Deepfakes could strengthen our engagement with history. But there are dangers to the practice, some obvious, others more subtle.
Art historians have long used traditional X-rays, X-ray fluorescence or infrared imaging to better understand artists’ techniques.
Metropolitan Museum of Art/Wikimedia Commons
Breathless headlines of artificial intelligence discovering or restoring lost works of art ignore the fact that these machines rarely, if ever, reveal one secret or solve a single mystery.
Several schools in Scotland have paused the rollout of facial recognition technology in school canteens following inquiries from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office.
A CCTV camera sculpture in Toronto draws attention to the increasing surveillance in everyday life. Our guests discuss ways to resist this creeping culture.
Lianhao Qu /Unsplash
Mass data collection and surveillance have become ubiquitous. For marginalized communities, the stakes of having their privacy violated are high.
A photo of art work by Banksy in London comments on the power imbalance of surveillance technology. Guests on this episode discuss how AI and Facial recognition have been flagged by civil rights leaders due to its inherent racial bias.
Niv Singer/Unsplash
Once analysts gain access to our private data, they can use that information to influence and alter our behaviour and choices. If you’re marginalized in some way, the consequences are worse.
Forecasts are key to mitigating the worst effects of floods.
Vadim Petrakov/Shutterstock
Smart glasses like Facebook’s Ray-Ban Stories could be used to record you surreptitiously. If the company adds facial recognition, you could be even more exposed.
Artificial intelligence makes it possible to create a highly adaptable, module-based curriculum backed by a system that actively guides students’ choices based on their desired jobs.
AI-generated images of “a stained glass window with an image of a blue strawberry”.
OpenAI
As the perils and wonders of artificial intelligence begin to permeate our lives, the ‘IPCC report for AI’ calls for action from researchers and government to ensure a safe future.
Scientists are still puzzling over the mystery of what makes us conscious.
Lidiia/Shutterstock
Gemma Ware, The Conversation and Daniel Merino, The Conversation
Plus, how a team of musicologists and computer scientists completed Beethoven’s unfinished 10th Symphony using AI. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.
Robotic orchestra conductor ‘Yumi’ performs on stage with the Orchestra Filarmonica di Lucca in Italy in 2017.
Laura Lezza/Getty Images
Machines have been getting better at mimicking improvisation. But can this distinctly human process serve as a bulwark against the mechanization of life and art?
Each time you visit a page hosting ads, an automated ad auction begins behind the scenes — where the highest bidder wins the chance to target you with their product.
The term ‘killer robot’ often conjures images of Terminator-like humanoid robots. Militaries around the world are working on autonomous machines that are less scary looking but no less lethal.
John F. Williams/U.S. Navy
Sci-fi nightmares of a robot apocalypse aside, autonomous weapons are a very real threat to humanity. An expert on the weapons explains how the emerging arms race could be humanity’s last.
A human rights-based approach is essential in regulating artificial intelligence technologies.
(Shutterstock)
Applications of artificial intelligence have been shown to include discriminatory practices. This creates a need for meaningful rights-based regulations to ensure that AI will not exacerbate inequalities.
Throughout the project, Beethoven’s genius loomed.
Circe Denyer
When Beethoven died, all he left behind were some sketches for his 10th Symphony. Now, thanks to the help of artificial intelligence, the composer’s vision is coming to life.