Author: The Conversation

This week a group of well-known and reputable AI researchers signed a statement consisting of 22 words: Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war. As a professor of AI, I am also in favour of reducing any risk, and prepared to work on it personally. But any statement worded in such a way is bound to create alarm, so its authors should probably be more specific and clarify their concerns. As defined by Encyclopedia Britannica, extinction is “the dying out or extermination of a species”. I have…

To some of his former students, Professor Barry Dwolatzky was the “Grand Geek” – a name of which he was very proud. But Barry, who passed away in Johannesburg, South Africa on 16 May 2023, was much more than a computer geek. He was also a leader and a visionary in the field of software engineering in South Africa. At the time of his passing he was 71 years old. He was by then retired from academia and held the title of Emeritus Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), where he spent much of his career. But he…

We all know that high levels of stress in the workplace can lead to burnout. But less attention is given to long periods of intense boredom, sometimes referred to as “rust out” or “bore out”. This typically comes with feelings of weariness, distraction and a lack of motivation, alongside the perception of time slowing down. Despite this, it’s a problem that many managers and organisations ignore. If burnout is the result of overly high levels of demand at work, then rust out is caused by overly low levels of demand or stimulation. When employees are bored and disengaged at work for extended periods of…

Being on social media has become synonymous with living in the 21st century. Year after year, we see new platforms and smarter algorithms roping us into highly addictive online worlds. Now, a growing number of people have noticed this trend and are actively making an effort to resist it. Anecdotally, a case can be made for quitting social media, and there are myriad reasons why someone might want to. But is there evidence that doing so is good for you in the long term? Drivers for quitting Although there are too many social media platforms to name, most people tend…

[… who s]aw the Deep, […] the country, [who] knew […], […] all […] [… who] saw the Deep, […] the country, [who] knew […], […] all […] This first quote represents the beginning of the Epic of Gilgamesh as known from the 19th century onwards. The following one shows the text fully restored, in the form it achieved over 100 years later, when a new fragment of it was published in 2007. He who saw the Deep, the foundation of the country, who knew the proper ways, was wise in all matters! Gilgamesh, who saw the Deep, the foundation of the country,…

Generative AI is the hot new technology behind chatbots and image generators. But how hot is it making the planet? As an AI researcher, I often worry about the energy costs of building artificial intelligence models. The more powerful the AI, the more energy it takes. What does the emergence of increasingly more powerful generative AI models mean for society’s future carbon footprint? “Generative” refers to the ability of an AI algorithm to produce complex data. The alternative is “discriminative” AI, which chooses between a fixed number of options and produces just a single number. An example of a discriminative output is…

For the first time, researchers have managed to use GPT1, precursor to the AI chatbot ChatGPT, to translate MRI imagery into text in an effort to understand what someone is thinking. This recent breakthrough allowed researchers at the University of Texas at Austin to “read” someone’s thoughts as a continuous flow of text, based on what they were listening to, imagining or watching. It raises significant concerns for privacy, freedom of thought, and even the freedom to dream without interference. Our laws are not equipped to deal with the widespread commercial use of mind-reading technology – freedom of speech law does…

Can a computer learn from the past and anticipate what will happen next, like a human? You might not be surprised to hear that some cutting-edge AI models could achieve this feat, but what about a computer that looks a little different – more like a tank of water? We have built a small proof-of-concept computer that uses running water instead of a traditional logical circuitry processor, and forecasts future events via an approach called “reservoir computing”. In benchmark tests, our analogue computer did well at remembering input data and forecasting future events – and in some cases it even did better…

Artificial intelligence algorithms are quickly becoming a part of everyday life. Many systems that require strong security are either already underpinned by machine learning or soon will be. These systems include facial recognition, banking, military targeting applications, and robots and autonomous vehicles, to name a few. This raises an important question: how secure are these machine learning algorithms against malicious attacks? In an article published today in Nature Machine Intelligence, my colleagues at the University of Melbourne and I discuss a potential solution to the vulnerability of machine learning models. We propose that the integration of quantum computing in these models could…

In today’s world, our diets are often packed with fats and sugars. Our ancient instinct to crave calorie-rich foods, which once helped us survive, now leads to harmful health side-effects. To counteract this, food content creators on social media have been trying to push healthy eating and healthy eating content. But here’s the kicker — this content doesn’t get much engagement. Instead, posts that show unhealthy, high-calorie foods get more likes, shares and comments. This popularity of junk food online may tempt content creators and algorithms to show more of the same, tilting our view of “normal” eating habits towards unhealthy choices. In the long…