MIT researchers have developed a new model that helps quantify a company’s security risk, and estimates possible financial losses, reports Catherine Stupp for The Wall Street Journal. The tool “collects encrypted data from companies about recent incidents and analyzes the anonymized information to determine the probability of different kinds of attacks more broadly,” writes Stupp.
A new tool developed by MIT researchers sheds light on the operations of generative adversarial network models and allows users to edit these machine learning models to generate new images, reports Daphne Leprince-Ringuet for ZDNet. "The real challenge I'm trying to breach here," says graduate student David Bau, "is how to create models of the world based on people's imagination."
TechCrunch reporter Taylor Hatmaker writes that MIT researchers will led a new NSF-funded research institute focused on AI and physics.
Researchers from MIT's Laboratory for Nuclear Science will lead a new research institute focused on advancing knowledge of physics and AI, reports Jared Council for The Wall Street Journal. The new research institute is part of an effort “designed to ensure the U.S. remains globally competitive in AI and quantum technologies.”
Newsweek reporter Meghan Roos writes that a study co-authored by Prof. Victor Chernozhukov finds a nationwide mask mandate in the U.S. could have reduced Covid-19 deaths by 40% among workers who regularly interact with the public. The researchers found “a national mask mandate for workers could have prevented between 17,000 and 55,000 deaths between the start of April and the start of June.”
Boston 25’s Chris Flanagan reports that MIT researchers developed a website aimed at educating the public about deepfake technology and misinformation. “This project is part of an awareness campaign to get people aware of what is possible with both AI technologies like our deepfake, but also really simple video editing technologies,” says Francesca Panetta, XR creative director at MIT’s Center for Advanced Virtuality.
MIT researchers created a deepfake video and website to help educate the public of the dangers of deepfakes and misinformation, reports Mike Wall for Space.com. “This alternative history shows how new technologies can obfuscate the truth around us, encouraging our audience to think carefully about the media they encounter daily,” says Francesca Panetta, XR creative director at MIT’s Center for Advanced Virtuality.
Scientific American explores how MIT researchers created a new website aimed at exploring the potential perils and possibilities of deepfakes. “One of the things I most love about this project is that it’s using deepfakes as a medium and the arts to address the issue of misinformation in our society,” says Prof. D. Fox Harrell.
TechCrunch reporter Darrell Etherington writes that CSAIL researchers have built a new two-fingered robotic gripper. The researchers “equipped their robotic gripper with fingertips that are not only made out of a soft material, but that also have embedded sensors which help it continually detect the position of a cable between the grippers to better control holding and manipulating them while performing simple tasks like detangling.”
Writing for The Atlantic, Daniel Huttenlocher, dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, examines the potential impacts of AI on human culture, history and civilization. “We should accept that AI is bound to become increasingly sophisticated and ubiquitous, and ask ourselves: How will its evolution affect human perception, cognition, and interaction? What will be its impact on our culture and, in the end, our history?”
Writing for The Atlantic, Daniel Huttenlocher, dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, examines the potential impacts of AI on human culture, history and civilization. “We should accept that AI is bound to become increasingly sophisticated and ubiquitous, and ask ourselves: How will its evolution affect human perception, cognition, and interaction? What will be its impact on our culture and, in the end, our history?”
WGBH’s Aaron Schachter explores the new MIT Schwarzman College of Computing with graduate student Marc Aidinoff, a member of the Social Implications and Responsibilities of Computing Working Group. “Our hope,” says Aidinoff, “is that we are able to integrate this into the DNA of the college in a deep and robust way.”
Writing for The Wall Street Journal, visiting lecturer Irving Wladawsky-Berger spotlights how the new MIT Schwarzman College of Computing aims to educate students from every discipline on how to responsibly use and develop AI technologies. Wladawsky-Berger notes that “such an interdisciplinary initiative is a truly bold step for any institution.”
WGBH’s Kirk Carapezza reports from the launch of the new MIT Stephen Schwarzman College of Computing on how the new college is indicative of a shift in higher education towards more technical fields. “They can choose the major which is their passion and be confident they’re going to gain the skills that are necessary to advance that passion,” explains Provost Martin Schmidt.
Anne Mostue reports for Bloomberg Baystate Business on the launch event for the new MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing. Eric Schmidt, former executive chairman of Alphabet, noted that the new college will be able to achieve something that has not been possible before, namely to “aggressively diffuse this new technology into fields which need it, but can’t get it on their own.”