MIT researchers have found that the Rekognition facial recognition system has more difficulty identifying the gender of female and darker-skinned faces than similar services, reports Natasha Singer for The New York Times. Graduate student Joy Buolamwini said “the results of her studies raised fundamental questions for society about whether facial technology should not be used in certain situations,” writes Singer.
New York Times reporter Steve Lohr writes about the MIT AI Policy Conference, which examined how society, industry and governments should manage the policy questions surrounding the evolution of AI technologies. “If you want people to trust this stuff, government has to play a role,” says CSAIL principal research scientist Daniel Weitzner.
An excerpt published in National Geographic from a book by Deborah Blum, director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT, examines how Henry Heinz’s push to improve the quality of his company’s ketchup helped usher in new food safety regulations. Blum writes that Heinz realized “consumer distrust of the food supply would be far more expensive to manufacturers like him than the cost of improving the food itself.”
Writing for Inside Higher Ed, research scientist Felice Frankel explains the importance of scientists learning how to communicate their work. “I am convinced that learning how to make technically accurate, interesting and honest images and graphics of science should be part of every scientist’s education,” writes Frankel.
Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, writes for Forbes examines how new technologies could help people follow-through their New Year’s resolutions. Coughlin writes that marketing innovations that leverage “behavioral science insights are emerging to help with sustained behavioral change.”
In an article for Forbes, Prof. David Mindell highlights the technologies on display at the annual CES showcase in Las Vegas. “To visit CES is to immerse oneself in imagined futures with vivid colors, encountering the technologies that will make our own cars, homes, and jobs a bit more like Las Vegas,” writes Mindell.
Prof. Max Tegmark speaks with Forbes contributor Peter High about his work trying to ensure that AI technologies are implemented in a way that is beneficial to society. “If we plan accordingly and steer technology in the right direction, we can create an inspiring future that will allow humanity to flourish in a way that we have never seen before,” says Tegmark.
Writing for Forbes, Prof. David Mindell explores the concept of using work, in particular the duties a home health aide performs, as a Turing test for the abilities of AI systems. “In this era of anxiety about AI technologies changing the nature of work,” writes Mindell, “everything we know about work should also change the nature of AI.”
Writing for Wired, Prof. Carlo Ratti predicts that in 2019 researchers will develop new methods for allowing people to use the internet in less intrusive ways. “The internet of things will continue to grow, and we will work out more ways to develop ‘things’ that allow us to enjoy the internet without being overwhelmed by it,” writes Ratti.
CBS Boston reporter Dr. Mallika Marshall spotlights research by researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital to develop robotic prosthetic limbs controlled by the brain. “It’s a wonderful experience as a researcher,” explains Herr of the work’s impact. “They walk away and start crying or laughing and giggling and say, ‘my gosh I have my body back, I have leg back, I have my life back.’”
Prof. Donald Sadoway speaks with CBC News reporter Paul Hunter about his work developing a rechargeable battery that is big enough to power an entire neighborhood, and uses liquid metals and molten salt. Hunter writes that “Sadoway's invention is radically different from anything else in the market.”
Provost Martin Schmidt and SHASS Dean Melissa Nobles speak with Wall Street Journal reporter Sara Castellanos about MIT’s efforts to advance the study of AI and its ethical and societal implications through the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing. Schmidt says this work “requires a deep partnership between the technologists and the humanists.”
Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, writes for Quartz about ways that new technologies can be used to make aging more fun for today’s seniors. “By investing in such uncharted aspects of the longevity economy now, we may pave the way for ourselves to live longer, better—and perhaps with a smile,” writes Coughlin.
Writing for Wired, Prof. Joi Ito, director of the Media Lab, writes about the need for creating more open, global datasets for such critical issues as air quality monitoring. “We need to start using data for more than commercial exploitation,” argues Ito, “deploying it to understand the long-term effects of policy, and create transparency around those in power—not of private citizens.”
Fast Company reporter Katharine Schwab writes that researchers from the MIT Senseable City Lab have developed a new interactive tool, called Escape, that allows users to map flight costs to any destination in the world. Escape’s “design is meant to help narrow down countless destinations as you plan your next getaway.”