Showing 1 - 10 of 15
Ripe time to allow AI whistleblowers speak out
News, Published on 18/06/2024
» Here's an AI advancement that should benefit all of us: It's getting easier for builders of artificial intelligence to warn the world about the harms their algorithms can cause -- from spreading misinformation and displacing jobs, to hallucinating and providing a new form of surveillance. But who can these would-be whistleblowers turn to? An encouraging shift toward better oversight is underway, thanks to changes in compensation policies, renewed momentum to speak out among engineers and the growing clout of a British government-backed safety group.
Google trial's secrecy seen as dangerous
Oped, Published on 08/12/2023
» The largest antitrust trial of the modern internet era, which wrapped up last month, has pitted the world's most popular search engine, Google, against the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). The case hearkens back to the DOJ's landmark lawsuit against Microsoft in the 1990s but with a critical difference: most of it was held behind closed doors. This unprecedented secrecy meant that only journalists and observers who were physically in the courtroom had access -- albeit limited -- to the proceedings.
Inside a nasty newspaper war
Sunday Spotlight, Published on 19/03/2023
» They say that print is dead and local news is dying. But in the small patch of lower Manhattan that is Greenwich Village, there are four local newspapers vying for supremacy. Here, print is very much alive.
Embalming, the dying science
Sunday Spotlight, Published on 20/11/2022
» Walk down two flights of stairs at the back entrance of the James Hunt Funeral Home in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and you reach a white-walled, linoleum-floored, fluorescently lit room, a liminal space that provides the beginning of an answer to one of the oldest and most confounding questions of the human experience: What happens to us when we die?
The home makeover from hell
Sunday Spotlight, Published on 12/06/2022
» Millions of viewers, eager for a Cinderella story with real estate as the central character, watch televised home renovation shows to see troubled houses transformed into showstoppers.
Doc film festival offers insights into US society
Life, Vanniya Sriangura, Published on 18/05/2022
» The US embassy in partnership with American Film Showcase (AFS) and Documentary Club Thailand presents "American Documentary Film Festival 2022" from May 26 to June 1.
US presidential poll and implications
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 06/11/2020
» It is surprisingly unsurprising. Contrary to most polls and pundits, incumbent United States President Donald J Trump did not lose by a landslide in the presidential election this week. The final results are so close that both candidates, Mr Trump and Democratic Party rival Joe Biden, have claimed victory. Despite ongoing rancour and acrimony until the next US president is sworn in next January, several outcomes and implications are already clear.
Asia's century, China's year
Asia focus, Published on 30/12/2019
» Way back when 1999 was winding down, pundits were telling us that the Asian Century was about to dawn. That prediction has not yet been fully realised, but few would disagree that 2019 belonged to China. Over the past 12 months, the top headlines have been about the bruising trade war with America, defiant protests in Hong Kong against Beijing's tightening grip, and the rise of a surveillance state that is herding hundreds of thousands into "re-education" camps on its western fringes. Below, the Asia Focus team looks back on a busy and sometimes troubling 2019.
China is blowing an opportunity with Meng's arrest
News, Published on 21/12/2018
» China is blowing the geopolitical opportunity of a lifetime. There has probably never been a better moment to undo America's greatest strategic advantage by dividing the US from its global network of democratic allies, many of which are horrified by President Trump's rhetoric and policies and deeply worried about Washington's staying power. Yet, Beijing is doing its best to remind that democratic world that it has far more to fear from a hegemonic China than from an erratic America.
Thailand's black site: Who is accountable?
News, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 15/05/2018
» Suddenly Thailand, a name synonymous with coups and democratic struggles, has been mentioned repeatedly by US lawmakers and TV personalities over the last few weeks.