machine learning

Some companies and researchers think smart computers might eventually help with provider shortages in mental health, and some consumers are already turning to chatbots to build "emotional resilience."

Health & Safety

Therapy by chatbot? The promise and challenges in using AI for mental health

3:21pm January 19, 2023

by Yuki Noguchi

Some companies and researchers think smart computers might eventually help with provider shortages in mental health, and some consumers are already turning to chatbots to build "emotional resilience."

An image of babies doing parkour generated by DALL-E mini.

Arts

When machine learning meets surrealist art meets Reddit, you get DALL-E mini

5:01am July 05, 2022

by Kai McNamee

DALL-E is the AI image generator social media users are employing to crank out bizarre art memes that range from beautiful to horrifying.

Passers-by and horse-drawn traffic circa 1895 on Jamaica Street in Glasgow, Scotland.

World News

What's That Smell? Researchers Hope To Recreate Historic Scents From Europe's Past

8:47am November 22, 2020

by Reese Oxner

Using machine learning and artificial intelligence, researchers hope to document — and later recreate — historical scents and smell-scapes from as far back as the 16th century.

"The optimist in me says in three years we can train this tool to read mammograms as well as an average radiologist," says Connie Lehman, chief of breast imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Health & Safety

Training A Computer To Read Mammograms As Well As A Doctor

8:11am April 01, 2019

by Richard Harris

Artificial intelligence is now being brought to bear on mammograms and could improve the accuracy of diagnoses. But previous computerized technology to do that didn't live up to the hype.

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At Davos, Yuval Harari suggests that we are in our third grand revolution — the control of data.

Science

Biometric Data And The Rise Of Digital Dictatorship

1:17pm February 28, 2018

by Marcelo Gleiser

As historian and author Yuval Harari suggests, market forces and investor greed will keep moving the data revolution forward. But there are balancing forces to this onslaught, says Marcelo Gleiser.

Digital lenders are pulling in all kinds of data, like purchases, SAT scores and public records.

Economy

Will Using Artificial Intelligence To Make Loans Trade One Kind Of Bias For Another?

5:10am March 31, 2017

by Charles Lane

The next loan you get may depend less on your credit score and more on what a program thinks of your habits. Digital lenders say the process will be more fair, but others worry about unintended bias.

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Examples of the machine's forecasts of actions before they begin (starting at left) and the results (at right).

Science

A Computer Binge-Watched TV And Learned To Predict What Happens Next

11:02am July 12, 2016

by Riley Beggin

Researchers fed a program 600 hours of videos and TV shows to see if it could learn about and predict human interactions — hugs, kisses, high-fives and handshakes. It was right nearly half the time.

Jesse Vega checks out a vehicle at an Uber "Work On Demand" recruitment event March 10 in South Los Angeles. The company is researching ways to get rid of its surge pricing, a feature that drivers like but that can make costs unpredictable for consumers.

Uber Plans To Kill Surge Pricing, Though Drivers Say It Makes Job Worth It

3:36pm May 03, 2016

by Aarti Shahani

Uber is using machine learning to predict high demand, which would allow the app to schedule extra drivers instead of hiking rates at busy times. But such a change would hurt driver pay.

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