Computer Sciences news

Computer Sciences

'More is Different': Research shows scale alone does not explain AI's power—specialization and cooperation do

One of the most influential scientific and philosophical viewpoints is "More is Different," introduced in 1972 by Nobel Prize–winning physicist Philip W. Anderson, highlighting the limitations of the reductionist approach. ...

Computer Sciences

New AI testing method flags fairness risks in autonomous systems

Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used to help optimize decision-making in high-stakes settings. For instance, an autonomous system can identify a power distribution strategy that minimizes costs while keeping ...

Computer Sciences

Smartwatch-like device could help detect plastic particles in the human body

Nano- and microplastics are increasingly being detected in the human body. However, their detection remains challenging, often relying on invasive techniques and specialized equipment. Researchers at the Institute of Computer ...

Computer Sciences

AI is giving bad advice to flatter its users, says new study on dangers of overly agreeable chatbots

Artificial intelligence chatbots are so prone to flattering and validating their human users that they are giving bad advice that can damage relationships and reinforce harmful behaviors, according to a new study that explores ...

Computer Sciences

Can AI understand literature? Researchers put it to the test

Even with all the recent advances in the ability of large language models (like ChatGPT) to help us think, research, summarize, and learn complex and technical texts, how do they fare in understanding storytelling and literature? ...

Computer Sciences

AI model excels in single image reflection removal

Capturing a picturesque scene through reflective materials, such as glass, often results in an unintended superimposition—showing both the transmitted scene and the undesired reflected scene. While traditional reflection ...

Robotics

Sheepdogs reveal a better way to guide robot swarms

Sheepdogs, bred to control large groups of sheep in open fields, have demonstrated their skills in competitions dating back to the 1870s. In these contests, a handler directs a trained dog with whistle signals to guide a ...

Computer Sciences

What flocking birds can teach AI about reducing noise

Among the primary concerns surrounding artificial intelligence is its tendency to yield erroneous information when summarizing long documents. These "hallucinations" are problematic not only because they convey falsehoods, ...

Computer Sciences

Shortest paths research narrows a 25-year gap in graph algorithms

Most of you have used a navigation app like Google Maps for your travels at some point. These apps rely on algorithms that compute shortest paths through vast networks. Now imagine scaling that task to calculate distances ...

Computer Sciences

The AI that taught itself: How AI can learn what it never knew

For years, the guiding assumption of artificial intelligence has been simple: an AI is only as good as the data it has seen. Feed it more, train it longer, and it performs better. Feed it less, and it stumbles. A new study ...

Computer Sciences

Improving AI models' ability to explain their predictions

In high-stakes settings like medical diagnostics, users often want to know what led a computer vision model to make a certain prediction, so they can determine whether to trust its output. Concept bottleneck modeling is one ...

Computer Sciences

Quantum computing's next step: New algorithm boosts multitasking

Quantum computers differ fundamentally from classical ones. Instead of using bits (0s and 1s), they employ "qubits," which can exist in multiple states simultaneously due to quantum phenomena like superposition and entanglement.

Computer Sciences

Enabling AI to explain its predictions in plain language

Machine-learning models can make mistakes and be difficult to use, so scientists have developed explanation methods to help users understand when and how they should trust a model's predictions.

Computer Sciences

Researchers create network to predict wave scattering paths

To efficiently compute where waves of light, sound, or earthquakes will go when scattered by irregular obstacles is useful in various fields but difficult and expensive to do, even using recent machine learning techniques. ...

Computer Sciences

Black-box forgetting: A new method for tailoring large AI models

The capabilities of large-scale pre-trained AI models have recently skyrocketed, as demonstrated by large-scale vision-language models like CLIP or ChatGPT. These typical generalist models can perform reasonably well in tasks ...

Computer Sciences

AI weather models can now beat the best traditional forecasts

A new machine-learning weather prediction model called GenCast can outperform the best traditional forecasting systems in at least some situations, according to a paper by Google DeepMind researchers published today in Nature.

Consumer & Gadgets

New tool makes micro:bit programming portable for young learners

A new coding tool will help make it easier for children to portably program a popular educational micro-computer on the fly. Researchers from Lancaster University's School of Computing and Communications working in partnership ...

Computer Sciences

Machine learning helps uncover hidden consumer motivations

A common challenge for marketers is understanding and engaging with people who have "thin" data profiles, such as donors with little demographic information or brief interaction histories that leave organizations without ...

Computer Sciences

Study reveals need for better documentation of web crawlers

For the first time, CISPA researcher Aleksei Stafeev presents a study that systematizes the knowledge about tools for the automated analysis of websites, so-called web crawlers, in the field of web security measurement.