Enlarge / The New Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzen is made to be pointed at, rapidly, in a crowded environment. (credit: Machinery Enchantress / Crowd Supply)

"Hong Kong has better food, Shanghai has better nightlife. But when it comes to making things—no one can beat Shenzen."

Many things about the Hua Qiang market in Shenzhen, China, are different than they were in 2016, when Andrew "bunnie" Huang's Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen was first published. But the importance of the world's premiere electronics market, and the need for help navigating it, are a constant. That's why the book is getting an authorized, crowdfunded revision, the New Essential Guide, written by noted maker and Shenzhen native Naomi Wu and due to ship in April 2024.

Huang notes on the crowdfunding page that Wu's "strengths round out my weaknesses." Wu speaks Mandarin, lives in Shenzhen, and is more familiar with Shenzhen, and China, as it is today. Shenzhen has grown by more than 2 million people, the central Huaqiangbei Road has been replaced by a car-free boulevard, and the city's metro system has more than 100 new kilometers with dozens of new stations. As happens anywhere, market vendors have also changed locations, payment and communications systems have modernized, and customs have shifted.

Enlarge / UK Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan (front row center) is joined by international counterparts for a group photo at the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, on November 1, 2023. (credit: Getty Images)

On Wednesday, the UK hosted an AI Safety Summit attended by 28 countries, including the US and China, which gathered to address potential risks posed by advanced AI systems, reports The New York Times. The event included the signing of "The Bletchley Declaration," which warns of potential harm from advanced AI and calls for international cooperation to ensure responsible AI deployment.

"There is potential for serious, even catastrophic, harm, either deliberate or unintentional, stemming from the most significant capabilities of these AI models," reads the declaration, named after Bletchley Park, the site of the summit and a historic World War II location linked to Alan Turing. Turing wrote influential early speculation about thinking machines.

Rapid advancements in machine learning, including the appearance of chatbots like ChatGPT, have prompted governments worldwide to consider regulating AI. Their concerns led to the meeting, which has drawn criticism for its invitation list. In the tech world, representatives from major companies included those from Anthropic, Google DeepMind, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, and Tencent. Civil society groups, like Britain's Ada Lovelace Institute and the Algorithmic Justice League in Massachusetts, also sent representatives.