Technology and media
Thinking and intelligence
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Innovative three-year-olds expose the limits of AI chatbots
New experiments show that very young children are better at solving creative puzzles than ChatGPT and other AI models
by Shayla Love
Technology and media
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The illusion of closeness: how social media redefined respect
As we share and like and post, have our notions of restraint transformed so profoundly that all dignity becomes abandoned?
by Lutif Ali Halo
Technology and media
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What does switching from paper to screens mean for how we read?
It’s well established that we absorb less well when reading on screen. But why? And can we do something to improve it?
by Lili Yu, Sixin Liao, Jan-Louis Kruger & Erik D Reichle
Technology and media
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Chatbots remind us that natural conversation is artificial too
People fret about the authenticity of AI chatbots but precisely the same issues confront everyday exchanges between humans
by Larry S McGrath
Work and vocation
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Why AI surveillance at work leads to perverse outcomes
In the name of efficiency, workplace AI technologies shift burdens long-assumed by employers onto workers
by Karen Levy
Work and vocation
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Kafka warned us: surveillance turns the watched into watchers
Surveillance changes us in powerful ways, as Franz Kafka warned. Neither the watched nor their watcher escapes unscathed
by George Alliger
Technology and media
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The pleasure, the pain and the politics of a digital detox
Studying why and how people take digital-media breaks can reveal what individuals and societies value in unmediated spaces
by Trine Syvertsen
Stories and literature
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Remembrance of telephony past: what Proust made of the phone
For Marcel Proust, the telephone gave distance a sensory form and allowed new ways to experience absence more profoundly
by John Attridge
Technology and media
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What the journey from Star Trek to Siri says about our culture
The talking computer in Star Trek takes the culture and technology of the present and dreams up future possibilities
by Liz W Faber
Technology and media
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Can algorithms speak? And should their opinions be protected?
Algorithmic expression is not the classic, liberal model of speech. Instead, it is speech unmoored from personhood
by Jennifer Petersen
Laughter and comedy
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When will humorous AIs press our buttons with their jokes?
A sense of humour is a tough test of an AI. Our devices won’t be truly smart until they know how to make us laugh
by Tony Veale
History of ideas
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What did the ancient Babylonians discern in the skies above?
Ancient Babylonian astronomers help us see that our view of the world is as much a product of our senses as of our culture
by M Willis Monroe