The Artificial Intelligence Database
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Ideas
Optimizing Machines Is Perilous. Consider ‘Creatively Adequate’ AI.
The future of artificial intelligence needs less data and can tolerate ambiguity.
By Angus Fletcher and Erik J. Larson
Books
Dystopia Is All Too Plausible in The School for Good Mothers
Jessamine Chan's new novel makes a world full of surveillance android children seem very real.
By Kate Knibbs
Ideas
Are You Sure You Know What a Photograph Is?
Once, I thought I had a definition of photography. Today, surrounded by thermal cameras, lidar, 3D printers, and AI software, I am not so sure.
By Rashed Haq
Crisis Mode
Simulation Tech Can Help Predict the Biggest Threats
In the face of myriad global problems, Single Synthetic Environments will make life and death decisions easier to navigate.
By Joe Robinson
mirror image
Gaming Giant Unity Wants to Digitally Clone the World
The company is leveraging its technology to help clients make “digital twins”—virtual copies of real-life objects, environments, and even people.
By Cecilia D'Anastasio
Hourly Rate
Now You Can Rent a Robot Worker—for Less Than Paying a Human
Automation is reaching more companies, imperiling some jobs and changing the nature of others.
By Will Knight
Misdiagnosed
When It Comes to Health Care, AI Has a Long Way to Go
Medical information is more complex and less available than the web data that many algorithms were trained on, so results can be misleading.
By Tom Simonite
Space Atlas
Astrophysicists Release the Biggest Map of the Universe Yet
A powerful astronomy instrument called DESI charts millions of galaxies in the night sky. Can it help scientists finally figure out what dark energy is?
By Ramin Skibba
Ideas
The Humanities Can't Save Big Tech From Itself
Hiring sociocultural workers to correct bias overlooks the limitations of these underappreciated fields.
By Elena Maris
Ideas
When Mind Melds With Machine, Who’s in Control?
Brain-computer interfaces are getting better all the time—and they’re about to land us in a philosophical quagmire.
By Kelly Clancy
Un-folding
This AI Software Nearly Predicted Omicron’s Tricky Structure
New algorithms that decipher complex sequences of amino acids offered an early view of the coronavirus variant. They could point the way to future drugs.
By Tom Simonite
Sow It Goes
John Deere's Self-Driving Tractor Stirs Debate on AI in Farming
The automation, and control of the resulting data, raises questions about the role of human farmers.
By Will Knight
Special Series
The Creepy TikTok Algorithm Doesn’t Know You
The uncanny, addictive AI has turned math into a mystical force—and flattened humanity into a series of codes.
By Eleanor Cummins
Year in Review
A Year In, Biden’s China Policy Looks a Lot Like Trump’s
The administration has toned down the anti-China rhetoric, but it has maintained and expanded economic sanctions—and plans a “diplomatic boycott” of the Olympics.
By Jennifer Conrad
Emotional AI
What Happens When an AI Knows How You Feel?
Technology used to only deliver our messages. Now it wants to write them for us by understanding our emotions.
By Will Coldwell
Special Series
If AI Is Predicting Your Future, Are You Still Free?
Part of being human is being able to defy the odds. Algorithmic prophecies undermine that.
By Carissa Véliz
Special Series
The History of Predicting the Future
Humans have long tried to determine the shape of what’s to come. But even the most advanced technology can’t solve the fundamental issues with predictions.
By Amanda Rees
Year in Review
'Algorithmic Reparation' Calls for Racial Justice in AI
Researchers are encouraging those who work in AI to explicitly consider racism, gender, and other structural inequalities.
By Khari Johnson
Ideas
The Future of Reality Is Multiple Choice
As a new Matrix film arrives in theaters, our senior senior correspondent asks: What is real?
By KC Cole
Déjà Vu
The Matrix Resurrections Review: The Wachowskis Were the True Oracles
Directors Lana and Lilly Wachowski warned about the dangers of trusting tech 22 years ago. With the latest sequel, Lana is back with another harbinger.
By Angela Watercutter