Hacker News
IBM Spins Off the First Pure-Play Quantum Chip Foundry
IBM is launching the first dedicated quantum chip foundry, backed by a $2 billion CHIPS Act investment, to manufacture superconducting silicon at scale using 300mm wafer technology. The move signals a critical shift from lab-scale quantum experiments to industrial production, treating quantum processors more like conventional semiconductors. If successful, this foundry model could dramatically accelerate the hardware supply chain that the broader quantum computing ecosystem desperately needs.
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Pope Leo: opaque AI run by few firms risks "New Forms of Dehumanization"
Pope Leo has issued a formal encyclical warning that AI systems controlled by a small number of corporations pose a threat to human dignity. The concentration of algorithmic power, he argues, risks reducing individuals to data points and eroding the conditions necessary for authentic human flourishing. The statement marks one of the Catholic Church's most direct interventions yet on the ethics of emerging technology.
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The Verge
Pope Leo calls for being ‘profoundly human’ in the age of AI
Pope Leo XIV has released his first papal encyclical, *Magnifica Humanitas*, calling for the protection of human dignity in an era of rapid AI advancement. The document addresses the dangers of AI-driven warfare, displacement of workers, and the concentration of technological power in the hands of the few. It marks one of the most significant interventions by a world religious leader on the ethical stakes of artificial intelligence.
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The pope’s AI encyclical isn’t really about AI
Pope Leo XIV has released his first encyclical, using artificial intelligence as a framing device to address what he sees as deeper, more enduring crises — unchecked power, democratic decay, and the outsized influence of a narrow tech class. The document is less a theological verdict on AI itself and more a sweeping critique of the social and political conditions that allowed such technology to flourish unchecked. For an institution with a global following of over a billion, the message lands as a significant moral indictment of Silicon Valley's grip on modern life.
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