AI

Also: another paper that seals the deal

This week I was on a panel at the Generative AI in Libraries (GAIL) virtual conference. Along with my fellow panelists Andrea Baer and Emily Zerrenner, I joined moderator Sarah Appedu to discuss the cognitive dissonance that we recognize between the widespread exhortations to adopt GenAI tools in libraries and the harms that we see

Students shared how they felt about AI usage—for students and adults alike

If you teach on a college campus, you likely have access to a slew of generative AI tools or features that have been quietly embedded in applications you use each day.

AI systems are responsible for a rapidly increasing share of global data center power demand. It can be estimated that, as of 2025, AI systems represent up to 20% of data center power demand. Because of increasing production capacity in the AI hardware supply chain, AI systems could be responsible for almost half of data center power demand by the end of 2025. This rapid growth could exacerbate dependence on fossil fuels and undermine climate goals.

The emissions from individual AI text, image, and video queries seem small—until you add up what the industry isn’t tracking and consider where it’s heading next.

An old tale with modern revelance

In Empire of AI, journalist Karen Hao reports on how Indigenous communities in Chile are fighting to protect their land from AI-driven resource extraction.

Discover practical ways to leverage Claude 4’s enhanced coding, nuanced analysis, and smarter editing features to streamline tasks and improve your workflow.

With Claude 4, we're showcasing how Claude can seamlessly integrate into your entire workday. In this demo, three Anthropic team members showcase Claude's ad...

What I learned serving on a university AI committee.

Embedding Ethics for Audiences aged 14–19

Searching for a job can feel overwhelming, but AI-powered tools are making the process faster, smarter, and more personalized than ever.

The Humane AI Pin aimed to revolutionize real-time language translation through wearable technology but failed due to execution issues like poor battery life and limited functionality. Despite its …

Meet Mahi-Bot 🐟, the Cal State Channel Island Extended University’s AI 24/7 friendly guide. Inspired by Ekho, the dolphin, and powered by Playlab, this chatbot is designed to support prospect…

There is a deep disorder in the discourse of generative artificial intelligence (AI). When AI seems to make things up or distort reality — adding extra fingers

As part of my PhD studies, I read and write a lot of stuff that doesn’t really fit into my research, but which I find interesting anyway. I’m categorising these “spare parts” on my blog, and if you’re interested in following them you’ll find them all here. I’ve written a fair bit about AI ethics, […]

In "Metaphors We Live By," Lakoff and Johnson emphasise that metaphors are fundamental to human thought and language, not just decorative language. In this post, I've examined my own use of metaphors to describe AI and analysed their implications, highlighting the power and limitations of these metaphors in shaping our understanding of AI and its impact.

Analyzing the metaphors we use to talk about ChatGPT can reveal how we’re thinking about the new tech

Although ChatGPT became readily accessible to the public back in November of 2022, we are still in the early days of exploring and understan...

Discover how AI can help you explore careers, research companies, polish application materials, practice interviews, and negotiate salaries in today's job market

What I learned by moving to a test-forward approach

[Recorded March 25, 2025] Chatbots based on large language models (LLMs), like ChatGPT, answer sophisticated questions, pass professional exams, analyze texts, generate everything from poems to computer programs, and more. But is there genuine understanding behind what LLMs can do? Do they really understand our world? Or, are they a triumph of mathematics and masses of data and calculations simulating true understanding? Join CHM, in partnership with IEEE Spectrum, for a fundamental debate on the nature of today’s AI: Do LLMs demonstrate genuine understanding, the “sparks” of true intelligence, or are they “stochastic parrots,” lacking understanding and meaning? FEATURED PARTICIPANTS Speaker Emily M. Bender Professor of Linguistics, University of Washington Emily M. Bender is a professor of linguistics and director of the Computational Linguistics Laboratory at the University of Washington, where she also serves as faculty director of the CLMS program, and adjunct professor at the School of Computer Science and Engineering and the Information School. Known for her critical perspectives on AI language models, notably coauthoring the paper "On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots," Bender is also the author of the forthcoming book, The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want. Speaker Sébastien Bubeck Member of Technical Staff, OpenAI Sébastien Bubeck is a member of the technical staff at OpenAI. Previously, he served as VP, AI and distinguished scientist at Microsoft, where he spent a decade at Microsoft Research. Prior to that, he was an assistant professor at Princeton University. Bubeck's 2023 paper, "Sparks of Artificial General Intelligence: Early experiments with GPT-4," drove widespread discussion and debate about the evolution of AI both in the scientific community and mainstream media like the New York Times and Wired. Bubeck has been recognized with best paper awards at a number of conferences, and he is the author of the book Convex Optimization: Algorithms and Complexity. Moderator Eliza Strickland Senior Editor, IEEE Spectrum Eliza Strickland is a senior editor at IEEE Spectrum, where she covers artificial intelligence, biomedical technology, and other advanced technologies. In addition to her writing and editing work, she also hosts podcasts, creates radio segments, and moderates talks at events such as SXSW. Prior to joining IEEE Spectrum in 2011, she oversaw a daily science blog for Discover magazine and wrote for outlets including Wired, The New York Times, Sierra, and Foreign Policy. Strickland received her master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. Catalog Number: 300000014 Acquisition Number: 2025.0036