Author: The Conversation

Some say it’s em dashes, dodgy apostrophes, or too many emojis. Others suggest that maybe the word “delve” is a chatbot’s calling card. It’s no longer the sight of morphed bodies or too many fingers, but it might be something just a little off in the background. Or video content that feels a little too real. The markers of AI-generated media are becoming harder to spot as technology companies work to iron out the kinks in their generative artificial intelligence (AI) models. But what if instead of trying to detect and avoid these glitches, we deliberately encouraged them instead? The flaws, failures and unexpected outputs of AI systems can…

AI chatbots have already become embedded into some people’s lives, but how many really know how they work? Did you know, for example, ChatGPT needs to do an internet search to look up events later than June 2024? Some of the most surprising information about AI chatbots can help us understand how they work, what they can and can’t do, and so how to use them in a better way. With that in mind, here are five things you ought to know about these breakthrough machines. 1. They are trained by human feedback AI chatbots are trained in multiple stages,…

Imagine turning fruit waste into technology that stores electricity. This would reduce food waste and promote clean energy storage. Postdoctoral researcher Vianney Ngoyi Kitenge transformed mangosteen peels into specialised carbon materials that he used to make supercapacitor energy storage cells. He came up with a simplified way to do this, hugely reducing the cost. This breakthrough converts agricultural waste into valuable components for energy storage technology. He sets out how it works and what’s needed to make it happen. What is a supercapacitor? Supercapacitors are a type of energy storage cell, similar to a battery, but with some key differences. They are…

One-third of the Earth’s land surface is already degraded. The UN estimates that more than 2.6 billion people are harmed by land degradation, with countries losing up to US$10.6 trillion a year because of damage to “ecosystem services”, including the benefits people get from nature, such as water and food. Unhealthy soil is a major contributor to land degradation. This can lead to loss of biodiversity, harm plants and animals, cause sand and dust storms and affect crop yields. These consequences affect the regulation of the planet’s climate and water cycle, socioeconomic activities, food security and forced migration of people. Emerging smart technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI),…

To think about an artificial limb is to think about a person. It’s an object of touch and motion made to be used, one that attaches to the body and interacts with its user’s world. Historical artefacts of prosthetic limbs are far removed from this lived context. Their users are gone. They are damaged – deteriorated by time and exposure to the elements. They are motionless, kept on display or in museum storage. Yet, such artefacts are rare direct sources into the lives of historical amputees. We focus on the tools amputees used in 16th- and 17th-century Europe. There are few records…

Professional astronomers don’t make discoveries by looking through an eyepiece like you might with a backyard telescope. Instead, they collect digital images with massive cameras attached to large telescopes. Just as you might have an endless library of digital photos stored in your cellphone, many astronomers collect more photos than they would ever have the time to look at. Instead, astronomers like me look at some of the images, then build algorithms and later use computers to combine and analyse the rest. But how can we know that the algorithms we write will work, when we don’t even have time to…

Everything in space – from the Earth and Sun to black holes – accounts for just 15% of all matter in the universe. The rest of the cosmos seems to be made of an invisible material astronomers call dark matter. Astronomers know dark matter exists because its gravity affects other things, such as light. But understanding what dark matter is remains an active area of research. With the release of its first images this month, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory has begun a 10-year mission to help unravel the mystery of dark matter. The observatory will continue the legacy of its namesake, a trailblazing…

Mattel may seem like an unchanging, old-school brand. Most of us are familiar with it – be it through Barbie, Fisher-Price, Thomas & Friends, Uno, Masters of the Universe, Matchbox, MEGA or Polly Pocket. But toys are changing. In a world where children grow up with algorithm-curated content and voice assistants, toy manufacturers are looking to AI for new opportunities. Mattel has now partnered with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, to bring generative AI into some of its products. As OpenAI’s services are not designed for children under 13, in principle, Mattel will focus on products for families and older children.…

While there’s been much negative discussion about AI, including on the possibility that it will take over the world, the public is also being bombarded with positive messages about the technology and what it can do. This “good AI” myth is a key tool used by tech companies to promote their products. Yet there’s evidence that consumers are wary of the presence of AI in some products. This means that positive promotion of AI may be putting unwanted pressure on people to accept the use of AI in their lives. AI is becoming so ubiquitous that people may be losing their ability to say no to using it.…

New partnerships are forming between tech companies and power operators — ones that could reshape decades of misconceptions about nuclear energy. Last year, Meta (Facebook’s parent company) put out a call for nuclear proposals, Google agreed to buy new nuclear reactors from Kairos Power, Amazon partnered with Energy Northwest and Dominion Energy to develop nuclear energy and Microsoft committed to a 20-year deal to restart Unit 1 of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant. At the centre of these partnerships is artificial intelligence’s voracious appetite for electricity. One Google search uses about as much electricity as turning on a household light for 17 seconds. Asking a Generative AI model like…