By now, we’ve all heard some version of the story. On December 2, after a protracted disagreement over the release of a research paper, Google forced out its ethical AI co-lead, Timnit Gebru. The paper was on the risks of large language models, AI models trained on staggering amounts of text data, which are a […]
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How Cyberpunk 2077 Sold a Promise—and Rigged the System
Video game companies are increasingly putting restrictions on what reviewers can show, widening the gap between expectations and reality. Powered by WPeMatico
An inside look at how trust accelerates transformation
With thousands of developers, publishers, authors, designers, production houses and distributors, Microsoft’s Xbox gaming platform is a complex ecosystem of relationships. Collaboration across this ecosystem is key to producing a high-quality product that attracts the best talent and satisfies consumers—but Microsoft recognized points of friction that needed to be addressed. A multitude of manual processes […]
14 Excellent Gifts for Xbox Gamers
Whether your giftee has the Series X, S, or Xbox One, here are a few extras they might like. Powered by WPeMatico
How Russian hackers infiltrated the US government for months without being spotted
Thousands of companies and governments are racing to discover whether they have been hit by the Russian hackers who reportedly infiltrated several US government agencies. The initial breach, reported on December 13, included the Treasury as well as the Departments of Commerce and Homeland Security. But the stealthy techniques the hackers used mean it could […]
Need a Cheap Laptop? These Are Our Favorites
You don’t have to spend a fortune to get a good notebook. Powered by WPeMatico
Digital acceleration in the time of coronavirus: North America
This MIT Technology Review Insights report is part of a series examining the degree to which business preparedness, particularly in technology strategy, contributed to corporate resilience during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in three world regions: Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America. Based on survey research and in-depth executive interviews, the series also seeks to understand how […]
The chart that shows how we’ll get back to normal
A covid-19 chart that’s been shared thousands of times is dramatizing just how well vaccines against the disease can work and how we might get out of pandemic hell. Today, advisors to the US Food and Drug Administration voted in favor of emergency authorization for Pfizer’s covid-19 shot, and the data in this chart is […]
How our data encodes systematic racism
I’ve often been told, “The data does not lie.” However, that has never been my experience. For me, the data nearly always lies. Google Image search results for “healthy skin” show only light-skinned women, and a query on “Black girls” still returns pornography. The CelebA face data set has labels of “big nose” and “big […]
Why more, earlier voting means greater election security—not less
The pandemic made for a lot of differences in this year’s US elections, including vastly expanded access to mail-in ballots and early voting. That upended the Election Day rituals many Americans had become used to—but it resulted in more people voting than ever before. It also meant they voted more securely than ever. Officials around […]