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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
The Yuan takes to the air in new AI podcast series
Starting today, The Yuan will be airing a podcast series to allow our audience to experience our AI content in a convenient, immediate sound format. Our vibrant panel of expert guests will weigh in on the latest topics and developments in AI in lively exchanges that will seek to reveal what’s really going on behind the scenes.
The synergy of humans and AI: Nurturing humanity in the age of innovation
Crossing from the Old World that launched the Age of Exploration to the New World that bore its brunt, our voyage of intelligent discovery lands on day five on the shores of Brazil, named for a tree yielding a dye as red as embers (brasas) so precious Portugal’s bandeirantes eagerly shed the equally carmine blood of the area’s indigenes to obtain the colorant, before these bannermen mixed their own with them and others to produce Brazil’s largely Pardo people. On day five of our quest, radiologist Gustavo Meirelles takes the helm in the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest city to relate how other historic advancements that aroused dire fears at the start were ultimately also fully incorporated into human society.
Is ChatGPT really a ‘code red’ for Google Search? Maybe not
ChatGPT has lately been the focus of a great deal of buzz and great expectations, though its real capabilities and limitations also warrant attention, especially when compared to Google’s search engine. AI scientist, best-selling author, and serial entrepreneur Gary Marcus cuts through all the ballyhoo in quest of answers.
The next trillion-dollar business: personal AI assistants - part 3
The first two parts of this three-part series describe PAI assistants and how ChatGPT’s rise reflects the popular desire for them. In this final part, award-winning tech columnist Satyen K. Bordoloi examines how such a system might function in daily life.
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.
‘Terminator’ or ‘Terra-minator’? The Yuan announces its ESG manifesto
Fears of AI leapfrogging human cognition and ushering in Doomsday abound. The current impact of AI and ML, which devour vast energy, yield tons of toxic waste, and cleave deep social chasms, gleans less notice. The Yuan hereby proclaims our ESG policy to help safeguard our Earth.
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