep-dive into. This card was now confirmed by NVIDIA as their prototype, but they decided to not use the monster quad-slot design.

The innovative rotated PCB looks awesome, but the cooler is far, far too thick to be used by NVIDIA... and we now see that gorgeous dual-slot cooler that keeps the new GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition cool. No thick, quad-slot cooler required, even to cool the fastest graphics card on the planet.

Continue reading: NViDIA teases quad-slot, triple-fan GPU prototype with rotated PCB: could be Blackwell TITAN (full post)

Cyberpunk 2077 is the first game with official DLSS 4 support for new RTX 50 series GPUs

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jan 23, 2025 2:23 PM CST

CD PROJEKT RED has pushed out its new Cyberpunk 2077 update, adding NVIDIA's new DLSS 4 upscaling technology support with its Transformer model, with significant image quality improvements over DLSS 3.8.

Cyberpunk 2077 is the first game with official DLSS 4 support for new RTX 50 series GPUs

Cyberpunk 2077's new 2.21 patch introduces a bunch of new things into the game, including a new Photo Mode, vehicle color customization fixes, randomizer settings in Character Creation, and much more. The big deal here is NVIDIA DLSS 4 support, with support also for the RTX 50 series GPU exclusive Multi Frame Generation technology.

Once you've updated your game, you'll be able to choose between the old CNN model or the new Transformer model for DLSS Super Resolution, DLAA, and Ray Reconstruction on all RTX series GPUs. In the video embedded above, MxBenchmarkPC has put together an awesome video comparing the new NVIDIA DLSS 4 Transformer model with Native, DLSS 3.8, and the new DLSS 4 upscaling tech.

Continue reading: Cyberpunk 2077 is the first game with official DLSS 4 support for new RTX 50 series GPUs (full post)

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