Opinion Tech Public Interest - The Boston Globe

X CEO Elon Musk left a Senate forum on AI in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 13.

OpEds

Congress can’t regulate AI. It’s too complex.

Artificial intelligence is an extremely fast-moving and increasingly diversified field, which makes it a poor match for slow-moving regulatory and judicial processes. 3:00 a.m.

Walk down any street in Boston and visual cues will tell you a lot about it. The potholes and the storefronts, the models of cars and the makeup of crowds all contribute critical insights about our city.

OpEds

AI is coming to our neighborhoods and will show us the future of cities

Our research at MIT has found that once trained, visual AI is shockingly accurate at predicting property values, crime rates, and even public health outcomes. 3:00 a.m.

E.M. Forster's 1909 novella “The Machine Stops” envisions a future in which humanity has become comfortably ensconced underground and connected by holographic instant messaging systems.

Ideas

In 1909, E.M. Forster foresaw the real threat from AI

Long before Hollywood made killer robots seem all too plausible, the British author worried that technology would undermine humanity by making life too easy. 1:02 p.m.

After being falsely accused of a carjacking when she was eight months pregnant, Porcha Woodruff is suing the City of Detroit over what she says is an overreliance on facial recognition technology. Facial recognition is one of several AI-related technologies called out by researchers in a 2022 paper, "The Fallacy of AI Functionality." "Deployed AI systems often do not work," the researchers wrote.

Ideas

Is AI really as good as advertised?

Claims that machines will surpass human smarts overlook one bedrock problem: A lot of real-world AI doesn’t work all that well. 12:13 p.m.

The Globe building in 1958.

Ideas

How our ‘Boston Globe’ led to ChatGPT

The name of your favorite newspaper is the kind of thing that used to trip computers up. 3:53 p.m.

President Biden delivered remarks at the White House in Washington on July 21 on the need to regulate artificial intelligence research.

Letters

Congress should follow EU’s lead on regulating AI

It is vital that Congress develop an independent oversight and regulatory body modeled on the one being proposed for the European Union. 2:25 a.m.

Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant issued an apology this year that some fans suspected was written by ChatGPT.

Ideas

How to use ChatGPT to apologize

It’s hard to say you’re sorry. Under the right circumstances, it’s OK to ask a computer for help. 10:14 a.m.

Ideas

Wait, ChatGPT didn’t take my job?

AI is often portrayed as a job killer. But companies are likely to use the technology to get more done with the same number of people. 3:55 p.m.