Robots can’t think or feel, despite what the researchers who build them want to believe.
Tag Archives: Artificial Intelligence
Algorithm That Detects Sepsis Cut Deaths by Nearly 20 Percent
Over two years, a machine-learning program warned thousands of health care providers about patients at high risk of sepsis, allowing them to begin treatments nearly two hours sooner
Robots Aren’t Done Reshaping Warehouses
The pace of automation has accelerated in the pandemic, as big players invest billions in their efforts to streamline how goods are sorted and shipped.
Google Engineer Claims AI Chatbot Is Sentient: Why That Matters
AI Learns What an Infant Knows about the Physical World
Could Twitter Force Musk to Close the Deal? Here’s What We Know
Twitter is in a good position to sue under a legal doctrine called specific performance, which allows courts to force a transaction to be completed, even if one of the parties wants out.
We Asked GPT-3 to Write an Academic Paper about Itself.–Then We Tried to Get It Published
Who Is Liable when AI Kills?
Schools Are Spending Billions on High-Tech Defense for Mass Shootings
The market for weapon detectors and crisis alert badges in schools is booming. But there are questions about whether the new technology is effective.
How to get started with machine learning and AI

Enlarge / “It’s a cookbook?!” (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)
“Artificial Intelligence” as we know it today is, at best, a misnomer. AI is in no way intelligent, but it is artificial. It remains one of the hottest topics in industry and is enjoying a renewed interest in academia. This isn’t new—the world has been through a series of AI peaks and valleys over the past 50 years. But what makes the current flurry of AI successes different is that modern computing hardware is finally powerful enough to fully implement some wild ideas that have been hanging around for a long time.
Back in the 1950s, in the earliest days of what we now call artificial intelligence, there was a debate over what to name the field. Herbert Simon, co-developer of both the logic theory machine and the General Problem Solver, argued that the field should have the much more anodyne name of “complex information processing.” This certainly doesn’t inspire the awe that “artificial intelligence” does, nor does it convey the idea that machines can think like humans.
However, “complex information processing” is a much better description of what artificial intelligence actually is: parsing complicated data sets and attempting to make inferences from the pile. Some modern examples of AI include speech recognition (in the form of virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa) and systems that determine what’s in a photograph or recommend what to buy or watch next. None of these examples are comparable to human intelligence, but they show we can do remarkable things with enough information processing.
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It’s Not the Future We Can’t See
Possible U.F.O. sightings, A.I. breakthroughs and the Jan. 6 hearings all help us understand how hard it to grasp what is happening right in front of us.
Musk to Attend Twitter All-Hands Meeting
Musk will attend a virtual all-hands meeting as his $44 billion acquisition of the company moves ahead, despite his hand-wringing about bots.
Google Sidelines Engineer Who Claims Its A.I. Is Sentient
Blake Lemoine, the engineer, says that Google’s language model has a soul. The company disagrees.
AI Can Predict Potential Nutrient Deficiencies from Space
Artificial General Intelligence Is Not as Imminent as You Might Think
Accused of Cheating by an Algorithm, and a Professor She Had Never Met
An unsettling glimpse at the digitization of education.
Why Isn’t New Technology Making Us More Productive?
Innovations like cloud computing and artificial intelligence are hailed as engines of a coming productivity revival. But a broad payoff across the economy has been elusive.
We Shouldn’t Try to Make Conscious Software–Until We Should
Google’s I/O Conference Offers Modest Vision of the Future
Artificial intelligence is being woven into an array of the company’s products. But the change — for now — is subtle.
How Language-Generation AIs Could Transform Science
Another Firing Among Google’s A.I. Brain Trust, and More Discord
The researchers are considered a key to the company’s future. But they have had a hard time shaking infighting and controversy over a variety of issues.
AI Sommelier Generates Wine Reviews without Ever Opening a Bottle
Which Animal Viruses Could Infect People? Computers Are Racing to Find Out.
Machine learning is known for its ability to spot fraudulent credit charges or recognize faces. Now researchers are siccing the technology on viruses.
An Old-Fashioned Economic Tool Can Tame Pricing Algorithms
AI Drug Discovery Systems Might Be Repurposed to Make Chemical Weapons, Researchers Warn
AIs Spot Drones with Help from a Fly Eye
Can A.I. All but End Car Crashes? The Potential Is There.
Well before self-driving cars become a reality, there are simpler approaches that can make roads much safer.
A.I. Is Mastering Language. Should We Trust What It Says?
OpenAI’s GPT-3 and other neural nets can now write original prose with mind-boggling fluency — a development that could have profound implications for the future.
How US and Ukrainian Groups Pierce Putin’s Propaganda Bubble
U.S.-backed news outlets and Ukrainian activists use Cold War techniques and high-tech tactics to get news about the war to Russians.
Meet DALL-E, the A.I. That Draws Anything at Your Command
New technology that blends language and images could serve graphic artists — and speed disinformation campaigns.
What AI Can Do for Climate Change, and What Climate Change Can Do for AI
Can A.I.-Driven Voice Analysis Help Identify Mental Disorders?
Early tests have been promising, but issues involving bias, privacy and mistrust of “black box” algorithms are possible pitfalls.
AI-Influenced Weapons Need Better Regulation
How Robots Can Assist Students With Disabilities
New tools use artificial intelligence to assist students with autism and dyslexia and address accessibility for those who are blind or deaf.
Helping A.I. to Learn About Indigenous Cultures
Data on Native communities are not at the levels needed for accuracy in A.I.-driven tools. A group is trying to solve that problem.
Is Geometry a Language That Only Humans Know?
Neuroscientists are exploring whether shapes like squares and rectangles — and our ability to recognize them — are part of what makes our species special.
Are You Better Than a Machine at Spotting a Deepfake?
‘No-Code’ Brings the Power of A.I. to the Masses
A growing number of new products allow anyone to apply artificial intelligence without having to write a line of computer code. Proponents believe the “no-code” movement will change the world.
Can A.I. Help Casinos Cut Down on Problem Gambling?
The opportunities seem endless. The reality is much more complicated.
Why Chatbots Are Becoming Smarter
Customer service chatbots may finally become more intelligent, more conversational and more helpful.
Rashaad Newsome Pulls Out All the Stops
His protean “Assembly,” at the Park Avenue Armory, bridges art, technology, performance, workshops — and offers an A.I. Being who will teach you how to vogue.
Who Is Behind QAnon? Linguistic Detectives Find Fingerprints
Using machine learning, separate teams of computer scientists identified the same two men as likely authors of messages that fueled the viral movement.
Humans Find AI-Generated Faces More Trustworthy Than the Real Thing
AI Outraces Human Champs at the Video Game Gran Turismo
The Sunday Read: ‘How A.I. Conquered Poker’
Good poker players have always known that they need to maintain a balance between bluffing and playing it straight. Now they can do so perfectly.
Why Can’t We Pay Attention Anymore?
Two new books, Johann Hari’s “Stolen Focus” and Jacob Ward’s “The Loop,” examine the ways technology affects our brains.
How Facebook Is Morphing Into Meta
Shifting a 68,000-person social networking company toward the theoretical metaverse has caused internal disruption and uncertainty.
Lego Robot with an Organic ‘Brain’ Learns to Navigate a Maze
Why Is Silicon Valley Still Waiting for the Next Big Thing?
The tech industry has grown ever more rich off big ideas that were developed more than a decade ago. New things like quantum computing and self-driving cars could take a while.
Economists Pin More Blame on Tech for Rising Inequality
Recent research underlines the central role that automation has played in widening disparities.