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AI WWI raging in Ukraine will by no means be the last
By Xin Zhou , Ben Armour | May 16, 2024
The use of AI is burgeoning in armed conflicts great and small all around the world, but most notably nowadays in Ukraine. Although still subject to technical limits, the tech looks set to soon transcend these, as warfare once again proves to be the real ‘mother of invention.’
Genome of Greece is a paradigm for large-scale genomic medicine projects
The integration of genomics is crucial for healthcare to become more personalized, and the Genome of Greece initiative is helping do just that, writes Pharmacogenomics and Pharmaceutical Biotech Prof George P. Patrinos, of the University of Patras, Greece.
AI sleuths out Parkinson's disease earlier for more effective intervention
Parkinson’s disease afflicts many people, yet often goes undetected until symptoms have already manifested themselves. Computer-based AI shines a light at the end of this bleak tunnel, however, promising to detect the presence of the disease earlier and alleviate much suffering.
Who needs governments? AI prompts the question already on the minds of many
The world is seriously underachieving, and countries everywhere must now redouble their efforts to attract FDI, make full use of their entrepreneurs and other talents, and take advantage of the opportunities AI provides. Naseem Javed, an expert on new ways of thinking, weighs in.
Warren Buffett strikes a gloomy note over AI at his company’s annual confab
Warren Buffett, the éminence grise of investment, took the occasion of his company shareholders’ meeting to air his views on AI - part upbeat and part desponding. Though concededly no AI maven, Buffet’s remarks made waves nonetheless as he voiced his hopes and fears for the tech.
Data, infrastructure barriers hamper AI's cure of Africa's healthcare woes
Africa will gain the most from AI’s activation in healthcare, but the road to fulfilling this vision is a rocky one. Fulbright Scholar Ahmed Zahlan, who is pursuing his PhD in AI healthcare startups, charts the path the second most populous continent must take to reach this goal.
Air Canvas using Python libraries reveals much about art in the digital ageIn the current digital age of advanced tech, the boundaries between art, science, and technology are increasingly blurring. Researcher Parisa Naraei describes a project exploring the concept of computer vision and its workings, with various intriguing applications.
Has the concept of the metaverse failed, or is it still too early to tell?This, the fourth in an article series titled Life and Crime in the Metaverse, examines the metaverse today and the question of whether it will ever reach its potential. Some already view it as a failure, but it could just be a steppingstone to something bigger and better.
Stay tuned for The Yuan’s brain science themed webinar this July!
The Yuan recently ran a three-week series of articles from April 1 to April 19, with topics examining the intersection of neuroscience and AI. The series was a great success and will be followed up in July by a webinar featuring some of the series’ outstanding contributors.
Neurosymbolic AI injects symbolic reasoning to give DL ‘the human touch’
Neurosymbolic AI is a novel method that empowers DL to reason symbolically, while also bolstering its already renowned ability to ingest and digest reams of data. SEO content creator Ava Addams maps a new route toward more intuitive AI, and forecasts a sea change in the offing.
Advantis Medical Imaging fuels innovation to redefine healthcare with AI
The Yuan recently spoke with Zoi Giavri, co-founder, president and chief product officer of leading medical software developer Advantis Medical Imaging to talk advances in healthcare. Eleni Natsi, a journalist focused on the transformative impact of AI, lets us in on their tête-à-tête.
The Yuan favorites
Optimization
Genome of Greece is a paradigm for large-scale genomic medicine projects
The integration of genomics is crucial for healthcare to become more personalized, and the Genome of Greece initiative is helping do just that, writes Pharmacogenomics and Pharmaceutical Biotech Prof George P. Patrinos, of the University of Patras, Greece.
Optimization
Data, infrastructure barriers hamper AI's cure of Africa's healthcare woes
Africa will gain the most from AI’s activation in healthcare, but the road to fulfilling this vision is a rocky one. Fulbright Scholar Ahmed Zahlan, who is pursuing his PhD in AI healthcare startups, charts the path the second most populous continent must take to reach this goal.
Optimization
AI’s impact on the music business is great, but greatly underappreciated
Many people are au courant with the transformative effect AI is having on the healthcare, banking, and robotics industries, but far fewer are aware of its splash in the realm of music. AI expert Snigdha Bose probes this stealth phenomenon and signals its future import.
Optimization
Google shelved its Gemini AI image app after it tried to rewrite history
Google put the brakes on its Gemini AI image tool for generating “inaccurate images of historical figures.” An attempt to avoid reproducing toxic stereotypes - a common issue with image generation tools - led Gemini to commit the even worse offense of writing revisionist history.
Governance
Who needs governments? AI prompts the question already on the minds of many
The world is seriously underachieving, and countries everywhere must now redouble their efforts to attract FDI, make full use of their entrepreneurs and other talents, and take advantage of the opportunities AI provides. Naseem Javed, an expert on new ways of thinking, weighs in.
Governance
How a public-private consortium could lead to democratic global AI governance
An open and democratic public-private consortium for AI would sustain growth, transparency, and competition, while averting an over-concentration of power and AI safety risks, argues Trustless Computing Association founder and President Rufo Guerreschi.
Governance
There is a strong case to be made for regulating GenAI through common law
Arguments over whose regulations are best regarding AI, LLMs, and other advance tech overlook the possibility that common law, with its case-by-case approach, offers the best solution for crafting sensible regulatory frameworks, argue profs S. Alex Yang and Angela Huyue Zhang.
Governance
UK and US AI regulatory frameworks precede AI safety summit, impact healthcare
Both the UK and US governments published AI regulatory frameworks ahead of the first-ever AI Safety Summit hosted at Bletchley Park in November 2023. The two frameworks are both organized by five similar principles, and by comparing them AI developers will be better equipped to create AI tools designed for use in both UK and US settings.
Cognition
Looking ahead, OpenAI’s got 9.9 problems, and Twitch ain’t one
While late 2022 and 2023 were heady times for ChatGPT’s creator OpenAI, the AI darling faces many serious challenges in 2024 as its momentum slows and cracks in its business model become more apparent, argues best-selling AI author, entrepreneur, and professor Gary Marcus.
Cognition
Q-learning strategies optimize healthcare decision-making, asset deployment
The Q-learning technique is an ML approach that allows AI algorithms to learn and improve over time. This self-learning has many applications, from finance to healthcare, and promises significant improvement in how AI and ML operate. AI engineer Douglas Amante shows us the ropes.
Cognition
A comparison reveals the stark contrast between AI, human stupidity
This year’s World Economic Forum offered a snapshot on the state of the world and its many ongoing crises. While AI is achieving impressive results in many ways, these are largely being overshadowed by human stupidity, cautions NYU Professor Emeritus of Economics Nouriel Roubini.
Cognition
Meaningful and impactful AI ethics requires an adaptive mindset
The second part of this series elaborates further on the Agile Leadership Framework™ and Strategic Hustler™ concepts introduced in the previous article, writes Dr Frank Lee Harper, Jr, AI thought leader and provost and vice chancellor at Cambridge Corporate University.
Post-pandemic
How different countries leveraged the power of AI to navigate COVID-19
This first part of a series explores how AI helped the world weather COVID-19 and at least partially cushion its impact. While the pandemic exposed many shortcomings, it also shed light on future improvements. Biomedical engineer and med-tech innovator Anjali Rajan presents a glimpse into popular AI applications in pandemic management deployed by five countries.
Post-pandemic
Lessons learned during the pandemic must never be forgotten
As the COVID-19 pandemic fades into the past, people are eager to put it behind them and move on with their lives. However, the lessons taught by the pandemic must be remembered to prevent such a disaster from happening again.
Post-pandemic
Deep learning is a great tool for automatically detecting COVID-19
Intelligent methods help medical professionals detect and diagnose COVID-19 more quickly and so expedite treatment for patients suffering from severe cases, as ear, nose, and throat specialist Dr Mehrnaz Ataei and genetic and healthcare ML developer Dr Sara Moein succinctly explain.
Post-pandemic
A viable path out of the pandemic is crucial
Most people now act as if COVID-19 is over, yet the virus remains active and dangerous. The limited ability of current vaccines and drugs to prevent infection or treat long-COVID means much more must be done before the threat posed by this pathogen is truly a thing of the past.
Game-changers
Rapid rise of CRISPR gene editing is revolutionizing a myriad of fields
CRISPR is a keen gene editing and engineering tool that won its discoverers the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. While undoubtedly upending this field, its uses do not stop there. Academy of Applied Pharmaceutical Sciences researcher Shipra Asthana gives an overview of its applications.
Game-changers
Infotainment systems for voice-controlled cars represent a big step forward
Alexa and Siri are well-known voice assistants but deliver mixed results. Similar technology is now going a step further to create smarter car infotainment systems, with AI researcher and tech expert Parisa Naraei shedding light on the specific methodology involved.
Game-changers
Vision Pro realizes Steve Jobs' last vision, but Apple does not yet see it
If Steve Jobs were still alive, Apple Vision Pro would have come out earlier and featured AI at its core, writes award-winning tech columnist Satyen K. Bordoloi as he outlines a vision for AVP that Apple would do well to adapt.
Game-changers
The AI revolution is creating new possibilities in climate science
AI is transforming the world’s weather forecasting systems, helping scientists better understand Earth and giving them access to new tools for the world’s fight against climate change, says Giulio Boccaletti, Scientific Director of the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change.
Emerging markets
Warren Buffett strikes a gloomy note over AI at his company’s annual confab
Warren Buffett, the éminence grise of investment, took the occasion of his company shareholders’ meeting to air his views on AI - part upbeat and part desponding. Though concededly no AI maven, Buffet’s remarks made waves nonetheless as he voiced his hopes and fears for the tech.
Emerging markets
Market power is permanent even with intense technological competition
Contrary to what one might think, the competition and ceaseless innovation that are hallmarks of today’s globalized, digital, hyperconnected world are actually increasing and entrenching market power for large, established players, argues Stanford economics prof Mordecai Kurz.
Emerging markets
AI octopus flexes its tentacles to entrench Big Tech’s hegemony
No end looms in sight to Big Tech companies’ chokehold on the digital economy, and AI’s steady rise bids fair to buttress this trend based on these corporate leviathans’ access to data and knowledge of consumer and business behavior, argues author and Law Prof Eric Posner.
Emerging markets
AI roots out corruption in India’s troubled healthcare terrain
India, the world’s most populous country, has a complex healthcare system prone to inefficiency and corruption. As the country digitalizes, AI is already bearing fruit by exposing graft and granting more Indians access to quality care, writes AI and Big Data expert Disha Ganguli.
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Special reports
DL boosts India’s drug development - part 1
India has long been a hub of pharmaceutical development and production and many Indian startups in this domain have lately turned to technology - especially AI and ML - to cut the time, cost, and effort needed to develop new drugs and gain approval for their use, which formerly took many years.
What will be the outcome when AI 'outsmarts' humans?
Views on AI diverge. Some see a savior bestowing immortality on and whisking humanity off to the stars. Others descry a false prophet encompassing the ruin of humankind. The Yuan is cordially inviting our contributors to read their auguries and divine a time when AI ‘outsmarts’ us in this new series.
The next trillion-dollar business: personal AI assistants - part 2
The first article in this series was on how the success of ChatGPT indicates personal AI assistants are the next wave. This part discusses the difficulties of making a PAI assistant, means to overcome these obstacles, and why self-driving carmakers must jump on the PAI bandwagon.
The Yuan fetes the second anniversary of its founding, razes its paywall
As The Yuan celebrates our second anniversary, our Chief Editor Wang Shifeng briefly reviews AI developments over the past two years, and announces that our paywall has ended, as we are shifting from a paid subscription model, to a voluntary contribution plan to defray our costs.
Can ‘AI’ outsmart humans? That depends on how one defines ‘smart’
Whether machines will ever outsmart humans is a question of the use of language and the inadequacy of programming because, on their own, machines are not clever, says Nigel Morris-Cotterill, author of The Yuan’s ‘Imaginary Friends’ series, on day 14 of The Yuan’s voyage of intelligent discovery.
Imaginary Friends 6: The circles of an imaginary mind
As our four imaginary friends feted the New Year, they end this series by spreading cheer with examples of AI’s failures that may have ruined or caused lives to be lost. Their moral is blunt: Never unloose AI unless it is under adult supervision and subject to actual intelligence.
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