language
The Prisoner Who Revolutionized Language With a Teacup
While imprisoned for being a “reactionary,” physicist and engineer Zhi Bingyi began devising a system to help computing machines read Chinese characters.
Soon Your Google Searches Can Combine Text and Images
With the help of AI, you’ll be able to take a picture of a shirt, then ask Google to find socks with the same pattern.
These Headphones Translate Foreign Languages on the Fly
The Ambassador app-connected earphones translate human speech into multiple tongues, enabling multilingual conversations.
This AI Can Generate Convincing Text—and Anyone Can Use It
The makers of Eleuther hope it will be an open source alternative to GPT-3, the well-known language program from OpenAI.
How Censorship Can Influence Artificial Intelligence
A study finds that algorithms learn to associate words with other words. “Democracy” can equal “stability”—or “chaos.”
Stop Calling Everyone a Tech Bro
Silicon Valley’s problem is not an excess of frat-house behavior. It’s much worse.
Hello, World! It Is ‘I,’ the Internet
When did “the Internet” become “the internet”? Why did that happen, and how has it changed us?
The Left and the Right Speak Different Languages—Literally
A study analyzing patterns in online comments found that liberals and conservatives use different words to express similar ideas.
Covid-19 Is History’s Biggest Translation Challenge
Services like Google Translate support only 100 languages, give or take. What about the thousands of other languages—spoken by people just as vulnerable to this crisis?
Metaphors Matter in a Time of Pandemic
Warfare may be a rousing way to speechify, but it's perilous when used to describe disasters from hurricanes to viral outbreaks.
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'Baby Talk' Can Help Kids Learn Language (Oh Yes It Can!)
The more ‘parentese’ there is at home, the more likely a child is to have an advanced vocabulary later on.
‘Boomerspeak’ Is Now Available for Your Parodying Pleasure
The verbal stylings of the boomer generation—dot dot dots, repeated commas, mid-sentence caps—crystallized into a distinct genre this year.
What We Get Wrong About ‘People of Color’
The phrase turns a plural into a singular, an action that betrays all the ways we have come to understand contemporary identity.
Do We Need a Special Language to Talk to Aliens?
Scientists have tried contacting extraterrestrials with a number of bespoke linguistic systems. But we might be better off using our own languages.
Google Search Now Reads at a Higher Level
The company is incorporating new software that better understands subtleties of language, with the biggest changes for queries outside the US.
This Robot Debates and Cracks Jokes, but It's Still a Toaster
Domo arigato, debating roboto: An IBM project shows that a computer can carry on a sophisticated—if creepy—argument with a human.
Children Are Using Emoji for Digital-Age Language Learning
When preliterate kids type strings of emoji, it may seem like a random act. But when exposed to the rhythm of texts, kids discover how to communicate.