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ChatGPT has changed the world since it emerged a few short months ago. Where will future advancements in generative AI take us?

Welcome back Katie Brenneman, a regular contributor to 21st Century Tech Blog. Several weeks ago when ChatGPT entered the headlines I suggested to Katie that she consider writing about Large Language Modelling (LLM) and the technological and societal implications in terms of its capabilities. Were we witnessing the birth of consciousness in this new artificial intelligence (AI) discipline, or were we coming to terms with what defines our sentience?

By definition, sentience is about feelings and sensations and not thinking. Consciousness, on the other hand, is about our awareness of self and our place in the world around us. And thinking is about the ability to reason, consider a problem, come up with an idea or solution, or have an opinion.

Continue reading “Are Large Language Model Generative AIs Sentient, Conscious or Thinking?” »

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When Microsoft-funded lab OpenAI launched ChatGPT in February, millions of people realized almost overnight what tech professionals have understood for a long time: Today’s AI tools are advanced enough to transform daily life as well as an incredibly broad range of industries. Microsoft’s Bing leaped from a distant second place in search to a much higher-profile level. Concepts like large language models (LLMs) and natural language processing are now part of mainstream discussion.

However, with the spotlight also comes scrutiny. Regulators around the world are taking note of AI’s risks to user privacy. The Elon Musk-backed Future of Life Institute amassed 1,000 signatures from tech leaders asking for a six-month pause on training AI tools that are more advanced than GPT-4, which powers ChatGPT.

Rapid progress in AI is arousing fear as well as excitement. How worried should you be?

Timnit Gebru co-authored a research paper while she worked at Google, which identified the biases of machine learning.

Quantum biology explores how quantum effects influence biological processes, potentially leading to breakthroughs in medicine and biotechnology. Despite the assumption that quantum effects rapidly disappear in biological systems, research suggests these effects play a key role in physiological processes. This opens up the possibility of manipulating these processes to create non-invasive, remote-controlled therapeutic devices. However, achieving this requires a new, interdisciplinary approach to scientific research.

Imagine using your cell phone to control the activity of your own cells to treat injuries and diseases. It sounds like something from the imagination of an overly optimistic science fiction writer. But this may one day be a possibility through the emerging field of quantum biology.

Continue reading “Quantum Biology: Unlocking the Mysteries of How Life Works” »

A new method of controlling the shape of tiny particles about one tenth of the width of human hair could make the technology that powers our daily lives more stable and more efficient, scientists claim.

The process, which transforms the structure of microscopic semiconductor materials known as quantum dots, provides industry with opportunities to optimize optoelectronics, energy harvesting, photonics, and biomedical imaging technologies, according to the Cardiff University-led team.

Their study, published in Nano Letters, used a process called nanofaceting—the formation of small, flat surfaces on nanoparticles—to manipulate the quantum dots into a variety of shapes called nanocrystals.

A flurry of job postings relating to AI suggests that Apple wants to invest in the AI revolution we’re going through.

Increasingly, social robots are being used for support in educational contexts. But does the sound of a social robot affect how well they perform, especially when dealing with teams of humans? Teamwork is a key factor in human creativity, boosting collaboration and new ideas. Danish scientists set out to understand whether robots using a voice designed to sound charismatic would be more successful as team creativity facilitators.

“We had a robot instruct teams of students in a creativity task. The robot either used a confident, passionate—ie charismatic—tone of voice or a normal, matter-of-fact tone of voice,” said Dr. Kerstin Fischer of the University of Southern Denmark, corresponding author of the study in Frontiers in Communication. “We found that when the robot spoke in a charismatic speaking style, students’ ideas were more original and more elaborate.”

We know that social robots acting as facilitators can boost creativity, and that the success of facilitators is at least partly dependent on charisma: people respond to charismatic speech by becoming more confident and engaged. Fischer and her colleagues aimed to see if this effect could be reproduced with the voices of social robots by using a text-to-speech function engineered for characteristics associated with charismatic speaking, such as a specific pitch range and way of stressing words. Two voices were developed, one charismatic and one less expressive, based on a range of parameters which correlate with perceived speaker charisma.

In the company’s quarterly earnings call earlier this month, CEO Tim Cook said Apple is planning to “weave” AI into its products, per The Independent. But he also cautioned about the future of the technology.

“I do think it’s very important to be deliberate and thoughtful in how you approach these things,” he said, per Inc. “And there’s a number of issues that need to be sorted as is being talked about in a number of different places, but the potential is certainly very interesting.”

Apple is also telling some employees to limit their use of ChatGPT and other external AI tools, according to an internal document seen by the Journal. That includes the automated coding tool Copilot, from the Microsoft-owned GitHub.