How AI Knows Things No One Told It
Researchers are still struggling to understand how AI models trained to parrot Internet text can perform advanced tasks such as running code, playing games and trying to break up a marriage
AI Can’t Solve this Famous Murder Mystery Puzzle
The 1934 puzzle book Cain’s Jawbone stumped all but a handful of humans. Then AI took the case
What the New GPT-4 AI Can Do
OpenAI just released an updated version of its text-generating artificial intelligence program. Here’s how GPT-4 improves on its predecessor
How Scientists Are Using AI to Talk to Animals
Portable sensors and artificial intelligence are helping researchers decode animal communication—and begin to talk back to nonhumans
Research Summaries Written by AI Fool Scientists
Scientists cannot always differentiate between research abstracts generated by the AI ChatGPT and those written by humans
The Linguistics of Swearing Explain Why We Substitute Darn for Damn
Languages from Hindi to Korean tone down swear words by inserting gentler consonants into speech. Here’s how “Let’s go Brandon” got started
How Language-Generation AIs Could Transform Science
An expert in emerging technologies warns that software designed to summarize, translate and write like humans might exacerbate distrust in science
AI Sommelier Generates Wine Reviews without Ever Opening a Bottle
A new algorithm writes wine and beer reviews that sound like they were penned by human critics. Is that a good thing?
What Is the Shape of This Word?
What shape do you see when you hear “bouba”? What about “kiki”? It turns out that nonsense words that evoke certain shapes have something to say about the origins of language.
Climate Change Is Creating New Vocabulary, from Eco-Anxiety to Kaitiakitanga
Lexicographers at the Oxford English Dictionary have added new words and definitions to reflect the rapidly evolving discourse about our hot planet
It Isn’t Just What You Say about Science; It’s Also How You Say It
Teaching scientists to talk to policy makers
Made-Up Sounds Convey Meaning across Cultures
Newly created vocalizations can convey concepts remarkably well