National Geographic reporter Catherine Zuckerman spotlights the work of research scientist Felice Frankel, a photographer who captures images that are intended to captivate and inform viewers about complex scientific advances. Frankel explains that the goal of her new book is to help scientists “understand that beautiful images can engage the public.”
President Reif speaks with Gerry Baker of WSJ at Large about the impact of AI on the future of education and work. “Part of the goal of the [MIT Schwarzman] college is, as we educate people to use these [AI] tools, to educate them in a way that empowers human beings, not replaces human beings,” says Reif.
In an article for Axios, Prof. Carlo Rati writes about how developments in automated vehicles and smart infrastructure could be used to help make cities safer. “Developing technology for AVs to communicate with other vehicles as well as infrastructure like streets, traffic lights and road signs could both improve safety and decrease congestion,” writes Ratti.
Associated Press reporter Tali Arbel writes that MIT researchers have found that Amazon’s facial detection technology often misidentifies women and women with darker skin. Arbel writes that the study, “warns of the potential of abuse and threats to privacy and civil liberties from facial-detection technology.”
A new study by Media Lab researchers finds that Amazon’s Rekognition facial recognition system performed more accurately when identifying lighter-skinned faces, reports Drew Harrell for The Washington Post. The system “performed flawlessly in predicting the gender of lighter-skinned men,” writes Harrell, “but misidentified the gender of darker-skinned women in roughly 30 percent of their tests.”
Verge reporter James Vincent writes that Media Lab researchers have found that the facial recognition system Rekognition performed worse at identifying an individual’s gender if they were female or dark-skinned. In experiments, the researchers found that the system “mistook women for men 19 percent of the time and mistook darker-skinned women for men 31 percent of the time,” Vincent explains.
Boston Globe columnist Scott Kirsner highlights the RealityVirtually event that took place at MIT, bringing together nearly 450 people from 35 countries around the world to create new software for virtual and augmented reality headsets. Kirsner writes that the event “offered an incredible glimpse into the nascent medium’s potential and possibilities.”
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.”