Showing 1 - 10 of 12
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.
Deepfakes will hijack your brain -- if you let them
News, Published on 22/02/2024
» Realistic AI-generated images and voice recordings may be the newest threat to democracy, but they're part of a longstanding family of deceptions. The way to fight so-called deepfakes isn't to develop some rumour-busting form of AI or to train the public to spot fake images. A better tactic would be to encourage a few well-known critical thinking methods -- refocusing our attention, reconsidering our sources, and questioning ourselves.
Ditch Google to avoid fake news
News, Published on 15/01/2024
» Searching for information has become instant and effortless -- just go to your nearest device, ask Siri or click a few keys. But are we better informed than we were before Google became a verb?
Could the study of humanities be automated?
Oped, Published on 29/09/2022
» There has been much hand-wringing about the crisis of the humanities, and recent breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) have added to the angst. It is not only truck drivers whose jobs are threatened by automation. Now, they are demonstrating proficiency in the tasks that occupy humanities professors when they are not giving lectures: namely, writing papers and submitting them for publication in academic journals.
We cannot lose control of technology
Oped, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 19/01/2022
» The advent of Covid-19 has accentuated digitalisation and its close linkage with automation, algorithms, and artificial intelligence ("the three A's"). The Asian region interfaces closely with this phenomenon, especially because it is the most populous continent. It is also a region with a large number of non-democracies and semi-democracies. This panorama invites care to prevent misuse of those three As.
Covid-19 Terminology
Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 10/04/2020
» Are you a covidiot or a covidient? You can probably guess the meaning of both portmanteaus. The former is used to describe people who disregard social distancing and other rules regarding the Covid-19 pandemic that have been put in place while the latter is the opposite and comprises of "Covid-19" and "obedient". Hope you're all the latter.
#BehindTheHashtags
Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 06/03/2020
» Many student protests that were partly set off by the dissolution of Future Forward Party over the past two weeks has also ushered in new hashtags into the lexicon of Thai social media. At the time of writing, it has been reported that there are 28 hashtags associated with campus protests. Some are humourous while others carry strong political stances and sharp gibes. Whether you agree with these students who've chosen to make their voices heard, it's better to get used to their protest hashtags as more student flashmobs are on their way (but many speculate that the designation of Covid-19 as a dangerous communicable disease may be used as a tool to suppress them). Not to mention, an online campaign calling for people to wear black on Fridays as a symbol to oppose dictatorship began last Friday.
The world knows where you've been
Life, James Hein, Published on 16/01/2019
» A reminder for those operating in the digital world. This includes the internet, your phone, social media and basically anything in the public sphere. You can all but guarantee that everything you post online is eventually available to everyone. It doesn't matter what promises your provider might offer -- and maybe they're even being as honest as they can be -- eventually your data will turn up on a public server somewhere. The golden rule is simple: if you don't want everyone to see something, then don't post it anywhere on public networks.
Three new maxims for surviving the next era of tech
News, Farhad Manjoo, Published on 30/11/2018
» Nearly five years ago, in my very first "State of the Art" column, I offered a straightforward plan for how to survive what was shaping up to be a turbulent time in the tech world.
No, really, Big Brother is watching
News, Alan Dawson, Published on 25/06/2017
» The Big Three of International Computing have convinced tens of millions of customers to spy on themselves. Considering this, what's the big deal when the government listens in too -- well, apart from the going-to-jail part -- at least?