Author: The Conversation

With the emergence of advanced AI systems, the way social science research is conducted could change. Social sciences have historically relied on traditional research methods to gain a better understanding of individuals, groups, cultures and their dynamics. Large language models are becoming increasingly capable of imitating human-like responses. As my colleagues and I describe in a recent Science article, this opens up opportunities to test theories on a larger scale and with much greater speed. But our article also raises questions about how AI can be harnessed for social science research while also ensuring transparency and replicability. Using AI in research…

Generative AI tools such as Midjourney, Stable Diffusion and DALL-E 2 have astounded us with their ability to produce remarkable images in a matter of seconds. Despite their achievements, however, there remains a puzzling disparity between what AI image generators can produce and what we can. For instance, these tools often won’t deliver satisfactory results for seemingly simple tasks such as counting objects and producing accurate text. If generative AI has reached such unprecedented heights in creative expression, why does it struggle with tasks even a primary school student could complete? Exploring the underlying reasons helps sheds light on the complex…

How much misinformation is on Facebook? Several studies have found that the amount of misinformation on Facebook is low or that the problem has declined over time. This previous work, though, missed most of the story. We are a communications researcher, a media and public affairs researcher and a founder of a digital intelligence company. We conducted a study that shows that massive amounts of misinformation have been overlooked by other studies. The biggest source of misinformation on Facebook is not links to fake news sites but something more basic: images. And a large portion of posted pictures are misleading. For instance, on the eve of the 2020 election, nearly one…

Rapid progress in artificial intelligence (AI) has spurred some leading voices in the field to call for a research pause, raise the possibility of AI-driven human extinction, and even ask for government regulation. At the heart of their concern is the idea AI might become so powerful we lose control of it. But have we missed a more fundamental problem? Ultimately, AI systems should help humans make better, more accurate decisions. Yet even the most impressive and flexible of today’s AI tools – such as the large language models behind the likes of ChatGPT – can have the opposite effect. Why? They have…

If you’ve ever wished you had a faster phone, computer or internet connection, you’ve encountered the personal experience of hitting a limit of technology. But there might be help on the way. Over the past several decades, scientists and engineers like me have worked to develop faster transistors, the electronic components underlying modern electronic and digital communications technologies. These efforts have been based on a category of materials called semiconductors that have special electrical properties. Silicon is perhaps the best known example of this type of material. But about a decade ago, scientific efforts hit the speed limit of semiconductor-based transistors. Researchers simply can’t…

A Toyota Corolla with a 1.8L engine requires 6.2 litres of gas to drive for 100 kilometres on a highway. But on city roads, it would require 7.9 litres of gas. A 2022 Ford F-150 requires 9.4 and 12.1 litres per 100 km for highway and city driving, respectively. Traditional fuel-powered automobiles, powered by the internal combustion engines, give higher mileage on a highway compared to city roads. Various factors can affect the driving efficiency of a vehicle. First, the internal combustion engines are designed in a way that their efficiency peaks closer to highway speeds. Second, unlike highway driving, city driving…

The search for planets outside our Solar System – exoplanets – is one of the most rapidly growing fields in astronomy. Over the past few decades, more than 5,000 exoplanets have been detected and astronomers now estimate that on average there is at least one planet per star in our galaxy. Many current research efforts aim at detecting Earth-like planets suitable for life. These endeavours focus on so-called “main sequence” stars like our Sun – stars which are powered by fusing hydrogen atoms into helium in their cores, and remain stable for billions of years. More than 90% of all…

The European Space Agency’s (Esa) Euclid mission will launch into space on a Falcon9 rocket from SpaceX on July 1, or soon after. Many of us who have worked on it will be in Florida to watch the nail-biting event. The mission is specifically designed to study the dark universe, probing both “dark matter” and “dark energy” – unknown substances thought to make up 95% of the energy density of the universe. But it will also be able to test some strange, alternative models of gravity – potentially challenging Albert Einstein’s great theory of general relativity. Scientists have known about the existence of dark matter for nearly…

Manipulative communication includes disinformation, propaganda, con artistry and fraud. With the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI), manipulative communication is not only being aided by AI, automation and machine learning, but will likely be dominated by such practices in the near future. As communication scholars, we were interested in the applications of AI in supporting manipulative communication efforts. Our recent book, Social Engineering: How Crowdmasters, Phreaks, Hackers, and Trolls Created a New Form of Manipulative Communication looks at how the internet affected manipulative communication. AI chatbots ChatGPT, one of the most popular and widely used chatbots, is an artificial intelligence chatbot, capable…

Africa’s growing population desperately needs clean, modern energy in the home. Currently, more than 900 million people, 85% of the region’s population, still rely on solid biomass fuel (like wood and charcoal) and kerosene for cooking. These energy sources are highly polluting, inefficient and unsafe. Many African countries are moving to develop scalable renewable energy resources to fill the gap. These include solar PV, wind, hydro, geothermal, ethanol and biogas resources. The International Energy Agency has identified liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as the most important interim clean cooking fuel during this transition. It’s the most practical, abundant and affordable among the current options. LPG is a byproduct…