Monthly Archives: October 2024

AI is a multi-billion dollar industry. It’s underpinned by an invisible and exploited workforce

AI is a multi-billion dollar industry. It’s underpinned by an invisible and exploited workforce

In dusty factories, cramped internet cafes and makeshift home offices around the world, millions of people sit at computers tediously labelling data. These workers are the lifeblood of the burgeoning artificial intelligence (AI) industry. Without them, products such as ChatGPT simply would not exist. That’s because the data they label helps AI systems “learn”. But […] … learn more→

What is special consideration for exams? How does it work?

What is special consideration for exams? How does it work?

Many Year 12 students are preparing for final exams throughout October and November. What happens if something unexpected happens that makes final preparations or performance on the day more difficult? This is where special consideration or special provisions can help. How might you be eligible? Students who experience something unexpected during the exam period may […] … learn more→

How foreign operations are manipulating social media to influence your views

How foreign operations are manipulating social media to influence your views

Foreign influence campaigns, or information operations, have been widespread in the run-up to the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Influence campaigns are large-scale efforts to shift public opinion, push false narratives or change behaviors among a target population. Russia, China, Iran, Israel and other nations have run these campaigns by exploiting social bots, influencers, media companies and generative AI. At the Indiana University Observatory on Social Media, my colleagues and […] … learn more→

How ChatGPT Undermines Motivation to Write and Think  for Oneself

How ChatGPT Undermines Motivation to Write and Think for Oneself

Are students who use AI at risk of losing some valuable writing habits for their thinking and creativity? They are aware that the new tools can change their style and they sometimes feel dispossessed of their texts. Investigation in the United States and Europe. When OpenAI launched its new AI program, ChatGPT, in late 2022, education experts […] … learn more→

Some online conspiracy-spreaders don’t even believe the lies they’re spewing

Some online conspiracy-spreaders don’t even believe the lies they’re spewing

There has been a lot of research on the types of people who believe conspiracy theories, and their reasons for doing so. But there’s a wrinkle: My colleagues and I have found that there are a number of people sharing conspiracies online who don’t believe their own content. They are opportunists. These people share conspiracy theories to […] … learn more→

AI has a stupid secret: we’re still not sure how to test for human levels of intelligence

AI has a stupid secret: we’re still not sure how to test for human levels of intelligence

Two of San Francisco’s leading players in artificial intelligence have challenged the public to come up with questions capable of testing the capabilities of large language models (LLMs) like Google Gemini and OpenAI’s o1. Scale AI, which specialises in preparing the vast tracts of data on which the LLMs are trained, teamed up with the Center for […] … learn more→

At work, women are more stressed than men

At work, women are more stressed than men

It is well established that the existence of stressful work environments has negative consequences for employees (deterioration in health, loss of income), organizations (decreased productivity, increased sick leave, increased absences from work and worsening of the company image) and society in general (increased resources allocated to health, decreased production of the country, etc.). In short, […] … learn more→