Showing 1 - 10 of 222
The high cost of GPT-4o 'giveaway'
Oped, Published on 08/06/2024
» With the launch of GPT-4o, OpenAI has once again shown itself to be the world's most innovative artificial-intelligence company. This new multimodal AI tool -- which seamlessly integrates text, voice, and visual capabilities -- is significantly faster than previous models, greatly enhancing the user experience. But perhaps the most attractive feature of GPT-4o is that it is free -- or so it seems.
Protests of both despair and conflict in Gaza
Oped, Published on 30/05/2024
» These are crazy times. Biblical disturbances in nature, such as the repeated torrential rain in Dubai or the mass fish die-off in Vietnam's overheated reservoir, seem to mirror our overheated politics and social environment.
Divestment from Israel will not bring peace
News, Published on 27/05/2024
» The Oct 7 terrorist attack by Hamas has rightly generated enormous sympathy for the people of Israel, especially given Jews' history of persecution, culminating in the Holocaust. But the plight of civilians in Gaza since the attack is horrifying as well. Both sides need to support an immediate cessation of hostilities, followed by good-faith efforts to address the underlying issues.
The high costs of new US tariffs on Chinese EVs
Published on 25/05/2024
» US President Joe Biden’s administration has just announced 100% tariffs on electric vehicles (EVs) manufactured in China, prompting Donald Trump to promise a 200% tariff on Chinese cars made in Mexico if he is elected in November. Neither policy would have notable effects on the US car market because imports of Chinese EVs are minuscule, owing to past tariffs and the anti-Chinese sentiment that has gripped the country in recent years. Nonetheless, the announcement is significant for three reasons.
The popular decimation of India's democracy
Oped, Pranab Bardhan, Published on 18/05/2024
» India's ongoing parliamentary election, in which nearly a billion people casting their votes over a six-week period, should represent an extraordinary exercise of democracy. The bleak reality, however, is that the election appears poised to consolidate a decade-long process of democratic decay, which has included the decimation of liberal institutions and practices and weakening of political competition. After all, the leader who has presided over this process -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -- remains wildly popular.
Petty dealings
Postbag, Published on 12/05/2024
» Re: "Court fines NACC over Prawit watches secrecy", (BP, May 10).
Will AI create more fake news than it exposes?
News, Tyler Cowen, Published on 08/04/2024
» The best large-language models can already write like humans, especially if prompted properly. Photos and images can be faked at low cost. Yet-to-be-released technology can create convincing voice simulations. There are signs that some academic papers contain traces of GPT-4. If even professors are faking it, then surely the dam has burst.
Disney's 'Shogun' has a lot to teach the West
News, Published on 28/02/2024
» One of the most famous tales ever set in Japan is back. Walt Disney Co is spending millions on a glossy new adaptation of the James Clavell saga Shogun, the story of the Englishman who arrives in 1600s Japan and goes on to become a samurai.
AI set to reinforce Big Tech's dominance of economy
Oped, Published on 19/01/2024
» With long-gestating antitrust cases against Google, Apple, and Amazon coming to fruition, many observers think that 2024 could be a turning point for Big Tech. Yet even as authorities press ahead with this litigation, they risk being blindsided by the rise of artificial intelligence, which is likely to reinforce Big Tech's dominance of the economy.
Don't rely on last year's trends for global economy
Oped, Published on 16/01/2024
» Behavioural economists have popularised the term "recency bias" to describe our tendency to be disproportionately influenced by the latest events compared to earlier ones. Could this cognitive phenomenon explain why numerous analysts have a rather optimistic tilt for the world economy in 2024? Or are there really positive trends counterbalancing the obvious and mounting challenges to global growth?