Connect with us

Technology

Renowned AI researcher Paul Christiano announced as 2026 lecturer for The Hinton Lectures

Published

on

The Hinton Lectures return for a third year as artificial intelligence research and advancements accelerate globally.

TORONTO, Oct. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Hinton Lectures™, co-founded by Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton, return to Toronto on November 9-11, 2026. The Hinton Lectures are a transformative lecture series charting the future of Artificial Intelligence, by demystifying AI for the public and providing a platform for open, accessible discussion on its future.

This year’s distinguished lecturer, Paul Christiano, was an early researcher at OpenAI, where he developed reinforcement learning from human feedback.

Christiano is the founder and executive director of the Alignment Research Center, a non-profit developing methods to better understand how decisions are happening inside machine learning systems. Christiano is also Senior Technical Advisor at NIST’s Center for AI Standards and Innovation, Board Member of the OpenAI Foundation and Member of the OpenAI Safety and Security Committee.

The distinguished Nominating Committee for the lecture series is comprised of Prof. Hinton; Beth Barnes, Founder & CEO of METR; Roger Grosse, Schwartz Reisman Chair in Technology and Society; and, Shane Legg, co-founder and Chief AGI Scientist at Google DeepMind. 

Hinton, Christiano, Barnes and Legg have all been recognized at least once on TIME100’s most influential in AI.

The three-night lecture series hosted at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, John W. H. Bassett Theatre and broadcast online, kicks off the inaugural AI Safety Week.

The Hinton Lectures is proudly supported by Presenting Partner Manulife and by Founding Partner Global Risk Institute (GRI), whose combined support underscores the growing importance of industry leadership in the safe and ethical development of AI. TELUS rounds out this year’s roster, as an evening sponsor.

“Canada helped build the foundations of modern AI,” says Ankesh Chandaria, CEO of AISF.  “The pressing question now isn’t what these systems can do, but what they should do and who gets to decide. Canada is a natural place to convene this vital global conversation, and we’re honoured to host Paul Christiano and leading AI safety researchers to explore how increasingly capable AI can be developed and governed safely.”

“Our support for The Hinton Lectures reflects Manulife’s commitment to advancing the responsible use of AI,” says Jodie Wallis, Global Chief AI Officer at Manulife. “As AI continues to evolve, fostering informed dialogue around its opportunities, risks and societal impact is more important than ever. The Hinton Lectures bring together leading voices from academia, industry and public policy to explore these issues thoughtfully, and we’re proud to support those conversations as this year’s presenting partner.”

“AI is advancing rapidly, with significant implications for financial services and the safeguards needed to manage its risks. GRI recognized early the need for broader discussion of these issues,” says Sonia Baxendale, President and CEO, GRI. “Through our founding partnership in the Hinton Lectures, we are helping bring leading perspectives, including Paul Christiano’s, to that conversation.”

“Open discussion about AI’s rewards and risks is essential to building technology that is trustworthy and benefits everyone,” says Pam Snively, Chief Data & Trust Officer at TELUS. “TELUS is proud to support The Hinton Lectures – a world-leading forum bringing researchers, industry leaders, policymakers and the public together to ensure AI is developed and deployed responsibly, and with accountability, grounded in a human-first approach.”

The 2024 lecturer was Jacob Steinhardt, Assistant Professor, UC Berkeley & Founder of Transluce and the 2025 lecturer was Owain Evans, Director of Truthful AI (TIME100 in AI 2026).  

The 2026 lectures will be moderated by Canadian futurist, writer and podcaster Sínead Bovell.  Bovell is also the founder of WAYE, a tech education initiative that prepares the next generation of leaders for a future shaped by advanced technologies.

The lectures are open to the public, with access available both in-person and via livestream. Tickets are available now at hintonlectures.com.

For media inquiries or media accreditation contact Diane Begin at diane.begin@aisfoundation.ai.

The Hinton Lectures | Media Assets

About AI Safety Foundation

The AI Safety Foundation (AISF) increases awareness and scientific understanding of the catastrophic risks of AI, by advancing education and research, to ensure a safer future for humanity.  AISF is proud to present an annual lecture series, the Hinton Lectures™, delivered by world-leading AI safety experts. aisfoundation.ai

About Global Risk Institute

The Global Risk Institute in Financial Services (GRI) is Canada’s premier organization for risk management thought leadership and actionable insights. Bringing together leaders from industry, government and academia, GRI transforms global risk intelligence into practical strategies that strengthens the resilience of Canada’s financial sector. globalriskinstitute.org

About Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Anchored in our ambition to be the number one choice for customers, we operate as Manulife across Canada and Asia, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States, providing financial advice, insurance and health solutions for individuals, groups and businesses. Through Manulife Wealth & Asset Management, we offer global investment solutions, financial advice, and retirement plan services to individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. At the end of 2025, we had more than 37,000 employees, over 106,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving over 37 million customers with operations across 25 markets globally. We trade as ‘MFC’ on the Toronto, New York, and Philippine stock exchanges, and under ‘945’ on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. manulife.com

Manulife’s official newswire announcement, as Presenting Partner, will be live later today.

About TELUS

TELUS (TSX: T, NYSE: TU) is a leading Canadian communications technology company operating in more than 45 countries and generating over $20 billion in annual revenue with more than 17 million customer connections through our advanced suite of broadband services for consumers, businesses and the public sector. TELUS is passionate about putting our customers and communities first, leading the way globally in client service excellence and social capitalism. telus.com

SOURCE AI Safety Foundation

Continue Reading

Technology

GIGABYTE AI TOP ATOM 64GB Unified Memory Version Expands Possibilities for Desktop AI Development

Published

on

By

TAIPEI, Oct. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — GIGABYTE today announced the launch of a new 64GB unified memory version of GIGABYTE AI TOP ATOM, expanding its existing 128GB offering. Available starting October 23, the new configuration retains the hardware design of AI TOP ATOM, based on the NVIDIA DGX Spark platform, giving developers, researchers, and enterprise teams greater flexibility to select the configuration that best fits their AI workloads and memory requirements, while enabling dedicated on-premises AI development environments.

As generative AI and agentic AI applications continue to evolve, model testing, data processing, and application validation are becoming increasingly integral to everyday development workflows. GIGABYTE AI TOP ATOM integrates AI computing capabilities into a compact desktop form factor, enabling users to perform model inference, prototype development, and data analysis in offices, laboratories, and educational environments. By running models and processing data locally, users can maintain greater control over development resources and project data while reducing reliance on cloud computing resources.

The new 64GB unified memory version, together with the existing high-capacity 128GB version, creates a more comprehensive AI TOP ATOM product lineup. Users can evaluate and select the memory capacity that best matches their model sizes, workflows, and multitasking requirements, enabling them to develop AI applications on the same platform and progress from early proof-of-concept development to practical deployment. With built-in ConnectX-7 networking, developers can cluster up to 4 units with NVIDIA Sync for larger memory pool and compute capability.

On the software side, AI TOP ATOM integrates NVIDIA CUDA accelerated AI software ecosystem with GIGABYTE AI TOP Utility, providing capabilities including model downloading, inference, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to help users establish local AI workflows. Developers can explore open models, test AI assistants, or leverage their own documents to build knowledge-based question-and-answer applications, allowing them to continuously refine and validate solutions based on project requirements and accelerate the transition from ideas to real-world applications.

GIGABYTE is also continuing to explore the potential of AI TOP ATOM for agentic AI applications. In a multi-node scientific computing demonstration, GIGABYTE integrated NVIDIA Nemotron open models with the NVIDIA NemoClaw open agent blueprint to connect research hypothesis generation with simulation workflows, demonstrating the potential of AI agents to support scientific research. Through the continued integration of hardware platforms, software tools, and real-world applications, GIGABYTE is committed to expanding the use cases for desktop AI computing.

With the addition of the 64GB unified memory version, AI TOP ATOM is now available in both 128GB and 64GB configurations, addressing the needs of users across different stages of AI development and application scales. GIGABYTE will continue to expand its AI TOP product portfolio and software ecosystem, helping individuals and enterprise teams build on-premises AI capabilities and bring AI from technology exploration into everyday applications.

The GIGABYTE AI TOP ATOM 64GB unified memory version is officially available starting October 23, 2026. Product availability, sales channels, and pricing may vary by region. Please refer to GIGABYTE’s official announcements and authorized local distributors for details.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gigabyte-ai-top-atom-64gb-unified-memory-version-expands-possibilities-for-desktop-ai-development-302898299.html

SOURCE GIGABYTE

Continue Reading

Technology

MEXC and Payward Signal Intent to Explore Broader Collaboration Ahead of TOKEN2049

Published

on

By

MUTSAMUDU, Comoros, Oct. 5, 2026 /CNW/ — MEXC, a pioneer in 0-fee digital asset trading, and Payward, the parent company of Kraken, are in discussions to explore a collaboration as both platforms look at how exchanges can better serve users across evolving global markets. The two companies will bring the conversation to TOKEN2049 Singapore, where MEXC CEO Vugar Usi Zade and Payward Co-CEO Arjun Sethi will join a panel on the MEXC Stage to discuss the next phase of trading platforms and share further perspectives on collaboration between exchanges.

The discussion comes as trading platforms respond to several shifts happening at the same time. Users are seeking broader access across crypto and traditional markets, AI is changing how investors research and interact with trading tools, and social trading is creating new ways to discover and participate in market opportunities. Against this backdrop, exchanges are increasingly looking beyond individual products toward how market access, infrastructure, liquidity and user experience can work together more effectively. As platforms evolve, exchange security and user asset protection will also remain an important part of the conversation.

As the exchange industry evolves, platforms are building different strengths across user experience, market access, infrastructure and trading capabilities. MEXC has focused on retail user experience, deep liquidity and perpetual trading across crypto and TradFi assets, while Payward brings global compliant financial infrastructure, professional trading capabilities and a strong U.S. market presence. These different strengths create room to explore where broader collaboration could add value for users.

“Users increasingly expect broader market access without more complexity,” said Vugar Usi Zade, CEO of MEXC. “The next stage of trading will require strong user experience, liquidity, infrastructure and market access to work more closely together. As exchanges continue to evolve, there is growing room to explore where collaboration across the industry can create more value for users.”

The TOKEN2049 panel will take place on October 7 from 12:30 to 13:00 at the MEXC Stage, and will explore the trends reshaping trading, how exchanges are preparing for changing user expectations, and where greater collaboration between platforms could create value. The conversation will also look at the convergence of crypto and TradFi, the growing role of AI in trading, and how global trading platforms may evolve as markets and infrastructure become more connected.

About MEXC

Founded in 2018, MEXC is a leading global multi-asset trading platform built as your 0-fee gateway to infinite opportunities. Serving users across 170+ markets, MEXC provides simple and efficient access to crypto, stocks, tokenized assets, derivatives, and a growing range of TradFi-linked opportunities through one account and one gateway.

With 0 trading fees, deep liquidity, broad asset coverage, and a high-performance trading experience, MEXC is designed for retail users who want to discover earlier, act faster, and trade with fewer barriers. As crypto and traditional finance continue to converge, MEXC is committed to making global opportunities more accessible, helping users trade freely and MEXCmize every opportunity.

MEXC Official Website| X | Telegram |How to Sign Up on MEXC

Risk Disclaimer:

This content does not constitute investment advice. Given the volatility of financial markets, including digital assets, tokenized assets, and traditional financial products, investors should carefully assess market conditions, underlying asset fundamentals, and potential financial risks before making any investment or trading decisions.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mexc-and-payward-signal-intent-to-explore-broader-collaboration-ahead-of-token2049-302898289.html

SOURCE MEXC

Continue Reading

Technology

Solidion Technology (NASDAQ: STI) Remains Firm on Flux Power (NASDAQ: FLUX) Below Market Offer in Response to Flux Board Rejection

Published

on

By

Sees no Basis to Increase Its Offer as Flux Power Continues to Face Highly Dilutive Financing Requirements, Regulatory Issues, and Default Risk

DALLAS, Oct. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Solidion Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: STI) (“Solidion Technology” or “the Company”), an advanced battery technology solutions provider, today responded to the decision of the Board of Directors of Flux Power Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLUX) (“Flux Power” or “Flux”) to reject Solidion’s previously announced acquisition proposal. Solidion considers its bid to be best and final.

“Solidion strongly disagrees with the Flux Power Board’s assertion that its proposal ‘significantly undervalues’ the company,” said Jaymes Winters, Chairman and CEO of Solidion Technology. “This offer takes into account the capital and execution required to stabilize the business, and Solidion has no intention of increasing its offer at this time.”

Winters continues, “Solidion is and always will be an opportunistic acquirer of companies it believes will complement and amplify its existing technology. In doing so, we will be resolute custodians of our shareholder value and not seek opportunities that are overpriced, beyond repair or not related to Solidion’s growth strategy. We will continue to pursue other prospects in parallel with FLUX.”

In Solidion’s opinion:

Flux Power still faces an immediate need for capital, resulting in highly discounted equity issuance: Private placements, equity lines of credit or other highly dilutive capital facilities used in this distressed manner (which may have been utilized on 10/02/2026) will only accelerate the loss of shareholder value. If the Board believes that its strategy offers greater shareholder value, Solidion believes that shareholders deserve to know how much additional capital will be required, where it will come from, and what it could cost existing shareholders.In order to meet their stated objectives, Flux Power requires, at minimum, $10 million in fresh capital: In order to achieve this without substantial shareholder dilution, the only alternative financing path is an acquisition of Flux by a stronger company.Flux Power continues to face NASDAQ listing pressure: On July 24, 2026, Flux Power received notice from NASDAQ that its common stock had closed below the $1.00 minimum bid price for 30 consecutive business days, providing an initial 180-day period to regain compliance. Additionally, in the event that a reverse stock split becomes necessary, the post-stock split decay risk has historically resulted in a 20-40% decline in the price per share.Changing macroeconomic winds remain a significant risk: Flux Power’s expectations for easing headwinds overlook continued uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment, particularly with regard to the significant tariff exposure facing its supply chain. In order to overcome these challenges, a company with a strong balance sheet is far better suited to weather macroeconomic uncertainties.

Solidion believes that Flux Power shareholders should be given the transparency and information necessary to make an informed assessment of the condition of Flux’s ability to continue as a going concern, and deserve a clear choice between an acquisition that provides a large degree of certainty or continuing to fund a turnaround whose ultimate cost, dilution, and outcome remain critically uncertain.

About Solidion Technology, Inc.

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas with pilot production facilities in Dayton, Ohio, Solidion’s (NASDAQ: STI) core business includes manufacturing of battery materials and components, as well as development and production of next-generation batteries for energy storage systems, including UPS systems serving the artificial intelligence (AI) data center market and electric vehicles for ground, aerospace, and sea transportation. Solidion holds a portfolio of over 385 patents, covering innovations such as high-capacity, silane gas free and graphene-enabled silicon anodes, biomass-based graphite, advanced lithium-sulfur and lithium-metal technologies.

For more information, please visit www.solidiontech.com or contact Investor Relations.

Important Information Regarding the Proposed Transaction

Solidion has expressed its interest in pursuing a potential acquisition of Flux Power Holdings, Inc. No assurance can be given that a definitive agreement will be entered into or that any transaction will ultimately be commenced or consummated. This is not a legally binding obligation, offer, or commitment by either party. No past, present, or future expression of intent, proposal, discussion, or course of conduct shall give rise to any legally binding contract or obligation to proceed with or close the proposed transaction unless and until a definitive written acquisition agreement has been fully executed. Any proposed transaction would be subject to applicable legal and regulatory requirements, the completion of due diligence, financing considerations, required approvals and other customary conditions.

This communication is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to purchase or a solicitation of an offer to sell any securities. Additionally, this communication does not constitute an offer to buy or solicitation of an offer to sell any securities. This communication relates to a proposal which Solidion has made for a business combination transaction with  Flux. This communication is not a substitute for any proxy statement, registration statement, tender offer statement, prospectus or other document the parties may file with the SEC in connection with the proposed transaction.  This document shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. If and when a transaction is commenced, Solidion expects to file applicable materials with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors and security holders are urged to read such materials carefully and in their entirety when and if they become available because they will contain important information.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Solidion Technology Inc., (NASDAQ: STI) (the “Company,” “Solidion,” “we,” “our” or “us”) desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words “forecasts” “believe,” “may,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “should,” “plan,” “could,” “target,” “potential,” “is likely,” “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

Please follow us on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/solidion-tech 

X: https://x.com/solidiontech?lang=en 

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/solidion-technology-nasdaq-sti-remains-firm-on-flux-power-nasdaq-flux-below-market-offer-in-response-to-flux-board-rejection-302898023.html

Continue Reading

Trending