The dangerous fallacy of sentient AI
Ignore the Silicon Valley messiahs. They only expose how little most of us know about the technology and its ethics.
By
Reviewing politics
and culture since 1913
Philip Ball is a science author and broadcaster whose books include The Music Instinct and Critical Mass.
Ignore the Silicon Valley messiahs. They only expose how little most of us know about the technology and its ethics.
By Philip Ball
Around the world, coronavirus has revealed profound flaws in our politics. Will we do any better in the next crisis?…
By Philip Ball
Research shows how the adviser’s breach of lockdown rules fatally undermined trust in the government and compliance with public health…
By Philip Ball
The libertarian right’s disregard for social responsibility and scientific expertise has been exposed by their opposition to a basic…
By Philip Ball
The genetic data around human difference is inconclusive – but that does not stop right-wing thinkers using it to…
By Philip Ball
The chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, and chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, did not speak out when asked about the…
By Philip Ball
We have built AI systems that can do everything from diagnose our illnesses to drive our cars. But how…
By Philip Ball
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster was as much a symbol of a failed ideology as of flawed design and technology.
By Philip Ball
Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe 300 years ago and his castaway – capitalist, imperialist, pragmatist – has stood for versions…
By Philip Ball