MAROKO133 Breaking ai: You’ll Never Guess Trade Unions’ Position on AI Data Centers Edisi

📌 MAROKO133 Eksklusif ai: You’ll Never Guess Trade Unions’ Position on AI Data Cen

Trade unions have a centuries-long history of squaring up against the might of industrial capitalists to fight for rights that workers now often take for granted, from the eight-hour work day to the federal minimum wage to workplace safety laws.

If you were to imagine how unions are responding to the tech industry’s massive push to build AI data centers across the country — an issue that’s currently uniting the grassroots left and right to an almost unprecedented degree in opposition — you might reasonably assume they’re staunch foes of the projects.

But in the topsy-turvy world of AI, where alliances often seem to contradict traditional political categorization, you’d be dead wrong. Instead, unions are playing a pivotal role in the tech industry’s push to ram data centers through local opposition. According to the Associated Press, they’ve become a publicly visible force alongside pro-business Republicans and big tech corporations — two famously anti-labor cohorts, ironically.

The core factor underscoring this contradictory stance is construction employment. When data center developers approach communities in search of land to erect their computational complexes, one of the main carrots they wave around are jobs, both temporary construction labor and permanent full-time labor.

At this point, we know that data centers aren’t a major source for quality, full-time jobs after they’re built. They do require tons of contract construction gigs, however, which generates short-term work for building trades workers, and growth for their craft unions.

“When people say, you know, ‘data centers are the root of all evil,’ we’re just saying, ‘look, they do create a hell of a lot of construction jobs, which we live and work in your communities,’” president of the Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Council Rob Bair told the AP.

In effect, these unions are abandoning their communities in favor of narrow self-interest — prioritizing immediate, short-term gains while ignoring the material harm data centers inflict on their communities.

It’s not a new phenomenon, but one which has become increasingly common as trade unions have been defanged. For example, the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of trade unions in the US, infamously supported the US war on Vietnam for its stimulating effect on industry, siding with conservative and military industrial complex forces over the progressive anti-war movement.

The real tragedy here isn’t that unions have forgotten how to fight — but that increasingly, they seem to have forgotten who it is they’re fighting for in the first place.

More on data centers: A Tiny Town Is Building So Many Data Centers That There’ll Be Almost Nothing Else Left

The post You’ll Never Guess Trade Unions’ Position on AI Data Centers appeared first on Futurism.

🔗 Sumber: futurism.com

📌 MAROKO133 Hot ai: Video: ‘Project Hail Mary’ fan builds alien Rocky robot that t

A fan-favorite alien from Andy Weir’s sci-fi novel Project Hail Mary has come to life as a working robot, thanks to a dedicated builder. Recently shown off by Leviathan Engineering, the project brings Rocky—the smart, spider-like alien from the book—to life with moving limbs, speech recognition, and gestures that look just like the character fans remember.

The builder spent months designing and putting together the tabletop robot, turning a favorite character into an interactive machine using modern AI tools and custom engineering. The project began with digital models bought from 3D Totems, a creator known for accurate printable character designs.

The engineer used Fusion 360 and Tinkercad to adjust the files, making the parts strong enough for real movement and frequent use. After months of printing and testing, the parts came together as a small four-legged robot with moving arms and expressive body movements. The design closely resembles Rocky from the novel, including the alien’s distinctive posture and lively gestures.

Ten metal-geared servos control the robot’s movements. Extra servos in the shoulders let the arms swing widely, while the leg joints allow crouching and shifting positions.

The robot can perform actions from the book, such as offering a fist bump and making dramatic hand gestures during conversations. The finished robot is about the size of a small tabletop display, but its movements make it feel surprisingly lifelike.

Raspberry Pi powers the robotic alien

A Raspberry Pi 5 sits at the heart of the robot, connected to a PCA9685 HAT that controls the servo motors and movement. The motors use an external power supply since they need a lot of power to run.

The software gives Rocky its personality. Speech recognition runs locally with Vosk, so the robot can understand voice commands without needing the internet. For spoken replies, the builder used Piper, which creates the sharp, rhythmic voice style Rocky has in the novel.

Conversations are generated using Google’s Gemini AI model. The system creates both the dialogue and the matching gestures for each response. Rather than using preset animations, the robot reacts in real time based on what’s happening.

If you ask for a fist bump, Rocky reaches out its arm and says things like “fist bump yes much happy.”

AI-assisted coding shaped the project

The engineer wrote the software with help from Claude, using a command-line interface. The language model helped create and organize the code for movement, speech, and interaction.

One key feature is that there are no fixed animation scripts. Instead of playing preset moves, the robot chooses gestures in real time based on context and special tools. This makes its movements feel more natural and less repetitive when it talks.

The project brings together several modern technologies into a single homemade robot. Open-source voice recognition, AI-generated dialogue, motion control, and 3D-printed parts all work together to make a machine that acts more like a character than a typical hobby robot.

Learning through trial and error

Building the robot took a lot of trial and error. Early versions used pulleys and linear actuators, but these were replaced with servos for better precision and easier control.

Durability was a big challenge. The printed joints often broke under stress, so the builder kept redesigning and strengthening weak spots through lots of testing.

Assembling the robot required careful wiring and hands-on adjustments. Extension cables kept the wires tidy inside the body, and hot glue and super glue held delicate parts in place during the final build.

The end result is a small but expressive robot version of Rocky that captures much of the personality fans loved in Project Hail Mary. For readers of the novel, this project is a rare chance to see the alien character move, talk, and interact in real life.

🔗 Sumber: interestingengineering.com