Graduate student Kartik Chandra writes for Inside Higher Education about how many of this year’s college graduates are feeling anxiety about new AI technologies. “We scientists are still debating the details of how AI is and is not humanlike in its use of language,” writes Chandra. “But let’s not forget the big picture: unlike AI, you speak because you have something to say.”
Neil Thompson, director of the FutureTech research project at MIT CSAIL and a principal investigator MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy, speaks with Politico reporter Mohar Chatterjee about generative AI, the pace of computer progress and the need for the U.S. to invest more in developing the future of computing. “We need to make sure we have good secure factories that can produce cutting-edge semiconductors,” says Thompson. “The CHIPS Act covers that. And people are starting to invest in some of these post-CMOS technologies — but it just needs to be much more. These are incredibly important technologies.”
Prof. Daron Acemoglu speaks with VOX Talks host Tim Phillips about his new book written with Prof. Simon Johnson, “Power and Progress.” The book explores “how we can redirect the path of innovation,” Phillips explains.
MIT researchers have developed a new method to make chatbots more factual, reports Gerrit De Vynck for The Washington Post. “The researchers proposed using different chatbots to produce multiple answers to the same question and then letting them debate each other until one answer won out,” explains Vynck. “The researchers found using this ‘society of minds’ method made them more factual.”
MIT researchers have developed a new machine-learning technique that can identify which pixels in an image represent the same material, which could help with robotic scene understanding, reports Kyle Wiggers for TechCrunch. “Since an object can be multiple materials as well as colors and other visual aspects, this is a pretty subtle distinction but also an intuitive one,” writes Wiggers.
Prof. Marzyeh Ghassemi speaks with NPR host Kate Wells about a decision by the National Eating Disorders Associations to replace their helpline with a chatbot. “I think it's very alienating to have an interactive system present you with irrelevant or what can feel like tangential information,” says Ghassemi.
Bloomberg reporter Adrian Wooldridge spotlights a new book titled “Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity” by Prof. Simon Johnson and Prof. Daron Acemoglu. “The authors’ main worry about AI is not that it will do something unexpected like blowing up the world,” writes Wooldridge. “It is that it will supercharge the current regime of surveillance, labor substitution and emotional manipulation.”
Institute Prof. Daron Acemoglu discusses AI and the labor market, the history of technological progress and Turkey with Financial Times columnist Rana Foroohar. “I think the skills of a carpenter or a gardener or an electrician or a writer, those are just the greatest achievements of humanity, and I think we should try to elevate those skills and elevate those contributions,” says Acemoglu. “Technology could do that, but that means to use technology not to replace these people, not to automate those tasks, but to increase their productivity.”
Prof. Daron Acemoglu speaks with Wired reporters Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode about his new book with Prof. Simon Johnson, “Power and Progress.” Acemoglu explains that: “The way I would put it is, don't think of your labor as a cost to be cut. Think of your labor as a human resource to be used better, and AI would be an amazing tool for it. Use AI to allow workers to make better decisions.”
Newsday reporter Edward B. Colbey spotlights Sara Stiklickas ’17 and her journey into the world of computer science. “Leaving high school, Sara Stiklickas figured she'd become an engineer or go to medical school. Computer science wasn't on her radar — until, that is, one course in college changed the path of her life,” writes Colbey.
As part of an effort to address racism and discrimination, MIT researchers have developed a new VR role-playing project, dubbed “On the Plane,” writes Axios reporter Russell Contreras. "Our hope is that (players) move away from the experience with an understanding of how xenophobia and other forms of discrimination may play out in everyday life situations," explains CSAIL Research Scientist Caglar Yildirim.
Prof. Stuart Madnick speaks with Wall Street Journal reporter Seán Captain about how AI could make scamming easier and more dangerous. AI “raises the level of skepticism that we must have substantially,” notes Madnick. “Procedures will have to be put in place to validate the authenticity of who you are dealing with.”
MIT alumni Steve Fredette, Aman Narang and Jonathan Grimm co-founded Toast, an all-in-one online restaurant management software company, reports Aaron Pressman for The Boston Globe. “The Toast founders spent hours talking to restaurateurs and built features such as real-time communication with the kitchen about special orders and dishes that have sold out, and a way of tracking loyalty rewards,” explains Pressman.
Prof. Cynthia Breazeal, the MIT dean of digital learning, speaks with Education Week reporter Alyson Klein about the importance of ensuring K-12 students are AI literate. “The AI genie is out of the bottle,” says Breazeal. “It’s not just in the realm of computer science and coding. It is affecting all aspects of society. It’s the machine under everything. It’s critical for all students to have AI literacy if they are going to be using computers, or really, almost any type of technology.”