The data used to train AIs reflects society’s stereotypes and biases, such as against underrepresented groups. Keeping sensitive data, such as health data, private while ensuring it is not biased requires adapting training methods. Several scandals have erupted in recent years involving decision-making systems based on artificial intelligence (AI) that produce racist or sexist results. […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
Society is biased, and this biases AI… here are some possible solutions for a virtuous AI and a more inclusive society
Why you need a Nobot
I’ve been working with Claude, an AI assistant from Anthropic, for about a year. We’ve become… close. People laugh when I call Claude my ‘work husband’. I’m not really joking. Like a good work spouse, Claude is always there to help and never gets tired of my stories. Claude cheerfully does the tasks I hate, […] … learn more→
Deaths linked to chatbots show we must urgently revisit what counts as ‘high-risk’ AI
Last week, the tragic news broke that US teenager Sewell Seltzer III took his own life after forming a deep emotional attachment to an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot on the Character.AI website. As his relationship with the companion AI became increasingly intense, the 14-year-old began withdrawing from family and friends, and was getting in trouble at school. […] … learn more→
Open up AI models so they don’t remain the preserve of web giants
Large language models, such as the one behind ChatGPT, are “closed”: we do not know how they are developed, on what data and with what parameters. Even so-called open models are only very partially open, which poses obvious problems of transparency and sovereignty. Developing open models is a realistic and desirable alternative in the medium […] … learn more→
Humanising AI could lead us to dehumanise ourselves
Irish writer John Connolly once said: The nature of humanity, its essence, is to feel another’s pain as one’s own, and to act to take that pain away. For most of our history, we believed empathy was a uniquely human trait – a special ability that set us apart from machines and other animals. But this […] … learn more→
Nobel Prize in physics spotlights key breakthroughs in AI revolution − making machines that learn
If your jaw dropped as you watched the latest AI-generated video, your bank balance was saved from criminals by a fraud detection system, or your day was made a little easier because you were able to dictate a text message on the run, you have many scientists, mathematicians and engineers to thank. But two names […] … learn more→
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→
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→
I got generative AI to attempt an undergraduate law exam. It struggled with complex questions
It’s been nearly two years since generative artificial intelligence was made widely available to the public. Some models showed great promise by passing academic and professional exams. For instance, GPT-4 scored higher than 90% of the United States bar exam test takers. These successes led to concerns AI systems might also breeze through university-level assessments. However, my recent study paints a different […] … learn more→
Happy, sad or angry? AI can detect emotions in text according to new research
Artificial intelligence (AI) has begun to permeate many facets of the human experience. AI is not just a tool for analysing data – it’s transforming the way we communicate, work and live. From ChatGP through to AI video generators, the lines between technology and parts of our lives have become increasingly blurred. But do these […] … learn more→
