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Valley Mills man asked female Waco High student to get in his car, offered money: arrest warrant

Valley Mills man asked female Waco High student to get in his car, offered money: arrest warrant Surveillance footage, facial recognition software led investigator to suspect, document states WACO, Texas (KWTX) - A man accused of trying to get a 15-year-old Waco High School student to get in his car was arrested on April 13 and charged with enticing a child away from custody of parents, online jail records and court documents show. Shaun David Law, 39, of Valley Mills, Texas, was booked into the McLennan County Jail on a $5,000 bond. The incident happened April 7 at the Circle K at New Road and Bosque Avenue near Waco High School, police said. On that date, Waco ISD Police Department officers stationed outside the high school were approached by a 15-year-old girl who told them she had just been approached by a man in the parking lot of the Circle K. The girl provided a written statement alleging the man asked her if she needed a ride, and she told him, “no.” According to the girl, the man followed her in his car, asked her if she liked older men, told her to get in his car and said he had money for her. The girl once again rejected his offers and told him to get away, the arrest warrant states. The man then allegedly asked the girl if she had friends who would like to go with him and she once again told him, “no.” “He asked her one more time to get in the car and that he had money to go have fun with,” the arrest warrant states, “She said, ‘no,’ and turned around and took a picture of his car.” At that point, the man drove away from the girl. A detective assigned the case obtained

Kenya - Govt to recognise Pare community in Taveta, address ...

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YOLOv11 Model Detects Unsafe Coal Mining Behaviors

An improved YOLOv11-based model with attention modules accurately detects unsafe miner behaviors in complex environments. It achieves high precision and enables real-time monitoring, enhancing safety and reducing accident risks in underground coal mining. A paper recently published in Scientific Reports proposed an effective and rapid method for detecting unsafe behaviors among underground coal mine personnel in complex coal mine environments. Coal Mining Safety Challenges Coal miners execute complex tasks in confined underground spaces, which require continuous vigilance to prevent unsafe behaviors and ensure miner safety. Yet, unique coal mine conditions and significant job pressures can occasionally lead to unsafe behaviors, resulting in serious injuries, accidents, or fatalities. Currently, personnel unsafe behavior identification in coal mines primarily relies on surveillance footage analysis and manual inspections, which pose challenges such as limited coverage of the operational area, high costs, low accuracy, significant subjectivity, and inefficiency. Thus, developing effective methods to prevent and detect unsafe behaviors among miners and improving coal mining operation safety standards are critical for the coal mining sector. Advances in Behavior Detection Constant advances in computer technology and machine vision have led to an increased application of machine vision in studies to detect unsafe behavior. Recent advances in unsafe behavior recognition approaches have relied on sensor fusion, deep learning (DL), machine learning (ML), and video analysis. Among ML techniques, random forest (RF) and support vector machine (SVM) are commonly employed in detecting unsafe behavior. However, high recognition accuracy cannot be realized using these methods in complex environments. DL methods, particularly Long Short-Term Memory Networks (LSTMs) and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), have shown exceptional performance in time-series data and video analysis. For instance, unsafe behaviors by warehouse personnel were identified using CNN-based image classification methods that effectively handled issues such as changes in lighting conditions and occlusions. Recent research trends

Video UK police plan to expand live <b>facial recognition</b> technology

UK police plan to expand live facial recognition technology In London, privacy advocates are raising concerns about how facial recognition technology is being utilized to track suspects in real time. ABC News' Patrick Reevell reports. April 14, 2026 Additional Live Streams Top Stories Top Stories Strait of Hormuz blockade holds as Trump signals second round of talks with Iran Apr 14, 2026Camp Mystic directors' emotional testimony on deadly Texas flooding Apr 14, 2026Eric Swalwell officially resigns from Congress amid new accusations Apr 14, 2026Husband of missing American in the Bahamas breaks his silence amid police questioning Apr 14, 2026Severe weather puts over 50 million on alert for tornadoes and damaging winds Apr 14, 2026Baby Jessica' arrested in Texas for domestic disturbance Apr 14, 2026Doctor charged with manslaughter after removing wrong organ from patient Apr 14, 2026Video captures moment hero principal takes down gunman at Oklahoma high school Apr 14, 2026Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's class of 2026 includes Phil Collins, Wu-Tang Clan and more Apr 14, 2026UK police plan to expand live facial recognition technology Apr 14, 2026New pill could help pancreatic cancer patients live longer, study shows Apr 14, 2026WrestleMania 42 hits Las Vegas with marquee matchups set Apr 14, 2026President Trump deletes post depicting him as Jesus Christ Apr 14, 2026No ships have made it through Iran blockade on day 1: CENTCOM Apr 14, 2026The challenges of enforcing a US blockade on Iranian ports Apr 14, 2026Possible United, American Airlines merger, report says Apr 14, 2026Southwest CEO on future of air travel Apr 14, 2026What happens if you miss the tax deadline and what is the penalty? Apr 14, 2026Pilot speaks out after crash landing Apr 14, 2026No link between fluoride in water and lower IQ, study finds Apr 14, 2026Latest on alleged attack at OpenAI CEO's

Metro Atlanta hairstylist wins NAACP <b>Image</b> Award and shines spotlight on local talent

Metro Atlanta hairstylist wins NAACP Image Award and shines spotlight on local talent A hairstylist with deep roots in College Park is receiving national recognition, but she says the moment is about much more than her own success. After more than three decades in the beauty industry, Deaundra Metzger is celebrating one of the biggest achievements of her career. She accepted an NAACP Image Award for her work on the Hulu series "Reasonable Doubt" in February. "I was so shocked," Metzger said. "I was excited that my team and I were recognized for our hard work." Metzger's journey began in a local salon, where she first discovered her passion for hairstyling, eventually attending the now-defunct Dimples Beauty College in College Park. She said many women in the community served as mentors and taught her a lot of what she knows about cosmetology. That passion eventually led her into television and film, where she found her niche, falling in love with character creation through hairstyling. "I was invited to come on set to assist, and I have been hooked ever since," she explained. Her work now involves collaborating with production teams and creating hairstyles that reflect each character's story from their background to their lifestyle. Despite her success, Metzger says awards were never the goal. "That's not the ultimate goal. We just want to do good work," she said. Still, she said the recognition carries weight, especially given the competition, which included major productions like "Bel-Air" and "Sinners." "Sometimes that's not enough," she said, referring to talent alone. "But if we are recognized for our work, then it's great." Her colleague, stylist Jerome Demonte, said the win came as a complete surprise. "We were really blown away. We had no idea," he said. "Everybody wants to be recognized for the work

Rachael Garden cold case: New age-progression <b>image</b> released

New age-progression image released of teenager who disappeared in 1980 Investigators with the cold case unit at the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office are hoping that someone comes forward with new information about a decades-old disappearance. Rachael Garden was 15 years old when she was last seen in 1980. Investigators have released a new image of Garden to show what she might look like today. "The original investigation into Rachael Garden's disappearance was extensive and spanned years," said Senior Assistant Attorney General Chris Knowles. >> Download the free WMUR app to get updates on the go << On March 22, 1980, Garden was walking home from Rowe's Corner Store on Pond Street in Newton, but she never made it home. "She was 15 when she disappeared," Knowles said. "And for a family with other young siblings, that creates a hole in the family, not knowing what happened." Her family has never given up hope and continues searching for her. Officials said that because she has never been seen, there has been no proof of life, and they believe foul play might have been involved. "Our job is to search for answers, search for the truth of what happened, and we do that by using every resource available to us," Knowles said. Over the 46 years that Garden has been missing, new technology has emerged, such as age progression and facial recognition software, as well as radar and drone technology. Investigators said they believe that the latest advancements, paired with tips from the community, could be the key to solving the decades-long mystery. "So, that's our plea," Knowles said. "We ask anyone who may have any information, no matter how small, to come forward and provide that to the cold case unit." Anyone with information about the case can contact the

CCTV shows shocking in-store violence as Bunnings launches <b>facial recognition</b>

Bunnings has switched on facial recognition technology at two of its stores. It marks the start of a phased nationwide rollout, with the hardware brand saying it will be used to protect staff and customers and to reduce theft by repeat offenders amid an increase in "threatening incidents". The first two stores to use the technology were Bunnings Te Rapa and Hamilton South. The technology would eventually be rolled out nationwide. As the rollout began, Bunnings shared a series of CCTV videos showing violent incidents at its stores across the country. One, taken from a Bunnings in Porirua, shows a man approaching staff with a knife as he pushes two trolleys full of items out of the store. Another, taken in Takanini, shows a person smashing into a Bunnings worker with a large box before running away. Meanwhile, another person picks up one of the boxes. Footage from New Lynn shows a man following a worker, waving his hands. When another staff member steps in, the man charges at the employees with a basket, bowling them over. Two more workers approached the scene and were also forced away by the man. A video from Bunnings Palmerston North showed a group of customers trying to stop a person pushing a trolley out of the store. When someone pulls them away, a brief scuffle breaks out on the floor before they flee out the door. Footage from the carpark of Bunnings Takanini showed a person being punched after getting out of their car by a hooded man and being chased away. Bunnings New Zealand general manager Melissa Haines said the technology was a "tool that helps us address the rising problem of violent, threatening and abusive behaviour and high-value theft, identify serious repeat offenders and act early to prevent incidents". “Threatening incidents

'That wasn't me': How <b>facial recognition</b> led to a woman being jailed for 6 months

‘That wasn’t me’: How facial recognition led to a woman being jailed for 6 months HERMITAGE, Pa. - To investigators, the case against Kimberlee Williams appeared straightforward. “It’s very obvious it’s you,” an officer in Montgomery County, Maryland, said to Williams, who was handcuffed to a table in the police department. Williams had several prior convictions for writing bad checks in Oklahoma, and the person who appeared in surveillance photos, accused of making fraudulent withdrawals in Maryland, looked like a match in surveillance photos - the same build, the same age, the same shape face. But Williams was adamant. That wasn’t her. She lived in Oklahoma and had never been to Maryland, she said, until police arrested her and flew her in to be questioned. Williams, now 57, offered to take a polygraph test and said she had family members who could provide an alibi for her, according to video of the interview from July 2021 reviewed by The Washington Post. She acknowledged that she had a history of writing bad checks, but she insisted that was in the past. “I’m not trying to waste your time,” Williams said. “I’m telling you -” “You’re telling me, but you’re not telling me the truth,” the officer interrupted. Williams was charged in three Maryland counties - Montgomery, Prince George’s and Anne Arundel - and jailed for six months before the charges were dismissed, according to court records. She would not learn for years why she how she came to be accused: A bank investigator reported to Montgomery County police that facial recognition technology had identified Williams as the suspect in the Maryland fraud cases. Montgomery County police did not disclose that Williams had been identified using facial recognition when they sought charges against her, according to police records. Several criminal justice experts

More than a Dozen Wrongful Arrests Due to Police Reliance on <b>Facial Recognition</b> Technology

More than a Dozen Wrongful Arrests Due to Police Reliance on Facial Recognition Technology When police arrested Kimberlee Williams, a grandmother living in Oklahoma, because of a warrant from Maryland, she was shocked. She had never been to Maryland in her life. Ms. Williams later learned that Maryland police had relied on an incorrect result from facial recognition technology that falsely flagged her as a suspect. She is the fourteenth person in the U.S. to join a growing list of people wrongfully arrested because police let flawed facial recognition technology taint their investigations. Police use of facial recognition technology is dangerous, and stories of people wrongfully arrested because of police reliance on incorrect facial recognition results continue to surface. Today, the ACLU and ACLU of Maryland sent letters to three Maryland police departments on behalf of Ms. Williams, who was wrongfully arrested and jailed for six months because Maryland police relied on a false facial recognition result and concealed their reliance on that unreliable technology from the court when applying for an arrest warrant. One Woman Arrested for a Crime She Didn't Commit On June 23, 2021, Ms. Williams was accompanying one of her daughters on a DoorDash delivery to a local military base in Lawton, Oklahoma. When base security at the entry checkpoint conducted a standard identification check, they discovered outstanding Maryland arrest warrants for Ms. Williams and detained her. These warrants sought Ms. Williams’ arrest for a series of fraudulent over-the-counter cash withdrawals in Maryland in December 2019 and January 2020. An unknown individual had entered SunTrust and Truist bank branches in three different counties, impersonated account holders, and fraudulently withdrew thousands of dollars from those individuals’ accounts. Ms. Williams, however, was nowhere near Maryland during this time. She was a resident of Oklahoma, living with two of

Zhongqi Zhu Addresses Key Challenges in Vector Database and AI Technology Integration

A study on vector database and AI integration identifies unstable indexing, weak cross-modal fusion, and rigid resource scheduling as key barriers. By introducing HNSW optimization, unified feature alignment, and dynamic computing allocation, the research improves retrieval accuracy, system responsiveness, and scalability for large-scale AI infrastructure. New York, NY, United States, April 14, 2026 — Vector databases have become a foundational component of modern AI infrastructure, enabling the high-dimensional search and semantic retrieval capabilities that power applications ranging from question answering to image recognition. The study Cutting-Edge Challenges and Solutions for the Integration of Vector Database and AI Technology examines critical barriers in vector database and AI integration, identifying unstable vector index accuracy, inefficient cross-modal feature fusion, and rigid computing resource scheduling as core obstacles. The research proposes targeted solutions using HNSW graph architectures, a unified feature fusion framework, and dynamic resource scheduling to improve retrieval accuracy, response speed, and scalability across production AI systems. Vector database systems face persistent technical challenges that limit the reliability and performance of modern AI applications, including indexing instability under high-dimensional search conditions, misalignment between different data modalities, and inflexible resource allocation models that cannot adapt to variable workloads. The research identifies where current vector database infrastructure falls short and proposes concrete solutions to improve system performance at scale, with applications spanning question answering, image recognition, and multilingual dialogue systems where retrieval accuracy and low latency are critical to reliable operation. The study puts forward three targeted solutions corresponding to each identified challenge. To stabilize vector index performance, the research proposes search structure optimization using Hierarchical Navigable Small World (HNSW) graph architectures, which allow systems to locate similar data points more reliably without scanning entire datasets. To address cross-modal feature fusion, the study introduces a unified integration framework that brings different data representations into semantic

Woman Wrongly Jailed for Months Based on Faulty <b>Facial Recognition</b> Technology ...

Woman Wrongly Jailed for Months Based on Faulty Facial Recognition Technology Demands Apology from Maryland Police Departments In the letters sent by the ACLU, Kimberlee Williams also lays out the reforms needed to help ensure this never happens to someone else MARYLAND — Today, the American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Maryland sent letters to three Maryland police departments on behalf of Kimberlee Williams, an Oklahoma woman who was wrongfully arrested because Maryland police relied on an incorrect result from facial recognition technology and concealed their reliance on that unreliable technology from the court when applying for arrest warrants. Ms. Williams is the fourteenth person publicly known to have been wrongfully arrested by U.S. police because of reliance on erroneous facial recognition results. “I lost six months of my life when Maryland police wrongfully imprisoned me halfway across the country from my children, my home, and my job, all because they relied on an incorrect result from faulty technology,” said Kimberlee Williams. “I had never even been to Maryland before I was flown there in handcuffs, for a crime I had nothing to do with. My family and I can’t get that time back, but I hope my experience will be a warning to police in Maryland and across the country that this technology can ruin lives. No family deserves to go through that.” On June 23, 2021, Ms. Williams was accompanying one of her daughters, a DoorDash driver, as she made a delivery to a local military base in Lawton, Oklahoma. When base security conducted a standard ID check, they discovered an outstanding Maryland arrest warrant for Ms. Williams, detained her, and called local police, who arrested her. Ms. Williams spent 23 days in an Oklahoma jail before a Maryland officer arrived to transport her to a jail

Apple is testing four smart glasses designs to compete with Meta, report says

Apple is testing four smart glasses designs to compete with Meta, report says Many Silicon Valley heavy hitters are investing heavily in smart glasses, and a new report sheds light on Apple's plans to join the party. The latest report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman claims that Apple is currently testing four different designs for smart glasses, which would compete with the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses. Gurman says the product could be unveiled in late 2026 ahead of a 2027 launch. A lot could change in that time, though Gurman has a very impressive track record of Apple scoops. You May Also Like The Bloomberg report states that Apple is testing a variety of frame styles, such as rectangular, oval, and circular, as well as multiple color options. Some or all of these designs could be available upon launch if Apple smart glasses do come to market. In addition, the glasses would feature unique oval camera lenses, oriented vertically, with lights, according to Bloomberg. Finally, onboard speakers would allow users to take phone calls and listen to music, similar to other AR glasses from companies like Xreal and TCL. Based on previous reports, Apple will be making augmented reality glasses with a built-in display, similar to Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses and the unreleased Google Android XR glasses expected to be released later this year. Presumably, by the time Apple smart glasses are released, Apple will have also introduced the long-awaited Siri AI upgrade. That could allow users to talk to Siri while wearing the glasses for voice control, help with navigation, or activate other AR features. Meta-Ray Ban smart glasses sales tripled in 2025, per Reuters, but smart glasses have not yet gone mainstream the way smartphones, tablets, or laptops have. Big Tech companies see this new form factor as

Staunch Trump Supporters Are Now Asking if He's the Antichrist | WIRED

In a matter of days, MAGA media figures have gone from defending President Donald Trump as God’s chosen president to making the case that he is actually the antichrist. The accusations reached a fever pitch on Sunday night, after Trump posted an AI-generated image depicting himself dressed in a white robe and red sash and placing a hand radiating golden light on a man in a hospital bed. The image, which Trump deleted from Truth Social after around 14 hours, seemed to invoke Jesus Christ, and it outraged some supporters who likened Trump’s behavior to the antichrist—a figure in Christian theology who opposes Christ and whose appearance many believe could augur the end of time. Major figures in the MAGA universe quickly spoke out. “It’s more than blasphemy. It’s an Antichrist spirit,” former congressperson Marjorie Taylor Greene posted to X on Sunday. “In 18 months I went from hesitantly voting for Trump to thinking there’s a decent chance he’s the antichrist,” added Clint Russell, host of the right-wing Liberty Lockdown podcast. “I genuinely believe Trump is currently demon possessed,” far-right Texas pastor Joel Webbon wrote on X. Hours later, Webbon hosted a livestream chat titled “Is Donald Trump the Anti-Christ?” The Knights Templar Order, a Christian organization based on a medieval military order, wrote of the post that they had “no other choice but to condemn it wholeheartedly and ask for a public apology.” For more than a decade, Trump and his supporters have used explicitly religious rhetoric and images to mobilize his base. But in recent weeks, some of Trump’s actions—from posts about the Vatican to messages about Iran posted on Easter Sunday—have caused a major schism among his supporters that could have lasting effects for him and the Republican Party. The White House did not respond to a

Ready or Not, LLMs Are Coming for Medicine

This transcript has been edited for clarity. Welcome to Impact Factor, your weekly dose of commentary on a new medical study. I’m Dr F. Perry Wilson from the Yale School of Medicine. There’s a new genre of medical papers in the “AI in medicine” space, and, like Mulder from The X-Files, I want to believe. The theme of these papers is something like “LLMs aren’t going to replace good doctors,” and that is very reassuring for this doctor, who definitely does not want to be replaced by a friendly AI. But if I’m honest with myself, my belief in human supremacy here is being shaken. This week, a new paper appeared in JAMA Network Open evaluating the performance of various large language models on a diagnostic task. It was chock full of phrases like “our evaluation suggests that despite rapid advances in pattern recognition and knowledge retrieval, current LLMs still lack the reasoning processes needed for safe clinical use.” That’s reassuring. It also states that “the promise of LLMs in clinical medicine lies in their potential to augment — not replace — physician reasoning.” Perfect. I’m happy to be augmented. I would rather not be replaced. But then I read through the study and, frankly, I’m more worried now than ever. Let me break it down for you. Researchers evaluated 21 off-the-shelf large language models, including all the major players (ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Grok, Gemini), across 29 clinical vignettes from the MSD manual. The key innovation of this study over previous evaluations is how these vignettes are structured. Other studies evaluating LLMs often present an entire case and simply ask “what’s the diagnosis?”, but that’s not how these clinical vignettes work. Instead, they develop iteratively. You get an initial presentation and then formulate a differential diagnosis, choose the appropriate tests,

The Irish Times view on live <b>facial recognition</b>: careful consideration required

The trial by British immigration authorities of live facial recognition technology at Holyhead represents a significant step towards mass surveillance. The limited use of facial recognition for automated immigration control – the traveller is matched with a passport database – has been a feature of airports both here and abroad for over a decade . What is different in this case is that the technology is being used to match travellers to unspecified “watchlists” in real time. In the case of the Holyhead trial the target was reported to be people who had been removed from the UK and were seeking to re-enter. There is little that civil liberties campaigners here and in the UK can do about the trials and the clear direction of travel. The legality of the technology in the UK is well established and it has been used sporadically by British police forces since 2020. But the results of the trial – which have been published – provide useful ammunition to challenge the introduction of live facial recognition here. The Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) (Amendment) Bill 2025 is making its way through the Dáil. It will allow the use of automated recognition technology and also live recognition technology. The background is the 2023 Dublin riots, when the Garda had to manually review hours of CCTV footage to identify offenders. READ MORE The Irish Council for Civil Liberties and others have argued that the UK trial cast doubts over the efficiency and efficacy of the routine deployment of live facial recognition. Over 10,000 passengers at Holyhead were screened against a watchlist of up to 6,535 Individuals, generating two alerts. There is a limit to the conclusion that can be drawn from the limited trial, but the ICCL is right to question whether the technology is necessary or

Advocacy groups warn against adding <b>facial recognition</b> to Meta AI glasses

As Meta continues to advance its plan to make artificial intelligence-powered glasses a key factor for digital connection, a group of more than 70 advocacy organizations have issued a warning about the potential invasion of privacy that these devices could facilitate. The alarm for regulators comes ahead of a broader launch of Meta’s latest update. As reported by Wired, a coalition of more than 70 civil liberties, domestic violence, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+, labor and immigrant advocacy organizations issued a demand that Meta abandon its plans to deploy face recognition in its AI glasses, due to concerns that this could enable stalkers, abusers and federal agents to covertly identify strangers in public. In February, a report from the New York Times suggested that Meta is planning to quietly roll out facial ID in its AI glasses, in order to enhance connection between users of the device. The report, which was based on leaked internal communications from Meta, suggested the company is looking to launch the update amid broader political turmoil in order to get this tool through with limited resistance. But many users are rightfully concerned that such technology could lead to harmful impacts, because people could unwittingly share personal information with glasses wearers. That, according to advocacy groups, could lead to dangerous situations in many contexts, which is why this new coalition is calling for Meta to halt the rollout until more controls can be implemented. Though Meta would prefer to push ahead. The company is looking to advance its AI plans as fast as possible, in order to take on rising competition in the space. As reported by Politico, Meta has already sought to reduce U.S. regulatory rules on AI development through direct consultation with the White House, with a view to ensuring that the U.S. more broadly remains

Privacy: Civil rights warn against <b>facial recognition</b> in Meta Smart Glasses | heise online

Privacy: Civil rights warn against facial recognition in Meta Smart Glasses In an open letter, US civil rights organizations see the right to privacy threatened by Meta's plans for Ray-Ban and Oakley glasses. The plans of the US company Meta to equip its smart glasses with facial recognition represent an unacceptable threat to privacy and freedom and are “a red line that society must not cross.” This is warned by a broad alliance of organizations led by the US civil liberties organization American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in an open letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The letter was signed by 75 non-governmental organizations of various stripes. In the letter, they call on Meta to immediately stop its plans to equip its intelligent glasses with facial recognition and to publicly distance itself from them. “Glasses with facial recognition technology would enable any wearer to identify strangers in their vicinity – for example at protests, in doctors' offices or shops – by name. This name could then be linked to digital databases containing a wealth of sensitive information about the target person's profession, habits, health, and relationships,” it says in a press release issued by the ACLU on Monday issued by the ACLU. The US population has not consented to such a massive violation of privacy, according to Kade Crockford, Director of Technology and Justice Programs at the ACLU of Massachusetts. “Stalkers and fraudsters would have an easy time with this technology,” he warns. “Federal officials could use it to harass and intimidate critics. It is dangerous and dystopian, and Meta must distance itself from it.” Minorities particularly at risk The signatories of the open letter see particularly vulnerable population groups, including people of color, women, children, immigrants, religious minorities, and members of the LGBTQ+ community, as being endangered through facial

Naples hospital goes genius level with colonoscopies

- April 13, 2026 Loading Hospital: Naples Comprehensive Health Size: 703 beds Budget: $1 billion Technology: GI Genius Naples Comprehensive Health began utilizing Medtronic’s GI Genius intelligent endoscopy module soon after it gained FDA approval in 2021. The AI-based image-recognition software runs seamlessly in the background during colonoscopies, examining every image frame by frame in search of abnormal lesions or patterns in the lining of the colon that might be missed by the human eye. “It brings our attention to it by circling it or drawing a little box around it,” says Dr. Kunal Suryawala, a gastroenterologist at NCH. “So then we can look closer in that area to determine if it’s a polyp or area of concern and if it’s something that we need to biopsy or resect. “The purpose of doing a colonoscopy is to decrease the risk for developing colon cancer, and one of the ways we do that is by finding polyps,” he continues. “Not all polyps turn into cancer. But if you have precancerous lesions, we want to identify them and resect them as soon as we see them to decrease the risk of that polyp ever turning into a malignancy down the road.” Use of the software is up to provider discretion, but it’s incorporated into most colonoscopies at NCH. “We’ve done thousands and thousands of cases using GI Genius,” says Suryawala. NCH doesn’t have its own data yet on the impact of the technology. But Medtronic says GI Genius has been shown to increase adenoma (or precancerous polyp) detection rates (ADR) by up to 14.4%, and that each 1% increase in ADR decreases the risk of interval colorectal cancer (cancer diagnosed within five years after a negative colonoscopy) by 3%. “It’s not meant to replace an endoscopist or gastroenterologist,” says Suryawala. “But it

ACLU and 75 Organizations Sound Alarm on Meta's Plan to Add <b>Facial Recognition</b> ...

SAN FRANCISCO — Meta’s reported plan to equip its artificial intelligence (AI) eyeglasses with facial recognition technology poses an unacceptable threat to privacy and liberty and is “a red line society must not cross,” a broad coalition of organizations led by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Massachusetts, and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) warned today in an open letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The letter was signed by 75 local, state, and national organizations that advocate for domestic violence survivors, worker rights, bodily autonomy, consumer privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. They called on Meta to immediately halt and publicly disavow plans to equip its Ray-Ban and Oakley glasses with facial recognition. Glasses equipped with facial recognition technology would allow anyone wearing them to identify by name any strangers in their vicinity — including at protests, medical clinics, and businesses. They could then link that name to digital databases containing a wealth of sensitive information on the target's job, habits, health, and relationships. “The American people have not consented to this massive invasion of privacy,” said Kade Crockford, director of technology and justice programs at the ACLU of Massachusetts. “Stalkers and scammers would have a field day with this technology. Federal agents could use it to harass and intimidate their critics. It’s dangerous and dystopian, and Meta must disavow it.” The open letter raises serious concerns about the technology’s impact on vulnerable populations, including people of color, women, children, immigrants, religious minorities, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Anti-industry activists could use Meta’s glasses to identify and harass corporate executives. Public employees could be identified and harmed because of who they work for, or the political positions taken by their bosses. By eliminating the expectation of privacy or anonymity in public, Meta’s glasses would