Daily Archives: June 16, 2024

Light-activated speed drugs could keep sleep-deprived military pilots alert

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militaryu pilot on drugs

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The AWARE program, a project of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), aims to develop a new version of dextroamphetamine that can be activated or deactivated through exposure to near-infrared light. This would enable near-infrared light emitters in a helmet to selectively activate the stimulant in the brain’s prefrontal cortex, and then switch it off when not needed – allowing US military pilots to maintain maximum alertness on duty and catch up on sleep more easily afterward.

If it succeeds, DARPA’s AWARE technology could specifically avoid activating the stimulant in parts of the brain where it might cause unwanted side effects, such as anxiety or euphoria. A euphoric response can also increase the risk of addiction, another unwanted outcome. This may allow military personnel to activate smaller quantities of dextroamphetamine molecules in order to “truly tailor the dosage to the pilot in a personalised way”, says Pedro Irazoqui, program manager for the AWARE project.

The US military has used dextroamphetamine for decades, since the Vietnam War. When a US-led coalition defeated the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1991, a survey showed most F-15 Eagle fighter pilots reported using the stimulants during combat air patrols. But in addition to its addictive potential, the drug’s side effects “can adversely impact team performance”, and the long-lasting stimulant effect can prevent military personnel from taking advantage of naps, according to the DARPA program description. The Air Force suspended stimulant use between 1996 and 2001. However, pilots flying B-2 Spirit bombers were once again using dextroamphetamine during the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

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Some of the main challenges involve modifying the dextroamphetamine molecule so one portion changes only in the presence of a specific band of near-infrared light, along with making sure that this “PhotoDex” version cannot work in the absence of such light, says Irazoqui. DARPA also plans to work closely with both helmet manufacturers and the US Air Force to ensure the wearable light emitters are compatible with US military headgear.

No photoswitchable drugs have made it into clinical use yet, says Rafael Gómez-Bombarelli at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But his research group has used artificial intelligence to design such drugs, and he says technologies exist to help achieve DARPA’s goal.

The DARPA program’s work, which will involve technological development along with safety and efficacy testing in animals, is expected to begin in the fall of 2024 and continue until the fall of 2027. Then the US Air Force plans to take over and begin experiments with humans.

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Source: Light-activated drugs could keep sleep-deprived military pilots alert | New Scientist

If Creepy Spyware Clearview AI scanned your face, you may get equity in the company

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Controversial facial recognition company Clearview AI has agreed to an unusual settlement to a class action lawsuit, The New York Times reports. Rather than paying cash, the company would provide a 23 percent stake in its company to any Americans in its database. Without the settlement, Clearview could go bankrupt, according to court documents.

If you live in the US and have ever posted a photo of yourself publicly online, you may be part of the class action. The settlement could amount to at least $50 million according to court documents, It still must be approved by a federal judge.

Clearview AI, which counts billionaire Peter Thiel as a backer, says it has over 30 billion images in its database. Those can be accessed and cross-referenced by thousands of law enforcement departments including the US FBI and Department of Homeland Security.

Shortly after its identity was outed, Clearview was hit with lawsuits in Illinois, California, Virginia, New York and elsewhere, which were all brought together as a class action suit in a federal Chicago court. The cost of the litigation was said to be draining the company’s reserves, forcing it to seek a creative way to settle the suit.

The relatively small sum divided by the large number of users likely to be in the database means you won’t be receiving a windfall. In any case, it would only happen if the company goes public or is acquired, according to the report. Once that occurs, lawyers would take up to 39 percent of the settlement, meaning the final amount could be reduced to about 30 million. If a third of Americans were in the database (about 110 million), each would get about 27 cents.

That does beg the question of whether it would be worth just over a quarter to see one of the creepiest companies of all time to go bankrupt. To cite a small litany of the actions taken against it (on top of the US class action):

  • It was sued by the ACLU in 2020 (Clearview agreed to permanently halt sales of its biometric database to private companies in the US as part of the settlement.
  • Italy slapped a €20 million fine on the company in 2022 and banned it from using images of Italians in its database
  • Privacy groups in Europe filed complaints against it for allegedly breaking privacy laws (2021)
  • UK’s privacy watchdog slapped it with a £7.55 million fine and ordered it to delete data from any UK resident
  • The LAPD banned the use of its software in 2020
  • Earlier this year the EU barred untargeted scraping of faces from the web, effectively blocking Clearview’s business model in Europe

Source: If Clearview AI scanned your face, you may get equity in the company