Device Diary

  Generative AI is revolutionizing fields from content creation to medical research. While promising, it raises ethical concerns, including the spread of misinformation, the creation of deep fakes, and job displacement. The business and content production worlds quickly embraced tools like ChatGPT and Dalle-E from OpenAI. But what exactly is generative AI, how does it operate, and why is it such a hot and controversial topic? Simply described, gen AI is a branch of artificial intelligence that uses computer algorithms to produce outputs that mimic human material, including text, photos, graphics, music, computer code, and other types of media. With gen AI, algorithms are created to gain knowledge using training data that contains illustrations of the intended result. Gen-AI models may create new material with traits in common with the original input data by examining the patterns and structures in the training data. Gen AI may produce information that seems genuine and human-like i...

IMAGE SOU There is no evidence the global spread of Facebook is linked to widespread psychological harm, an Oxford Internet Institute (OII) study suggests. The research looked at how wellbeing changed in 72 countries as use of the social media platform grew. It counters the common belief that social media is psychologically harmful, the researchers argue. Several countries, including the UK, are considering legislation to protect social media users from online harms. Meta, which owns Facebook, has faced scrutiny  following testimony from whistle-blowers  and  press reports based on leaks  that suggested the company's own research pointed to negative impacts on some users. This research only looked at Facebook and not Meta's other platforms, which include Instagram. Prof Andrew Przybylski, of the OII, told the BBC the study tried to answer the question: "As countries become more saturated with social media, how does the wellbeing of their populations look?" He said: ...

The Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies announced a Saskatoon space to help support education and mentoring for Indigenous people through workshops and non-repayable microgrants. Pawâcikêwikamik: the Innovation Collective launched the Nutrien MakerLodge and Canadian Tire Collaboration Space on Tuesday. Pawâcikêwikamik means a lodge supporting those who dream. “This space has been two years in the making,” said institute president Riel Bellegarde. “From this newly renovated main floor at our downtown Saskatoon campus, SIIT is supporting community-based innovation and technology programming and services across the province.” The organization said the collective has awarded 21 grants over the past two years, as well as over 300 workshops on topics like 3D modelling and VR asset creation. “Safety and innovation are at the forefront of everything we do as a business,” said Chris Reynolds, president of potash at Nutrien. “Nutrien has a longstanding and admirable relationshi...