Eliza Strickland

3 days ago | spectrum.ieee.org | Eliza Strickland

Estonia has a reputation as one of the most digitally advanced nations in the world, thanks to its efficient digital platforms for government services and its startup-friendly culture. Its citizens’ digital prowess is largely due to the government’s decades-long campaign to bring technology into schools. Now, the government is launching AI Leap 2025, which will bring AI tools to an initial cohort of 20,000 high school students in September.

4 days ago | spectrum.ieee.org | Eliza Strickland

These days, it’s not unusual to encounter “doomers” in AI circles—people who think that superintelligent AI will wipe out humanity either because it wants our stuff or finds us annoying. And there are plenty of serious AI researchers working on “alignment,” or ensuring that AI systems’ goals match our own, so that AI will support human flourishing rather than ending it.

2 months ago | spectrum.ieee.org | Eliza Strickland

The large language models (LLMs) that power today’s chatbots have gotten so astoundingly capable, AI researchers are hard pressed to assess those capabilities—it seems that no sooner is there a new test than the AI systems ace it. But what does that performance really mean? Do these models genuinely understand our world? Or are they merely a triumph of data and calculations that simulates true understanding?

2 months ago | spectrum.ieee.org | Eliza Strickland

If you read the news about AI, you may feel bombarded with conflicting messages: AI is booming. AI is a bubble. AI’s current techniques and architectures will keep producing breakthroughs. AI is on an unsustainable path and needs radical new ideas. AI is going to take your job. AI is mostly good for turning your family photos into Studio Ghibli-style animated images. Cutting through the confusion is the 2025 AI Index from Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence.

2 months ago | flipboard.com | Eliza Strickland

3 hours agoAva, the first human-like digital worker, was launched by Artisan AI in December 2023, just ahead of the blitzkrieg of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Two years since, the AI company has deployed several ‘Artisans’ trained as sales representatives that outpace humans. Ava, the sales agent from, not only …