What is an “algorithm”? It depends whom you ask
Describing a decision-making system as an “algorithm” is often a way to deflect accountability for…
We asked Bill Gates, a Nobel laureate and others to name the most effective way to combat climate change
Despite decades of warnings and increasingly devastating disasters, we’ve still made little progress in slowing…
Digital contact tracing brought tech rivals together while the pandemic kept us apart
If we’ve learned anything from covid-19, it’s the extent to which our lives are enmeshed…
AI armed with multiple senses could gain more flexible intelligence
In late 2012, AI scientists first figured out how to get neural networks to “see.”…
Decoding the CRISPR-baby stories
The conventional story of CRISPR genome editing is one of heroic power and promise with…
The beauty of TikTok’s secret, surprising, and eerily accurate recommendation algorithms
Deven Karpelman would never have joined TikTok if it hadn’t been for the pandemic. And…
What does progress mean to you?
What do we mean when we talk about progress? In general terms, to make progress…
What giving birth during a pandemic taught me about progress
The morning my first child was born, I was mostly thinking of death. It was…
Why covid-19 might finally usher in the era of health care based on a patient’s data
Back in the 1990s, Lee Hood, a technologist and immunologist famous for co-inventing the automated…
Why covid-19 might finally usher in the era of health care based on a patient’s data
Back in the 1990s, Lee Hood, a technologist and immunologist famous for co-inventing the automated…