Technology – News

Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology has died

Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.

Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI’s strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.

“We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir’s loved ones during this difficult time,” said a statement from OpenAI.

Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said “appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation.” The city’s chief medical examiner’s office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.

His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a “happy, smart and brave young man” who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.

Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.

“Suchir’s contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn’t have succeeded without him,” said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what made him such an exceptional engineer and scientist was his attention to detail and ability to notice subtle bugs or logical errors.

“He had a knack for finding simple solutions and writing elegant code that worked,” Schulman wrote. “He’d think through the details of things carefully and rigorously.”

Balaji later shifted to organizing the huge datasets of online writings and other media used to train GPT-4, the fourth generation of OpenAI’s flagship large language model and a basis for the company’s famous chatbot. It was that work that eventually caused Balaji to question the technology he helped build, especially after newspapers, novelists and others began suing OpenAI and other AI companies for copyright infringement.

He first raised his concerns with The New York Times, which reported them in an October profile of Balaji.

He later told The Associated Press he would “try to testify” in the strongest copyright infringement cases and considered a lawsuit brought by The New York Times last year to be the “most serious.” Times lawyers named him in a Nov. 18 court filing as someone who might have “unique and relevant documents” supporting allegations of OpenAI’s willful copyright infringement.

His records were also sought by lawyers in a separate case brought by book authors including the comedian Sarah Silverman, according to a court filing.

“It doesn’t feel right to be training on people’s data and then competing with them in the marketplace,” Balaji told the AP in late October. “I don’t think you should be able to do that. I don’t think you are able to do that legally.”

He told the AP that he gradually grew more disillusioned with OpenAI, especially after the internal turmoil that led its board of directors to fire and then rehire CEO Sam Altman last year. Balaji said he was broadly concerned about how its commercial products were rolling out, including their propensity for spouting false information known as hallucinations.

But of the “bag of issues” he was concerned about, he said he was focusing on copyright as the one it was “actually possible to do something about.”

He acknowledged that it was an unpopular opinion within the AI research community, which is accustomed to pulling data from the internet, but said “they will have to change and it’s a matter of time.”

He had not been deposed and it’s unclear to what extent his revelations will be admitted as evidence in any legal cases after his death. He also published a personal blog post with his opinions about the topic.

Schulman, who resigned from OpenAI in August, said he and Balaji coincidentally left on the same day and celebrated with fellow colleagues that night with dinner and drinks at a San Francisco bar. Another of Balaji’s mentors, co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, had left OpenAI several months earlier, which Balaji saw as another impetus to leave.

Schulman said Balaji had told him earlier this year of his plans to leave OpenAI and that Balaji didn’t think that better-than-human AI known as artificial general intelligence “was right around the corner, like the rest of the company seemed to believe.” The younger engineer expressed interest in getting a doctorate and exploring “some more off-the-beaten path ideas about how to build intelligence,” Schulman said.

Balaji’s family said a memorial is being planned for later this month at the India Community Center in Milpitas, California, not far from his hometown of Cupertino.

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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.

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The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement allowing OpenAI access to part of the AP’s text archives.

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December 21, 2024

US agencies should use advanced technology to identify mysterious drones, Schumer says

BOSTON — After weeks of fear and bewilderment about the drones buzzing over parts of New York and New Jersey, elected officials are urging action to identify and stop the mysterious flights.

“There’s a lot of us who are pretty frustrated right now,” Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“’We don’t know’ is not a good enough answer,” he said.

National security officials have said the drones don’t appear to be a sign of foreign interference or a public safety threat. But because they can’t say with certainty who is responsible for the sudden swarms of drones over parts of New Jersey, New York and other eastern parts of the U.S. — or how they can be stopped — has led leaders of both political parties to demand better technology and powers to deal with the drones.

Sen. Chuck Schumer called Sunday for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to deploy better drone-tracking technology to identify the drones and their operators.

“New Yorkers have tremendous questions about it,” Schumer, the Senate Majority leader, told reporters about the drone sightings. “We are going to get the answers for them.”

The federal government did little to answer those questions in its own media briefings Sunday morning. “There’s no question that people are seeing drones,” U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “But I want to assure the American public that we are on it. We are working in close coordination with state and local authorities.”

Some of the drones reported above parts of New York and New Jersey have turned out to be “manned aircraft that are commonly mistaken for drones,” Mayorkas said. “We know of no foreign involvement with respect to the sightings in the Northeast. And we are vigilant in investigating this matter.”

Last year, federal aviation rules began requiring certain drones to broadcast their remote identification, including the location of their operators. It’s not clear whether that information has been used to determine who is behind the drones plaguing locations over New York and New Jersey. Mayorkas’ office didn’t respond to questions about whether they’ve been able to identify drones using this capability.

Schumer wants the federal government to use a recently declassified radio wave technology in New York and New Jersey. The radio wave detector can be attached to a drone or airplane and can determine whether another flying object is a bird or a drone, read its electronic registration, and follow it back to its landing place. Schumer said state and local authorities do not have the authority to track drones.

On Sunday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said federal officials were sending a drone detection system to the state.

“This system will support state and federal law enforcement in their investigations,” Hochul said in a statement. The governor did not immediately provide additional details, including where the system will be deployed.

Dozens of mysterious nighttime flights started last month over parts of New Jersey, raising concerns among residents and officials. Part of the worry stems from the flying objects initially being spotted near the Picatinny Arsenal, a U.S. military research and manufacturing facility and over President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in Bedminster. Drones are legal in New Jersey for recreational and commercial use, but they are subject to local and Federal Aviation Administration regulations and flight restrictions. Operators must be FAA certified.

Drones are now being reported all along the northern East Coast, with suspicious sightings in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia, according to news reports.

Some U.S. political leaders, including Trump, have called for much stronger action against these drones, including shooting them down.

Certain agencies within the Department of Homeland Security have the power to “incapacitate” drones, Mayorkas said Sunday. “But we need those authorities expanded,” he said.

A bill before the U.S. Senate would enhance some federal agencies’ authority and give new abilities to local and state agencies to track drones. It would also start a pilot program allowing states and local authorities to disrupt, disable or seize a drone without prior consent of the operator.

“What the drone issue points out are gaps in our agencies, gaps in our authorities between the Department of Homeland Security, local law enforcement, the Defense Department.,” said Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., Trump’s pick to be his national security adviser, speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “Americans are finding it hard to believe we can’t figure out where these are coming from.’’

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Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut.

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December 15, 2024

US updates a science and technology pact with China to reflect growing rivalry and security threats

WASHINGTON — The U.S. has updated a decades-old science and technology agreement with China to reflect their growing rivalry for technological dominance. The new agreement, signed Friday after many months of negotiations, has a narrower scope and additional safeguards to minimize the risk to national security.

The State Department said the agreement sustains intellectual property protections, establishes new guardrails to protect the safety and security of researchers and “advances U.S. interests through newly established and strengthened provisions on transparency and data reciprocity.”

It covers only basic research and does not facilitate the development of critical and emerging technologies, the department said. This includes technologies related to artificial intelligence and quantum computing, which are considered crucial for economic strength and military supremacy.

The first such agreement was signed in January 1979 when the two countries established diplomatic ties to counter the influence of the Soviet Union and when China severely lagged behind the U.S. and other Western nations in science and technology.

The agreement was last extended in 2018, and given temporary extensions last year and this year to allow for negotiations. Washington had come to view the agreement as failing to reflect the shift in U.S.-China relations and China’s emergence as a heavyweight in the field. The new agreement extends cooperation for five years.

As the tech war between the two countries has escalated, the U.S. has banned exports of advanced chips to China and restricted U.S. investments in certain technologies that could boost China’s military capabilities. Cooperation in science and technology chilled in universities and research institutions after a Trump-era program was introduced to curb China’s spying. The program was ended in 2022 after multiple unsuccessful prosecutions of researchers and because of concerns that it had prompted racial profiling.

Deborah Seligsohn, an assistant professor of political science at Villanova University, said the new agreement would lead to fewer government-to-government programs, but, through its limited scope and stronger safeguards, it would allow for the cooperation to be sustained “through a more difficult relationship.”

Earlier this year, Rep. Andy Barr, a Kentucky Republican, said the decades-long cooperation had resulted in the U.S. “providing all sorts of scientific and technical knowledge to Chinese scientists in what would amount to the greatest outpouring of American scientific and technology expertise in history.”

Rep. Gregory Meeks, a Democrat from New York, argued that the U.S. and the global community also have benefited from research collaborations that have “prevented diseases, reduced pollution, and deepened our understanding of the Earth’s history.”

But Meeks said he favored congressional oversight to ensure projects under the agreement would be in line with U.S. values and interests.

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December 13, 2024

Google forges ahead with its next generation of AI technology while fending off a breakup threat

SAN FRANCISCO — Google on Wednesday unleashed another wave of artificial intelligence designed to tackle more of the work and thinking done by humans as it tries to stay on the technology’s cutting edge while also trying to fend off regulatory threats to its empire.

The next generation of Google’s AI is being packaged under the Gemini umbrella, which was unveiled a year ago. Google is framing its release of Gemini 2.0 as a springboard for AI agents built to interpret images shown through a smartphone, perform a variety of tedious chores, remember the conversations consumers have with people, help video game players plot strategy and even tackle the task of doing online searches.

In a blog post, Google CEO Sundar Pichai predicted the technology contained in Gemini 2.0 will “understand more about the world around you, think multiple steps ahead and take action on your behalf, with your supervision.” It’s a similar goal being pursued by hard-charging rivals such as OpenAI, with its chatGPT technology, and industry powerhouse such as Microsoft with a variety of similar tools on its Windows software.

A lot of Google’s latest AI technology will initially be confined to test groups and subscribers who pay $20 per month for Gemini Advanced, but some features will be made available through its search engine and mobile apps. Google is planning wider releases next year that will include the technology popping up in its smorgasbord of free products, including its Chrome browser, digital maps and YouTube.

Besides trying to outshine OpenAI and other ambitious startups, Google is also trying to stay a step ahead of Apple as that trendsetting company begins to blend AI into its latest iPhones and other devices. After releasing a software update enabling the first bundle of the iPhone’s “Apple Intelligence” features that spruced up the device’s Siri assistant, another batch of the AI technology is scheduled to come out before the end of this year.

Google is pushing forward with its latest AI advances even as the U.S. Justice Department is trying to break up the Mountain View, California, company to prevent further abusive practices by its dominant search engine, which was declared an illegal monopoly by a federal judge earlier this year as part of a landmark antitrust case.

Among other things, Gemini 2.0 is supposed to improve the AI overviews that Google began highlighting in its search results over its traditional listing of the most pertinent links to websites earlier this year in response to AI-powered “answer engines” such as Perplexity.

After the AI overviews initially produced some goofy suggestions, including putting glue on pizza, Google refined the technology to minimize such missteps. Now, the company executives are promising things are going to get even better with Gemini 2.0, which Pichai said will be able to engage in more human-like reasoning while solving more advanced math problems and even churn out some computer code. The improvements to AI Overviews will initially only appear to a test audience before a wider release next year.

The technological upgrade is also supposed to infuse a still-experimental universal AI agent dubbed “Project Astra,” with even more smarts and versatility, enabling people to have more meaningful and helpful conversations with the technology. In a show of confidence, Google said it will expand the number of people testing Project Astra without providing any specifics of the group’s size.

As part of Gemini 2.0, Google is also going to begin testing an extension to Chrome called “Project Mariner,” which can be turned on to do online searches and sift through the results so people don’t won’t have to bother.

If the U.S. Department of Justice gets its way, Google will be forced to sell or spin off Chrome as part of its punishment for deploying its search engine in ways that stifled competition and potential innovation. Google has ridiculed the Justice Department’s proposal as “overly broad” and vowed to resist any attempt to break up the company during federal court hearings scheduled to begin in Washington D.C. next spring.

Even if those proceedings culminate in a court order mandating a breakup, Google could still appeal in a process that could take years to resolve while it continues its AI expansion.

“I can’t wait to see what this next era brings,” Pichai wrote in his blog post, signaling the company doesn’t believe it will be deterred by regulators.

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December 11, 2024

US expands list of Chinese technology companies under export controls

BANGKOK — The U.S. Commerce Department has expanded the list of Chinese technology companies subject to export controls to include many that make equipment used to make computer chips, chipmaking tools and software.

The 140 companies newly included in the so-called “entity list” are nearly all based in China. But some are Chinese-owned businesses in Japan, South Korea and Singapore.

The revised rules were posted Monday on the website of the U.S. Federal Register for publication later this week. They also limit exports of high-bandwidth memory chips to China. Such chips are needed to process massive amounts of data in advanced applications such as artificial intelligence.

China’s Commerce Ministry protested and said it would act to protect its “rights and interests,” without giving any details.

“This is a typical act of economic coercion and non-market practice,” the ministry said in a statement.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the move was intended to impair China’s ability to use advanced technologies that “pose a risk to our national security.”

The addition of the companies to the “entity list” means that export licenses will likely be denied for any U.S. company trying to do business with them.

Washington has been gradually expanding the number of companies affected by such export controls, as the administration of President Joe Biden has encouraged an expansion of investments in and manufacturing of semiconductors in the U.S.

“The purpose of these Entity List actions is to stop PRC (Chinese) companies from leveraging U.S. technology to indigenously produce advanced semiconductors,” Matthew S. Axelrod, the assistant secretary for export enforcement, said in a statement. “By adding key semiconductor fabrication facilities, equipment manufacturers, and investment companies to the Entity List, we are directly impeding the PRC’s military modernization, WMD (weapons of mass destruction) programs, and ability to repress human rights.”

China has accused the U.S. of pursuing “technology hegemony,” as Washington steps up pressure on Chinese tech giant Huawei and other Chinese manufacturers of advanced technology by blocking access to American suppliers.

It particularly objects to what it calls “long-arm jurisdiction” moves such as the U.S. decision to extend export controls to companies to apply to chip-making equipment makers in South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore if they use any U.S. technology that might be sold to China.

Pressure from Washington has spurred China to step up its efforts to develop its own advanced computer chips and other technologies, providing billions in subsidies and investments for the industry. Chinese manufacturers have made quick progress even though they remain years behind in some areas.

Shares in Japanese computer chip makers and makers of related equipment surged Tuesday, with testing equipment maker Advantest surging 4.6%, Tokyo Electron gaining 4.6% and Applied Materials up 4.9%. Disco Corp., another chipmaker, jumped 6.9%, while the Tokyo benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index gained 2.3%.

Meanwhile, China’s Naura Technology Group, whose companies were included in the new list, fell 3% and Piotech Inc., another chipmaker, lost 5.3%.

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December 3, 2024

FIFA and Hawk-Eye establish joint soccer technology venture

The partnership will also involve the development of automated offside technology (FIFA).

Fifa, soccer’s world governing body, and UK-based broadcast and technology company Hawk-Eye, have partnered to establish the Football Technology Centre AG.

The new joint venture will aim to develop emerging technologies in soccer, with a particular focus on producing algorithms to automate the detection of on-pitch events for optimal decision-making.

Additionally, the partnership will involve the development of automated offside technology, which the two entities claim will instantly provide match officials with consistent and accurate information, with the aim of helping to speed up the decision-making process for offside incidents.

FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafström said: “This joint venture is just another example of the extent to which FIFA is harnessing the use of technology to optimize football operations and to play a leading role in technological developments for the benefit of our 211 member associations.

“It will have a positive impact across football as it will help to automate the provision of valuable information, facilitate decision-making processes and ultimately improve the football experience for all stakeholders.”

Rufus Hack, chief executive at Hawk-Eye, added: “Given the highly competitive nature of football and the constant evolution in the sports technology industry, Hawk-Eye continues to consider the future with a strategic approach.

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“We’re incredibly proud to collaborate with FIFA on this joint venture, to continue creating innovative solutions that will make the beautiful game more understandable, precise, fair, and exciting for everyone at all levels of football.

“The creation of the Football Technology Centre is a natural evolution of our relationship with FIFA and will leverage technology and AI to pave the way for the future of football officiating, performance, and fan engagement.”

Both organizations have been collaborating since 2017 via the use of soccer technologies in several of FIFA’s top-tier tournaments.

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November 6, 2024

Business News | Wellness Lifestyle Launches Jalasya: An End-to-End Technology Stack for Regenerative Wellness Estates, Rooted in Blue Economy Principles

ATK

Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], November 4: Wellness Lifestyle (WL) announces the global launch of the Jalasya technology stack. Built on the Blue Economy framework pioneered by Gunter Pauli, author of the acclaimed “The Blue Economy” book series, the Jalasya stack uses an open-source format that can be continuously upgraded and aspires to set new standards in regenerative wellness developments and operations.

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Developed over five years, Jalasya was recently selected by the ayushca estates of the IIT Alumni Council for their upcoming campuses in Goa, NCR, and Madhya Pradesh. Jalasya was also recently featured in the book, “Accelerate Your Journey” which outlines the sustainability philosophy of the Climate Resilience Platform – a consortium of Gunter Pauli’s ZERI, Development Alternatives and Wellness Lifestyle Foundation. The consortium is led by Dr Ashok Khosla, a sustainability pioneer widely recognised for his contributions to the field and for popularising the concept on international platforms. Early in his career, Khosla collaborated with Professor Roger Revelle, co-developing the groundbreaking environmental course “Natural Sciences 118” at Harvard, which shaped many students’ perspectives, including that of Nobel Laureate Al Gore. This course led to The Survival Equation, one of the first definitive textbooks on environmental sustainability.

“The wellness movement has the potential to influence behaviours and choices,” said Christina Watson, spokesperson of Wellness Lifestyle (WL). “We can create awareness, inspire change; and also, be the change. Jalasya, our pioneering Thalasso-Aqua Technology Stack, was developed to be the change we wish to see in the world. At WL, we are incorporating the Blue Economy principles as fundamental to all our wellness projects for self-sufficiency, ecological responsibility, and social equity and contribute to building hyper-local economies”.

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Wellness Lifestyle (www.wellnesslifestyle.com) developed the Jalasya stack in partnership with the start-ups supported by the IIT Alumni Council, and it goes beyond advocacy to action. One of the startups that contributed to developing the paradigms embodied in the stack is the Prakriti Prerna Foundation (PPF). PPF was started three years ago with a revolutionary vision of ‘flourishing forests and thriving wildlife’. The PPF pilot projects are distributed over a 100 sqkm area adjoining the 1500 sqkm Bandhavgarh forest in central India.

According to award-winning climate change warrior, IIT Alumni Council Life Fellow and PPF Founder, Srinivas Rachakonda, “We have seen thirty feet high trees grow in less than thirty months and organic farms producing up to 150 tons per acre per annum of fruits and 40 tons per acre per annum of vegetables. A prudent combination of traditional wisdom and cutting-edge technologies achieved this performance. Several of these protocols and technologies are now part of the Jalasya stack for the biodynamic farming module of the ayushca campuses. We are happy to have been able to contribute to its development.”

The Jalasya stack is relevant to all kinds of real estate formats. Founder of Beeja Luxury, Geetika Saigal, a TED speaker and celebrity author, remarked, “As an Advisor to the ayushca Goa team, I get to meet so many high-net-worth individuals excited about luxury wellness properties in the USD 5 million+ bracket. But in reality, the truly discerning buyers won’t commit unless developers genuinely deliver on their promises–real sustainability, wellness facilities, and Jalasya-level infrastructure. That’s what makes the difference.”

Requests for more information or interviews with the Jalasya team members may be sent to contact@wellnesslifestyle.com.

Wellness Lifestyle (https://www.wellnesslifestyle.com/)

WL is a niche 360-degree wellness ecosystem. Its mission is to empower individuals to embrace wellness as a way of life and institutions to facilitate it. WL is driven by the conviction that true wellness begins with self-responsibility, flourishes in nurturing environments, and extends beyond the individual to embrace the well-being of people, communities, and the planet. Wellness Lifestyle is actively shaping a new paradigm with dimensions essential for our time – integrating ‘proactive’ healthcare, ‘wellness’ hospitality, ‘conscious’ luxury, and ‘regenerative’ habitats to redefine what it truly means to live well.

Beeja Luxury (https://www.beejadigital.com/)

Beeja Luxury is the high-end brand advisory arm of Beeja House, India’s top brand mentoring platform. Focused on sustainable sophistication, Beeja Luxury shapes projects that balance elegance with conscious living. Beeja Digital brings storytelling expertise to the digital space, helping brands make a powerful impact online. Together, they extend Beeja House’s mission to elevate brands in both the luxury and digital spheres.

The Climate Resilience Platform (CRP)

CRP is an advisory platform from the IIT Alumni Council that leverages cutting-edge technologies and sustainable frameworks to help countries, cities, communities, and campuses enhance their climate resilience. With key partners, including the IIT Alumni Council, Development Alternatives, ZERI, and the Wellness Lifestyle Foundation, the CRP offers actionable strategies and protocols for fostering resilient, sustainable environments. Details are available in Beeja House’s recently launched book Accelerate Your Journey on Amazon.

ayushca (www.ayushca.org)

IIT Alumni Council is catalysing a transformative approach to wellness-centric developments through the ayushca hamlets/estates. The 23 ayushca (www.ayuhsca.org) campuses are being built as sustainable wellness hamlets and estates, incorporating some of the most advanced net zero, zero discharge and zero freshwater technologies. The first three ayushca campuses are being built in India in Goa, Delhi NCR and Madhya Pradesh.

Prakriti Prerna Foundation (PPF) (www.prakritiprerna.org)

Founded by the much-awarded climate change warrior and IIT Alumni Council life fellow Srinivas Rachakonda, the six PPF pilot projects are distributed over ten square kilometres of pristine, relatively uninhabited nature near the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. PPF has successfully converted a virtual wasteland into a dense forest integrated with organic farms.

Prior to setting up PPF in 2021, Srinivas helped build the Reliance Refinery Complex at Jamnagar in the early nineties and currently serves as Senior Advisor to McKinsey and Co. PPF is the principal concept development and test laboratory for the forest restoration and organic farming modules of all the ayushca campuses.

(ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by ATK. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)

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November 4, 2024

Scientists detect traces of an ancient Mayan city in southern Mexico using laser-sensor technology

NEW ORLEANS — Archaeologists using laser-sensing technology have detected what may be an ancient Mayan city cloaked by jungle in southern Mexico, authorities said Wednesday.

The lost city, dubbed Valeriana by researchers after the name of a nearby lagoon, may have been as densely settled as the better-known pre-Hispanic metropolis of Calakmul, in the south part of the Yucatan peninsula.

What the study, published this week in the journal Antiquity, suggest is that much of the seemingly empty, jungle-clad space between known Maya sites may once have been very heavily populated.

“Previous research has shown that a large part of the present-day state of Campeche is a landscape that was transformed by its ancient inhabitants,” said Adriana Velázquez Morlet of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, a co-author of the report. “Now, this study shows that a little-known region was a urbanized landscape.”

Mexico’s National Institute said about 6,479 structures have been detected in LiDAR images covering an area of about 47 square miles (122 square kilometers). The technique maps landscapes using thousands of lasers pulses sent from a plane, which can detect variations in topography that ware not evident to the naked eye.

Those images revealed structures that include what appear to be temple platforms, ceremonial ball courts, housing platforms, agricultural terraces and even what appears to be a dam. The Institute said the structures may date to between 250 and 900 A.D., but the settlement could have been started 100 years earlier.

A consortium of researchers made the discovery by using software to re-examine a 2013 LIDAR survey originally carried out to measures deforestation. While re-examining the data, Luke Auld-Thomas, then a graduate student at Tulane University, noticed strange formations in the survey of the jungle.

Auld-Thomas’s advisor, Tulane professor Marcello Canuto, said the extensive data they’ve collected will “allow us to tell better stories of the ancient Mayan people,” marrying what scientists already know – political and religious histories – with new details about how ancient civilizations were run.

“We have always been able to talk about the ancient Maya especially in the lowland regions because of their hieroglyphic texts, because they left us such interesting record,” he said. “What we are now able to do is match that information with their settlement and the population and what they were fighting over, what they were ruling over, what they were trading.”

Susan D. Gillespie, an anthropology professor at the University of Florida who was not connected to the study, said that while LiDAR is a valuable tool, some of the features would have to be confirmed by researchers on the ground.

“They realize that small natural rock piles (chich in the local parlance) were likely misinterpreted as house mounds, being the same size and shape. Thus, they recognize that their feature counts are preliminary,” Gillespie wrote.

“The final caveat, which I think must always kept in mind, is contemporaneity of use of mapped features,” Gillespie said. “LiDAR maps what’s on the surface, but not when it was used. So, a large region might be dense with structures, but the size of an occupation at any one time cannot known with aerial survey data alone.”

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October 30, 2024

AAPI’s 18th Global Healthcare Summit focusses on prevention strategies, lifestyle changes, and incorporating technology

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Scenes from the main inaugural session of the AAPI 18th Global Healthcare Summit held in New Delhi, Oct. 19 and 20, 2024. PHOTO: AAPI-USA

New Delhi, India: October 21st, 2024 – The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, AAPI, held its 18th Global Healthcare Summit (GHS 2024) October 19-20, 2024 in New Delhi.

Dozens of Physician leaders of Indian origin came together at the Le Meridien Hotel in the Indian capital, a press release from AAPI said.

“It is with great pride and excitement that I welcome you all to the 18th AAPI Global Healthcare Summit in New Delhi,” Dr. Satheesh Kathula, president of AAPI, is quoted saying at the inauguration, “This year we gather under the important and timely theme of preventing cancer and heart attacks through lifestyle modifications and technology in a world where chronic diseases like cancer and cardiovascular illnesses continue to pose significant health threats, where corrective mission has never been more urgent.”

Global Healthcare Summit 2024 awardees. PHOTO: AAPI

Honorees at the Global Healthcare Summit 2024. PHOTO: AAPI

“AAPI has been engaged in harnessing the power of Indian Diaspora to bring the most innovative, efficient, cost-effective healthcare and preventable solutions to India, Dr. Kathula said.

Health Minister of India, Dr. Jagat Prakash Nadda delivered a video address on national prevention strategies. Dr. Nadda acknowledged that the world is staring at two most critical health challenges, cancer and cardiac diseases. “With aging population, changes in lifestyle and increasing urbanization, the incidence of cancer and cardiovascular diseases, particularly heart attacks, are on the rise,” he said, giving an account of what the Government of India was doing about the challenges.

He acknowledged the role of AAPI in exchanging experiences and knowledge, adding, “Together, we can harness the power of innovation and lifestyle modification to safety, frequently, reduce the burden of cancer and heart diseases, not only in India but across the globe. I thank AAPI for organizing the Global Healthcare Summit in India, wishing the summit a grand success.”

The CME sessions by eminent physicians from India and abroad offered a unique perspectives on prevention strategies for cancer and heart attacks, role of lifestyle changes, and the integration of technology into healthcare.

In India, for the inaugural year, AAPI announced it is honoring three eminent physicians and administrators – Dr. Rakesh Sharma, Dr. Bhasnji Kundaria, and Dr. Raman Kumar.

Dr. Sunil Kaza, chair of AAPI BOT, noted the changes since the first healthcare summit in 2007 which, he said, provided “a forum for innovative opportunities for learning, networking and giving back to our motherland that have now enabled us to plan ahead and prepare for an outstanding event that will be over 300 very prominent and talented physicians and surgeons from abroad, in addition to the hundreds of physicians from India, who are very passionate about serving their homeland, mother India,”

According to Dr. Anjali Gulati, Convener of GHS 2024, “AAPI rapidly expands its vision for India – in educational research, clinical programs, global outreach and a tie-up with the Indian Government on healthcare programs. GHS 2024 offered a unique forum for physicians of Indian origin to come together, share their knowledge and expertise in their respective medical fields with their fellow physicians from around the world, and to learn from one another.”

Delegates at the Global Healthcare Summit 2024, visiting Rashtrapati Bhavan. PHOTO: AAPI

For the first time ever, AAPI delegates had an opportunity to visit to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Presidential Palace of India in New Delhi. The AAPI delegates also visited the world famous Swaminarayan Akshardham at New Delhi.

Fashion Show and live entertainment by Preeti Bhalla took the AAPI delegates back to the 1960s and ‘70s.

Fashion show and entertainment at the Global Healthcare Summit 2024 held in New Delhi October 19-20. PHOTO: AAPI

Poster Contest held at the Global Healthcare Summit 2024, held in New Delhi Oct. 19 and 20. PHOTO: AAPI

The Poster and Research Contest in which more than 70 Medical students and Fellows from across the nation participated gave the new generation of Indian medical students to show their talents, skills and commitment to medical education.

President-Elect of AAPI Dr. Amit Chakrabarty, said, “AAPI has a mandate to help disseminate our medical knowledge, our expertise and technological advances to the rest of the world, and to India in particular. Headquartered in Chicago, AAPI has come to be recognized as a strong voice in the healthcare legislation and policy arena.”

“With the changing trends and statistics in healthcare, both in India and US, we are refocusing our mission and vision of GHS 2024, AAPI would like to make a positive meaningful impact on the healthcare in India,” Dr. Kathula said.

Dr. Kathula expressed his appreciation for the collaboration and support by Dr. Sunil Karza, Chair AAPI BOT, Dr. Lokesh Edara, past BOT Chair of AAPI, Dr. Anjali Gulati, GHS Convener, Dr. Manmeet Ahluwalia, Dr. Brahma SDharma, Dr. Amit Govil and Dr. Hetal Gor. He called out Dr. Shubham Anand, the Organizing Secretary of GHS 2024 and his dedicated team from India for their generous support and taking this opportunity to make GHS a memorable event for all. Dr. Soumya Neravetla eloquently emceed the Summit.

Amit Chakrabarty, President-Elect of AAPI said, the current President of India, Droupadi Murmu suggested to have AAPI’s collaboration in sponsoring a TB Free Tribal India initiative. This will be led by Dr. Manoj Jain. The Diabetes related efforts are being led by Dr. Smitha Joshi. The Ayurveda Consortium is being led by Dr. Amit Shah, Dr. Artin Prasad, and Dr. Dilip Sarkar. Dr. Chakrabarty invited AAPI members to participate at the 19^th edition of AAPI’s Global Healthcare Summit with focus on Tuberculosis, Ayurveda, and Diabetes, which will be held in Bhubaneshwar, Orissa from January 9-11, 2026.

For more information on Global Health Summit 2024, visit https://aapisummit.org

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October 23, 2024