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A gif of a newspaper being shredded

Can journalism resist a chatbot-fueled race to the bottom?

The industry’s response to generative AI, like ChatGPT, will tease out legit media organizations from the rest.

Spotting Frankensteins: Why humans beat AI at detecting freakish fakes

Computer vision expert James Elder explains why artificial intelligence is no match for human object perception.

The dirty parts of the computing world

The Cloud is surprisingly poisonous, a fact that few people outside of big data centers seem to be aware of. And that’s before the energy hog known as Bitcoin came along.

To make AI work for national security, invest in humans too

Artificial intelligence is rapidly developing across the globe. The United States needs human-centered artificial intelligence for national security. However, it also needs AI-centered humans.
Natalia Koryagina, Russia. After teaching herself to cultivate organic vegetables in her kitchen garden, Natalia Koryagina, a local geography teacher, has won national recognition for her work promoting new agricultural techniques in kitchen gardens, and providing training to local women on the use of these techniques. Accessed via Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Sanctions may sting if Russia invades Ukraine, despite Moscow’s efforts at sanction-proofing

A Russian ambassador has said he “doesn’t give a shit” about potential sanctions. But should sanctions be imposed following a potential invasion in Ukraine, Russia may suffer.

An existential discussion: What is the probability of nuclear war?

“Father of the internet” Vinton Cerf and “father of public key cryptography” Martin Hellman agree that the US needs to understand the risk of nuclear war. However, they disagree about the best means for understanding that risk. In side-by-side opinion pieces, Cerf and Hellman present their opposing views.
Cardboard cutouts of Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg stood outside the US Capitol on April 10, 2018, placed there by the advocacy group Avaaz to call attention to fake accounts spreading disinformation on Facebook. Credit: Kevin Wolf/AP images for AVAAZ

Why Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are bad for the climate

Willingly or not, giant social-media platforms spread climate misinformation and undercut climate science.

Contemplating a third nuclear test in North Korea

Shortly after its failed April 13 rocket launch, North Korea was widely expected to conduct its third underground nuclear test. Such a test would have fit the pattern of the first two nuclear tests, both of which followed failed rocket launches and international condemnation. And Pyongyang has compelling technical, military, and political reasons to conduct a third nuclear test that would demonstrate it can miniaturize nuclear warheads to fit on a missile, making its nuclear arsenal more threatening.

Interview: Emerging military technology expert Paul Scharre on global power dynamics in the AI age

The author of "Four Battlegrounds: Power in the age of artificial intelligence" surveys in matter-of-fact detail the struggle for world leadership in AI—especially as it relates to US-China power dynamics.
The hands of a monkeypox patient.

How big of a deal is monkeypox?

News reports paint a worrisome picture of growing monkeypox outbreaks around the world, but how big a risk is the disease?
owl in person's hands, getting banded

Species protections lag behind climate-driven declines

Many species that are not currently designated as endangered or threatened are actually in rapid decline, without any protections.
US Advanced Hypersonic Weapon test

Hypersonic missiles: Three questions every reader should ask

Coverage of hypersonic weapons by major news outlets has ranged from uncritical to downright fawning. Coverage of hypersonic weapons by major news outlets has ranged from uncritical to downright fawning. Here are some questions that every informed reader should be asking.
An ambulance

Young climate activists, artificial intelligence experts and 25 reasons for hope

A lot of news stories focus on the risks of emerging technologies, Wired, instead, chose to celebrate on 25 people and groups it says are "racing to save the world."

Artificial intelligence eats chess computers for lunch

Once upon a time, kids, the world’s strongest chess player had a beating heart.

Is breaking up big tech the solution to online hate or election meddling?

Presidential candidates, a Facebook co-founder, and others are considering whether the US government should use antitrust law to break up big tech companies. University of Chicago law professor and antitrust expert Randy Picker has some reservations.
Thermometer

COVID-19 to have negligible impact on climate crisis

The emissions reductions caused by the pandemic are not going to help us much on their own
G7 Italia sign with flags of participating nations

What the G7 countries should do at their next summit to regulate AI

Agreement on AI at the upcoming G7 summit should address social inequalities plaguing training data, laborers, and users.
A screen shot of the AMY1 gene from Arabidopsis thaliana, a small flowering plant widely used as a model organism in plant biology. (US government photo)

How to protect the world from ultra-targeted biological weapons

As genomic technologies develop and converge with AI, machine learning, automation, affective computing, and robotics, they will create the possibility of biological weapons that target particular groups of people, even individuals. Managing these technological advances will require new governance structures with cross-sectoral expertise.
How emerging technology is shaping the future of intelligence.

Quantum espionage

Author Garrett Graff interviews journalist and spy novelist David Ignatius on how emerging technology is shaping the future of intelligence.

Too late to counter missile proliferation?

Missiles are a critical component of a country’s nuclear weapons arsenal, which is one reason why concern over missile proliferation is widespread among policy experts. Yet, there is no consensus on how to respond to the WMD missile challenge.