Belgium Questions Apple’s iPhone 12 After France Suspends Sales Over Radiation 

An Apple iPhone 12 is pictured in a mobile phone store in Nantes, France, Sept. 13, 2023. (Reuters)
An Apple iPhone 12 is pictured in a mobile phone store in Nantes, France, Sept. 13, 2023. (Reuters)
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Belgium Questions Apple’s iPhone 12 After France Suspends Sales Over Radiation 

An Apple iPhone 12 is pictured in a mobile phone store in Nantes, France, Sept. 13, 2023. (Reuters)
An Apple iPhone 12 is pictured in a mobile phone store in Nantes, France, Sept. 13, 2023. (Reuters)

Belgium's junior minister for the digital economy said he would ask the telecoms regulator to analyze potential health risks linked to Apple's iPhone 12 after France ordered a halt to sales citing breaches of radiation exposure limits.

"It is my duty to make sure all citizens ... are safe", Mathieu Michel, state secretary for digitalization, said in a statement emailed to Reuters on Thursday.

Apple on Wednesday said the iPhone 12, launched in 2020, was certified by multiple international bodies as compliant with global radiation standards, that it had provided several Apple and third-party lab results proving the phone's compliance to the French agency, and that it was contesting its findings.

But France's move to halt iPhone 12 sales until Apple fixes the radiation issues it detected in two tests this week raised the prospect of further bans in Europe.

Germany's network regulator BNetzA said it might launch similar proceedings and was in close contact with French authorities. The Dutch digital watchdog also said it was looking into the matter and will ask the US firm for an explanation.

"I have rapidly reached out to the IBPT-BIPT (regulator) to ask for an analysis about the potential danger of the product", Michel said, adding that he had also asked the regulator to review all Apple smartphones, as well as devices made by other producers, at a later stage.

Researchers have conducted a vast number of studies over the last two decades to assess health risks resulting from mobile phones. According to the World Health Organization, no adverse health effects have been established as being caused by mobile phone use.



SDAIA, KAUST Launch MiniGPT-Med Model to Help Doctors Diagnose Medical Radiology through AI

SDAIA, KAUST Launch MiniGPT-Med Model to Help Doctors Diagnose Medical Radiology through AI
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SDAIA, KAUST Launch MiniGPT-Med Model to Help Doctors Diagnose Medical Radiology through AI

SDAIA, KAUST Launch MiniGPT-Med Model to Help Doctors Diagnose Medical Radiology through AI

The Center of Excellence for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have introduced the MiniGPT-Med model.

The large multi-modal language model is designed to help doctors quickly and accurately diagnose medical radiology using artificial intelligence techniques.

Dr. Ahmed Alsinan, the Artificial Intelligence Advisor at the National Center for Artificial Intelligence and head of the scientific team at SDAIA, explained that the MiniGPT-Med model is capable of performing various tasks such as generating medical reports, answering medical visual questions, describing diseases, locating diseases, identifying diseases, and documenting medical descriptions based on entered medical images.

The model was trained on different medical images, including X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs.

The MiniGPT-Med model, derived from large-scale language models, is specifically tailored for medical applications and demonstrates significant versatility across different imaging methods, including X-rays, CT scans, and MRI. This enhances its utility in medical diagnosis.

Dr. Alsinan highlighted that the MiniGPT-Med model was developed collaboratively by artificial intelligence specialists from SDAIA and KAUST.

The model exhibits advanced performance in generating medical reports, achieving 19% higher efficiency than previous models. It serves as a general interface for radiology diagnosis, enhancing diagnostic efficiency across various medical imaging applications.