Testing an AI “reasoning” model on a divisive public issue
The authors of Soulless Intelligence try ChatGPTo3 mini on the abortion issue and… well, read the rest; it’s not long.
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When end-of-life lucidity struggles with delirium…
Curiously, Erard’s own grandmother’s last contact with him did not seem so much to be delirium as simply a different cultural understanding from his.
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Chatbot offers info on a legal case — too bad it’s mostly fiction
After the test, West cautioned that those who don’t know that AI-based services can be even more biased and inaccurate than other sources are asking for trouble
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The U.S. government has been funding European journalism too
If the U.S. funds Moldova’s media instead of Russia, the basic problem remains: A foreign government is funding the public news service.
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How NASA might change under the new U.S. Administration
Coming to terms with NASA’s problems means tough decisions and some wrong calls. But the former editor of Popular Mechanics remains optimistic.
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New study: Computer profs nix claim that chatbots think as we do
If it becomes clear that AI will never think like humans, would the industry ever be ready for an honest discussion of the fact?
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Did sexual selection make male mosquitofish really smart?
Sexual selection — and natural selection — only show why smartness might be an advantage. They don’t explain how the trick is done.
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Ottawa ceases funding the search for phantom graves
Misinforming children is a very small part of the damage that private truth, which is incompatible with an open and science-based society, does.
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Turning the writings of deceased loved ones into chatbots
An industry is springing up to help survivors create an imaginary being that resembles the deceased — except for when they want to change it.
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Gene therapy treats preborn girl for motor neuron disease
Richard Finkel, first author of a study of the case, hopes that this early-start approach can be applied to other cases and other diseases as well.
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Can AI replace psychiatrists? Some programmers are trying…
Given how health insurers will love the crashed costs, the next big mental health fight may be for the right to get in front of an actual human therapist.
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Mammoth bone structure of 24,000 years ago illuminates Stone Age
One of about 70 such structures, it is, in one science writer’s view, “one of the most surreal ancient structures ever built.”
Read More ›Programmers admit fundamental limits to chatbot thinking
Curiously, that’s not what the AI celebs are saying. They’re promising the moon. We can believe the celebs or the hands-on programmers.
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Misinformation scholar becomes a star example of the problem
Starting the day with a bit of natural irony: A misinformation expert was found to be inadvertently using fake citations in a court case.
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Which universities have the most science papers retracted?
Chatbots may make the problem harder to spot but one outcome of attempts to address the problem is a spike in new research integrity tools.
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Wired: Google ads target sensitive user info, despite rules
The more a data set can pinpoint specific users, the more profitable it will be to acquire and sell.
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Researchers reveal some closely guarded YouTube secrets
The median number of views for one of YouTube’s nearly 15 million videos is only 41 and only 0.21% are monetized. It’s mostly Amateur Hour.
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Are fake science papers becoming a danger, not just a nuisance?
AI automates frauds that would have taken much longer to perpetrate using traditional methods — but researchers are developing screening tools to combat fakery.
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Could chatbot goofs be developed into a party game?
Gemini informed her that she was married to a guy she’d never heard of who had died in the 1980s. But think of the entertainment potential…
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Did people really think Earth was flat centuries ago?
Lawyer Barry Arrington shows that fashionable supporters of Darwin were attempting to weaken the influence of Christianity by constructing such myths.
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