Category Archives: Research & Opinion

New Jersey Institute of Technology: Data Science Techniques Help Evaluate COVID’s Impact on Mental Health

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New Jersey Institute of Technology: Data Science Techniques Help Evaluate COVID’s Impact on Mental Health. “In case of another pandemic, authorities might only have a 28-day window to connect vulnerable populations to mental health providers before it’s too late to prevent long-term concerns, according to new research assisted by a data science expert at New Jersey Institute of Technology.”

404 Media: Why Scalpers Can Get Olivia Rodrigo Tickets and You Can’t

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404 Media: Why Scalpers Can Get Olivia Rodrigo Tickets and You Can’t. “The ‘verified fan’ concert ticket presale for pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo’s upcoming Guts Tour is today, and, yet again, it’s worth remembering that Ticketmaster stacks the deck heavily in favor of ticket scalpers, regardless of what the company says.”

New York Times: Trump Attacked Me. Then Musk Did. It Wasn’t an Accident.

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New York Times: Trump Attacked Me. Then Musk Did. It Wasn’t an Accident.. “This isn’t a story I relish revisiting. But I’ve learned that what happened to me wasn’t an accident. It wasn’t just personal vindictiveness or ‘cancel culture.’ It was a strategy — one that affects not just targeted individuals like me, but all of us, as it is rapidly changing what we see online.”

The Diplomat: Beijing Is Getting Better at Disinformation on Global Social Media

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The Diplomat: Beijing Is Getting Better at Disinformation on Global Social Media. “Several in-depth investigations published over the past two months by academic researchers, think tanks, news outlets, and cybersecurity companies have shed light on the evolution of disinformation campaigns originating in China. Some offer new insights on campaigns that peaked last spring, while others analyze more recent messaging, tactics, and accounts that have emerged since October 2020. A close reading of these investigations points to several emergent features of China-linked disinformation campaigns – meaning the purposeful dissemination of misleading content, including via inauthentic activity on global social media platforms.”

The Growing Pains of AI: Professor to study how tools like ChatGPT affect children (Chico State Today)

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Chico State Today: The Growing Pains of AI: Professor to study how tools like ChatGPT affect children . “What is the impact of AI on kids? Tools like CHATGPT and virtual learning assistants have provided plenty of fodder for people to debate—in schools, around the dinner table, and at parent groups. Chico State professor Abbas Attarwala wants to help answer this question. The Center of California Studies at Sacramento State awarded Attarwala a $30,000 grant this summer to provide much-needed background on the current research landscape of AI and its impact on children.”

McGill University: Assessing unintended consequences in AI-based neurosurgical training

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McGill University: Assessing unintended consequences in AI-based neurosurgical training. “A new study from the Neurosurgical Simulation and Artificial Intelligence Learning Centre at The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital) of McGill University… shows that human instruction is still necessary to detect and compensate for unintended, and sometimes negative, changes in neurosurgeon behaviour after virtual reality AI training.”

Markets Insider: Remember when NFTs sold for millions of dollars? 95% of the digital collectibles are now probably worthless.

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Markets Insider: Remember when NFTs sold for millions of dollars? 95% of the digital collectibles are now probably worthless.. “A report by dappGambl found that 95% of non-fungible tokens are effectively worthless. Out of 73,257 NFT collections, 69,795 of them have a market cap of zero ether, based on data provided by NFT Scan and CoinMarketCap. By their estimates, almost 23 million people hold these worthless assets.”

University of Wisconsin-Madison: Machine learning analysis of research citations highlights importance of federal funding for basic scientific research

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University of Wisconsin-Madison: Machine learning analysis of research citations highlights importance of federal funding for basic scientific research. “Biomedical research aimed at improving human health is particularly reliant on publicly funded basic science, according to a new analysis boosted by artificial intelligence.”

Americans spent $71B on social media impulse buys: Survey (Yahoo Finance)

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Yahoo Finance: Americans spent $71B on social media impulse buys: Survey. “Americans are spending a lot of money on social media. According to a new Bankrate survey, 48% of social media users have made an impulse purchase, spending a whopping $71 billion. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 57% of buyers regretted at least one purchase.”

Axios: Most U.S. adults don’t believe benefits of AI outweigh the risks, new survey finds

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Axios: Most U.S. adults don’t believe benefits of AI outweigh the risks, new survey finds. “54% of the 2,063 adults in a Mitre-Harris Poll survey in July said they were more concerned about the risks of AI than they were excited about the potential benefits. At the same time, 39% of adults said they believed today’s AI technologies are safe and secure — down 9 points from the previous survey in November 2022.”

New York Times: The Google Trial Is Going to Rewrite Our Future

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New York Times: The Google Trial Is Going to Rewrite Our Future. “The Google antitrust trial, which began last week, is ostensibly focused on the past — on a series of deals that Google made with other companies over the past two decades. The prosecution in the case, U.S. et al. v. Google, contends that Google illegally spent billions of dollars paying off Samsung and Apple to prevent anyone else from gaining a foothold in the market for online search.”

The Register: ChatGPT’s odds of getting code questions correct are worse than a coin flip

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The Register: ChatGPT’s odds of getting code questions correct are worse than a coin flip . “ChatGPT, OpenAI’s fabulating chatbot, produces wrong answers to software programming questions more than half the time, according to a study from Purdue University. That said, the bot was convincing enough to fool a third of participants.”

George Washington University: Social Media May Be Used to Combat COVID Vaccine Hesitancy in Nigeria

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George Washington University: Social Media May Be Used to Combat COVID Vaccine Hesitancy in Nigeria. “A social media campaign launched in 2022 helped encourage some Nigerians to roll up their sleeves for a COVID vaccine, according to a study published today in PLOS ONE. ‘Our research suggests that a social media campaign can reduce vaccine hesitancy and increase the vaccination rates in Nigeria and possibly other low-income countries,’ said Doug Evans, the lead author of the paper and a professor of prevention and community health at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.”

UNESCO: UNESCO and WMF join Forces to inventory the Jewish Heritage Worldwide

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UNESCO: UNESCO and WMF join Forces to inventory the Jewish Heritage Worldwide. “UNESCO and World Monuments Fund (WMF) will establish a partnership aimed at accelerating the documentation of Jewish cultural heritage worldwide and better protecting these sites. The partnership will initially run for five years. It will benefit from an initial investment of $1 million USD and will be open to external funding.”