MultiVersus being shut down in May as it flops for a second timeAdam StarkeyPublished January 31, 2025 5:04pmUpdated January 31, 2025 5:05pm Super Warner Bros. is over (Warner Bros.)Warner Bros. crossover fighter MultiVersus is officially ending after its next season, as history repeats itself.Many games have tried to emulate the success of Nintendos Super Smash Bros. series, and while none of them have come close to its level of success, or quality, MultiVersus was definitely one of the best.Warners free-to-play platform fighter originally launched in beta form in July 2022 and was initially a huge success, but its popularity dropped significantly in the following months. The beta was taken offline in June 2023, as its player count dwindled, before a relaunch in May last year, with overhauled mechanics and other additions.Now, eight months later, Warner Bros. has announced MultiVersus is being laid to rest once again.In a post from developer Player First Games, the team confirmed the upcoming fifth season of MultiVersus will be its last. The season, which will see Aquaman and Lola Bunny added to the roster, begins February 4 and runs until May 30, 2025.After that date, all online features in MultiVersus will be switched off and it will be delisted. The game will still be playable offline though, either solo against AI opponents or with up to three other players in local multiplayer, as long as you download the latest version of the game and log in at some point during season five.As of today (January 31), all real money transactions within MultiVersus have been removed. Any remaining in-game currency (Gleamium) you have purchased, or character tokens, can still be used until season five ends on May 30 at 9am PT/5pm GMT.All content in season five will be obtainable through gameplay, including Aquaman and Lola Bunny, who will be given to players as battle pass and daily login rewards, respectively.https://twitter.com/multiversus/status/1885327981758865568We want to thank every player and person who has ever played or supported MultiVersus, the post reads. All of us on the Player First Games and Warner Bros. Games teams have poured our heart and soul into this game. We will be forever grateful for the incredible support of the MultiVersus community throughout this journey.While its tempting to blame MultiVersuss free-to-play model for its downfall, the enduring success of Brawlhalla proves you can have a long-lasting live service platform fighter but that games popularity has been a slow burn since launching in 2017, and its likely to have been a considerably cheaper venture than MultiVersus.To compare the numbers over the past 24 hours, Brawlhalla hit a concurrent peak of 13,998 players on Steam, while MultiVersus only managed 648 players.The shut down of MultiVersus isnt surprising, considering Warner Bros. admitted it had underperformed last year, costing them $100 million.More TrendingIts failure comes hot on the heels of the companys other live service flop, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, although there are still mixed messages as to whether its going to take the hint and move away from games as a service titles in the future. Superman could take on Bugs Bunny (Warner Bros.)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralSign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

People associated with Elon Musks so-called Department of Government Efficiency have been trying to access the U.S. governments payment systems, according to a shocking new report from the Washington Post. And while its not clear why DOGE wants access, experts are alarmed because theres basically no plausible explanation that doesnt involve tinkering with critical government functions by sidestepping Congress. The system is run by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service and handles everything from Social Security and Medicare payments to salaries for federal employees. Literally tens of thousands of functions are paid through the system, according to the Post, including tax refunds. The system paid out about $5.4 trillion in the form of 1.3 billion payments last year. The Washington Post reports that David A. Lebryk, a senior Treasury official whos been with the agency since 1989, announced his retirement in an email on Friday morning to staff. Lebryks departure is apparently related to the interference by DOGE-affiliated goons to access these payment systems, though its not clear how Lebryk may have pushed back, and the exact nature of the disagreement was not immediately clear. DOGE isnt a real government agency but was created by President Trump through an executive order on Jan. 20, the day he was inaugurated. Even the executive order puts Department of Government Efficiency in quotes, in what appears to be an attempt to fight off any legal challenges to Trumps attempts at creating a new federal agency. Only Congress can create and abolish federal agencies. But even though DOGE doesnt have a real mandate, Musk is treating it like one, according to reports from multiple news outlets. The billionaire oligarch has set up an office not far from the White House and has reached his tentacles into virtually every agency. Only about 30% of Americans support Musks efforts with DOGE, according to a recent poll.Nobody knows yet why Musk and his mafia want access to the government payments system, but some on social media have speculated it could have something to do with the billionaires recent deal with Visa to offer payment services on his social media platform X. Thats just speculation obviously, but the more likely motivation could very well have something to do with stopping payment on all kinds of congressionally mandated programs. Trump tried to stop spending on roughly $3 trillion in programs related to health care and housing assistance, among a host of others, immediately attracting lawsuits from state attorneys general. A federal judge in Washington D.C. put a halt to the freeze on Tuesday, but the obvious concern is that the U.S. court system doesnt actually have an enforcement mechanism for rulings. Congress can write laws and the judiciary can issue orders, but the system only works if everyone agrees to abide by the rules. And if the executive branch under Trump and Musk can stop payments to programs they dont like, ignoring entirely what Congress and the courts say, its game over for the country.Heres hoping it doesnt come to that. But Trumps attempt to stop payment on trillions of dollars of programs earlier this week clearly shows he doesnt believe he has to play by the rules of our democracy. Nobody knows for sure whats ahead. But its wild to think that it hasnt even been two full weeks since Trump was inaugurated. There are dark times ahead. Congress famously has the power of the purse. But it looks like DOGE is trying to snatch it.

By Cheryl Eddy Published January 31, 2025 | Comments (0) | Combat Monsters: Untold Tales of World War II Blackstone Publishing, Inc. The new year is no longer quite so new, and the book releases are starting to pick up the pace. This month youll find a fresh sci-fi adventure from Edward Ashtonwholl soon see his earlier novel Mickey7 come to theaters as Mickey 17as well as another tale, Victorian Psycho, thats also headed for the big screen. Plus: ragtag space missions, fantasies inspired by history and mythology, fairies, monsters, dystopias, and way beyond. February 4 Tor Books, Delacorte Press, Liveright The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune This standalone supernatural thriller follows an extraordinary young girl and her two unlikely protectors on the run from cultists and the government. (February 4) The Curious Kitten at the Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahashi, translated by Cat Anderson A young woman embarks on a magical journey from a seaside cafe where ordering a special meal allows visitors to reunite with loved ones who have passed on. (February 4)Enemy of My Dreams by Jenny Williamson In the last days of the Roman Empire, a desperate princess and a brutal Gothic warlord forge a dangerous alliance. (February 4)Galaxy Raiders: Abyss by Ian Douglas A new military sci-fi series begins with this tale pitting amortal humans against a mystifying alien intelligence in a galaxy-spanning conflict. (February 4) Grave Empire by Richard SwanThis first entry in a new series begins the epic tale of an empire on the verge of industrial revolution, where sorcery and arcane practices are outlawedand where an ancient prophecy threatens the coming end of days. (February 4) Kingdom of Claw by Demi WintersReturn to the Kingdom of seldur, where enemies become lovers and dark secrets hide around each corner, in the sequel to the Viking-inspired romantic fantasy The Road of Bones. (February 4) Listen to Your Sister by Neena Viel A twentysomething is rapidly growing weary of caring for her reckless teenage brother, especially since their other brother has offered zero help. When the trio has to go on the run and ends up at a spooky cabin in the woods, she worries that her recurring nightmare may soon infiltrate reality. (February 4)Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito The riveting tale of a bloodthirsty governess who learns the true meaning of vengeance. Fun fact: A24 has already picked this one up for a feature adaptation. (February 4) Bride by Ali Hazelwood A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance. (February 6)Mother of Serpents by John R. Gordon After moving with his husband and young son from Brooklyn to a small town in Maine where hes the only Black person, a man must figure out if the uncanny experiences he soon begins having spring from his troubled mindor are in fact actually real. (February 7)February 11 Del Rey, Graydon House, Tor Books Beauty in the Blood by Charlotte Carter A curse rolls out over centuries, murky and unknowable as swamp waters, shaping and destroying lives. (February 11)Boys in the Valley by Philip Fracassi This coming-of-age horror tale set at a rural Pennsylvania orphanage is described as The Exorcist meets Lord of the Flies. (February 11) But Not Too Bold by Hache Pueyo The Shape of Water meets Mexican Gothic in this sapphic monster romance novella wrapped in gothic fantasy trappings. (February 11)Combat Monsters edited by Henry Herz This collection takes real events from World War II and injects them with fantastical creatures that mirror the unreality of war itself. Each storyand two poemsfeature mythical, mystical, and otherwise unexplainable beings that change the course of history. (February 11) The Crimson Road by A.G. Slatter This dark gothic fantasy set in the same universe as the authors All the Murmuring Bones, The Path of Thorns, and The Briar Book of the Dead is described as a tale of vampires, assassins, ancient witches, and broken promises. (February 11)The Dollhouse Academy by Margarita Montimore At an elite boarding school where celebrities are created using strange medical techniques and other sinister methods, the most famous resident begins to break down while a pair of friends turned rivals grapple with the highs and lows of sudden success. (February 11) Emily Wildes Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett The third installment in the heartwarming and enchanting Emily Wilde series, about a curmudgeonly scholar of folklore and the fae prince she loves. (February 11)The Moonlight Healers by Elizabeth Becker A powerful debut with a magical twist about one womans discovery of her familys secret healing abilities and the mysterious consequences she must contend with when she uses them on someone she loves. (February 11) The Poorly Made and Other Things: A Story Collection by Sam Rebelein This short story set in the same county as the authors Edenville explores tales that play with the uncanny to explore themes of loneliness and grief. (February 11)Sanctum of the Soul by Kel Kade The genre-bending Shroud of Prophecy series ends with this epic conclusion. (February 11) The Wolf Tree by Laura McCluskey After a mysterious death on a Scottish island with a history of mysterious deaths, two detectives from Glasgow arrive to investigateand are soon met with hostility and dark secrets galore. (February 11)February 18 Tor Books, Berkley, Tor Books Ambessa: Chosen of the Wolf by C.L. Clark This book set in the League of Legends universe is described as a thrilling epic fantasy novel where Ambessa Medarda truly learns what it means to be a Chosen of the Wolf. (February 18) A Curse for the Homesick by Laura Robson On an island where certain women temporarily have the power to turn people to stone, a woman and man fall in love despite the fact that her mother killed his parents years beforeand despite the fact that hes determined to stay there, while she dreams every day of leaving. (February 18)A Dragon of Black Glass by James Rollins The penultimate book in the authors Moonfall series is a tale of relentless adventure and the struggle for survival in a harsh world that hangs by a thread. (February 18) The Garden by Nick Newman A darkly beautiful, eerie, hypnotic novel about two elderly sisters living alone at the edge of the world. (February 18) Hungerstone by Kat Dunn A compulsive feminist reworking of Carmilla, the queer novella that inspired Dracula. (February 18) I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now Im Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming A hilarious and sexy romance about a woman who gets dropped on a strange planet only to fall for not one, but two, aliens. (February 18) Picks and Shovels by Cory Doctorow The author returns to the world of Red Team Blues to bring us the origin story of Martin Hench and the most powerful new tool for crime ever invented: the personal computer. (February 18) Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli The Crimson Moth duology concludes in this epic fantasy tale of witches and forbidden romance. (February 18) Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell Woods A dark and enchanting historical fantasy combining elements of The Little Mermaid and Cinderella into a wholly original tale of love, power, and betrayal. (February 18) The Witch of Whispervale by R.A. Salvatore From the author and Drizzt DoUrden creator, this next installment in the DemonWars fantasy series continues the story of the traitorous invasion by the Xoconai of the eastern realms of Corona. However, the heroes of the last war against their demon god may be forgotten, but they are not powerless. (February 18) Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis In a gaslamp-lit world where hags and ogres lurk in thick pine forests, three magical queens form an uneasy alliance to protect their lands from invasion and love turns their world upside down. (February 18) February 25 Gollancz, St. Martins Press, Orbit The Blanket Cats by Kiyoshi Shigematsu, translated by Jesse Kirkwood Seven struggling customers are given the unique opportunity to take home a blanket cat but only for three days, the time itll take to change their lives. (February 25) A Circle of Uncommon Witches by Paige Crutcher A witch generationally cursed to never find true love sets out to break the spell cast on her family, and must team up with the last person who wants to help herthe witch who set the curse in the first place. (February 25) Dance of Shadows by Gourav Mohanty As the royal houses of Sons of Darkness intrigued, maneuvered, and finally met in open battle with devastating consequences, far more sinister deeds were unfolding just over the Eastern horizon. Dance of Shadows is that story. (February 25) The Dark Mirror by Samantha Shannon The fifth book in the Bone Season series follows Paige Mahoneys quest to recover her memories while stopping a sinister plot that threatens all of Europe. (February 25) Destinys Way by Jack Campbell Lieutenant Selene Genji is hurled into the past to try and save a world that doesnt want her in this action-packed adventure. (February 25) Fagin the Thief by Allison Epstein A thrilling reimagining of the world of Charles Dickens, as seen through the eyes of the infamous Jacob Fagin, Londons most gifted pickpocket, liar, and rogue. (February 25) Fortress Sol by Stephen Baxter Decades after his mother cut off his hand to spare him from a life of working in Mercurys mines, a man instead toils on a structure that protects the solar system from aliensand becomes caught in the tension when a mysterious ship arrives from a forgotten colony planet. (February 25) The Fourth Consort by Edward Ashton This standalone novel from the author of Mickey7 is part first contact story, part dark comedy, and part bizarre love triangle that asks an important question: how far would you go to survive? And more importantly, how many drinks would you need to go there? (February 25) Futures Edge by Gareth L. Powell When archaeologist Ursula Morrow accidentally infects herself with an alien parasite, she fears she may have jeopardized her career. However, her concerns become irrelevant when Earth is destroyed, billions die, and suddenly no one needs archaeologists anymore Two years later, shes plucked from a refugee camp on a backwater world and tasked with retrieving the artifact that infected her, as it just might hold the key to humanitys survival. (February 25) Gate to Kagoshima by Poppy Kuroki A young Scottish woman is magically transported to the last Samurai era, where she encounters ghosts from the past, her own Japanese ancestry, and a love that transcends time. (February 25) George R.R. Martin Presents Wild Cards: House Rules: A Novel in Stories presented by George R.R. Martin An original anthology centered around one very unusual house in Cornwall which serves as a nexus to the multiverseset in the Wild Cards universe. Contributors include Stephen Leigh, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Caroline Spector, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Peter Newman, and Peadar Guiln. (February 25) Greenteeth by Molly ONeill This cozy fantasy novel contains a story of fae, folklore, and found family, narrated by a charismatic lake-dwelling monster. (February 25) Heart of the Shadow King by Sylvia Mercedes The viral TikTok fantasy romance, now in a special print edition with exclusive bonus material Oncoming darkness threatens to engulf a noble king and his powerful queen in this breathtaking, epic conclusion to the Bride of the Shadow King series. (February 25) The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Thompson Walker A young mother is struck by sudden and puzzling psychological symptoms that illuminate the mysterious dimensions of the human mindand of love. (February 25) Swordheart by T. Kingfisher The delightful charm of The Princess Bride meets the delicious bodyguard romance of From Blood and Ash in this cozy fantasy romance. (February 25) Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.Books Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Thomas Maxwell Published January 30, 2025 By Thomas Maxwell Published January 28, 2025 By Cheryl Eddy Published January 1, 2025 By Thomas Maxwell Published December 23, 2024 By Cheryl Eddy Published November 29, 2024 By Cheryl Eddy Published November 1, 2024

Jean Moulin Building / AZC ArchitectsSave this picture! Julien HourcadeFranceArchitects: AZC ArchitectsAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:5289 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2024 PhotographsPhotographs:Julien HourcadeMore SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. This project aims to transform a former office building, constructed in 1987 in La Celle-Saint-Cloud by architect Jacques Grellier, into a social residential complex of 69 apartments along with 1,400 m of activity spaces. Facing the Chteau de la Seine Saint Cloud estate, the site benefits from an exceptional setting characterized by the natural hillside terrain.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The building, with a floor area of 5,400 m, is situated on a 6,182 m plot and is ideally located near the city center and the train station, both within walking distance. Designed with a post-and-beam concrete structure, the building stands out with its six staggered floors and facades featuring precast concrete spandrels with an exposed aggregate finish.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The two lower levels, initially designated for parking and technical facilities, retain this function, while the four upper levels, previously used as offices, are converted to accommodate residential units. The lowest level (R0) houses technical spaces, 69 parking spaces, and accessible entrances for individuals with reduced mobility, providing a direct connection to vertical circulation. The R1 level, formerly divided between parking and offices, has been cleared of its initial functions to be dedicated to new activities. Pedestrian access is maintained and enhanced by adding a landscaped ramp, offering an easy pathway from the outside.Save this picture!The upper floors (R2 to R5) have undergone partial structural transformation to meet residential program requirements. A new spatial configuration is achieved by modifying the central voids to expand patios and optimize apartment layouts. These patios, measuring 10.4 meters per side, play a key role in orienting cross-ventilated apartments and accommodating smaller units. The existing staircases, spacious and naturally lit, are preserved to encourage foot traffic, while an existing elevator shaft is also repurposed. This renovation project, conducted in consultation with heritage authorities, demonstrates the feasibility of adapting a building to contemporary needs while preserving its distinctive architectural character. This approach balances conservation and change, highlighting the effectiveness and durability of the original design choices.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessAbout this officeAZC ArchitectsOfficeMaterialConcreteMaterials and TagsPublished on January 31, 2025Cite: "Jean Moulin Building / AZC Architects" 31 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1025894/jean-moulin-building-azc-architects&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

Experience designer and artist Melanie Daveid stays flexible and keeps creativity flowing with #Photoshop and #AdobeFirefly. Watch as she uses Composition Reference and Generative Fill to ideate and play before landing on her final concept. Learn more about Creative Cloud: https://adobe.ly/4jAfSGu

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Support the Blender Studio team and download the production files on https://studio.blender.org #b3dCamera & EditingHarukaze LegougeMusicSaib - DreamyLakey Inspired - OceansLakey Inspired - SaturdaysClosely follow the latest production updates from the team here:https://studio.blender.org/projects/project-dogwalk/ Check out the new custom styles for the Brushstroke Tools:https://studio.blender.org/blog/new-custom-brushstroke-styles/ Read Sebastien's article on version control solutions here:https://studio.blender.org/blog/benchmarking-version-control-git-lfs-svn-mercurial/ Follow Blender Studio:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blender-studio-official/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/blenderstudio_ * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blender.studio.official/ * Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlenderStudioOfficial/ * Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@blender --Follow Blender Development:* Blog: https://code.blender.org * Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlenderDev

The Tiger Golf Leaguesorry, the TMRW Golf League season is underway and the technology being utilized is seriously crazy. Josh and Austin discuss the insane behind-the-scenes logistics of the competition, along with some funny quirks of this brand new simulator golf league.- CoPilot Co. is a global, tech-driven production studio that specializes in XR virtual production, film production, and AI tool development. We are committed to helping people realize their boldest ideas through sharing our expertise, consulting on virtual production studio builds, and creating AI tools for XR environment building. CONNECT: copilotco.iocollabs@copilotco.iohttps://www.instagram.com/copilotco/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/copilotxr/ https://www.tiktok.com/@copilotco https://open.spotify.com/show/1vzV4lv0WjzOnjBEhRpakS https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/flying-blind-a-copilot-production/id1791188534

In this edition:We introduce FLAVARS, a multimodal foundation language and vision alignment model for remote sensing; Managed-retention memory, a new class of memory which is more optimized to store key data structures for AI inference workloads; and Enhanced detection of macular telangiectasia type 2 (MacTel 2) using self-supervised learning and ensemble models.We present a new approach to generalizing symbolic automata, which brings together a variety of classic automata and logics in a unified framework with all the necessary ingredients to support symbolic model checking moduloA.And we invite you to join an upcoming workshop: LLM4Eval@WSDM 2025: Large Language Models for Evaluation in Information Retrieval. LLM4Eval is a promising technique in the areas of automated judgments, natural language generation, and retrieval augmented generation (RAG) systems. Researchers from Microsoft and experts from industry and academia will explore this technique at an interactive workshop on Friday, March 14, in Hanover, Germany.NEW RESEARCHIn the field of remote sensing, imagery is generally dense with objects and visual content which can vary regionally across the globe. This creates a need for vision-language datasets to be highly detailed when describing imagery, and for pretraining to better balance visual task performance while retaining the ability to perform zero-shot classification and image-text retrieval.One strategy is to combine paired satellite images and text captions for pretraining performant encoders for downstream tasks. However, while contrastive image-text methods like CLIP enable vision-language alignment and zero-shot classification ability, CLIPs vision-only downstream performance tends to degrade compared to image-only pretraining, such as Masked Autoencoders (MAE).To better approach multimodal pretraining for remote sensing, researchers from Microsoft propose a pretraining method that combines the best of both contrastive learning and masked modeling, along with geospatial alignment via contrastive location encoding, in the recent paper: FLAVARS: A Multimodal Foundational Language and Vision Alignment Model for Remote Sensing. The research shows that FLAVARS significantly outperforms a baseline of SkyCLIP for vision-only tasks such as KNN classification and semantic segmentation, +6% mIOU on SpaceNet1, while retaining the ability to perform zero-shot classification, unlike MAE pretrained methods.Read the paperNEW RESEARCHAI clusters today are one of the major uses of high bandwidth memory (HBM), a high-performance type of computer memory. However, HBM is suboptimal for AI inference workloads for several reasons. Analysis shows that HBM is overprovisioned on write performance, underprovisioned on density and read bandwidth, and has significant energy-per-bit overhead. It is also expensive, with lower yield than DRAM due to manufacturing complexity.In a recent paper: Managed-Retention Memory: A New Class of Memory for the AI Era, researchers from Microsoft propose a memory class which is more optimized to store key data structures for AI inference workloads. The paper makes the case that MRM may finally provide a path to viability for technologies that were originally proposed to support storage class memory (SCM). These technologies traditionally offered long-term persistence (10+ years) but provided poor IO performance and/or endurance. MRM makes different trade-offs, and by understanding the workload IO patterns, MRM foregoes long-term data retention and write performance for better potential performance on the metrics important for AI inference.Read the paperNEW RESEARCHMacular telangiectasia type 2 (MacTel) is a retinal disease that is challenging to diagnose. While increased awareness has led to improved diagnostic outcomes, MacTel diagnosis relies significantly upon a multimodal image set and the expertise of clinicians familiar with the disease. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging has emerged as a valuable tool for the diagnosis and monitoring of various retinal diseases.With the increasing integration of OCT into clinical practice, deep learning models may be able to achieve accurate MacTel prediction comparable to that of retinal specialists, even when working with limited data.Researchers from Microsoft and external colleagues address this challenge in a recent paper: Enhanced Macular Telangiectasia Type 2 Detection: Leveraging Self-Supervised Learning and Ensemble Models. Published in the journal of Ophthalmology Science, the paper focuses on the accurate classification of macular telangiectasia type 2 using OCT images, with the overarching goal of facilitating early and precise detection of this neurodegenerative disease.The researchers present results leveraging self-supervised learning and ensemble models, showing their approach improves both MacTel classification accuracy and interpretability when compared to the use of individual models. Ensemble models exhibited superior agreement with the assessments of the most experienced individual human experts, as well as the ensemble of human experts.Read the paperMicrosoft research podcastCollaborators: Silica in space with Richard Black and Dexter GreeneCollege freshman Dexter Greene and Microsoft research manager Richard Black discuss how technology that stores data in glass is supporting students as they expand earlier efforts to communicate what it means to be human to extraterrestrials.Listen nowOpens in a new tab NEW RESEARCHSymbolic automata are finite state automata that support potentially infinite alphabets, such as the set of rational numbers, generally applied to regular expressions and languages over finite words. In symbolic automata (or automata moduloA), an alphabet is represented by an effective Boolean algebraA, supported by a decision procedure for satisfiability. Regular languages over infinite words (so called -regular languages) have a rich history paralleling that of regular languages over finite words, with well-known applications to model checking via Bchi automata and temporal logics.In a recent paper: Symbolic Automata: Omega-Regularity Modulo Theories, researchers from Microsoft generalize symbolic automata to support -regular languages viatransition termsandsymbolic derivatives. This brings together a variety of classic automata and logics in a unified framework that provides all the necessary ingredients to support symbolic model checking moduloA.Read the paperEVENTLLMs have shown increasing task-solving abilities not present in smaller models. Using LLMs for automated evaluation (LLM4Eval) is a promising technique in the areas of automated judgments, natural language generation, and retrieval augmented generation (RAG) systems.Join researchers from Microsoft and experts from industry and academia for a discussion on using LLMs for evaluation in information retrieval at LLM4Eval Workshop WSDM 2025 (opens in new tab), March 14, 2025, in Hanover, Germany.This interactive workshop will cover automated judgments, RAG pipeline evaluation, altering human evaluation, robustness, and trustworthiness of LLMs for evaluation in addition to their impact on real-world applications. The organizers believe that the information retrieval community can significantly contribute to this growing research area by designing, implementing, analyzing, and evaluating various aspects of LLMs with applications to LLM4Eval tasks.Learn more about the workshopMicrosoft Research | In case you missed itMicrosoft Team Uses Diffusion Model For Materials ScienceJanuary 21, 2025Finding a new material for a target application is like finding a needle in a haystack, write the authors of a blog post at Microsoft, where they have been working on just such a program, something called, aptly, MatterGen. Microsoft AutoGen v0.4: A turning point toward more intelligent AI agents for enterprise developersJanuary 18, 2025The world of AI agents is undergoing a revolution, and Microsofts release of AutoGen v0.4 this week marked a significant leap forward in this journey. Positioned as a robust, scalable and extensible framework, AutoGen represents Microsofts latest attempt to address the challenges of building multi-agent systems for enterprise applications. 2 AI breakthroughs unlock new potential for health and scienceJanuary 17, 2025Two new research papers published this week in scientific journals, one in Nature and one in Nature Machine Intelligence, show how generative AI foundation models can exponentially speed up scientific discovery of new materials and help doctors access and analyze radiology results faster. ChatGPT gets proactive with 'Tasks'January 15, 2025Good morning, AI enthusiasts. OpenAIs AI agent era just got its unofficial start with ChatGPT gaining the ability to schedule and manage daily tasks. With Tasks rolling out and mysterious Operator whispers in the air, is OpenAI finally ready to move from chatbots to full-on autonomous assistants? Mayo Clinic and Microsoft partner to advance generative AI in radiologyJanuary 15, 2025The Mayo Clinic is seeking to advance the use of generative artificial intelligence in imaging through a new collaboration with Microsoft Research. The duo made the announcement during the 43rd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference taking place now in San Francisco. View more news and awards Opens in a new tab