Would you trust AI to mediate an argument?
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. I’ve recently been feeling heartbroken. A very close friend recently cut off contact with me. I don’t really understand why, and my attempts at fixing the situation have backfired. Situations like…
Read MoreInvesting in AI to build next-generation infrastructure
The demand for new and improved infrastructure across the world is not being met. The Asian Development Bank has estimated that in Asia alone, roughly $1.7 trillion needs to be invested annually through to 2030 just to sustain economic growth and offset the effects of climate change. Globally, that figure has been put at $15…
Read MoreThe race to find new materials with AI needs more data. Meta is giving massive amounts away for free.
Meta is releasing a massive data set and models, called Open Materials 2024, that could help scientists use AI to discover new materials much faster. OMat24 tackles one of the biggest bottlenecks in the discovery process: data. To find new materials, scientists calculate the properties of elements across the periodic table and simulate different combinations…
Read MoreAI could help people find common ground during deliberations
Reaching a consensus in a democracy is difficult because people hold such different ideological, political, and social views. Perhaps an AI tool could help. Researchers from Google DeepMind trained a system of large language models (LLMs) to operate as a “caucus mediator,” generating summaries that outline a group’s areas of agreement on complex but important…
Read MoreTransforming software with generative AI
Generative AI’s promises for the software development lifecycle (SDLC)—code that writes itself, fully automated test generation, and developers who spend more time innovating than debugging—are as alluring as they are ambitious. Some bullish industry forecasts project a 30% productivity boost from AI developer tools, which, if realized, could inject more than $1.5 trillion into the…
Read MoreOpenAI says ChatGPT treats us all the same (most of the time)
Does ChatGPT treat you the same whether you’re a Laurie, Luke, or Lashonda? Almost, but not quite. OpenAI has analyzed millions of conversations with its hit chatbot and found that ChatGPT will produce a harmful gender or racial stereotype based on a user’s name in around one in 1000 responses on average, and as many…
Read MoreIntro to AI: a beginner’s guide to artificial intelligence from MIT Technology Review
It feels as though AI is moving a million miles a minute. Every week, it seems, there are product launches, fresh features and other innovations, and new concerns over ethics and privacy. It’s a lot to keep up with. Maybe you wish someone would just take a step back and explain some of the basics. …
Read MoreA data bottleneck is holding AI science back, says new Nobel winner
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. David Baker is sleep-deprived but happy. He’s just won the Nobel prize, after all. The call from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences woke him in the middle of the night….
Read MoreData strategies for AI leaders
Organizations are starting the heavy lifting to get real business value from generative AI. As Arnab Chakraborty, chief responsible AI officer at Accenture, puts it, “2023 was the year when clients were amazed with generative AI and the possibilities. In 2024, we are starting to see scaled implementations of responsible generative AI programs.” Some generative…
Read MoreGoogle DeepMind wins joint Nobel Prize in Chemistry for protein prediction AI
In a second Nobel win for AI, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded half of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Demis Hassabis, the co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind and John M. Jumper, a director at Google DeepMind, for their work on using artificial intelligence to predict the structures of proteins,…
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