In 1950, British computer scientist Alan Turing proposed an experimental method for answering the question: can machines think? He suggested if a human couldn’t tell whether they were speaking to an artificially intelligent (AI) machine or another human after five minutes of questioning, this would demonstrate AI has human-like intelligence. Although AI systems remained far […] … learn more→

The brain, that intricate network of almost one hundred billion neurons and the same number of non-neuronal cells – astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, among others – has captivated and challenged the scientific community for centuries. To understand how neural circuits allow us to get excited by the smell of a perfume, feel empathy or display complex […] … learn more→

Cars with internet-connected features are fast becoming all-seeing data-harvesting machines – a so-called “privacy nightmare on wheels”, according to US-based research conducted by the Mozilla Foundation. The researchers looked at the privacy terms of 25 car brands, which were found to collect a range of customer data, from facial expressions, to sexual activity, to when, where and how […] … learn more→

In 2020, Oxford-based philosopher Toby Ord published a book called The Precipice about the risk of human extinction. He put the chances of “existential catastrophe” for our species during the next century at one in six. It’s quite a specific number, and an alarming one. The claim drew headlines at the time, and has been influential since – most […] … learn more→

In my digital studies class, I asked students to pose a query to ChatGPT and discuss the results. To my surprise, some asked ChatGPT about my biography. ChatGPT said I received my PhD from two different universities, and in two different subject areas, only one of which represented the focus of my doctoral work. This […] … learn more→

One of the most relevant books in the history of science is On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres ( De revolutionibus ), by Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543). Its publication caused a true scientific revolution. But what does it count and who read it? Even if the title doesn’t sound familiar to you, you probably remember that it was Copernicus who proposed […] … learn more→

There’s no doubt generative AI’s ability to rapidly produce new texts, images and audio is shaking up creative jobs. In the long-running Writers Guild of America strike, a central sticking point has been the guild’s demand that AI be used only as a research tool and not a replacement for its members. For many creative types, it seems harder to earn […] … learn more→

When the Internet began to take shape as we know it today in the 1980s, a wave of optimism spread about what this new network of networks could mean as a global and open technological revolution . It was no wonder: it allowed communication between people living thousands of kilometers away, almost unlimited access to knowledge, new […] … learn more→

Over the past three years, people from all walks of life have learned a great deal about different branches of science. The COVID-19 pandemic introduced many of us to information about virology and vaccine production. Environmental disasters in every part of the world have brought concepts from meteorology and climatology to daily news reports. In […] … learn more→

How ironic that some of my species think that the ultimate in human intelligence is to create technology that reproduces and replaces that intelligence, like a God creating humans in his image. Quite the contrary, I prefer to think that what we learn from artificial intelligence should inspire much more humility in our so-called super-powerful human […] … learn more→