Letters
Why Diversity is Vital to AI
Like many of you, I’m deeply saddened by the events of the past week. I’m horrified by the senseless violence perpetrated against Black communities and appalled by the persistent racial injustice of our society.
Tech & Society
Tech & Society
Facebook Likes Extreme Content: Facebook execs rejected changes to reduce polarization.
Facebook’s leadership has thwarted changes in its algorithms aimed at making the site less polarizing, according to the Wall Street Journal. The social network’s own researchers determined that its AI software promotes divisive content.
Tech & Society
Playing With GANs: GameGAN generated a fully functional Pac-Man.
Generative adversarial networks don’t just produce pretty pictures. They can build world models, too. A GAN generated a fully functional replica of the classic video game Pac-Man.
Tech & Society
Do Oil and Algorithms Mix?: Amazon, Google, and Microsoft built AI tools for big oil.
Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are developing machine learning tools for the fossil fuel industry even as they pledge to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Tech & Society
New Behaviors Derail Old Training: How Covid-19 impacted the AI behind online shopping
The pandemic has radically altered online shopping behavior, throwing a wrench into many AI systems. AI inventory trackers, recommendation algorithms, and fraud detection systems trained on pre-pandemic consumer behavior have been flummoxed by the different ways people now browse, binge, and buy.
Tech & Society
Crowdsourcing a Cure: Covid Moonshot, the crowdsourced effort to find a cure
Researchers are drawing up blueprints for drugs to fight Covid-19. Machine learning is identifying those most likely to be effective. Covid Moonshot, an international group of scientists in academia and industry, is crowdsourcing designs for molecules with potential to thwart the coronavirus.
Tech & Society
AI’s Got Talent: The AI Song Contest replaced Eurovision during the pandemic.
Music that features a “singing” koala bear took the prize in one of Europe’s highest-profile AI competitions yet. A team of Australian programmers, designers, and musicians won the inaugural AI Song Contest with a koala-tinged track called “Beautiful the World.”
Tech & Society
Information Warfare Covid Edition: Facebook used humans and AI to spot false Covid claims.
Facebook’s AI can’t spot Covid-19 disinformation on its own. But with human help, it can slow the spread. Facebook uses a combination of humans and neural nets to crack down on messages that make false claims about Covid-19, which may have deadly consequences.
Tech & Society
Mask Monitor: Paris and Cannes used computer vision to detect face masks.
Cameras that detect face masks are helping French authorities to evaluate citizens’ adherence to government mandates intended to fight Covid-19. Starting this week, everyone riding public transportation in France is required to wear a face mask.
Tech & Society
An Archive Unearthed: Newspaper Navigator indexes visual elements in archival text.
An algorithm indexed photos, ads, and other images embedded in 170 years of American newspapers. Created by researchers at the University of Washington and U.S. Library of Congress, Newspaper Navigator uses object recognition to organize visual features of newspapers dating back to 1789.
Tech & Society
Undercover Networks: Protecting neural networks from differential power analysis
Neural networks can spill their secrets to those who know how to ask. A new approach secures them from prying eyes. Researchers demonstrate that that adversaries can find out a model’s parameter values by measuring its power use.
Tech & Society
Roll Over, Beyoncé: How OpenAI's Jukebox generates synthetic music
A new generative model croons like Elvis and raps like Eminem. It might even make you think you’re listening to a lost demo by the Beatles. OpenAI released Jukebox, a deep learning system that has generated thousands of songs in styles from country to metal and soul.