Whether it’s based on hallucinatory beliefs or not, an artificial-intelligence gold rush has started over the last several months to mine the anticipated business opportunities from generative AI models like ChatGPT. App developers, venture-backed startups, and some of the world’s… Continue Reading →

Connected devices have become an expectation: whether at home, in the office, or moving through the city, people rely on smart, interconnected devices and sensors making their lives easier, more productive, and more efficient. Today, technical advances such as lower… Continue Reading →

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company that develops life-transforming medicines, found itself inundated with vast volumes of data during the peak of the covid-19 pandemic. In order to derive actionable information from these disparate data sets, which ranged from clinical trial… Continue Reading →

Editor’s note: This is a translation of a story about how the crime-tracking app Citizen has been giving away free subscriptions to elderly Asians in the Bay Area. Find the English language version here. 本文是与普利策中心的人工智能问责网络合作撰写的。 当外面天黑的时候，约瑟芬·赵（Josephine Zhao）哪怕只是走几个街区就能回到旧金山的家，有时也会多叫一双“眼睛”——字面意义的眼睛。 赵打开手机上的Citizen App，通过一个名为“实时监控”的功能，与该平台的一个客服人员建立联系。而该平台也可以通过网络追踪到赵的GPS位置，客服只要点击另一个按钮，就可以得到打开她手机摄像头的授权。这样该平台就可以“看到我所看到的东西”，赵说。通常来说，她甚至不会和客服人员进行对话，但她知道“这时有人和我一起走”，这会让赵感到安心一些。 这是赵最近采取的最新安全措施之一：她也避免乘坐公共交通工具，以及在城市里走路的时候，会在她的钥匙链上挂着一个长长的尖头装置。这个装置是一个浅粉色的塑料制品，必要的时候会变成一个武器。 但在她看来，Citizen这样一个允许用户报告和跟踪附近犯罪通知的超级本地应用程序是她最好的保护手段之一，这种数据驱动的DIY安全措施能够保护一个长期被忽视的群体。… Continue Reading →

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Meet the AI expert who says we should stop using AI so much Meredith Broussard is unusually well… Continue Reading →