Search

THE NEXT FRONTIER FOR MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT: VR AND AI POWERED CHATBOTS

By
DTD
-
0
Image credit: Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
Media Release by Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

What comes to mind when you hear the word psychotherapy? Chances are that like most people, you would think of sitting on a couch across from a soft-spoken therapist with a notebook in hand. This stereotype of therapy being a conversation-driven, face-to-face interaction in a quiet room is so firmly embedded in our collective psyche that it can be hard to imagine new forms of the treatment being developed and popularised.

But people’s mental health needs are changing, and that requires innovative solutions. As the conversation about psychological well-being has become more commonplace in society at large, mental health conditions are increasing worldwide. According to Gallup – a US-based analytics firm – anger, stress, worry, and sadness have been on the rise worldwide for the past decade, and they all reached record highs in 2020, when the Covid‐19 pandemic severed social connections for many and forced them to be surrounded by death and disease, poverty and anxiety, hardship and uncertainty.

China, which is still rolling out lockdowns to contain Covid-19 outbreak, is not immune to what the United Nations described as “a looming global mental health crisis.” In a country where mental illness was long misunderstood and talking about it is still viewed as taboo for many, the pandemic has led to a spike in mental health challenges. In 2020, when the outbreak was at its peak, a nationwide survey by a Shanghai university found that nearly 35% of respondents across the country had experienced symptoms of depression, anxiety, insomnia, or acute stress.

It also has highlighted the supply-demand imbalance for mental health care in many parts of China, especially in the countryside, where awareness about psychological well-being is lacking and access to therapy is extremely limited. According to a 2019 paper, for a country that has a massive population of 1.4 billion people, there were only 1,000 rehabilitation psychiatrists, 1,500 mental health social workers, and 3,000 psychotherapists working in professional institutions.

This is exactly where technology comes to the rescue, with the potential to expand access, reduce costs, and identify patients who can benefit from individualised emotional support. And among the technologies that could potentially open new frontiers in psychotherapy, nothing looms larger than virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI).

Individualised virtual reality to relieve depression

Picture this: When you meet up with a therapist for your first session, you are told to create an avatar in a virtual world. With a VR headset strapped to your head, you are given the choice to put your character in a specific environment – be it a room, a beach, a forest, or a castle. On the screen, your avatar spots a crying girl in the world you selected. Hoping to make her feel better, the virtual version of yourself walks toward the girl, using words and actions to comfort her.

This might sound like a bizarre scenario for now, but it’s part of a VR system designed to enable individual choices when virtual environments are applied in therapeutic treatment, especially for people dealing with depression and anxiety. Scientists say this novel design, named iVR, may not only enhance self-compassion for participants and improve their mental health in the long run, but it could also help therapists understand their clients better, particularly in situations where they don’t seem forthcoming with information or struggle to explain how they feel.

“It allows participants to make choices that would be difficult for a mental health professional to replicate in real life. Those choices might enable the therapist to dig deeper into the psychological makeup of the patients and get information by observing their interaction that they would not be able to extract otherwise,” said Professor Hai-Ning Liang, a researcher in the work, from the Department of Computing at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.

Over the last two years, in collaboration with a New Zealand-based team of researchers led by Dr Nilufar Baghaei, Professor Liang has developed three prototypes for iVR, with the latest one developed using the game development software Unity and operated on Meta’s Oculus Quest 2 headsets.

Writing in the 2021 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct, Professor Liang and his colleagues report that preliminary feedback from the seven clinical psychologists they interviewed was overwhelmingly positive. Some praised the patient-centred nature of the design and said the choices made in the virtual environment could increase their knowledge about clients, while others said they wanted proper training before incorporating the system in their daily practice and asked for more controls, such as “increasing or decreasing individuation for each patient depending on their individual situation,” Professor Liang noted. “Our avatars look very realistic now, and our next step is to make them intelligent and responsive to the needs of each person,” he added.

“Our work is also supported by two review papers that we recently published, one in JMIR Mental Health and the other in Games for Health Journal, and several other projects examining the use of VR to help people overcome mental health issues,” Professor Liang said.

“We are currently working on the next prototype, which includes intelligent avatars with facial animations and the ability to have human-like conversations with the participants,” he said. “We believe our work can pave the way for large-scale efficacy testing, clinical use, and potentially cost-effective delivery of VR technology for mental health therapy in the near future.”

The rise of chatbot therapy

For years, artificial intelligence has been heralded as a potential game-changing technology in the mental health domain. Covid-19 accelerated that integration. During the pandemic, millions of people around the globe suffered from depression, and those in isolation or quarantine were forced to turn to AI-powered chatbots for mental support.

Riding this wave of interest were a string of mental health companies such as Woebot. Founded in 2017 by a team of Stanford psychologists and AI experts, the app offers a fully automated conversational agent that is able to monitor users’ mood, talk to them about mental health, and provide useful tools based on their needs.

The rise of digital therapists like Woebot is one of the topics explored in Counselling and Psychotherapy: Theory and Beyond. Featuring a collection of contributions from 37 experts from diverse cultural backgrounds, the book, edited by Dr Russell Fulmer, a Senior Associate Professor in the Academy of Future Education at XJTLU, is a “fresh and contemporary look at what counsellors and psychotherapists use to help people,” he said.

In the chapter dedicated to the application of AI chatbots in psychotherapy, Dr Fulmer argues that although therapeutic chatbots offer advantages like “providing mental health support 24/7, and some individuals don’t feel judged when they converse with these bots,” they are not a substitute for long-term human-to-human therapy.

“They seem to excel in things like cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and are good at delivering psychoeducation,” Dr Fulmer said. “On the other hand, we know from outcomes research that the therapeutic relationship accounts for a wide portion of the variants that are responsible for positive change. You can make a case that these bots don’t provide that therapeutic relationship because, after all, they are not human. Most are just words on a screen right now.”

With growing attention on this field, Dr Fulmer believes that there’s a lot of potential waiting to be unlocked when it comes to AI and psychotherapy. For example, text-based chatbots can take the form of a human, a possibility that has already been explored through SimSensei, an implemented virtual human interviewer developed by researchers by the University of Southern California.

AI can also be tailored to help particular populations and be more culturally responsive. “If you are a counsellor from wherever and you are working overseas or in a different country with a different population, you really have to get to know something about them, the culture, the people,” he says. “One benefit of AI is that it’s customisable. You can personalise it. So I think there’s potential there.”

Historically, the introduction of new technologies in an established field has frequently been accompanied by new complaints and fears. And the application of AI in psychotherapy is no exception. Dr Fulmer suspects that as the use of AI continues to expand in mental health services, there will be some heavy pushback against it, specifically in regard to data security and the lack of rigorous studies about human-to-AI relationships. But Dr Fulmer remains cautiously optimistic.

“If we are being realistic, I don’t think it’s going to be stopped. You can deny that reality or you can accept that it’s here and help shape it. That’s where I’m at with psychological AI. I would add as well that it’s not like the human being is perfect, either,” he says. “There’s every indication that AI will continue to advance across the board, including in mental health. Let’s acknowledge that reality and help shape AI in an ethical manner.”

Advertisement

The road to future AI is paved with trust

By
DTD
-
0
Image credit: Linköping University
Media Release by Linköping University

The place of artificial intelligence, AI, in our everyday life is increasing and many researchers believe that what we have seen so far is only the beginning. However, AI must be trustworthy in all situations. Linköping University is coordinating TAILOR, a EU project that has drawn up a research-based roadmap intended to guide research funding bodies and decision-makers towards the trustworthy AI of the future.

“The development of artificial intelligence is in its infancy. When we look back at what we are doing today in 50 years, we will find it pretty primitive. In other words, most of the field remains to be discovered. That’s why it’s important to lay the foundation of trustworthy AI now,” says Fredrik Heintz, professor of artificial intelligence at LiU, and coordinator of the TAILOR project.

TAILOR is one of six research networks set up by the EU to strengthen research capacity and develop the AI of the future. The foundation of trustworthy AI is being laid by TAILOR, by drawing up a framework, guidelines and a specification of the needs of the AI research community. “TAILOR” is an abbreviation of Foundations of Trustworthy AI – integrating, learning, optimisation and reasoning.

Three criteria

The roadmap now presented by TAILOR is the first step on the way to standardisation, where the idea is that decision-makers and research funding bodies can gain insight into what is required to develop trustworthy AI. Fredrik Heintz believes that it is a good idea to show that many research problems must be solved before this can be achieved.

The researchers have defined three criteria for trustworthy AI: it must conform to laws and regulations, it must satisfy several ethical principles, and its implementation it must be robust and safe. Fredrik Heintz points out that these criteria pose major challenges, in particular the implementation of the ethical principles.

“Take justice, for example. Does this mean an equal distribution of resources or that all actors receive the resources needed to bring them all to the same level? We are facing major long-term questions, and it will take time before they are answered. Remember – the definition of justice has been debated by philosophers and scholars for hundreds of years,” says Fredrik Heintz.

Human centered

The project will focus on large comprehensive research questions, and will attempt to find standards that all who work with AI can adopt. But Fredrik Heintz is convinced that we can only achieve this if basic research into AI is given priority.

“People often regard AI as a technology issue, but what’s really important is whether we gain societal benefit from it. If we are to obtain AI that can be trusted and that functions well in society, we must make sure that it is centred on people,” says Fredrik Heintz.

Many of the legal proposals written within the EU and its member states are written by legal specialists. But Fredrik Heintz believes that they lack expert knowledge within AI, which is a problem.

“Legislation and standards must be based on knowledge. This is where we researchers can contribute, providing information about the current forefront of research, and making well-grounded decisions possible. It’s important that experts have the opportunity to influence questions of this type,” says Fredrik Heintz.

Advertisement

Adobe: businesses driven to increase digitalisation and collaboration by continued uncertainty

By
Luwela R.
-
0
Image credit: Adobe

In its second annual global “Future of Time” study, Adobe Document Cloud has published new findings on the evolution of work. 

In a statement, Adobe said the study reveals over 70 per cent of managers and workers concur that change has replaced stability in the workplace, and people now rely on digital technologies to maintain productivity as well as to find peace of mind during particularly worrisome periods.

Adobe Document Cloud Vice President Todd Gerber said businesses of all sizes continue to grapple with considerable uncertainty, as well as frequent impacts on employee well-being and productivity.

“Adapting to macroeconomics shifts necessitate that organizations prioritize strategic investments in digital technologies — including modern productivity and workflow tools like Document Cloud — that will enable better workforce productivity, collaboration and innovation,” Gerber stated. 

Over 9,700 employees, enterprise (ENT) managers and small business (SMB) executives were polled for Adobe’s report, “The Future of Time: Redefining Productivity During Uncertainty,” which provides a thorough analysis of how uncertainty has affected workforce productivity, cooperation, and innovation. Along with difficulties that are specific to a particular region, the top worldwide worries include economic instability, climatic changes, and COVID-19 variations.

According to Adobe, due to the ongoing uncertainty, 76 per cent of workers said a breaking news event might affect their day for a few hours, and 70 per cent of managers and employees said they spend more time at work reading or discussing news coverage than they did a year ago. 

This uncertainty has reduced efficiency and productivity for all employees, with Generation Z (93 per cent) and millennials (87 per cent) experiencing greater impacts than previous generations, such as 79 per cent of Gen X staff and 71 per cent of boomers and their older counterparts.

However, in these uncertain times, the majority of employees (58 per cent) see work as a pleasant distraction. By utilising digital tools in novel, creative ways, businesses of all sizes are innovatively maintaining employee engagement and support. As a result, staff members are ready to co-create the future of work and have an impact on revolutionary projects. The majority of employees indicated that uncertainty had forced them to innovate in their jobs, such as using new procedures and innovative problem-solving approaches, and one in four expects their employers to innovate in the coming year by giving them the opportunity to experiment with new processes.

As businesses update old procedures to increase their competitiveness and resilience in a world that is constantly changing, persistent workplace instability has sparked innovation.

  • For their staff to be supported throughout the uncertainty of the previous year, over a third of business managers have made investments in new technologies.
  • The vast majority (84 per cent) of managers noted at least one advantage of increased workplace innovation, including effects on work efficiency (62 per cent of SMBs and 66 per cent of ENT managers) and work culture (58 per cent of SMBs and 63 per cent of ENT managers). A sizeable proportion also noted improvements in work-life balance (31 per cent of SMBs and 34 per cent of ENT managers).

Employees are increasingly looking for purpose-driven jobs at organisations that put emphasis on investing in cutting-edge technologies and employee welfare as a result of the ongoing uncertainties.

  • Employees who actively shape their workplace cultures are more likely to be satisfied, according to the majority of leaders and employees, who say they now have higher expectations for purpose-driven organisational cultures than they did a year ago.
  • More than two-thirds of managers predict that their enterprises’ cultures will be more digitised (71 per cent of ENT managers, 69 per cent of SMB managers) and collaborative (76 per cent of each) in the upcoming year than ever before, assisting both workers and businesses in navigating the uncertain future.
  • Digital technologies are used by almost seven out of ten managers and staff members to reduce stress at work, keep productive when they are having difficulties focusing, and lessen the burden of finishing work when a coworker needs to take time off unexpectedly. However, in order to help employees through uncertain times, 68 per cent of ENT managers and 59 per cent of SMB leaders said they need more tools and resources.
  • In addition to helping managers with well-being check-ins, providing easier feedback between staff and leaders, and encouraging employee engagement, over 70 per cent of employees and managers think that digital solutions are facilitating and improving work relationships.

Regeneron global head of application services & intelligent automation Jai Gulati said developing the finest methods and using the best technologies should all be done with the goal of assisting everyone from scientists to consumers in this new era of hybrid work and life.

“For example, we use digital solutions including Adobe Acrobat Sign to increase internal efficiencies, but more importantly, to improve the experience for document signers so they have a fast, easy and touchless method of handling records,” Gulati stated. 

Adobe Document Cloud empowers individuals and businesses of all sizes to turn inefficient operations into contemporary, efficient digital experiences. Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Acrobat Sign, and strong companion mobile apps such as Acrobat Reader and Adobe Scan are all part of Document Cloud.

Advertisement

Rackspace Technology Welcomes Launch of New AWS Middle East Region in the UAE

By
DTD
-
0
Image credit: Rackspace Technology
Media Release by Rackspace Technology

Rackspace Technology®, a leading end-to-end multicloud technology solutions company, welcomes AWS’s launch of AWS Middle East (UAE) Region, which will support the acceleration of innovation and digital transformation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The new AWS Middle East (UAE) Region consists of three Availability Zones (AZs) and becomes AWS’s second region in the Middle East with the existing AWS Region in Bahrain, launched in 2019. The new AWS Region gives organizations even greater choice for running their applications and serving end users from data centers located in the UAE, using advanced AWS technologies to drive innovation.

Rackspace Technology is a Premier Consulting Partner for AWS and has more than 1,800 AWS cloud certifications globally. It has a strong AWS presence in the Middle East with an impressive roster of customers, including BFC Group, the leading money transfer and currency exchange provider in the Kingdom of Bahrain, having supported the migration of its core application and supporting systems to AWS public cloud, while providing ongoing management and consultancy services.

George Pawlyszyn, General Manager for Middle East and Africa, at Rackspace Technology said: “As a Premier Consulting Partner, we’re proud to be supporting the launch of AWS’s second Middle Eastern region. We are growing quickly across the Middle East and this is an important step for us in enabling our clients’ success with this new and important option.”

AWS Regions are composed of Availability Zones that place infrastructure in separate and distinct geographic locations. Availability Zones are located far enough from each other to support customers’ business continuity, but near enough to provide low latency for high availability applications that use multiple Availability Zones. Each Availability Zone has independent power, cooling, and physical security and is connected through redundant, ultra-low latency networks. AWS customers focused on high availability, can design their applications to run in multiple Availability Zones to achieve even greater fault tolerance. AWS’s launch of the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region will enable local customers with data residency requirements to store data securely in the UAE, while providing customers with even lower latency across the country.

Advertisement

The cyborg of the future looks just like you

By
DTD
-
0
Image credit: UNSW 
Media Release by University of New South Wales

When we think of cyborgs, what comes to mind? Ultra-futuristic beings with laser eyes and claw arms with a resemblance to Arnold Schwarzenegger. But the reality of cybernetic enhancement, or the integration of technology into our bodies to replace or enhance function, is very different.

The field of cybernetic enhancement is hundreds of years old

“We think of [cybernetic enhancement] as an ultra-futuristic technology, but… the field goes really far back,” said Dr Felix Aplin, from the Translational Neuroscience Facility at UNSW Medicine & Health. “Already from the 1800s people had this idea that maybe you could use electricity to replicate some functions.”

Alessandro Volta (1745-1827) and Luigi Galvani (1737-1798) were the first to prove that animals use electricity in their bodies, with early experiments using electricity to stimulate muscle contractions in frogs and other animals.

“What really kickstarted this field in the mid-20th century was a proper understanding of neurons and neural networks, and that they effectively are using electricity to communicate,” Dr Aplin said.

Increasing knowledge of neuroscience led to more and more people wondering, what if we connect the brain to technology? A cybernetic implant could replace lost function for someone with disability, for example the bionic ear, which already exists and has been made famous in Australia by the company Cochlear. Or it could even enhance existing function, like enabling someone to see in infrared, although this type of application is a little further off.

Enabling the brain and technology to communicate

Brains and computers both use electricity to communicate, but in fundamentally different ways. To translate between these two languages, we need neural interface engineering.

“Neural, meaning, the brain. Interface: to connect or communicate with. Engineering: building stuff. So, my field builds stuff that communicates with the brain,” Dr Aplin said.

In neural interface engineering, there are two main types of devices. ‘Sensing’ devices read the signals from your brain and convert them into computer code that can drive, for example, a robotic arm of an amputee. ‘Active’ devices take in information about the outside world, convert it into computer code, and then back into a format your brain can understand. An example of this is the bionic ear, which takes the input from a microphone and uses electrical pulses in a way that the brain can interpret as sound.

While progress is being made in both sensing and active devices, there’s a long way to go.

“While we understand more and more of how the brain functions, it remains one of the most complex systems in the universe. When we send electrical pulses to communicate with the brain, it’s like trying to surf the internet using morse code,” Dr Aplin said. “Finding more effective ways to talk to the brain beyond our current ‘morse code’ approach has been my career focus. There’s a lot more work to be done.”

Cybernetic implants will look like they are a part of us

People also assume that cybernetic implants will be machine-like and very clearly ‘not human’ – like Luke Skywalker’s robotic hand in Star Wars, or Kano’s laser eye in Mortal Kombat. But if that were the case, we would ultimately reject these devices, both physiologically and psychologically.

“Our immune systems are terrified of anything foreign, for very good reason… Bacteria are bad news, right?” Dr Aplin said. “We need to develop better technologies that help us integrate artificially constructed components into our bodies without them being rejected.”

“In a way, you almost need to be developing mini circuits, which are made out of the same pieces, the same building blocks [as us]. Because it’s just too different to use chunks of metal with batteries.”

Psychologically, we are also more likely to accept a device that looks like a normal part of our body. Humans have an innate fear of disrupting our sense of ‘self’ and the idea of a cybernetic implant can be confronting.

“If someone has a cyborg arm, they might be able to crush beer cans with their incredible cybernetically enhanced strength, but it’s going to look like an arm,” Dr Aplin said. “Because that’s what we’re comfortable with. We want these things to be integrated with ourselves.”

Advertisement

QUT selected by Intel for advanced robotics project

By
Luwela R.
-
0
Image credit: Queensland University of Technology

Intel has picked the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) to conduct research using cutting-edge technology to enhance robots’ perception of the world.

QUT Centre for Robotics’ Dr Tobias Fischer, Professor Michael Milford, and PhD candidate Somayeh Hussaini have been awarded funding from Intel’s Neuromorphic Computing Lab for a project that will use Intel’s Loihi 2 neuromorphic research processor.

QUT said that based on the concepts of biological neural computation, neuromorphic computing employs brand-new algorithmic techniques that mimic how the human brain interacts with the outside world to produce capabilities that are more closely related to human cognition.

Spiking neural networks (SNNs), revolutionary computer models that resemble the brain’s neurons in our brains and simulate natural learning by dynamically re-mapping neural networks, are used by the chip to make judgments in response to patterns that have been learned over time.

Dr Fischer said algorithms for Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) are at the foundation of autonomous mobile vehicles deployed in unfamiliar, GPS-deficient, or dynamic situations.

“Our project will focus on Visual Place Recognition, a particularly challenging part of SLAM that requires robust recognition and discrimination of hundreds of thousands of locations in different conditions. This will include ‘slow’ adaptation (urban vs rural, or day vs night) as well as ‘fast’ adaptation (sudden onset of rain, entering tunnels). Continuous adaptation is very challenging as it is impossible to cover all environment variations in the training data,” Dr Fischer stated.

According to Professor Milford, the QUT research team from the School of Electrical Engineering & Robotics was inspired by the animal realm to meet this challenge.

“Many animals display remarkable navigation capabilities, solving large-scale memory formation and recognition problems with unprecedented efficiency, flexibility, and robustness.  New features of Intel’s Loihi-2 enable more complex neuronal models, making it well-positioned to implement the next generation of biologically inspired navigation and map formation algorithms that could surpass today’s state-of-the-art in the field,” Professor Milford added. 

Dr Yulia Sandamirskaya, a research scientist at Intel Labs, Dr Garrick Orchard, a research scientist at Intel Labs, and Dr Andreas Wild, manager of software and algorithms at Intel Labs, have been working closely with the QUT research project team to develop algorithms.

“Neuromorphic computing opens new exciting new possibilities in computing, especially when it comes to robotics. Loihi 2 greatly improves the speed, programmability, and capacity of neuromorphic computing, which enables it to support more difficult optimization problems,” Director of Intel’s Neuromorphic Computing Lab Mike Davies said. 

The prestigious Telluride Neuromorphic Cognition Engineering Workshop in Colorado featured the topic area “From Neuroscience Theory to Robotic Applications,” organised collaboratively by QUT and Intel Labs.

Advertisement

Christie’s 3.0: Revolutionary Platform Established Christie’s as First Global Auction House to Host Fully On-Chain NFT Sales

By
Luwela R.
-
0
Image credit: Christie's, Twitter

Fine art auction house Christie’s has introduced Christie’s 3.0, a newly created platform enabling entirely on-chain NFT sales.

In a statement, the launch of Christie’s 3.0 proves Christie’s commitment to both artists and collectors in the Web3 area.

In a first for an art auction house, Christie’s debuts its on-chain marketplace just days after the Ethereum Merge’s triumph. This marketplace was designed from the ground up in collaboration with three of the top Web3 companies: Manifold, Chainalysis, and Spatial.

Auctions can now be completed entirely on the Ethereum blockchain network through Christie’s 3.0. Every transaction, even those made after the sale, will be immediately documented on the blockchain. This ground-breaking platform, the first of its type, provides the greatest degree of curation in the NFT art market and solves fundamental market needs by including compliance and taxation capabilities.

Christie’s Director of Digital Art Sales Nicole Sales Giles said Christie’s is delighted to premiere Christie’s 3.0 with Diana Sinclair’s outstanding works and is pleased to introduce its on-chain platform. 

“Bringing the highest level of curation to the NFT and Digital Art market, Christie’s continues to be the venue for collectors to discover the best artworks of this emerging category.  I am delighted to be able to work with such inspiring digital artists – as well as a remarkable Christie’s team – to offer the public the opportunity to collect exceptional NFTs in the way they are meant to be transacted, on-chain.  By incorporating regulatory tools, such as anti-money laundering and sales tax, we have built an inclusive solution where both veteran and new NFT collectors can feel secure in transacting with Christie’s 3.0,” Giles stated.

According to Manifold founder and CEO Eric Diep, it is an honour for Manifold to work with Christie’s to introduce a fully on-chain art marketplace.

“The launch of Christie’s 3.0 signifies an institutional expansion of the regulated market for digital assets, which both validates NFTs as an art form, and provides incredible benefits for digital artists,” Diep added. 

Chainalysis Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Jonathan Levin said NFTs are one of the most vibrant Web3 and digital art market segments, allowing artists to create a devoted following for their brands through digital ownership.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Christie’s to provide anti-money laundering technology and open up NFTs to buyers looking for the trust and safety that comes with Christie’s reputation,” Levin stated. 

Co-Founder and CEO of Spatial Anand Agarawala said it is a true honour to be a part of Christie’s and Diana Sinclair’s first-ever metaverse drop.

“An auction house and artist of this caliber looking to Web3 and NFTs as the next avenue for sales, makes a big statement to the industry. We’ve enjoyed collaborating on the space with them and are looking forward to a long partnership as they embark on their digital art journey,” Agarawala added. 

The inaugural sale will feature a carefully curated auction of nine NFTs designed and produced especially for Christie’s 3.0 by renowned visual artist Diana Sinclair. Bidding for Sinclair’s artwork will be accepted from 28 September to 11 October.

Sinclair is a multidisciplinary artist, activist, and curator. Her art is renowned for examining identity while promoting social justice. Sinclair was named one of Fortune’s 50 Most Influential People in NFTs in 2021.

Advertisement

A New Feature to Begin Providing a More Personalized Mobile Games Experience on Netflix

By
Luwela R.
-
0
Image credit: Netflix 
Media Release by Netflix

As we continue to expand our mobile games catalog to span many genres and categories, we’ve been thinking about how we can improve the mobile games experience for members too. Today, we’re rolling out the ability to create game handles for a more personalized gameplay experience.

With game handles, members will be able to create a unique public username that can be used across all Netflix games. In multiplayer games like Rival Pirates, an adventure game where you set sail, fire cannonballs and strive to be the last boat afloat or within leaderboards in games like Dominoes Café and Lucky Luna, game handles help players discover, make friends and play with each other.

Setting up a game handle only takes two simple steps on both iOS and Android devices: 

  • Boot up your Netflix mobile app
  • On iOS: Download Rival Pirates or Lucky Luna  for prompts you to select your gamer handle in-game
  • On Android: Select the games tab in the navigation bar and find the banner that says ‘Create your Netflix game handle’

This feature is only the beginning in building a tailored game experience for our members around the world. We’ll continue to adapt and evolve our service to meet the needs of our members, but in the meantime see if you can beat me — I’m SophiaYang ˛in Dominoes Café. 

And don’t forget to check out the latest mobile games launching today — Spongebob: Get Cooking (Tilting Point), a culinary adventure based on the series, and Desta: The Memories Between (ustwo Games). Whether it’s delighting customers by serving up delicious dishes in Bikini Bottom’s finest restaurants, or reliving memories, rediscovering friends and repairing relationships in surreal worlds, both mobile games offer rewarding and fun challenges on the go. 

Advertisement

Intel equips developers to solve challenges of today and tomorrow

By
Luwela R.
-
0
Image credit: Intel

Hardware and software developers gathered at Intel’s second annual Intel Innovation event to hear about Intel’s latest advancements toward an ecosystem.

In a statement, Intel said the latest innovations are based on the principles of openness, choice, and trust — from driving open standards to make “systems of chips” at the silicon level, to enabling efficient and portable multi-architecture artificial intelligence (AI).

Intel also presented a wide range of new tools, programs, and services to assist its extensive developer community in overcoming obstacles and producing the next wave of innovation.

“In the next decade, we will see the continued digitization of everything. Five foundational technology superpowers — compute, connectivity, infrastructure, AI, and sensing — will profoundly shape how we experience the world,” Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said.

According to Gelsinger, hardware and software developers will build the future as they advance what’s possible.

“Fostering this open ecosystem is at the center of our transformation, and the developer community is essential to our success,” he added.

Vendor lock-in, access to the newest hardware, productivity and time-to-market, and security were just a few of the difficulties that Gelsinger discussed in his keynote speech. He also introduced several solutions to help developers overcome these difficulties, including:

  • New and upcoming technologies a click away in the Intel Developer Cloud: The Intel Developer Cloud, initially launched as a small beta experiment, has grown to provide developers and partners with early and effective access to Intel technologies, from a few months to a full year before the release of a product. Several of Intel’s most recent platforms, including the Habana Gaudi 2 deep learning accelerators, the 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors (Sapphire Rapids), the 4th Gen Intel Xeon processors with high bandwidth memory (HBM), the Intel® Xeon® D processors, the Intel® Data Center GPU (Ponte Vecchio), and the Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series, will be available for beta testing in the coming weeks.
  • Computer vision AI, built faster and easier: Anyone in the organisation can rapidly and easily create powerful AI models thanks to the new and collaborative Intel® Geti computer vision platform. Intel Geti minimises the time, AI skill, and cost required to construct models by providing a single interface for data upload, annotation, model training, and retraining. Teams may implement high-quality computer vision AI within their businesses to promote creativity, automation, and productivity thanks to built-in OpenVINO optimisations.

According to Intel, The Intel Developer Cloud, in conjunction with performance-optimized developer tools and resources such as Intel® oneAPI toolkits and the Intel Geti platform, can assist speed time to market for solutions built on Intel platforms.

Additionally, Gelsinger presented the most recent developments in Intel’s entire product line, including:

  • A new standard for desktop processor performance: With up to 15 per cent faster single-threaded performance and up to 41 per cent greater multi-threaded performance gen-over-gen, 13th Gen Intel Core desktop CPUs, headed by the flagship Intel® CoreTM i9-13900K, allow users better gaming, create, and work.
  • A big step for Intel GPUs: A crucial area of growth for Intel, Gelsinger delivered updates on all of Intel’s graphics products. Argonne National Laboratory is now receiving server blades with the Ponte Vecchio, for use in the Aurora supercomputer.
  • New workloads for Flex Series GPUs: Intel Data Center GPU Flex Series offers users a single GPU solution for various visual cloud workloads. OpenVINO, TensorFlow, and Pytorch, three widely used deep learning and AI frameworks, will run on it. Numenta, an AI neuroscience customer, is claiming incredible performance gains using Inte’s Flex Series GPU for real-world inference workloads on MRI data in partnership with Stanford University.
  • Intel Arc GPUs for gamers: Intel said it is dedicated to restoring the balance between price and performance for gamers with the Intel Arc graphics family. The Intel Arc A770 GPU will be available on 12 October, offering compelling content production and 1440p gaming performance.
  • A high-fidelity AI boost for games: This year, Intel said over 20 games would use Xe Super Sampling, a gaming performance accelerator that works with both Intel discrete and integrated graphics. XeSS is now rolling out to existing games through updates. Additionally, the software development kit is now accessible via GitHub.
  • Many devices, one experience: With functionality including file transfer, text messaging, phone calls, and phone notifications coming to new laptops starting later this year, Intel® Unison is a new software solution that enables seamless connectivity between phones and PCs.
  • Data centre acceleration, on demand: Several accelerators for AI, analytics, networking, storage, and other demanding applications are included in 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors. Customers can activate additional accelerators through the new Intel® On Demand activation approach, beyond the default configuration of the original SKU, providing greater flexibility and choice as needed.

Samsung and TSMC leaders joined Gelsinger to pledge support for the Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe) consortium, which seeks to establish an open ecosystem for chiplets designed and manufactured on various process technologies by various vendors to collaborate when integrated with advanced packaging technologies.

With the three biggest chipmakers and more than 80 of the top semiconductor firms joining UCIe, Gelsinger declared, “we are now making it a reality.”

Gelsinger stated that “Intel and Intel Foundry Services will usher in the era of the systems foundry,” with four key components: wafer manufacturing, packaging, software, and an open chiplet ecosystem. This platform transformation will enable new customer and partner solutions with chiplets, according to Gelsinger. 

“Innovation once thought impossible has opened entirely new possibilities for chipmaking,” Gelsinger said. 

Another such invention that Intel is working on is a ground-breaking pluggable co-package photonics system. Optical links in the data centre show promise for enabling unprecedented levels of chip-to-chip bandwidth, but manufacturing challenges make them unaffordably expensive. To solve this problem, Intel researchers created a reliable, high-yielding, glass-based solution with a pluggable connector that makes production easier and less expensive while still providing room for future system and chip package layouts.

According to Intel, building the future requires finance, software, tools, and products. Intel established the $1 billion IFS Innovation Fund at the beginning of the year to aid existing businesses and early-stage startups creating game-changing innovations for the foundry ecosystem. Intel revealed the first round of funded businesses working on innovations throughout the full semiconductor stack, including Astera, Movellus, and SiFive.

Advertisement

ECU and IBM partner to bridge industry-ready skills gap

By
Luwela R.
-
0
Image credit: Edith Cowan University
Media Release by Edith Cowan University

Global technology giant IBM and Edith Cowan University (ECU) have collaborated to deliver an industry and education internship model, one that places student talent at the heart of the industry and creates real job opportunities for local ECU students.

ECU and IBM are creating opportunities for students to ‘Earn As They Learn’ by providing applied industry experience with IBM and their clients. The internship program, which officially launched in August, focusses on current and emerging high demand skill areas key to WA’s digital economy, including user experience designers, software engineers, data scientists, mobile application developers and project managers.

Edith Cowan University Vice-Chancellor Professor Steve Chapman said, “This transformational model represents the next generation of industry-embedded learning and is proving to be exactly what the market and students are screaming out for.”

“When we talk of the jobs of the future, the future of education and student readiness – this is a breakthrough model that dramatically increases employability. This is the territory we want to be in, to take on the skills-gap challenging the industry, simultaneously offering students an income stream aligned to their studies and future careers,” added Professor Chapman.

“In WA’s innovation context, there’s an increasing demand for graduates with a unique combination of skills in creativity, technology and business. This model aims to address this skills demand while also redefining how students consider their study journey.”

The concept has been successfully piloted in WA by IBM and ECU across two intake periods involving more than 50 students since August 2021. The program contributed to further employment opportunities for a number of participating students, creating career pathways and helping to grow workforce opportunities for students in WA.

Bridging the gap

IBM Design Director, Vivien Hegedus said, “Together IBM and Edith Cowan University are developing industry-ready graduates, who not only have strong discipline knowledge, but also have the employability skills and industry insights necessary to gain a competitive advantage in the global job market.”

“Today’s digital transformation across industries is creating jobs that require new skills and innovative thinking. Through such industry-academic collaboration, we can help to advance relevant skills development among students in Western Australia to better prepare them for tomorrow’s jobs.”

“This internship program will allow students to acquire some of the most in demand business and technical skills, helping to fast-track their post study employment opportunities,” she added.

A key feature of the program is its scalability, with the potential for this model to help guide future opportunities for industry and higher education collaboration. The program has great potential across a breadth of cross-disciplinary areas and can be designed to meet the demands of an increasingly complex industry ecosystem.

Recent ECU graduate and participant of the pilot internship program, Ms Aryana Eraman said, “Having real life clients was one of the most valuable educational aspects of her university experience.”

Vice-Chancellor Professor Steve Chapman added, “The collaboration with IBM was not just about more tech jobs in cities, but building capacity in the region, with a presence also in the South West of Western Australia, home to the ECU South West campus.”

Another impressive feature of the collaboration is its potential to boost diversity within the IT industry, focusing on attracting more female, Indigenous, LGBTQI+ and neurodiverse graduates.

“What we are achieving here really exemplifies what cross portfolio collaboration is all about – creating solutions for industry challenges while giving our students real-world immersive learnings and career opportunities,” said Professor Chapman.

Supporting students, supporting industry

The Water Corporation have welcomed a number of ECU students through the partnership program, and said it supported the delivery of key initiatives across HR, project delivery and process automation.

Representatives from ATCO also commended the program, describing it as exceedingly commendable and in line with ATCO’s overarching vision to be ‘delivering inspired solutions for a better world’ and to support local communities.

Western Power’s Head of Information and Communication Technology, Tracy Deveugle-Frink said the students allowed assisted with substantial digital programs, “allowing us to deliver quality outcomes, while also giving the students a unique opportunity to experience working in a dynamic and safe environment,” she said.

“The ECU and IBM partnership has allowed Western Power to fully embrace the building of our next generation of ICT professionals,” said Western Power’s ICT Project Delivery Manager, Matt Gaunt.

“The onboarding of these employees has allowed Western Power to tap into new and innovative ways of thinking and delivering technology, while supporting pending graduates with effective work experience and an understanding of how to make a difference within a corporate environment.”

Advertisement
1...232425...55Page 24 of 55

Design Tech Digital is a platform for people who build, design, and operate modern organisations.

© 2026 Digital Media News Pty Ltd

Latest News

More News