Research scientist César Hidalgo speaks with Kara Miller of WGBH’s Innovation Hub about his work exploring collective memory and how society experiences generational forgetting. For things like popular songs “there is a period of up to five years when they are still in our communicative memory, we are still talking about it," Hidalgo explains. “After that they go into our cultural memory.”
WCVB-TV’s Mike Wankum visits the Media Lab to learn more about a new wearable device that allows users to communicate with a computer without speaking by measuring tiny electrical impulses sent by the brain to the jaw and face. Graduate student Arnav Kapur explains that the device is aimed at exploring, “how do we marry AI and human intelligence in a way that’s symbiotic.”
Fast Company reporter Eillie Anzilotti highlights how MIT researchers have developed an AI-enabled headset device that can translate silent thoughts into speech. Anzilotti explains that one of the factors that is motivating graduate student Arnav Kapur to develop the device is “to return control and ease of verbal communication to people who struggle with it.”
Fast Company reporter DJ Pangburn spotlights how researchers in the Mediated Matter Group have created polymers derived from organic materials that are designed to decompose. Pangburn explains that “the group’s biopolymers are designed to decompose upon reaching the end of its product life cycle, returning to the earth instead of being destined for a dump.”
Research assistant Blakeley Payne speaks with Wall Street Journal reporter Michelle Ma about her work developing a curriculum that teaches kids about the ethics of AI. “You have to integrate the ethics piece at every point, because you never want to fall into the trap of presenting an AI system as like a mathematical equation,” explains Payne, “with the authority of a mathematical equation.”
A study by MIT researchers examines the historical impact of technology on the labor market in an attempt to better understand the potential effect of AI systems, reports Adi Gaskell for Forbes. “The authors propose a number of solutions for improving data on the skills required in the workforce today, and from that the potential for AI to automate or augment those skills,” Gaskell explains.
Researchers from MIT and the European Space Agency are developing a process to evaluate how operators deploy satellites to help reduce the amount of debris in space, reports Loren Grush for The Verge. “It’s actually encouraging companies to try to beat each other in how good they behave, so they can build their brand,” explains Prof. Danielle Wood.
Axios reporter Steve Levine highlights Media Lab Director Joi Ito’s recent comments about how the internet may be heading toward a dark period due to rising violence and political tensions around the world. Ito notes that both democratic and authoritarian nations are creating “a balkanized and not-so-open internet everywhere.”
Writing for Wired, Prof. Joi Ito, director of the Media Lab, argues against the notion of singularity, the concept that AI will supersede humans. “Instead of thinking about machine intelligence in terms of humans vs machines, we should consider the system that integrates humans and machines – not artificial intelligence but extended intelligence,” writes Ito.
WBUR reporter Pamela Reynolds highlights graduate student Joy Buolamwini’s piece, “The Coded Gaze,” which is currently on display as part of the “Avatars//Futures” exhibit at the Nave Gallery. Reynolds writes that Buolamwini’s piece “questions the inherent bias of coding in artificial intelligence, which has resulted in facial recognition technology unable to recognize black faces.”
Research scientist Philipp Schmidt speaks with Inside Higher Ed reporter Lindsay McKenzie about the Digital Credentials Collaboration, which is creating a worldwide standard and shared infrastructure for digital academic credentials. “Universities are interested in providing their graduates with credentials that are useful and digital, but also secure,” Schmidt explains.
Quartz reporter Anne Quito spotlights how graduate student Arnav Kapur has developed a wearable device that allows users to access the internet without speech or text and could help people who have lost the ability to speak vocalize their thoughts. Kapur explains that the device is aimed at augmenting ability.
Axios reporter Ina Fried spotlights how graduate student Arnav Kapur has developed a system that can detect speech signals. “The technology could allow those who have lost the ability to speak to regain a voice while also opening up possibilities of new interfaces for general purpose computing,” Fried explains.
Writing for Wired, Prof. Joi Ito, director of the Media Lab, argues that online platforms should be designed to encourage young people to learn and explore through high-quality content. “We need to recognize that young people will make contact with commercial content and grown-ups online, and we need to figure out better ways to regulate and optimize platforms to serve participants of mixed ages,” writes Ito.
Fast Company reporter Mark Wilson spotlights Prof. Neri Oxman’s work developing 3-D printed sculptures filled with melanin, the pigment that colors our skin and hair. Wilson writes that Oxman’s work shows how melanin could potentially be used in buildings to protect inhabitants for the elements, generate energy or absorb unwanted environmental materials.