AI invisibility cloak to 2,000 socks: Four unusual stories catching attention worldwide

Digital camouflage uses complex patterns to disrupt recognition by AI-powered CCTV cameras. PIC/Instagram@simonweckert

Is it a statement? Is it a weird Hawaiian shirt? It's Digital Camouflage. Yes, that's the name of a shirt. German designer Simon Weckert has created a big buzz with what many are calling an AI invisibility cloak. His new summer shirt is designed to prevent AI-powered CCTV cameras from recognising the wearer as a person.

With a wacky and seemingly abstract pattern, this ingenious invention has come in response to the installation of surveillance in Berlin earlier this year. AI systems have not yet learned what humans statistically look like in millions of training images. They don't see a person like we do, they develop the idea in several layers. Weckert's funny looking shirt scrambles the process very easily.

"A ‘person', for the machine, is a bundle of visual statistics - and that is exactly its weakness," he believes. Funnily enough, he is using AI to design these patterns. Jokes aside, this shirt is a good way for us muggles to escape surveillance in real life.

That's some feet!

Darryl Parker has collected 2000 unique pairs or socks. PIC/ISTOCK

Darryl Parker, a retired firefighter and paramedic from South Carolina, is out to break the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of socks. He has recently surpassed 2000 pairs of socks. The record he is set to break is held by a retired CBS Philadelphia news anchor Jim Donovan, whose collection contained 1531 unique pairs. Parker will continue collecting until the end of the year before submitting his socks to Guinness World Records for official verification.

Pickled players

Athletes competing in this year's US Open are being served a unique beverage. Healthcare providers Mount Sinai is using pickle juice to help ease exercise-related muscle cramps within minutes. Alongside the usual stretching, Mount Sinai's medical team is using pickle juice as an acute treatment for cramps. Athletes right now: Pickle me not!

The kid wears Nike

PICS/ISTOCK

Parents in New York are spending through their teeth to ensure that their little ones are equipped with the latest, most fashionable supplies for the new academic year. They are expected to spend around $557 for a child this year. There are surely cheaper ways to spoil your kids.