This week, we are seeing major updates in both the virtual world of artificial intelligence and the real world of nature conservation.
First, a small tech startup in London called Inherent has built a new AI assistant named Faraday. Even though Faraday is quite small, it just beat much larger AI systems from famous companies like OpenAI and Anthropic at a tough task. Faraday successfully recreated the results of real scientific papers all on its own. It did this using only 27 billion parameters, which are the digital settings that measure an AI's size and memory. Faraday is tiny compared to its giant rivals, meaning it is much cheaper to run. The startup trained the AI using reinforcement learning, which is a method where the computer gets virtual rewards for good results instead of just following strict rules. This matters to you because cheaper, smarter AI could soon help human scientists discover new medicines and clean energy technologies much faster.
Meanwhile, back in the physical world, a major environmental law in the US is facing a big rollback. The US government wants to remove the 2001 Roadless Rule, which is a law that bans road construction and logging in protected national forests. This change would open up nearly 59 million acres of wild land, including the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, to commercial development. Ecologists warn that losing this rule could harm clean water supplies and threaten wildlife like bears, eagles, and salmon. Right now, only about 5 percent of the land in the lower US states is completely free of roads. This matters because these untouched forests protect our natural climate and offer quiet spaces for people to enjoy.
Whether we are building smarter software or deciding how to protect our wild spaces, these changes will affect our lives for a long time.
