Explore the latest updates on our Roadmap, ASI Alliance merger, HR, Partnerships, and Decentralization, plus a birds-eye view of the AI landscape from COO Janet Adams.
Greetings Singularitarians! Welcome to another quarter’s update from SingularityNET and as always, we have an action-packed report! This Q3 report will be fast followed early in the new year with all the updates from Q4 and the whole year in review.
During this year’s AI Governance Day in Geneva, Switzerland, ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin voiced a concern that resonates deeply with our mission: “All stakeholders deserve a voice in shaping AI’s present and future, but who can afford the compute resources that go into producing AI applications? Who is on the teams that design the foundational models? Right now the power of AI is concentrated in the hands of [the few]. It is risky and it is ethically precarious to be in this kind of position for Humanity.”
The ASI Alliance was formed precisely to address this critical challenge. By pooling knowledge, expertise, computing power, data, and market reach among our members, we are building a scalable decentralized AI infrastructure to accelerate the path to AGI and ASI on the blockchain. Our strategy focuses on three key priorities: building decentralized ASI, demonstrating practical decentralized AI applications, and securing decentralized compute resources.
In pursuit of these objectives, we welcomed CUDOS, a leader in distributed AI computing, to the ASI Alliance. This tokenomic merger has elevated our compute infrastructure by deploying a decentralized cloud network that seamlessly integrates with the ASI Innovation Stack. By harnessing CUDOS’ advanced distributed architecture, we have established sovereign compute capabilities that deliver mission-critical AI workloads at 50% lower cost compared to centralized providers while achieving unprecedented scalability through a network of independent GPU providers offering GB200s, H200s, H100s, A100s, and MI300s.
The integration enables dynamic resource allocation and containerized deployments essential for advancing our neural-symbolic AGI frameworks while strengthening our position as the largest web3 open-source, independent player in AI research and development. Through CUDOS’ bare metal deployments, orchestration systems, and fault-tolerant architecture, we will accelerate the evolution of our decentralized computing paradigm, establishing the foundation for a new era of beneficial AGI development that combines edge computing with data center resources in a comprehensive framework for distributed AI processes.
To further accelerate our progress, in Q2 we committed $53 million to establish the first modular supercomputer dedicated to decentralized AGI evolution, alongside state-of-the-art High-Performance Computing (HPC) and AI data centers. This investment reinforces our leadership in the global AI race by integrating cutting-edge hardware with flexible infrastructure solutions and is being rolled out – more news on this very soon!
As we move forward, we remain focused on our mission to ensure that the transformative power of AI and AGI is not concentrated in the hands of select governments or Big Tech companies but is accessible to everyone. The achievements of this quarter represent significant steps toward that goal, and we are more committed than ever to building AGI systems for the benefit of humanity and other sentient beings. Read on for updates on OpenCog Hyperon, the ASI Alliance, and all our ecosystem!
On September 11, 2024, the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance proposed the integration of CUDOS, a leading Decentralised Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) for AI compute, into the ASI Alliance. FET (ASI) token holders were subsequently invited to make their voices heard about this token merger from September 19, 2024, at 6 pm UTC and closed on September 24, 2024, at 6 pm UTC.
The proposal prompted thoughtful discussions on how the integration of CUDOS can accelerate product development across the Alliance and boost the utility of the unified ASI Alliance token (FET). CUDOS’s cloud model offers significant advantages over traditional centralized approaches, such as enhanced scalability, cost-efficiency, and flexibility. With CUDOS, premium AI infrastructure like NVIDIA H100 GPUs can be accessed at approximately 50% of the cost of Amazon AWS, effectively amplifying the impact of Fetch.ai and SingularityNET’s $153 million hardware investment.
“The integration of CUDOS into the Alliance will move us forward dramatically in the area of computing hardware infrastructure, one of the critical ingredients we need to fulfill our mission.” Dr. Ben Goertzel, CEO of SingularityNET and the ASI Alliance
The proposal received overwhelming support from FET (ASI) token holders, with 99.99% approval on the Fetch.ai Mainnet and 96.67% approval across the Ethereum, Cardano, and Binance Smart Chain networks, marking the addition of CUDOS as the newest member of the Alliance.
The integration of CUDOS into the ASI ecosystem reinforces the Alliance’s commitment to scaling decentralized AI and safeguarding the development of superintelligent systems. This merger brings ASI closer to its goal of creating an open, robust, scalable, and independent AI infrastructure that drives rapid advancements while maintaining the highest standards of transparency and inclusivity.
ASI (Artificial Superintelligence) represents the next level of intelligence, surpassing human abilities in problem-solving, emotional understanding, and creativity. Reaching ASI requires advancing through stages of AI and AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) to unlock massively powerful, wildly adaptable, self-understanding and self-improving intelligence. ASI Create is the launchpad for these transformative stages.
In collaboration with SingularityNET, Fetch.AI, Ocean Protocol and CUDOS, the ASI Alliance is dedicated to making AI development accessible to all. With decentralized tools, transparency, and privacy-first governance, we are pioneering open agent networks that offer an alternative to proprietary tech and pave the way to ASI through community-powered innovation.
ASI Create represents the culmination of advanced ASI technologies within the ASI AI DePIN stack, empowering communities to build open-source, decentralized AI/AGI. Here’s what it includes:
Whether you’re a developer, user, or investor, ASI Create delivers:
The ASI: Create product represents an interim step along the ASI Alliance’s broader path toward ASI, which follows four interoperating innovation streams within the ASI AI DePIN stack:
The ASI AI DePIN stack brings together self-governance, AI applications, decentralized compute, and specialized hardware to support complex decentralized AI solutions. Each ASI Core node in the network offers services across AI, knowledge, data, hosting, and payments with self-governance, ensuring the safe and private use of this powerful technology.
We have achieved several significant milestones for OpenCog Hyperon and MeTTa in Q3. The integration of LLM services on the Platform with MeTTa-Motto Proof-of-Concept is now completed. We have also launched the MeTTa SDK Alpha version (SingularityNET SDK in MeTTa) as a standard extension, enabling direct platform service calls through MeTTa. Besides, the initial integration between Desdemona Robot’s conversational system and MeTTa framework is completed.
In terms of performance, we have optimized MeTTa performance, achieving 50x acceleration in Minimal MeTTa processing speed, while JeTTa (Kotlin Compiler) delivers multi-order magnitude performance gains for all compiled functional code.
We have also conducted a comprehensive MeTTa Workshop at the 17th Annual AGI Conference in August.
The SingularityNET Decentralized AI Platform continues to advance through significant technical improvements across all core components, enhancing Platform stability, user experience and developer tools.
Daemon saw the release of version 5.1.4, introducing dynamic reconnection to etcd, which ensures seamless operation even during organization metadata changes. The update also brought expanded functionality through PowerShell scripts, gRPC stream tests, and enhanced support for Filecoin.
The SDK ecosystem received substantial updates across multiple languages. The Python SDK underwent several iterations (v3.4.1, v3.5.0, v3.5.1), featuring a restructured architecture with a standalone CLI, new modules, and improved performance through channel caching. The NodeJS SDK was also updated with a new release and updated NPM packages.
Significant improvements were made to our development tools and interfaces. The UI Sandbox now features enhanced testing capabilities, including a new blockchain network information display component and improved state management for component testing. These additions allow developers to effectively separate INPUT and OUTPUT states and provide component testing parameters (orgID, servID, endpoint).
Our portal infrastructure saw major enhancements across both developer and publisher interfaces. The Developer Portal v2 launched with a redesigned main page and improved sectional navigation, introducing dual layout options for better user experience. The new engine implementation includes comprehensive IPFS testing methods for increased reliability. The Publisher Portal now offers streamlined daemon configuration file generation capabilities.
The Marketplace continues to grow, currently hosting 71 active services. Recent technical upgrades include React and key modules updates and improved authorization and API interactions. User experience has been enhanced with new features such as automatic Metamask connection and wallet list loading.
Deep Funding (DF) is a community-driven program created to support the SingularityNET Foundation’s mission of driving the development of a decentralized, democratic, inclusive, and beneficial Artificial General Intelligence. The main goal of Deep Funding is ‘To help the Decentralized AI Platform grow’.
In the third quarter of 2024, our governance layer has continued to grow and improve, with currently 8 dedicated ‘Circles’, operated by more than 30 ‘semi-volunteers’ and 2 full-time staff members. You can explore all the details on our Deep Funding Circles, members, and half-yearly reports on our newly launched community site.
We are also preparing 14 RFPs (Requests For Proposals) related to OpenCog Hyperon and AGI research and development. Those RFPs will be published in October and will be open for proposals from the community. We will kick off DFR5 (Deep Funding Round 5) with a set of significantly changed rules to increase the quality of the outcomes. We have initiated Workgroup initiatives around a collaboration portal, the RFP process and the rules for DFR5.
The BGI Nexus is a growing collaborative platform that aims to foster discussions, share resources, and provide funding for the development of beneficial AI, AGI, and other impactful technologies or missions. The initiative aims to involve everyone in conversations about AI ethics, governance, and the future of humanity, enabling contributions of ideas, time, and resources.
During Q3 2024, we strengthened our collaboration with the Ambassador Program’s AI Ethics Workgroup through several key initiatives. The Workgroup provided valuable administrative and organizational support for our BGI roundtables and helped establish virtual engagement spaces, including regular Zoom sessions and fishbowl interviews. Their ongoing survey distribution efforts have been particularly successful, with nearly 40 fishbowl interviews completed to date. The dedication of the AI Ethics Workgroup has been instrumental in bringing the BGI Nexus initiative to life.
We expanded our reach through significant speaking engagements, notably at the “Ubuntu and AI” event – a collaboration between the Ambassador Program’s African Guild and AI Ethics Workgroup in Nigeria. LeeLoo Rose discussed Africa’s crucial role in emergent technology and the importance of incorporating Ubuntu philosophy in AI development, while Esther Galfalvi addressed AI governance, decentralization, and ethics, with a particular focus on Africa’s recent initiatives in these areas. We also conducted several in-person fishbowl interviews at the AGI-24 Conference in Seattle, Washington, furthering our research and community engagement efforts.
Our BGI Nexus Open Office sessions will start in Q4. Sessions will run biweekly, fostering insightful discussions among participants.
To follow our progress join the Beneficial AGI LinkedIn Group and AGI Book Club Telegram group, explore the BGI Collective website, or Subscribe for updates from the BGI Nexus.
The SingularityNET Community Ambassador Program is a community-driven initiative that strengthens the transparency and decentralization of the SingularityNET ecosystem, recognizes the valuable contributions made by our Ambassadors, and rewards their contributions.
In the third quarter of 2024, our Ambassadors made significant strides in achieving these goals, with highlights including:
If you are interested in getting involved and joining our community-driven guilds and workgroups, please join our Discord server and navigate to the #getting-started channel for guidance.
The Strategic Initiatives Office (SIO) is a cross-functional team dedicated to advancing SingularityNET’s position in the decentralized AI space. The SIO focuses on the strategic design, proposal, and execution of SingularityNET’s initiatives, focusing on commercialization, revenue modeling, and resource orchestration.
Our Strategic Initiatives Officer Alex Blagirev took the FIL Brussels stage alongside Yan Bo Ng, FF Enterprise Solutions Architect at Filecoin Foundation, to discuss the intersection of AI and DePin and our partnership with Filecoin.
This collaboration to advance our Knowledge Layer initiative and enhance the combined values of AI and DePIN aims to achieve several key objectives, spanning various timelines and technical implementations:
We announced a collaboration with BNB Chain to revolutionize the blockchain-based decentralized data economy. This collaboration aims to achieve several key objectives, spanning various timelines and technical implementations, notably integrating our AI infrastructure with BNB Greenfield storage infrastructure and enhancing our Internet of Knowledge initiative by integrating ecosystem participants, identity providers, and infrastructure partners.
Looking ahead, we will explore the integration of our AI Platform with BNB Smart Chain to strengthen our multi-chain capabilities. This integration is expected to unlock new opportunities for collaboration and innovation across multiple blockchain ecosystems.
The SIO team represented SingularityNET and the ASI Alliance at Binance’s KOL Camp in Panama in August 2024, where they also discussed and promoted our collaboration with Binance Smart Chain.
The Binance team brought together the top 50 Web3 influencers from the LATAM market for the KOL Camp, providing SingularityNET and the Alliance an excellent opportunity to expand our regional presence. Several key initiatives were agreed upon during the event:
We also announced a partnership with AL’MA ACTION LOGEMENT, the leading affordable housing operator in Mayotte and a subsidiary of France’s largest social housing provider, Action Logement Group, to collaborate on the “Better Homes 4 All’’ digital twin ecosystem project for AL’MA Home Flower Village.
By integrating artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, and tokenization frameworks within the construction and real estate industry, we are developing innovative solutions to pressing challenges. A key focus of this initiative is addressing the construction sector’s significant contribution to European greenhouse gas emissions, positioning our partnership to drive meaningful transformation in industry practices.
During the third quarter of 2024, the Marketing team executed a comprehensive strategy that strengthened SingularityNET’s position as a leader in the decentralized AI space. Our initiatives delivered meaningful impact across partnership development, thought leadership, and community engagement, driving both brand awareness and ecosystem growth.
The Marketing team maintained strong coordination with the Strategic Initiatives Office, streamlining the announcement and promotion of key partnerships and collaborations, including BNB Chain, Filecoin, and AL’MA Action Logement. Through multi-channel campaigns, we ensured consistent messaging and maximum visibility for each partnership.
A significant focus of Q3 was our contribution to the 17th Annual AGI Conference at the University of Washington in Seattle. Working closely with the SingularityNET Events team and the AGI Society, we supported both the organization and promotion of this premiere technical research Conference. Our involvement helped position SingularityNET and our ecosystem at the forefront of AGI research discussions, successfully engaging both academic researchers and industry stakeholders.
The quarter also marked the successful completion of two critical token merger processes for the ASI Alliance — the core token merger and the CUDOS token merger. Our team collaborated closely with the Alliance’s marketing team to ensure clear, consistent communication throughout both merger periods. We maintained active community engagement, providing regular updates and addressing community questions promptly to help token holders cast informed votes and streamline the token migration process.
As we move into Q4, these achievements have established a strong foundation for our upcoming initiatives. The team continues to focus on strategic communication and community engagement initiatives, building on our momentum to further cement SingularityNET’s and the ASI Alliance’s positions in the decentralized AI space.
During Q3, the HR team prioritized recruitment to bolster the Hyperon, MeTTa, Jam Galaxy, Blockchain, iCog Labs, and SophiaVerse projects, successfully onboarding key developers and support areas to ensure excellence and accelerate deliverable timelines.
The HR team took a proactive role in driving change by supporting operations through open communication, prioritizing talent retention, and enhancing contractor engagement.
Our teams are dedicated to fostering a collaborative and innovative culture by encouraging active participation in projects, idea-sharing, and close collaboration with technical teams to implement meaningful improvements. This approach not only strengthens intra-ecosystem collaboration but also promotes growth, cultivates valuable experiences, and empowers all team members involved.
At this time, we have the following open positions for SingularityNET:
If you are interested in any of these open positions, please send your resume to recruitment@singularitynet.io. We especially invite SingularityNET community members to apply; your advantage of having a great understanding of our mission, values, and projects in our ecosystem provides a clear benefit for the organization. We look forward to receiving applications from our SingularityNET community members.
The third quarter of 2024 saw SingularityNET co-organizing and actively participating in key industry events and conferences, fostering valuable collaborations, showcasing technological advancements, and cementing our position as a leader in the decentralized AI space.
The 17th Annual Artificial General Intelligence Conference (AGI-24), a four-day event dedicated to exploring the frontiers of AGI, brought together researchers, developers, and thought leaders from around the world. The Conference featured workshops, keynote talks, and AGI research technical paper presentations, focused on consideration for creating machines that think.
The first day of the Conference was characterized by intensive workshops and tutorials spread across three rooms, with a parallel BICA*AI Society virtual conference running alongside. In Room 1, attendees immersed themselves in the world of OpenCog Hyperon, beginning with a hands-on workshop where participants were introduced to the MeTTa language for cognitive computations and delved into its fundamentals and advanced applications. The afternoon session in this room shifted focus to OpenCog Hyperon applications, featuring presentations on PRIMUS, Neoterics, Mind Children, PLN/Pattern Matcher, Rejuve.Bio’s Neural-symbolic Hypothesis Generation, MeTTa-NARS, NACE, Sophiaverse Unity, and more.
Simultaneously, Room 2 hosted a morning tutorial on Interpretable Natural Language Processing (INLP), bridging the gap between AGI and NLP. This was followed by an extended NARS Tutorial and Workshop in the afternoon, offering attendees a deep dive into the NARS reasoning system. In Room 3, the morning workshop explored episodic memory for motivational agents, emphasizing the emerging paradigm of hyperdimensional computing (HDC). The afternoon session in this room focused on autonomous thinking and reasoning for ML workflows with AGI, demonstrating the practical application of AutoGPT in enhancing efficiency and performance in machine learning processes.
The second day of the Conference opened with remarks from key figures in the AGI community, setting the stage for a series of thought-provoking keynotes and paper presentations. Dr. Josef Urban’s keynote on ‘solving one-third of the OEIS from scratch’ was followed by a session of contributed papers on mathematical tools in systems theory, planning, and computability. The afternoon featured keynotes by Dr. Ben Goertzel on Hyperon-based minds and Dr. John Laird on integrating cognitive architecture and generative models. The day concluded with stimulating keynotes from Dr. Joscha Bach on the cyber animist perspective on AGI and Dr. Paul Rosenbloom on the implications of intelligence.
The third day delved deeper into the theoretical and practical aspects of AGI. Dr. François Chollet’s keynote on defining, measuring, and building general intelligence set the tone for the day. This was followed by a session of contributed papers on causality and a keynote by Dr. Geordie Rose introducing a novel class of games requiring quantum computing. The afternoon saw Dr. David Spivak advocating for a mathematical framework accounting for relationships and motivations in computational efforts, followed by a contributed papers session on category theory and complexity in AGI. The day concluded with Dr. Alex Ororbia’s keynote on predictive coding and biomimetic intelligence.
The final day of the Conference shifted focus to the societal and ethical implications of AGI. Dr. Gary Marcus’s keynote revisited his keynote from AGI-21, noting that many of the issues he highlighted then are still relevant today despite significant advances in AI. A session on AI safety, alignment, and ethics was followed by Dr. David Hanson’s keynote proposing a framework for incorporating characteristics of living beings into AI. The afternoon featured Dr. Christof Koch’s exploration of the distinction between consciousness and intelligence, followed by a session on consciousness, creativity, and trust in AGI. The Conference concluded with keynotes by Dr. Alexey Potapov on the evolution of AI-generated images and Dr. Patrick Hammer on experiential learning, followed by closing remarks and awards announcements.
A highlight of the conference was the presentation of awards recognizing outstanding contributions to the field of AGI. The prestigious Kurzweil Prize for Best AGI Paper, carrying a $1250 award, was presented to Arash Sheikhlar and Kristinn Thórisson for their work on “Causal Generalization via Goal-Driven Analogy.” The AGI Society Prize for Best Paper, with a $1000 award, went to Leonard M. Eberding, Jeff Thompson, and Kristinn R. Thórisson for their paper on “Argument-Driven Planning & Autonomous Explanation Generation.” The Springer Prize for Best Paper, also carrying a $1000 award, was given to James Oswald, Thomas Ferguson, and Selmer Bringsjord for their work titled “A Universal Intelligence Measure for Arithmetical Uncomputable Environments.” Finally, the OpenCog Foundation’s Best Student Paper award of $250 was presented to Michael Timothy Bennett for his paper on “Computational Dualism and Objective Superintelligence.” These awards not only recognized the exceptional quality of the winning papers but also highlighted some of the most innovative and promising directions in current AGI research.
Throughout the Conference, several key themes emerged, including the development and application of OpenCog Hyperon and MeTTa language, advancements in interpretable natural language processing, the potential of hyperdimensional computing for episodic memory, and the integration of autonomous reasoning in machine learning workflows. The Conference also highlighted ongoing research in cognitive architectures, the application of various mathematical tools to AGI problems, and the critical importance of addressing AI safety, alignment, and ethics.
The AGI-24 Conference provided a comprehensive exploration of current research, developments, and challenges in the field of Artificial General Intelligence. The diverse range of topics covered, from technical workshops to philosophical discussions, reflected the multidisciplinary nature of AGI research and its potential societal impacts. By bringing together experts from various subfields and fostering dialogue on both technical and ethical aspects of AGI, the Conference highlighted the rapid advancements in the field and the growing need for collaborative, responsible development of these transformative technologies.
We recently participated in TOKEN2049, the world’s largest crypto event, held at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore on September 18-19, 2024. The event, which preceded the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix 2024 race weekend, brought together an estimated 20,000 attendees from over 150 countries. We were pleased to welcome some of them to the ASI Alliance booth to connect, exchange ideas, network, and shape the future of the decentralized AI industry.
Dr. Ben Goertzel, took the Sky stage on September 19, 2024, alongside Sophia Robot and her sister Desdemona Robot from Yaya Labs. Dr. Goertzel’s keynote address explored the future of AGI, decentralized AI, creativity, and the path to superintelligence, highlighting our mission to accelerate the advancement of decentralized AGI and ASI and offer a compelling alternative to Big Tech’s control over AI development, use, and monetization.
CEO Dr. Ben Goertzel joined Dr. Aubrey de Grey, President of Longevity Escape Velocity (LEV) Foundation and member of Rejuve.Bio’s Scientific Advisory Board, and Peter Fedichev, CEO of GERO, at VitaDAO’s DeSci Summit in Singapore to explore the application of AI and blockchain technology to the quest to extend human healthspan.
Dr. Goertzel highlighted that the real power of AI-based longevity research lies in its ability to integrate diverse domains and aspects of aging into a unified rigorous understanding. This integration requires a wide variety of heterogeneous data across different systems, organisms, and scales. After this data integration, a diversity of AI architectures and approaches are needed to identify patterns in the data and conceive hypotheses and experiments accordingly.
When discussing AI methods, Dr. Goertzel stated, “I think large language models (LLMs) and deep neural networks are useful. I’m working a lot with probabilistic, evolutionary learning, and other AI methods.” He stressed the importance of using a diverse set of AI methods, noting, “I think you need a heterogeneous collection of AI methods as well as a heterogeneous large diverse data set.”
Dr. Goertzel then elaborated on how these concepts are being applied in practice through various projects within the SingularityNET ecosystem. He mentioned Rejuve.AI led by Jasmine Smith, a SingularityNET ecosystem project that is addressing part of the longevity research challenge by creating a decentralized network of longevity enthusiasts. These participants contribute data about their bodies for analysis and take part in early trials exploring the effectiveness of therapies, including those derived from their data.
Dr. Goertzel also discussed the work of Kennedy Schaal and her team at Rejuve.Bio, where AI experts and biomedical scientists collaborate with AGI leaders at SingularityNET and TrueAGI Inc. to develop a neural-symbolic framework for analyzing and understanding longevity-related data, systems, and processes. This framework integrates deep neural networks (including LLMs) with symbolic and evolutionary AI implemented in OpenCog Hyperon, the latest version of the OpenCog integrative AGI toolkit.
He highlighted a unique source of valuable longevity data that Rejuve Bio has accessed through its partnership with Genescient Inc.: the -omics data from long-lived Methuselah flies. These fruit flies have been experimentally evolved to live about five times longer than control flies. The Rejuve.Bio AI framework applies transfer learning to understand the implications of insights from these flies for human longevity, leading to new understandings of the pathways and networks underlying aging in humans and potential therapies for extending human healthspan. The practical outcomes of these AI analytics include suggestions for novel nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, and gene-therapy interventions for healthspan extension.
CEO Dr. Ben Goertzel took the stage at one of Asia’s biggest entrepreneurship networking events of the year, All That Matters 2024, to discuss why “Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) Matters.”
During his keynote address, Dr. Goertzel explored the potential of machines to develop compassion, creativity, and curiosity, both independently and in collaboration with humans. He also discussed how the transition from today’s narrow and dataset-bound AI to tomorrow’s AGI can bring humanity and technology together in unprecedented ways, creating a cooperative future that will benefit us all.
Dr. Goertzel presented several fields where AI and proto-AGI tools are currently being applied, including music, art, writing, math, and science. To illustrate ongoing work in the field, Dr. Goertzel referenced the “Beyond the Code” AI immersive documentary, a project he is co-producing with Nefertiti Strong. This docuseries documents current efforts to develop beneficial AGI and merge AI capabilities with human creativity. The project aims to examine the technical aspects of AI-human collaboration while also considering the ethical and societal implications of these technological advancements.