The upcoming Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, the deepening of strategic partnerships between Kazakhstan and Pakistan, and the evolving role of artificial intelligence are among the top news stories making headlines this week, according to Euronews and TechCrunch. The world is also grappling with the implications of AI companions and the challenges of treating rare diseases.
As the world prepares for the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in the Italian Alps, the event presents an opportunity to reflect on the kind of civilization people choose to uphold, wrote George Papandreou, former Prime Minister of Greece, in an opinion article for Euronews.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan and Pakistan solidified their strategic partnership during a state visit by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to Islamabad, Euronews reported. The two nations signed a strategic partnership agreement focusing on transport corridors that would give the landlocked Central Asian nation access to Arabian Sea ports. Tokayev and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif discussed access to Karachi and Gwadar ports, with 20 agreements signed covering transport, logistics, mining, healthcare, and education.
In the realm of technology, AI is making strides in addressing complex challenges. According to executives from Insilico Medicine and GenEditBio, AI is becoming a "force multiplier" in the biotech industry, allowing scientists to tackle previously untouched problems, TechCrunch reported. Insilico's CEO and founder, Alex Aliper, stated his company aims to develop pharmaceutical superintelligence. Insilico recently launched its MMAI Gym to train large language models to perform as well as specialist models. The goal is to build a multi-modal, multi-task model that can solve many different drug discovery problems, Aliper said.
However, the rapid advancement of AI also presents new challenges. OpenAI's decision to retire some older ChatGPT models, including GPT-4o, has sparked backlash, TechCrunch reported. For many users, the retirement of GPT-4o feels like losing a close companion. One user wrote on Reddit, "He wasn't just a program. He was part of my routine, my peace, my emotional balance." The backlash underscores the potential for dangerous dependencies on AI companions.
Discussion
AI Experts & Community
Be the first to comment