Fast Company reporter Amy Farley spotlights graduate student Joy Buolamwini and her work battling bias in artificial intelligence systems, noting that “when it comes to AI injustices, her voice resonates.” Buolamwini emphasizes that “we have a voice and a choice in the kind of future we have.”
President L. Rafael Reif joins Alan Alda on his podcast “Clear + Vivid” to discuss the need for increased American investment in fundamental research and development.
The Economist spotlights a recent essay by Prof. David Autor and Elisabeth Reynolds, executive director of the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future, about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the state of work. “If remote working proves a lasting shift, then the café staff, taxi drivers and cleaners who depend on their custom could find themselves out of work,” writes The Economist.
Washington Post contributor Anna Leahy spotlights Prof. Sasha Costanza-Chock’s book, “Design Justice.” Leahy notes that in the book, Costanza-Chock, “encourages a bolder approach that calls for the world to be redesigned based on an expansive view of people’s bodies and cognitive abilities.”
Fast Company reporter Kristin Toussaint writes that a study by MIT researchers finds shutdowns and lockdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic led to clearer skies and increased solar output in Delhi. “I think we’ve been able to get a glimpse of how the world can look like if we actually have clean air,” says research scientist Ian Marius Peters.
Writing for The Boston Globe, Prof. Carlo Ratti explores the importance of public spaces in bringing people together. “Public space is performing its primordial function: revealing fault lines in our society and helping to reconcile them,” writes Ratti. “This is a particularly important activity today, as the growth of digital communication is leading to increased polarization.”
Researchers from MIT and Harvard have developed a new biosensitive ink “that indicates one’s health condition by changing its color,” writes Seung Jae Park for The Los Angeles Times. “With the subtle embellishment of the ink with tattoo artistry, the team aims to overcome the shortcomings of the current biomedical monitoring devices.”
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.
Writing for the Financial Times, Prof. Sherry Turkle examines how the Covid-19 pandemic could offer an opportunity for positive change. “When the government no longer plays by the rules, people want more than a return to order,” writes Turkle. “We are offered the chance of something genuinely new coming out of the crucible of our current disorder.”
A study co-authored by MIT researchers finds that asking social media users to evaluate the accuracy of news headlines can reduce the spread of Covid-19 misinformation. “Asking users to rate content gets them to think about accuracy and generates useful input for the platforms,” explains Prof. David Rand.
Fast Company reporter Kristin Toussaint writes about a new study by Prof. David Autor that finds middle class jobs for non-college grads are disappearing, particularly for Black and Latino workers. Autor suggest that higher minimum wages “are surprisingly effective at improving the incomes of workers in low wage jobs,” adding that “they don’t seem to have noticeable adverse effects on employment.”
Prof. David Autor has found opportunities for minority workers in cities have receded, particularly those without college degrees, reports Jonnelle Marte for Reuters. “As the middle hollowed out, (minority workers) were more exposed to middle-skilled work, and net of that, they were also over-represented at the low end and under-represented at the high end,” says Autor.
Bloomberg reporter Peter Coy writes that a new study by Prof. David Autor finds cities are no longer “escalators of opportunity” for people in middle-paying jobs, in particular Black and Latino workers. Coy writes that Autor proposes, “one solution is to raise minimum wages in cities, which would raise the living standards of low-income workers.”