Boing Boing: OpenAI releases larger GPT-2 dataset. Can it write fake news better than a human?. “The danger of GPT-2 is not fake news as sharable, influential longform but as social media chum in brief: imagine a flood of more convincing bots making human actions harder to measure, goosing the ‘engagement’ of emotionally vulnerable users while deflating the value of those interactions.”
AI
Hitting the Books: How big tech might monopolize AI (Engadget)
Engadget: Hitting the Books: How big tech might monopolize AI. “From telecommunications to transportation, medicine to aerospace, the accelerating advancement of artificial intelligence has proven a boon for humanity and the public good. However the same ability that allows them to learn from past experience can and likely will be leveraged for underhanded purposes like stifling commercial competition. In the excerpt below from Who’s Afraid of AI? author Thomas Ramge examines feedback loops’ impact on automation and how controlling the data generated by them could enable companies to unfairly influence the market.” The excerpt available is frustratingly short!
Digital Trends: Google’s soccer-playing A.I. hopes to master the world’s most popular sport
Digital Trends: Google’s soccer-playing A.I. hopes to master the world’s most popular sport. “Think the player A.I. in FIFA ‘19 was something special? You haven’t seen anything yet! That’s because search giant Google is developing its own soccer-playing artificial intelligence. And, if the company’s history with machine intelligence is anything to go by, it’ll be something quite special.”
Wired: AI Algorithms Need FDA-style Drug Trials
Wired: AI Algorithms Need FDA-style Drug Trials. “Intelligent systems at scale need regulation because they are an unprecedented force multiplier for the promotion of the interests of an individual or a group. For the first time in history, a single person can customize a message for billions and share it with them within a matter of days. A software engineer can create an army of AI-powered bots, each pretending to be a different person, promoting content on behalf of political or commercial interests. Unlike broadcast propaganda or direct marketing, this approach also uses the self-reinforcing qualities of the algorithm to learn what works best to persuade and nudge each individual.”
TechCrunch: Google discloses its acquisition of mobile learning app Socratic as it relaunches on iOS
TechCrunch: Google discloses its acquisition of mobile learning app Socratic as it relaunches on iOS. “Google publicly disclosed its acquisition of homework helper app Socratic in an announcement this week, detailing the added support for the company’s AI technology and its relaunch on iOS. The acquisition apparently flew under the radar — Google says it bought the app last year.”
New York Times: A.I. Is Learning From Humans. Many Humans.
New York Times: A.I. Is Learning From Humans. Many Humans.. “A.I., most people in the tech industry would tell you, is the future of their industry, and it is improving fast thanks to something called machine learning. But tech executives rarely discuss the labor-intensive process that goes into its creation. A.I. is learning from humans. Lots and lots of humans.”
Bates College: Bates Announces $3.97 Million National Science Foundation Grant For Visual Database Project
Bates College: Bates Announces $3.97 Million National Science Foundation Grant For Visual Database Project. “Bates College has received a National Science Foundation grant of $3.97 million to create a groundbreaking Visual Experience Database to support research in fields that rely on the analysis and recognition of images, such as neuroscience, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence. The largest-ever federal grant awarded to Bates, the four-year award will fuel the creation of a vast gallery of videos that depict what, and how, people see as they go about daily activities.”
