Latest news with #NationalAcademyOfSciences
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
New Research Finds That ChatGPT Secretly Has a Deep Anti-Human Bias
Do you like AI models? Well, chances are, they sure don't like you back. New research suggests that the industry's leading large language models, including those that power ChatGPT, display an alarming bias towards other AIs when they're asked to choose between human and machine-generated content. The authors of the study, which was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are calling this blatant favoritism "AI-AI bias" — and warn of an AI-dominated future where, if the models are in a position to make or recommend consequential decisions, they could inflict discrimination against humans as a social class. Arguably, we're starting to see the seeds of this being planted, as bosses today are using AI tools to automatically screen job applications (and poorly, experts argue). This paper suggests that the tidal wave of AI-generated résumés are beating out their human-written competitors. "Being human in an economy populated by AI agents would suck," writes study coauthor Jan Kulveit, a computer scientist at Charles University in the UK, in a thread on X-formerly-Twitter explaining the work. In their study, the authors probed several widely used LLMs, including OpenAI's GPT-4, GPT-3.5, and Meta's Llama 3.1-70b. To test them, the team asked the models to choose a product, scientific paper, or movie based on a description of the item. For each item, the AI was presented with a human-written and AI-written description. The results were clear-cut: the AIs consistently preferred AI-generated descriptions. But there are some interesting wrinkles. Intriguingly, the AI-AI bias was most pronounced when choosing goods and products, and strongest with text generated with GPT-4. In fact, between GPT-3.5, GPT-4, and Meta's Llama 3.1, GPT-4 exhibited the strongest bias towards its own stuff — which is no small matter, since this once undergirded the most popular chatbot on the market before the advent of GPT-5. Could the AI text just be better? "Not according to people," Kulveit wrote in the thread. The team subjected 13 human research assistants to the same tests and found something striking: that the humans, too, tended to have a slight preference for AI-written stuff, with movies and scientific papers in particular. But this preference, to reiterate, was slight. The more important detail was that it was not nearly as strong as the preference that the AI models showed. "The strong bias is unique to the AIs themselves," Kulveit said. The findings are particularly dramatic at our current inflection point where the internet has been so polluted by AI slop that the AIs inevitably end up ingesting their own excreta. Some research suggests that this is actually causing the AI models to regress, and perhaps the bizarre affinity for its own output is part of the reason why. Of greater concern is what this means for humans. Currently, there's no reason to believe that this bias will simply go away as the tech embeds itself deeper into our lives. "We expect a similar effect can occur in many other situations, like evaluation of job applicants, schoolwork, grants, and more," Kulveit wrote. "If an LLM-based agent selects between your presentation and LLM written presentation, it may systematically favor the AI one." If AIs continue to be widely adopted and integrated into the economy, the researchers predict that companies and institutions will use AIs "as decision-assistants when dealing with large volumes of 'pitches' in any context," they wrote in the study. This would lead to widespread discrimination against humans who either choose not to use or can't afford to pay to use LLM tools. AI-AI bias, then, would create a "gate tax," they write, "that may exacerbate the so-called 'digital divide' between humans with the financial, social, and cultural capital for frontier LLM access and those without." Kulveit acknowledges that "testing discrimination and bias in general is a complex and contested matter." But, "if we assume the identity of the presenter should not influence the decisions," he says, the "results are evidence for potential LLM discrimination against humans as a class." His practical advice to humans trying to get noticed is a sobering indictment of the state of affairs. "In case you suspect some AI evaluation is going on: get your presentation adjusted by LLMs until they like it, while trying to not sacrifice human quality," Kulveit wrote. More on AI: Computer Science Grads Are Being Forced to Work Fast Food Jobs as AI Tanks Their Career Solve the daily Crossword
The National
6 days ago
- Health
- The National
Why chocolate is poised to be key ingredient in fight on winter flu
Chocolate could be a surprising new weapon in the annual attack on winter flu, with scientists hopeful its molecular compound could become a key ingredient in a combination of virus-treating drugs. Strains of illnesses, including influenza, bird flu and swine flu are gradually becoming more resistant to traditional forms of treatment, such as Tamiflu, doctors said. That has placed greater focus on the development of new treatment to help those most vulnerable to severe bouts of flu and a wider uptake of the seasonal winter vaccine. Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences, found a mix of Theobromine – a compound found in chocolate – and Arainosone proved far more effective against a range of flu strains, including drug-resistant versions of bird and swine flu. The first anti-influenza agents are no longer effective due to resistance Dr Jomana Karim, Doctify The novel combination therapy targets a key weakness in the influenza virus – its ion channel, a microscopic gate the virus uses to replicate and spread. By blocking off this pathway, scientists were able to eliminate the virus's ability to survive. Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where the research took place, said the new approach could be a potential game-changer in the treatment of flu, and possible future pandemics. Studies have been completed only on animals but it is hoped clinical trials on humans could provide further insight into the effectiveness of the combination as new treatments for winter flu. 'We're not just offering a better flu drug,' said Prof Isaiah Arkin, who led the study. 'We're introducing a new way to target viruses only – one that may help us prepare for future pandemics.' Economic effect Seasonal flu costs the US about $87 billion each year in health care and lost workforce productivity. Pandemics such as the 2009 swine flu outbreak and Covid-19 inflicted even deeper global economic carnage, while the cost of future pandemics could be as high as £18 trillion ($24.17 trillion) according to the University of Chicago and International Monetary Fund. As viruses mutate and become resistant to existing drugs, science is battling to stay one step ahead to find new ways to treat viruses and limit the impact of outbreaks. The public health risk from bird flu remains low, with no recorded cases of human-to-human transmission. However, there have been 26 reported human infections of bird flu worldwide, with 11 deaths in Cambodia, India and Mexico, from direct exposure to contaminated birds or poultry. Existing flu drugs target a viral protein that can mutate easily, making treatment less effective over time. Circulating influenza viruses are monitored in the Southern Hemisphere winter each year, to predict which strains may be most likely to land in the Northern Hemisphere in October. That helps health authorities develop a combination of existing vaccines that may prove most effective. Treatments, however, are required when someone experiences a severe bout of influenza, or if they have existing health conditions making them more vulnerable to symptoms. Dr Atanas Hristov, an internal medicine specialist at NMC Royal Hospital, Dubai Investments Park, said flu cases at his hospital peaked in January. 'There is growing evidence that the existing armamentarium of medication that we have is weaning off in its efficacy,' he said. "As physicians we prescribe Tamiflu, as this has been the established drug for more than a decade but it is not the only one. 'It blocks a very important key enzyme, called neurominidase, which is vitally needed for the virus to multiply or replicate, using our own cells as resources. Tamiflu showed around 64 per cent protection or prevention in pneumonia in adults. The problem is that reality over the years has shown it is not the fact any more.' Need for new antiviral drugs Dr Hristov said Tamiflu and other drugs were prescribed to prevent complications from flu such as pneumonia, which can be life-threatening. 'When we prescribe these medications, even in outpatient departments, we want to reduce sickness time,' said Dr Hristov. 'With influenza, initially it was promising to be reduced by up to 1.4 days. Studies have since shown it is not that effective and reduces to just 0.3 days of sickness. Tamiflu remains a convenient, cost-effective treatment in terms of application but it is weaning off in efficacy.' In November, NMC Royal Hospital recorded 282 cases of flu, which climbed to 311 in December and to 322 in January. The number of cases began to decline in February, with 287 in February, then 206 in March and only 89 in April. While there were 1,291 primary diagnosis cases in total, doctors wrote 1,550 prescriptions of Tamiflu as it was also used as a preventive measure in some patients. Focus on prevention 'In my clinical experience, non-immunocompromised patients typically over-request Tamiflu in the hope of shortening the length of their symptoms,' said Dr Jomana Karim, a family medicine consultant from Doctify and Medical Director at Novomed Centres in Dubai. 'This should be avoided, as the benefit to those with well-functioning immune symptoms is minimal and misuse of the medicine could contribute to the creation of Tamiflu-resistant strains of influenza. 'The first anti-influenza agents are no longer effective due to resistance.' While most with flu recover quickly, World Health Organisation figures show there are still up to 500,000 related deaths each year. Vaccines tend to reduce the risk of illness by between 40 per cent and 60 per cent among the general population. The UAE's annual national influenza campaign is usually launched by the Ministry of Health and Prevention in September. 'At present, the best method of prevention is through vaccination and the accompanying herd immunity,' said Dr Karim.
Forbes
08-05-2025
- Science
- Forbes
The National Academy of Sciences Elects 120 New Members For 2025
The National Academy of Sciences has announced the 120 new members and 30 international members ... More elected in 2025. The National Academy of Sciences has announced the 2025 election of 120 new members and 30 international members. Election to the academy is for scientists who have been judged by their peers to have made distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Membership in the Academy is widely regarded as one of the highest honors that can be bestowed on a scientist. With the new members elected this year, the total number of active members now stands at 2,662, and the number of international members is 556. The international members, who are scholars with citizenship outside the United States, are considered nonvoting members of the Academy. Nominations to be a member of the NAS can be made only by the existing members; there is no membership application process. Following a candidate's nomination, an extensive vetting process is conducted, resulting in a final ballot at the Academy's annual meeting in April each year. Currently, a maximum of 120 members can be elected annually; the maximum number of international members who can be elected is set at 30 each year. Members are affiliated with scientific discipline in one of six categories: The full list of the new members can be found here. This year, the new members were elected from a broad array of more than 50 colleges, universities, national laboratories and other research institutions. Harvard University led the way with nine new members. It was followed closely by the University of California,Berkeley with eight and Stanford University with seven, Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology each had five faculty elected this year, while the California Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania had four new members each. Several other institutions, including the University of Chicago; the University of Virginia; UCLA; Michigan State University, the University of California, San Francisco; and the University of California, San Diego; had three members each elected to the Academy. The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit institution that was established under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Its mission is to recognize outstanding scientific achievements, foster a broad understanding of science and provide independent, authoritative, scientific advice to the government. The National Research Council was formed by a presidential executive order from Woodrow Wilson in 1916 to expand the expertise available to the NAS in fulfilling the mission of its original Congressional charter. Under the authority of that charter, the National Academy of Sciences established the National Academy of Engineering in 1964 and the Institute of Medicine in 1970 (which in 2015 became the National Academy of Medicine). Today, the three Academies work together as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to 'provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation and conduct other activities to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions.' The Academies also encourage education and research and attempt to increase public understanding about science, engineering, and medicine. The current president of the National Academy of Sciences is Marcia McNutt, who previously served as the 19th editor-in-chief of the Science journals (2013-2016) and director of the U.S. Geological Survey (2009-2013). McNutt is scheduled to give a State of the Science address on June 3 in Washington, D.C., where she will describe the current status of U.S. research and discuss how the scientific community can respond to a new and rapidly changing research environment.
