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Characters, data, stable power may give China the edge over US in AI stakes
By Xin Zhou , Ben Armour | May 23, 2024
China and the US are locked head-to-head in a struggle for primacy in global AI. Many factors will come to bear in deciding the outcome, but China’s intrinsic advantages in data, energy, and the nature of the Chinese language itself may prove decisive, two The Yuan editors argue.
AI might seem like HR’s savior, but it can also be a saboteur
Companies increasingly rely on AI to recruit and hire new talent, and the tech might soon be used to decide which employees to fire too. At first glance, this seems good because it reduces workloads for HR employees, but it is also controversial, writes Prof Koen Dewettinck.
Tim O’Reilly on AI development, regulation, copyright lawsuits, and more
Tech entrepreneur, professor, and author Tim O’Reilly - a major influencer in the world of AI and the driving force behind open source and Web 2.0 - recently sat down with The Yuan to give his thoughts regarding the most pressing tech-related issues facing the world today.
Creator tweaks LLM ‘Hallucination Detector’ to better flag confabulations
A ‘Hallucination Detector’ is 60% spot-on at flagging LLM phantasms, says AI and ML researcher Lloyd Watts, PhD, founder, CEO, and Chief Scientist at Neocortix and Audience, who is redoubling his efforts to fine tune the program (republished with permission from a LinkedIn post).
AI WWI raging in Ukraine will by no means be the last
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.
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.
Data, infrastructure barriers hamper AI's cure of Africa's healthcare woesAfrica 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.
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.
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.
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.
The Yuan favorites
Cognition
Creator tweaks LLM ‘Hallucination Detector’ to better flag confabulations
A ‘Hallucination Detector’ is 60% spot-on at flagging LLM phantasms, says AI and ML researcher Lloyd Watts, PhD, founder, CEO, and Chief Scientist at Neocortix and Audience, who is redoubling his efforts to fine tune the program (republished with permission from a LinkedIn post).
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.
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.
Domain knowledge
Tim O’Reilly on AI development, regulation, copyright lawsuits, and more
Tech entrepreneur, professor, and author Tim O’Reilly - a major influencer in the world of AI and the driving force behind open source and Web 2.0 - recently sat down with The Yuan to give his thoughts regarding the most pressing tech-related issues facing the world today.
Domain knowledge
Can AI deliver long-awaited breakthroughs in assessing stroke risk?
Medical professionals toil hard to gauge stroke risk among aging populations earlier and more accurately. Incremental improvements have come, but big breakthroughs remain elusive as lack of access to care and AI jitters thwart efforts, as Harvard Med Fellow Rohit Agrawal, MD, MPH explains.
Domain knowledge
5G-driven AI, ML forecast traffic snarls within an ever-expanding range
AI, ML, and 5G are allying to achieve breakthroughs in traffic pattern management, easing congestion, and making highways everywhere safer, smarter, and more efficient. Purva Joshi, a PhD candidate in Healthtech at the University of Pisa, gives the green light to future mobility.
Domain knowledge
AI is advancing preventive medicine, promoting better health
AI draws much attention for transforming areas of healthcare such as cancer treatments and surgery, but its greatest impact lies in keeping more people healthy so they do not need such intervention, argues Ahmed Zahlan, a Fulbright Scholar doing his PhD on AI healthcare startups.
Generic
AI might seem like HR’s savior, but it can also be a saboteur
Companies increasingly rely on AI to recruit and hire new talent, and the tech might soon be used to decide which employees to fire too. At first glance, this seems good because it reduces workloads for HR employees, but it is also controversial, writes Prof Koen Dewettinck.
Generic
AI WWI raging in Ukraine will by no means be the last
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.’
Generic
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.
Generic
Lessons learned from AI chatbots will encourage their responsible use
Chatbots are widespread forms of AI and, while they handle many routine tasks effectively, too often they are left to deal with problems for which they are ill-equipped, prompting scandals and bad experiences. AI and legal expert Prof Eran Kahana cites an illustrative case study.
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Special reports
Imaginary Friends 5: ‘The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers’
This time, the four imaginary friends gather together once more to consider the importance of precision in language as they examine vocabulary, grammar, and inflection. Imprecise language can be especially problematic with AI, which can easily get confused and spit out answers or take actions that are incorrect.
AI will never outwit humans because it is no ‘smarter’ than an abacus is
Ancient Greeks used a marked table - abax - to calculate, but the true ‘abacus’ is a 5,000-year-old Babylonian invention diffused to the rest of the world. On day 13 of our intelligent discovery quest, writing from the East-West trade hub of Mumbai, The Yuan columnist Satyen K. Bordoloi likens seeing smartness in AI to ascribing sentience to an abacus.
Nine questions about ‘The Death of Death’
“It is sweet and proper to die,” declared Roman poet Horace. Here with a very different take on that proposition comes The Yuan contributor David Wood, who argues in a new co-authored book The Death of Death that mortality is by no means a biologically foreordained inevitability.
Human-machine relationship needs shared understanding to thrive
The Yuan’s voyage of intelligent discovery lands back in London to end on day 18. The capital of the largest empire ever was once dubbed ‘The Smoke’ due to the notorious ‘pea-soup’ smog from its coal-burning furnaces and hearths. A new Industrial Revolution is now underway in this cradle of the first one, and Ivana Bartoletti, chief privacy officer at IT business consultancy Wipro, advises how to better close the damper on its adverse effects.
AI, ML, Big Data supercharge drug discovery, development - Part 2
AI and associated technologies are taking the drug discovery sector by storm by shifting it into warp drive. Technology writer Priya Dialani, host of The Yuan’s Delta Dialog podcast, showcases inspiring examples of intrepid pioneers applying AI and supercharging drug development.
The next trillion-dollar business: personal AI assistants - part 1
Seldom in the swiftly evolving tech world does one get to say: ‘I told you so.’ With Dall-E, LaMDA, ChatGPT-type AI systems in 2022, The Yuan contributor Satyen K. Bordoloi says just that as - in a three-part series - he outlines how AI personal assistants will storm and transform the world, leading to the next trillion-dollar business.
PODCAST: DELTA
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