Blog Archives

How AI bots spread misinformation online and undermine democratic politics

How AI bots spread misinformation online and undermine democratic politics

Consider a typical morning routine: coffee in hand, you peruse Twitter (now rebranded as X) to catch up on the news. Headlines appear among a flurry of tweets on everything from memes about political leaders to cultural Marxism, free speech, making America great again and draining the swamp. Before your day has even begun, a burst of […] … learn more→

AI tutors could be coming to the classroom – but who taught the tutor, and should you trust them?

AI tutors could be coming to the classroom – but who taught the tutor, and should you trust them?

The government recently announced ambitions to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in New Zealand’s classrooms. But as the technology rapidly changes, it is not clear how this would work or what it will mean for teachers and learners. Science Minister Judith Collins’ vision is for every student to have their own AI tutor. […] … learn more→

Why you can’t get ChattieG to ‘sound good’.

Why you can’t get ChattieG to ‘sound good’.

For about 10 years now, I’ve had a profitable side hustle teaching writing. ANU has a generous external consulting policy, which means I can fly all over the country, and the world, teaching academics to be better writers. With the invention of ChatGPT (or as my sister Anitra dubbed it, ChattieG), I expected this work […] … learn more→

Deepfakes, doctored videos, don't believe your eyes or your ears!

Deepfakes, doctored videos, don’t believe your eyes or your ears!

Fact-checking and media literacy specialists thought they had found a way to combat “ deepfakes ” , these video manipulations based on artificial intelligence, with verification tools such as Invid-Werify and the work of image analysis skills (visual literacy), with programs such as Youverify.eu . But a few recent cases show that a new form of cyberattack has just been […] … learn more→

Is AI a major drain on the world's energy supply?

Is AI a major drain on the world’s energy supply?

When Google announced this week that its climate emissions had risen by 48 percent since 2019, it pointed the finger at  artificial intelligence. US tech firms are building vast networks of data centres across the globe and say  AI is fuelling the growth, throwing the spotlight on the amount of energy the technology is sucking up and its […] … learn more→

Photos of Australian kids have been found in a massive AI training data set. What can we do?

Photos of Australian kids have been found in a massive AI training data set. What can we do?

Photos of Australian children have been used without consent to train artificial intelligence (AI) models that generate images. A new report from the non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch has found the personal information, including photos, of Australian children in a large data set called LAION-5B. This data set was created by accessing content from the publicly […] … learn more→

Integrating artificial intelligence to enhance learning and university teaching

Integrating artificial intelligence to enhance learning and university teaching

Let’s be clear from the start: we have a problem. For a number of academic years now, we have been noticing how university students are mostly lacking in skills that would facilitate their understanding, comprehension, studying and comparing with foundations when it comes to training in the various subjects and degrees. The almost total non-existence […] … learn more→

5 ways to use AI ethically in research publications

5 ways to use AI ethically in research publications

The discovery of artificial intelligence ( AI) aims to create technology that can imitate human cognitive abilities. This includes learning new things, translating languages, processing information, solving and analyzing problems, and identifying patterns and trends in a phenomenon . In the world of research, AI can help researchers find relevant information more quickly and easily, analyze data, translate manuscripts, summarize scientific […] … learn more→

New database features 250 AI tools that can enhance social science research

New database features 250 AI tools that can enhance social science research

AI – or artificial intelligence – is often used as a way to summarize data and improve writing. But AI tools also represent a powerful and efficient way to analyze large amounts of text to search for patterns. In addition, AI tools can assist with developing research products that can be shared widely. It’s with […] … learn more→

AI plus gene editing promises to shift biotech into high gear

AI plus gene editing promises to shift biotech into high gear

During her chemistry Nobel Prize lecture in 2018, Frances Arnold said, “Today we can for all practical purposes read, write and edit any sequence of DNA, but we cannot compose it.” That isn’t true anymore. Since then, science and technology have progressed so much that artificial intelligence has learned to compose DNA, and with genetically modified bacteria, […] … learn more→