How AI and a popular card game can help engineers predict catastrophic failure – by finding the absence of a pattern

John Edward McCarthy, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis Humans are very good at spotting patterns, or repeating features people can recognize. For instance, ancient Polynesians navigated across the Pacific by recognizing many patterns, from the stars’ constellations to more subtle ones such as the directions and sizes of ocean swells. Very… Continue reading How AI and a popular card game can help engineers predict catastrophic failure – by finding the absence of a pattern

The Kate Middleton photo scandal: When does editing become manipulation?

Bethany Berard, Carleton University On March 10, in celebration of Mother’s Day in the United Kingdom, Kensington Palace shared a photo of Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, with her three children. It was the first photograph shared of Kate since December and was widely reported on by news outlets. Public interest and discussion about… Continue reading The Kate Middleton photo scandal: When does editing become manipulation?

Dating apps: Lack of regulation, oversight and competition affects quality, and millions stand to lose

Neil McArthur, University of Manitoba When Aleksandr Zhadan used ChatGPT to talk to over 5,000 women on Tinder, it was a sign of things to come. As artificial intelligence becomes more sophisticated and easily available, online dating is facing an onslaught of AI-powered fraud. The industry, which is dominated by a small number of incumbents,… Continue reading Dating apps: Lack of regulation, oversight and competition affects quality, and millions stand to lose

Addressing deepfake porn doesn’t require new criminal laws, which can restrict sexual fantasy and promote the prison system

Lara Karaian, Carleton University After deepfake pornography of Taylor Swift went viral on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Swifties sprung into action. They organized to report violations of X’s “Synthetic and Manipulated Media” policy and flooded the platform with real images of Swift in an attempt to alter X’s algorithm. The incident renewed… Continue reading Addressing deepfake porn doesn’t require new criminal laws, which can restrict sexual fantasy and promote the prison system

Politics with Michelle Grattan: Cyber expert Lesley Seebeck on TikTok’s future in Australia

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra The United States House of Representatives has passed a bill to force TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, to either sell TikTok to a non-Chinese company or face a ban in the US. While the measure won’t come into effect until the American Senate agrees, it has re-engaged a debate over TikTok’s risk… Continue reading Politics with Michelle Grattan: Cyber expert Lesley Seebeck on TikTok’s future in Australia

Attempts to access Kate Middleton’s medical records are no surprise. Such breaches are all too common

Bruce Baer Arnold, University of Canberra The alleged data breach involving Catherine, Princess of Wales tells us something about health privacy. If hospital staff can apparently access a future queen’s medical records without authorisation, it can happen to you. Indeed it may have already happened to you, given many breaches of health data go under… Continue reading Attempts to access Kate Middleton’s medical records are no surprise. Such breaches are all too common

Google’s Gemini showcases more powerful technology, but we’re still not close to superhuman AI

Christian Gagné, Université Laval In December 2023, Google announced the launch of its new large language model (LLM) named Gemini. Gemini now provides the artificial intelligence (AI) foundations of Google products; it is also a direct rival to OpenAI’s GPT-4. But why is Google considering Gemini as such an important milestone, and what does this… Continue reading Google’s Gemini showcases more powerful technology, but we’re still not close to superhuman AI

Digital surveillance is omnipresent in China. Here’s how citizens are coping

Ariane Ollier-Malaterre, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Do you ever think about the digital footprint you leave when you are browsing the web, shopping online, commenting on social networks or going by a facial recognition camera? State surveillance of citizens is growing all over the world, but it is a fact of everyday life… Continue reading Digital surveillance is omnipresent in China. Here’s how citizens are coping

Attempts to ban TikTok reveal the hypocrisy of politicians already struggling to relate to voters

Aidan Moir, University of Windsor TikTok has been under review due to national security concerns by the Canadian federal government since September 2023. This was reported the day after the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass a bill potentially banning TikTok. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that the Canadian review of TikTok is not… Continue reading Attempts to ban TikTok reveal the hypocrisy of politicians already struggling to relate to voters

The Online Harms Act doesn’t go far enough to protect democracy in Canada

Derek Hrynyshyn, York University, Canada The Liberal government’s recent proposal for regulating social media platforms, the Online Harms Act (Bill C-63), comes as the final act in a promised trilogy of bills aimed at bringing some order to the digital world. After contentious attempts to address the fallout from the Online News Act and the… Continue reading The Online Harms Act doesn’t go far enough to protect democracy in Canada