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Artificial intelligence

Here are the secrets to useful AI, according to designers

January 26, 2018

Thinking about how us meatbots actually work could deliver AI that’s more useful and fair.

Secrets to good AI: Designers at Google spent three years helping build AI for the firm’s Clips wearable camera, and they published a blog post about what they learned. They say the best AIs solve a real human problem, do things in a way that makes sense to humans, and build trust with users. Easy, right?

And how to build ’em: A new tool called Cortex could get designers more involved in building AI. Its graphical user interface makes building complex algorithms simpler and should help non-nerds create AI that’s helpful for humans.

Why it matters: Many AI problems, like bias, stem from the fact that such a narrow group of people are building the technology. Opening up design and focusing on end users could make AI both better and fairer.

Deep Dive

Artificial intelligence

Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.

And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.

OpenAI teases an amazing new generative video model called Sora

The firm is sharing Sora with a small group of safety testers but the rest of us will have to wait to learn more.

Google’s Gemini is now in everything. Here’s how you can try it out.

Gmail, Docs, and more will now come with Gemini baked in. But Europeans will have to wait before they can download the app.

Google DeepMind’s new generative model makes Super Mario–like games from scratch

Genie learns how to control games by watching hours and hours of video. It could help train next-gen robots too.

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Illustration by Rose Wong

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