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AI may be default ‘kingmaker’ this year in biggest-ever worldwide elections
By Ben Armour | Jun 13, 2024
While AI’s presence in elections has some benefits, such as connecting with voters, these are vastly outweighed by drawbacks such as widespread disinformation. Governments and AI companies are also not doing enough to combat the problem, argues The Yuan’s contributor Ben Armour.
Japanese anime, manga offer hints as to ‘apocalyptic’ AI, robots
Western films and cartoons tend to play up apocalyptic fears in their portrayals of AI, robotics, and other advanced tech, but Japanese anime and manga show how these might just end up blending in and becoming part of people’s everyday lives, argues AI ethicist Tomoko Mitsuoka.
Will AI one day become conscious or sentient? Nicholas Humphrey weighs in
The Yuan and the London Futurist recently sat down with Nicholas Humphrey, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the London School of Economics and Bye Fellow at Darwin College, Cambridge. His latest book, Sentience: The Invention of Consciousness explores the emergence and role of consciousness from various perspectives.
The world must navigate, embrace technological innovation, peer review
Plenty of scientific papers and patents are being published, but more disruption, greater creativity, and more high-risk, high-reward research are needed. Understanding the peer review paradox may hold the key to unlocking this, argues Adnexus Biotechnologies Inc CEO Dr Gaurav Chandra.
Innovation and Collaboration Take Center Stage at Reuters Pharma Conference 2024
The Reuters pharma conference is a central platform for pharma executives, patient advocacy groups, and other healthcare experts to share insights, exchange ideas, and be informed about evolving trends within the pharma industry, reports The Yuan contributor Oladimeji Ewumi.
Companies should do more to encourage employees to be excited about AI
As AI continues driving wholesale change, ordinary employees and others who might lose out naturally resist such upheaval. The situation is not all bad, however, and perceptions might change if workers became more aware of reasons to be excited, argues strategy Prof Timo Vuori.
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
Prof Robert Skidelsky shares thoughts on Keynes, AI, and the future of work
The Yuan recently sat down with Robert Skidelsky, a member of the British House of Lords and Professor Emeritus of Political Economy at Warwick University, for his thoughts on some of the world’s most pressing issues, including the future of AI, work, government policy, and more.
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.
Cognition
Companies should do more to encourage employees to be excited about AI
As AI continues driving wholesale change, ordinary employees and others who might lose out naturally resist such upheaval. The situation is not all bad, however, and perceptions might change if workers became more aware of reasons to be excited, argues strategy Prof Timo Vuori.
Cognition
An AI apocalypse may seem inevitable, but can still be prevented
Fears of being rendered obsolete by machines or other new tech have lurked for hundreds of years, but are now resurfacing as AI becomes ever more sophisticated. Such jitters proved overblown in the past, but could this time be different? Prof Robert Skidelsky weighs in.
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.
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
Japanese anime, manga offer hints as to ‘apocalyptic’ AI, robots
Western films and cartoons tend to play up apocalyptic fears in their portrayals of AI, robotics, and other advanced tech, but Japanese anime and manga show how these might just end up blending in and becoming part of people’s everyday lives, argues AI ethicist Tomoko Mitsuoka.
Game-changers
Will AI one day become conscious or sentient? Nicholas Humphrey weighs in
The Yuan and the London Futurist recently sat down with Nicholas Humphrey, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the London School of Economics and Bye Fellow at Darwin College, Cambridge. His latest book, Sentience: The Invention of Consciousness explores the emergence and role of consciousness from various perspectives.
Game-changers
The world must navigate, embrace technological innovation, peer review
Plenty of scientific papers and patents are being published, but more disruption, greater creativity, and more high-risk, high-reward research are needed. Understanding the peer review paradox may hold the key to unlocking this, argues Adnexus Biotechnologies Inc CEO Dr Gaurav Chandra.
Game-changers
VR, geolocation in 3D Earth metaverses upend gaming, education, commerce
The surge of VR and metaverses has recently ebbed, but the tideline separating virtual worlds from the real one is blurring as new tech allows users to experience our planet, gaming and other areas of endeavor in novel ways, writes thought leader Alina Tudorache.
Emerging markets
Innovation and Collaboration Take Center Stage at Reuters Pharma Conference 2024
The Reuters pharma conference is a central platform for pharma executives, patient advocacy groups, and other healthcare experts to share insights, exchange ideas, and be informed about evolving trends within the pharma industry, reports The Yuan contributor Oladimeji Ewumi.
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.
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Special reports
Is Microsoft’s big bet on OpenAI a slam dunk or long shot?
Amid the razzmatazz surrounding ChatGPT, several big players like Microsoft are wagering on this and other promising AI tech. This is risky but not necessarily foolhardy. The coming months will show whether these investments prove wise, says best-selling AI author, entrepreneur, and NYU Prof Gary Marcus.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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