Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Scientists Are Putting ChatGPT Brains Inside Robot Bodies. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

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February 20, 2024

Researchers have been building robots for decades. But now, those researchers are inserting large language models (like ChatGPT) into robots, enabling the machines to adapt to the world around them. Technologists are debating the wisdom of pairing these two technologies. Read more in this week's top story. 

Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor
@AGawrylewski

Artificial Intelligence

Scientists Are Putting ChatGPT Brains Inside Robot Bodies. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

The effort to give robots AI brains is revealing big practical challenges—and bigger ethical concerns

By David Berreby

Plants

This Genetically Engineered Petunia Glows in the Dark and Could Be Yours for $29

The engineered "firefly petunia" emits a continuous green glow thanks to genes from a light-up mushroom

By Katherine Bourzac,Nature magazine

Climate Change

Sucking Carbon from the Air Becomes A Lead Strategy

The U.S. Department of Energy will award up to $100 million for projects that remove CO2 from the atmosphere

By Chelsea Harvey,E&E News

Artificial Intelligence

How AI Bots Could Sabotage 2024 Elections around the World

AI-generated disinformation will target voters on a near-daily basis in more than 50 countries, according to a new analysis

By Charlotte Hu

Climate Change

AI Reveals Hotspots of Climate Denial

Echo chambers of climate denial on social media are strongest in the U.S. Midwest and South and in states that depend heavily on fossil fuels

By Chelsea Harvey,E&E News

Climate Change

Electric Vehicles Aren't Ready for Extreme Heat and Cold. Here's How to Fix Them

New materials would help the cars of the future survive cold snaps and other climate disruptions

By Molly Glick

Climate Change

Solar Geoengineering Looks to Silicon Valley for New Wave of Funding

Tech billionaires are funding research into controversial methods for cooling the planet

By Corbin Hiar,E&E News

Health Care

Making Alarms More Musical Can Save Lives

Medical alarms don't have to be louder to be more effective

By Rachel Berkowitz

Policy

To Design Cities Right, We Need to Focus on People

Far too often, city planning is approached as an engineering problem, instead of connecting people with the land

By Tim Keane

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"The way things are now, the language understanding is amazing, and the robots suck. The robots have to get better to keep up."

Stefanie Tellex, a roboticist at Brown University who works on robots' grasp of language.

FROM THE ARCHIVE

I Gave ChatGPT an IQ Test. Here's What I Discovered

The chatbot was the ideal test taker—it exhibited no trace of test anxiety, poor concentration or lack of effort. And what about that IQ score?

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