As someone who’s bought the same model of sneakers three times in a row ( Reebok Classics with the gum sole FYI), I’ve fallen slightly behind the fashion curve. But my footwear could soon evolve from passé to trendsetting.

A new website flaunts thousands of unique sneakers that would make me a style trailblazer . There is one small problem, however: none of the shoes actually exist. Each is merely the product of AI’s imagination.

The system is the brainchild of Stan van der Vossen, an AI engineer.

Van der Vossen first trained a StyleGAN2-ADA model trained on around 50,000 images of sneakers scraped from websites.

He ensured the dataset was sufficiently voguish by adding interesting designs found on Instagram and old webshops unearthed via the Wayback Machine . Boring sneakers, meanwhile, were largely filtered out.

The model was then fine-tuned on a curated subset of sneakers in order to generate futuristic styles of sneakers.

To my (myopic) eye, some of the designs are exquisite. They’re certainly more elegant than the exorbitant monstrosities ostensibly designed by Kanye West .

You may disagree. If that’s the case, you can use the site’s sneaker editor to tweak the designs to your tastes.

I had a go myself — and was pretty proud of the results:

Now I just need a cobbler to bring my design to life and I’ll be making hipsters weep with envy.

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3 reasons why people are freaking out about Russia’s space missile test

Space just got a lot messier — and more dangerous.

Russia has sparked outrage by shooting down one of its satellites in a missile test on Monday. The move has created an enormous quantity of orbital debris, jeopardized the safety of astronauts, and reignited fears about an arms race in space.

Russia’s Defense Ministry has downplayed the risks of the operation, but there are good reasons to be concerned. Here are three of them:

1. The ISS crew had to shelter in capsules

The missile blew apart a defunct intelligence satellite and scattered thousands of pieces of debris into orbit. The US said the “dangerous and irresponsible” test endangered the crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The seven astronauts — four Americans, a German, and two Russians — were forced to shelter in docked spaceship capsules and prepare for a potential getaway. NASA said the crew members remained there for about two hours. The station c ontinued to pass through or near the debris cloud every 90 minutes.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned the “reckless” test.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said he was “outraged” by the action:

2. It’s put satellites and human spaceflight at risk “for decades to come”

The test has generated over 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris, according to US officials. They expect it to produce hundreds of thousands of smaller chunks.

The speed at which this debris hurtles through space means that even a tiny fragment can cause catastrophic damage. Russia’s exercise increases the long-term risks to both astronauts and spacecraft.

The US has also raised concerns about damage to satellites used in weather forecasts, GPS systems, phones, and broadband internet.

“The long-lived debris created by this dangerous and irresponsible test will now threaten satellites and other space objects that are vital to all nations’ security, economic, and scientific interests for decades to come,” said Blinken.

NASA recently estimated that there are around 23,000 pieces of debris larger than a softball orbiting the Earth, and 100 million chunks spanning at least 1 mm. At a time when nations should prioritize clearing up the trash, Russia has deliberately generated more.

3. Fears that space is being weaponized

The test has heightened fears of an arms race in space. Anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) have never been used in warfare, but several countries have tested them in shows of force. As well as Russia, the US, China, and India have used them to successfully shoot down satellites.

Russian politicians say the country is “against the militarization of space,” but critics argue that the test disproves this claim.

“There’s no public safety element… This is purely a military test, a saber-rattling test,” Harvard astronomer Jonathan McDowell told AFP . And it shouldn’t be done.”

The operation has led US politicians to call for further military investment in space.

Google union slams company’s treatment of AI ethics researchers

The Alphabet Workers Union (AWU)  has slammed the company’s treatment of two prominent AI researchers as “an attack on the people who are trying to make Google’s technology more ethical.”

The newly-formed union issued a statement on the “retaliation” against AI ethics lead Margaret Mitchell, whose corporate account was recently suspended by the Big G.

Mitchell had reportedly been using automated scripts to find messages showing mistreatment of her former colleague Timnit Gebru, whose forced departure in December sparked a backlash among Google staff.

In a statement, the AWU described the actions against the two researchers  as “ an attack on the people who are trying to make Google’s technology more ethical.”

The union added that Google’s statement on Mitchell was unusual in that the company typically refuses to comment on personnel matters.

“In this case, they have directly attacked Margaret and attempted to tarnish her reputation by making claims that they’re allegedly still investigating,” it said.

The AWU added that it will continue to monitor the situation, which has deepened concerns about Google quashing internal dissent.