the structure is embedded into the grounds of an existing house that was built in the 1970s the office is covered with a reflective skin that allows it to disappear within its context. ‘thanks to the high reflection capacity of this cladding, the new building literally blends into the site,’ says MIA architecture the large square office bay gives the impression through a notch in the vegetation laid on a brick base.’ access is provided via a metal ramp that leads to a wooden door that appears at the northwest corner of the volume the large window allows staff to be immersed in the bucolic surroundings the building has been constructed with a wooden frame and is insulated to ensure energy efficiency the architects say that the simple construction methods employed meant that the office was constructed in approximately three months name: bureaux MIA location: beaufays, belgium architect: MIA architecture status: complete happening now! partnering with antonio citterio, AXOR presents three bathroom concepts that are not merely places of function, but destinations in themselves — sanctuaries of style, context, and personal expression. Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker but it should hit other devices in the future The update is only available on Pixel phones now by James Vincent This might sound like a trivial use case, but Beaufays argues that improvements to speech recognition will slowly revolutionize how we interact with our mobile devices. She notes that although speech recognition has improved in recent years, it’s still an immature technology. It’s computationally intensive, meaning most speech recognition systems have to send data over the internet, and the result is dictation that’s slow and unreliable. Taking dictation offline makes it more reliable and maybe more popular “Imagine if you had a keyboard where you couldn’t click on the keys whenever the connectivity is lousy,” says Beaufays. “You just wouldn’t use that keyboard.” But by taking the system offline, she says, dictation will become a more natural choice. To achieve this transition, Google’s team spent five years investigating the problem and simplifying the AI systems the app uses for voice recognition. For example, while old versions of Gboard’s dictation software use three separate components to model audio waveforms, match sounds with phonemes, and then combine those phonemes into written output, the updated version integrates all of this work into a single step. The new model also slims down a part of the system known as the “decoder graph,” a component that functions like an index in a book, matching audio waveforms with written words. In the old version of Gboard’s dictation model, this decoder graph was 2GB in size, far too big for on-device processing. The new version, by comparison, is just 80 megabytes, 25 times smaller. The rollout of this upgrade is limited to American English dictation and Pixel phones for now, but Beaufays suggests it’ll become more widely available in the future — spreading the reach of AI voice recognition. “From a technology viewpoint, I would say we can afford to do this on more phones than just Pixel,” says Beaufays. “I think what will happen is that we will probably be able to launch it on more devices [and] in more languages.” A weekly newsletter by David Pierce designed to tell you everything you need to download, watch, read, listen to, and explore that fits in The Verge’s universe. 12-12-2024TECH Google has worked hard to make its new Gemini AI assistant sound more human Could that lead people to project race and gender biases on what they hear BY Janko Roettgers but could that lead to people projecting race and gender biases on what they hear When Google prepared to give its new Gemini AI assistant the ability to speak the company decided to name its 10 voice options after celestial bodies and Pegasus aren’t just a nod to Gemini’s own constellation branding heritage but also a way to sidestep preconceived notions around gender “We wanted to avoid gendered voices,” explains Françoise Beaufays Google’s senior director of speech for Gemini Live but it also doesn’t stop Gemini’s users from anthropomorphizing the AI assistant in their mind’s eye And as AI assistants increasingly sound like humans one has to wonder: Are out-of-this-world names really enough to prevent us from projecting our own biases about race and gender on them Ever since tech companies launched their first voice assistants they have grappled with gender stereotypes and the Google Assistant all used female-sounding voices by default leading to criticism that these assistants were playing into existing notions around women as subservient helpers “Many of these [assistants] are not necessarily breaking free of the external stereotypes that exist in our society,” says Nicol Turner Lee director of the Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation “They’re just replicating some of the very same issues that we have.” Janko Roettgers is a San Francisco-based reporter who has written for Variety, Protocol, and Gigaom, among other publications. More Fast Company & Inc © 2025 Mansueto Ventures Fastcompany.com adheres to NewsGuard’s nine standards of credibility and transparency. Learn More We strive to create an environment conducive to many different types of research across many different time scales and levels of risk Our researchers drive advancements in computer science through both fundamental and applied research We regularly open-source projects with the broader research community and apply our developments to Google products Publishing our work allows us to share ideas and work collaboratively to advance the field of computer science and datasets available to everyone with the goal of building a more collaborative ecosystem Supporting the next generation of researchers through a wide range of programming Participating in the academic research community through meaningful engagement with university faculty Connecting with the broader research community through events is essential for creating progress in every aspect of our work Françoise Beaufays and Johan Schalkwyk – Google Speech Team A model shows off the designs of the Khaleeki Chic (Stay stylish) collection by Saudi and Belgian designers Safia Hussein and Christophe Beaufays in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh's diplomatic quarter on Saturday Italy's fashion industry is working hard to ensure it remains in fashion in China Chinese netizens mourn the death of French fashion designer Pierre Cardin one of the earliest international fashion brands .. who died earlier this week at the age of 98 In a new and very promising collaboration, Saudi Arabia’s Princess Safia Hussein Guerras and Belgian designer Christophe Beaufays joined hands with Lomar to create a unique line of abayas that transform and reintroduce modest fashion in a new light which was named ‘Khaleeki Chic’ (meaning stay chic) was showcased in a private fashion show in the Belgian Embassy in Saudi Arabia on Saturday the designs combine the traditional and cultural Arab essence of abayas with modernity and elegance from diverse western themes making abayas that are fit for all women regardless of where they come from the abaya is often portrayed in the media as a symbol of oppression and Saudi women usually take off their abayas as soon as they travel out of the country They wanted to show the abayas as fashionable and women from other cultures would like to wear them too because of their modern twist Scroll down to see our favorite picks from this stylish new fashion line Select Staff Writers from the Scoop Empire Team A fantastic surge of the Czech rider on the Citadelle de Namur netted him second in the Belgian one-day race Petr Vakoč became the first Czech rider to podium in the Grand Prix de Wallonie (Beaufays – Namur a result even more impressive considering he lined up at the start less than three days after completing the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal the 24-year-old was one of the main protagonists after Etixx – Quick-Step made sure of neutralizing the day's escape The group quickly established a 25-second lead which at one point looked to be substantial enough for the riders up front to make it as they were preparing to hit the spectacular ascent of Citadelle de Namur (6% average gradient) but the furious pack came back just at the foot of the final ascent of the seven jammed on the course and things got reshuffled immediately as the peloton tackled the cobbled part of the 2km climb Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Soudal) accelerated and put some daylight between him and the bunch as he entered in the final kilometer of the race That was the point that saw Petr Vakoč make another move and the Czech rider – winner of Classic Sud Ardèche Drôme Classic and Brabantse Pijl in 2016 – displayed incredible stamina putting in an incredible effort and unleashing a huge and fierce attack to come roaring back In one of the most thrilling finishes of the season Petr closed the gap on his French opponent but in the end concluded second by the narrowest of margins for Etixx – Quick-Step's 60th podium of the year which comes in addition to the 50 victories the team scored across 31 different races because the opportunity to take the victory was there Grand Prix de Wallonie is a race I really like suited to my characteristics and I was hoping of winning it The team did an excellent job throughout the day protecting and always keeping me out of the wind" who went on to make an analysis of the hectic last kilometers: "When Tony attacked I was a little bit boxed in and couldn't follow him immediately but on the other hand it motivates me even more for the European Championships in Bretagne to know how many times a particular page is read We only use this information to improve the content of our website These cookies are only placed after you have given your consent Copyright © 2018 CGTN. 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