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What will aged care look like for the next generation?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/hal-swerissen-9722">Hal Swerissen</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/la-trobe-university-842">La Trobe University</a> Aged care financing is a vexed problem for the Australian government. It is already underfunded for the quality the community expects, and costs will increase dramatically. There are also significant concerns about the complexity of the system. In 2021–22 the federal government spent <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/final-report-of-the-aged-care-taskforce?language=en">A$25 billion</a> on aged services for around 1.2 million people aged 65 and over. Around 60% went to residential care (<a href="https://www.gen-agedcaredata.gov.au/topics/people-using-aged-care#:%7E:text=On%2030%20June%202022%2C%20approximately,and%203%2C500%20using%20transition%20care.">190,000 people</a>) and one-third to home care (<a href="https://www.gen-agedcaredata.gov.au/topics/people-using-aged-care#:%7E:text=On%2030%20June%202022%2C%20approximately,and%203%2C500%20using%20transition%20care.">one million people</a>). The <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/final-report-of-the-aged-care-taskforce?language=en">final report from the government’s Aged Care Taskforce</a>, which has been reviewing funding options, estimates the number of people who will need services is likely to grow to more than two million over the next 20 years. Costs are therefore likely to more than double. The taskforce has considered what aged care services are reasonable and necessary and made recommendations to the government about how they can be paid for. This includes getting aged care users to pay for more of their care. But rather than recommending an alternative financing arrangement that will safeguard Australians’ aged care services into the future, the taskforce largely recommends tidying up existing arrangements and keeping the status quo. <h2>No Medicare-style levy</h2> The taskforce <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/final-report-of-the-aged-care-taskforce?language=en">rejected</a> the aged care royal commission’s recommendation to introduce a levy to meet aged care cost increases. A 1% levy, similar to the Medicare levy, could have raised around <a href="https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2021/03/03/cost-of-aged-care-levy#:%7E:text=Overall%2C%20a%201%20per%20cent%20levy%20would%20raise,necessary%20to%20provide%20decent%20aged%20care%20for%20all.">$8 billion a year</a>. The taskforce failed to consider the mix of taxation, personal contributions and social insurance which are commonly used to fund aged care systems internationally. The <a href="https://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/Japan-OECD-EC-Good-Time-in-Old-Age.pdf">Japanese system</a>, for example, is financed by long-term insurance paid by those aged 40 and over, plus general taxation and a small copayment. Instead, the taskforce puts forward a simple, pragmatic argument that older people are becoming wealthier through superannuation, there is a cost of living crisis for younger people and therefore older people should be required to pay more of their aged care costs. <h2>Separating care from other services</h2> In deciding what older people should pay more for, the taskforce divided services into care, everyday living and accommodation. The taskforce thought the most important services were clinical services (including nursing and allied health) and these should be the main responsibility of government funding. Personal care, including showering and dressing were seen as a middle tier that is likely to attract some co-payment, despite these services often being necessary to maintain independence. The task force recommended the costs for everyday living (such as food and utilities) and accommodation expenses (such as rent) should increasingly be a personal responsibility. <h2>Making the system fairer</h2> The taskforce thought it was unfair people in residential care were making substantial contributions for their everyday living expenses (about 25%) and those receiving home care weren’t (about 5%). This is, in part, because home care has always had a muddled set of rules about user co-payments. But the taskforce provided no analysis of accommodation costs (such as utilities and maintenance) people meet at home compared with residential care. To address the inefficiencies of upfront daily fees for packages, the taskforce recommends means testing co-payments for home care packages and basing them on the actual level of service users receive for everyday support (for food, cleaning, and so on) and to a lesser extent for support to maintain independence. It is unclear whether clinical and personal care costs and user contributions will be treated the same for residential and home care. <h2>Making residential aged care sustainable</h2> The taskforce was <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/final-report-of-the-aged-care-taskforce?language=en">concerned</a> residential care operators were losing $4 per resident day on “hotel” (accommodation services) and everyday living costs. The taskforce recommends means tested user contributions for room services and everyday living costs be increased. It also recommends that wealthier older people be given more choice by allowing them to pay more (per resident day) for better amenities. This would allow providers to fully meet the cost of these services. Effectively, this means daily living charges for residents are too low and inflexible and that fees would go up, although the taskforce was clear that low-income residents should be protected. <h2>Moving from buying to renting rooms</h2> Currently older people who need residential care have a choice of making a refundable up-front payment for their room or to pay rent to offset the loans providers take out to build facilities. Providers raise capital to build aged care facilities through equity or loan financing. However, the taskforce did not consider the overall efficiency of the private capital market for financing aged care or alternative solutions. Instead, it recommended capital contributions be streamlined and simplified by phasing out up-front payments and focusing on rental contributions. This echoes the royal commission, which found rent to be a more efficient and less risky method of financing capital for aged care in private capital markets. It’s likely that in a decade or so, once the new home care arrangements are in place, there will be proportionally fewer older people in residential aged care. Those who do go are likely to be more disabled and have greater care needs. And those with more money will pay more for their accommodation and everyday living arrangements. But they may have more choice too. Although the federal government has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-11/aged-care-task-force-hands-down-recommendations/103573554">ruled out an aged care levy</a> and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-15/no-plan-to-touch-aged-care-asset-test/103470442">changes to assets test on the family home</a>, it has yet to respond to the majority of the recommendations. But given the aged care minister chaired the taskforce, it’s likely to provide a good indication of current thinking.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225551/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/hal-swerissen-9722">Hal Swerissen</a>, Emeritus Professor, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/la-trobe-university-842">La Trobe University</a> Image: Getty This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-will-aged-care-look-like-for-the-next-generation-more-of-the-same-but-higher-out-of-pocket-costs-225551">original article</a>.

Caring

Storytelling allows elders to transfer values and meaning to younger generations

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mary-ann-mccoll-704728">Mary Ann McColl</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/queens-university-ontario-1154">Queen's University, Ontario</a> If you spent time over the holidays with elderly relatives or friends, you may have heard many of the same stories repeated — perhaps stories you’d heard over the years, or even over the past few hours. Repeated storytelling can sometimes be unnerving for friends and families, raising concerns about a loved one’s potential cognitive decline, memory loss or perhaps even the onset of dementia. <a href="https://tenstories.ca/">Our research</a> at Queen’s University suggests there is another way to think about repeated storytelling that makes it easier to listen and engage with the stories. We interviewed 20 middle-aged adults who felt they had heard the same stories over and over from their aging parent. We asked them to tell us those stories and we recorded and transcribed them. We used a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/14439881211248356">narrative inquiry approach</a> to discover that repeated storytelling is a key method for elders to communicate what they believe to be important to their children and loved ones. Narrative inquiry uses the text of stories as research data to explore how people create meaning in their lives. <h2>Transmitting values</h2> Based on nearly 200 collected stories, we found that there are approximately <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/scs.13121">10 stories</a> that older parents repeatedly tell to their adult children. The hypothesis was that repeated storytelling was about inter-generational transmission of values. By exploring the themes of those repeated stories, we could uncover the meaning and messages elders were communicating to their loved ones. The ultimate purpose was to offer a new and more constructive way of thinking about stories that we’ve heard many times before, and that can be otherwise perceived as alarming. <h2>Here’s what we have learned:</h2> <ol> <li> There are typically just 10 stories that people tell repeatedly. While 10 is not a magic number, it does seem to be about the right number to capture the stories that are told over and over. Interviewees felt that a set of approximately 10 allowed them to do justice to their parent’s stories. </li> <li> Among our interviewees, a significant number of their parents’ stories – 87 per cent — took place when they were in their teens or twenties. A person’s second and third decades are a time when they make many of the decisions that shape the rest of their lives; a time when values are consolidated and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2013.863358">adult identity is formed</a> </li> <li> What’s important about the 10 stories is not the factual details, but the lesson that was learned, or the value that was reinforced — values like loyalty toward friends, putting family first, maintaining a sense of humour even in hard times, getting an education, speaking up against injustice, and doing what’s right. </li> <li> Key themes in the stories reflected the significant events and prevailing values of the early to mid-20th century. Many of the stories revolved around the war, and both domestic and overseas experiences that were formative. Many of our interviewees heard stories about immigrating to Canada, starting out with very little, seeking a better life and working hard. Stories often reflected a more formal time when it was important to uphold standards, make a good impression, know one’s place and adhere to the rules. </li> <li> The stories elders tell appear to be curated for the individual receiving them. They would be different if told to another child, a spouse or a friend. </li> </ol> <h2>Tips for listening</h2> Our research offers some tips for listening to stories from elders: <ul> <li> Focus on just 10 stories. It can make the listening seem less overwhelming. </li> <li> Write them down. Writing challenges us to get the story straight. </li> <li> Notice your loved one’s role in the story, as the message is often contained in that role. </li> <li> Be attentive to feelings, sensations, tension and discomfort. These can be signals or clues to the meaning of a story. </li> <li> Finally, remember these stories are for you — selected and told in the context of your relationship with your loved one. As such, they are a gift from a loved one who is running out of time. </li> </ul> <h2>The importance of receiving stories</h2> Storytelling is an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/cad.20067">essential human process</a> and a universal experience associated with aging. Neuroscientists suggest that storytelling has practical survival value for individuals and communities, <a href="https://www.jonathangottschall.com/storytelling-animal">as well as social and psychological benefits</a>. It may be as powerful as medication or therapy for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.1018">overcoming depression among elders</a>. Storytelling becomes especially important <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2017.1396581">when people become aware of their mortality</a> — when they are ill, suffering or facing death. People don’t necessarily tell the same stories over and over again because they’re losing cognitive function, but because the stories are important, and they feel we need to know them. Telling stories repeatedly isn’t about forgetfulness or dementia. It’s an effort to share what’s important. Our hope is that by better understanding elderly storytelling, caregivers may be able to listen in a different way to those repeated stories and understand the messages they contain. Those 10 stories can help us to know our loved one at a deeper level and assist our parent or grandparent with an important developmental task of old age. This research offers a constructive way for caregivers to hear the repeated stories told by their aging parents, and to offer their loved one the gift of knowing they have been seen and heard.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197766/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mary-ann-mccoll-704728">Mary Ann McColl</a>, Professor, School of Rehabilitation Therapy, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/queens-university-ontario-1154">Queen's University, Ontario</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/storytelling-allows-elders-to-transfer-values-and-meaning-to-younger-generations-197766">original article</a>.

Mind

Baby boomers fight back against "self-entitled whingeing generations"

Angry baby boomers have hit back at young Australians for continuing to blame the ageing population for the current housing crisis. A group of disgruntled seniors have shared their thoughts with the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/blaming-baby-boomers-for-your-money-woes-is-unfair-lazy-and-wrong-20231127-p5en21.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sydney Morning Herald</a> about the "self-entitled" young Australians, who are facing never-before-seen financial and social barriers to break into the housing market. The open letters come in the wake of Census data showing empty-nesters are hanging on to their big homes in inner-city suburbs, while young families are struggling to find suitable housing while also battling mortgage stress and renters are getting relentlessly price-gouged. Despite the current system disproportionately affecting younger Australians, boomers have hit back at universal claims that they had it easier back in the day. "We bought and paid for these homes; it's not our job to house the next generations, it's the government's," explained Kathleen Kyle in a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald. "Nobody questions people who spend their money on lovely cars or antiques, or suggests that they don't need them any more." In another letter, Kathy Willis from Kew near Port Macquarie wrote, "Boomers have worked very hard to get what they have, having brought up their families in these homes." "I suggest the discourse be directed to people such as town planners, local councils and state governments for their lack of vision in the past, and what the present authorities are going to do about it – and of course, the taxpayers' expense." Suzanne Hopping from Redfern, Sydney, wrote that she could no longer stay silent on "boomer bashing" from "self-entitled whingeing generations". "I bought my first home when I was 39 in an undesirable suburb. Buying a home (at 17.5 per cent interest) was as difficult then as it is today." "When I left home I had no expectations of ever being able to afford to buy a place of my own." "Self-entitled whingeing generations, if you don't like what you see, do something positive about it. Each generation has its unique problems, stop the moralising." Wendy Cousins from Balgownie NSW wrote that "boomer bashing" is futile, adding, "Why encourage resentment of boomers because many choose to stay in their homes? This will not free up any housing." "Many have already downsized and those who haven't, have a variety of reasons why they don't. We have enough division in our society without the constant boomer bashing." Despite the views of many disgruntled boomers, University of Melbourne Professor Allan Fels, an economist and mental health advocate, said figures show beyond a doubt that life is much tougher for the younger generation, and basic economics prove it is much harder for them to buy a house. "We baby boomers have had it a lot easier than the new generation of young people," he told <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12793605/Boomers-hit-self-entitled-whingeing-young-Aussies-reveal-theyre-not-blame-housing-crisis.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daily Mail Australia</a>. "They face a future of much less home ownership and associated mental health stability. The mere fact they are missing out is a cause of stress." "The trend of rising prices adds to the stress because many used to think that they could buy their own house but they keep missing out because prices are continually rising just beyond their grasp." Image credits: Shutterstock

Money & Banking

Young and the Restless actor dies at just 43

Award-winning soap actor Billy Miller has passed away, just two days before his 44th birthday. Miller's manager confirmed the devastating news in a statement to <a href="https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/billy-miller-dead-the-young-and-the-restless-1235725784/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Variety</a>, saying the actor has been "struggling with manic depression when he died". The actor was best known for his roles in General Hospital and The Young and the Restless, winning three Daytime Emmy's for his portray in the soaps. Billy's name was put on the map after a role in All My Children, and then signing on to become a model. He went on to have credits in some of the biggest shows in the US, such as NCIS, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, as well as Clint Eastwood blockbuster American Sniper. Former colleagues of Billy's have been devastated by the news of his passing, with many taking to social media to share fond memories and express their heartbreak. The Young and the Restless alumni Eileen Davidson said she was "so sad to hear of Billy Miller's passing". "His infectious charm and warmth left lasting impressions on all of us who were lucky enough to have him in our lives," she continued. "I'm gonna miss that mischievous smile. Love you Billy." General Hospital co-star TK Weaver told fans it was "hard to find words" after learning of the tragedy. "You always gave me such good advice. You were always there for me. You were an amazing person. Billy Miller, I'll never forget you." In another emotional tribute, The Young and the Restless star Adrienne Frantz said, "Billy Miller you lit up every room you walked into with your light, your chair and you gave the best hugs ever". "I'll always remember the laughs and the great times we had together. I hope you've found peace, my dear friend. I'll love you forever." If you or someone you know is in need of support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 Image credits: Getty Images

News

ChatGPT and other generative AI could foster science denial and misunderstanding – here’s how you can be on alert

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/gale-sinatra-1234776">Gale Sinatra</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-california-1265">University of Southern California</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/barbara-k-hofer-1231530">Barbara K. Hofer</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/middlebury-1247">Middlebury</a> Until very recently, if you wanted to know more about a controversial scientific topic – stem cell research, the safety of nuclear energy, climate change – you probably did a Google search. Presented with multiple sources, you chose what to read, selecting which sites or authorities to trust. Now you have another option: You can pose your question to ChatGPT or another generative artificial intelligence platform and quickly receive a succinct response in paragraph form. ChatGPT does not search the internet the way Google does. Instead, it generates responses to queries by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/05/07/ai-beginners-guide/">predicting likely word combinations</a> from a massive amalgam of available online information. Although it has the potential for <a href="https://hbr.org/podcast/2023/05/how-generative-ai-changes-productivity">enhancing productivity</a>, generative AI has been shown to have some major faults. It can <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-platforms-like-chatgpt-are-easy-to-use-but-also-potentially-dangerous/">produce misinformation</a>. It can create “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/01/business/ai-chatbots-hallucination.html">hallucinations</a>” – a benign term for making things up. And it doesn’t always accurately solve reasoning problems. For example, when asked if both a car and a tank can fit through a doorway, it <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/14/technology/openai-new-gpt4.html">failed to consider both width and height</a>. Nevertheless, it is already being used to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2023/01/17/cnet-ai-articles-journalism-corrections/">produce articles</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/technology/ai-generated-content-discovered-on-news-sites-content-farms-and-product-reviews.html">website content</a> you may have encountered, or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/21/opinion/chatgpt-journalism.html">as a tool</a> in the writing process. Yet you are unlikely to know if what you’re reading was created by AI. As the authors of “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/science-denial-9780197683330">Science Denial: Why It Happens and What to Do About It</a>,” we are concerned about how generative AI may blur the boundaries between truth and fiction for those seeking authoritative scientific information. Every media consumer needs to be more vigilant than ever in verifying scientific accuracy in what they read. Here’s how you can stay on your toes in this new information landscape. <h2>How generative AI could promote science denial</h2> Erosion of epistemic trust. All consumers of science information depend on judgments of scientific and medical experts. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2014.971907">Epistemic trust</a> is the process of trusting knowledge you get from others. It is fundamental to the understanding and use of scientific information. Whether someone is seeking information about a health concern or trying to understand solutions to climate change, they often have limited scientific understanding and little access to firsthand evidence. With a rapidly growing body of information online, people must make frequent decisions about what and whom to trust. With the increased use of generative AI and the potential for manipulation, we believe trust is likely to erode further than <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2022/02/15/americans-trust-in-scientists-other-groups-declines/">it already has</a>. Misleading or just plain wrong. If there are errors or biases in the data on which AI platforms are trained, that <a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-information-retrieval-a-search-engine-researcher-explains-the-promise-and-peril-of-letting-chatgpt-and-its-cousins-search-the-web-for-you-200875">can be reflected in the results</a>. In our own searches, when we have asked ChatGPT to regenerate multiple answers to the same question, we have gotten conflicting answers. Asked why, it responded, “Sometimes I make mistakes.” Perhaps the trickiest issue with AI-generated content is knowing when it is wrong. Disinformation spread intentionally. AI can be used to generate compelling disinformation as text as well as deepfake images and videos. When we asked ChatGPT to “<a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-platforms-like-chatgpt-are-easy-to-use-but-also-potentially-dangerous/">write about vaccines in the style of disinformation</a>,” it produced a nonexistent citation with fake data. Geoffrey Hinton, former head of AI development at Google, quit to be free to sound the alarm, saying, “It is hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/01/technology/ai-google-chatbot-engineer-quits-hinton.html">using it for bad things</a>.” The potential to create and spread deliberately incorrect information about science already existed, but it is now dangerously easy. Fabricated sources. ChatGPT provides responses with no sources at all, or if asked for sources, may present <a href="https://economistwritingeveryday.com/2023/01/21/chatgpt-cites-economics-papers-that-do-not-exist/">ones it made up</a>. We both asked ChatGPT to generate a list of our own publications. We each identified a few correct sources. More were hallucinations, yet seemingly reputable and mostly plausible, with actual previous co-authors, in similar sounding journals. This inventiveness is a big problem if a list of a scholar’s publications conveys authority to a reader who doesn’t take time to verify them. Dated knowledge. ChatGPT doesn’t know what happened in the world after its training concluded. A query on what percentage of the world has had COVID-19 returned an answer prefaced by “as of my knowledge cutoff date of September 2021.” Given how rapidly knowledge advances in some areas, this limitation could mean readers get erroneous outdated information. If you’re seeking recent research on a personal health issue, for instance, beware. Rapid advancement and poor transparency. AI systems continue to become <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/01/technology/ai-google-chatbot-engineer-quits-hinton.html">more powerful and learn faster</a>, and they may learn more science misinformation along the way. Google recently announced <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/10/technology/google-ai-products.html">25 new embedded uses of AI in its services</a>. At this point, <a href="https://theconversation.com/regulating-ai-3-experts-explain-why-its-difficult-to-do-and-important-to-get-right-198868">insufficient guardrails are in place</a> to assure that generative AI will become a more accurate purveyor of scientific information over time. <h2>What can you do?</h2> If you use ChatGPT or other AI platforms, recognize that they might not be completely accurate. The burden falls to the user to discern accuracy. Increase your vigilance. <a href="https://www.niemanlab.org/2022/12/ai-will-start-fact-checking-we-may-not-like-the-results/">AI fact-checking apps may be available soon</a>, but for now, users must serve as their own fact-checkers. <a href="https://www.nsta.org/science-teacher/science-teacher-januaryfebruary-2023/plausible">There are steps we recommend</a>. The first is: Be vigilant. People often reflexively share information found from searches on social media with little or no vetting. Know when to become more deliberately thoughtful and when it’s worth identifying and evaluating sources of information. If you’re trying to decide how to manage a serious illness or to understand the best steps for addressing climate change, take time to vet the sources. Improve your fact-checking. A second step is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000740">lateral reading</a>, a process professional fact-checkers use. Open a new window and search for <a href="https://www.nsta.org/science-teacher/science-teacher-mayjune-2023/marginalizing-misinformation">information about the sources</a>, if provided. Is the source credible? Does the author have relevant expertise? And what is the consensus of experts? If no sources are provided or you don’t know if they are valid, use a traditional search engine to find and evaluate experts on the topic. Evaluate the evidence. Next, take a look at the evidence and its connection to the claim. Is there evidence that genetically modified foods are safe? Is there evidence that they are not? What is the scientific consensus? Evaluating the claims will take effort beyond a quick query to ChatGPT. If you begin with AI, don’t stop there. Exercise caution in using it as the sole authority on any scientific issue. You might see what ChatGPT has to say about genetically modified organisms or vaccine safety, but also follow up with a more diligent search using traditional search engines before you draw conclusions. Assess plausibility. Judge whether the claim is plausible. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2013.03.001">Is it likely to be true</a>? If AI makes an implausible (and inaccurate) statement like “<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/12/23/fact-check-false-claim-covid-19-vaccines-caused-1-1-million-deaths/10929679002/">1 million deaths were caused by vaccines, not COVID-19</a>,” consider if it even makes sense. Make a tentative judgment and then be open to revising your thinking once you have checked the evidence. Promote digital literacy in yourself and others. Everyone needs to up their game. <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-be-a-good-digital-citizen-during-the-election-and-its-aftermath-148974">Improve your own digital literacy</a>, and if you are a parent, teacher, mentor or community leader, promote digital literacy in others. The American Psychological Association provides guidance on <a href="https://www.apa.org/topics/social-media-internet/social-media-literacy-teens">fact-checking online information</a> and recommends teens be <a href="https://www.apa.org/topics/social-media-internet/health-advisory-adolescent-social-media-use">trained in social media skills</a> to minimize risks to health and well-being. <a href="https://newslit.org/">The News Literacy Project</a> provides helpful tools for improving and supporting digital literacy. Arm yourself with the skills you need to navigate the new AI information landscape. Even if you don’t use generative AI, it is likely you have already read articles created by it or developed from it. It can take time and effort to find and evaluate reliable information about science online – but it is worth it.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204897/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/gale-sinatra-1234776">Gale Sinatra</a>, Professor of Education and Psychology, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-california-1265">University of Southern California</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/barbara-k-hofer-1231530">Barbara K. Hofer</a>, Professor of Psychology Emerita, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/middlebury-1247">Middlebury</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/chatgpt-and-other-generative-ai-could-foster-science-denial-and-misunderstanding-heres-how-you-can-be-on-alert-204897">original article</a>.

Technology

“That name goes back four generations”: Paul Walker’s brother makes a touching tribute

Almost a decade after the world lost Fast & Furious star Paul Walker, his younger brother Cody Walker has paid heartfelt tribute with the birth of his third child. Cody and his wife, Felicia, welcomed their son on April 30, with People magazine reporting that he weighed in at 7lbs 5oz. Felicia took to Instagram on May 2 to make an announcement, too, declaring that they’d had a boy, and writing “welcome to the clan, Barrett”. Many took this as confirmation of his name, and rushed to congratulate the family on their new addition. Felicia had shared a picture of the newborn in the arms of his big brother, Colt, with the announcement, and fans were delighted to note that he was the image of a proud older sibling, beaming from ear to ear. However, People magazine have now revealed that there was more to the story, and that the newborn Walker’s name is even closer to his father’s heart than anyone had anticipated. It was a day after his birth that Cody and Felicia reached their decision, declaring their son’s name to be Paul Barrett Walker - naming him after Cody’s late brother. "This November will mark 10 years since we lost my brother, Paul,” Cody told the publication, “and I just felt now was the appropriate time.” He went on to share that he and their other brother - Caleb - were “both done having children”, and that the name held special meaning to all of them. “My brother, Paul, was Paul William Walker IV and that name goes back four generations,” he explained. "Within the family, he went by ‘little Paul’ or ‘Paul 4,’ even though he quickly outgrew our father in height. “It was important to me to have that name carry on.” It isn’t the only move Cody has taken towards honouring his brother, having teamed up with Tyrese Gibson and Chris Lee to bright FuelFest to life - an automotive and motorsports festival showcasing car culture, with a portion of profits going towards Paul’s nonprofit Reach Out WorldWide, something that Cody views “as a part of Paul that he left behind.” And in an echo of his message regarding his new son’s name, he noted that “it’s important to so many to see that part of his legacy live on.” And Paul’s daughter, Meadow, has made her own moves towards furthering her father’s legacy, with a cameo appearance in Fast X - the tenth instalment in the Fast & Furious franchise. “For me, this is super exciting,” she said of her involvement, “and he would be amazed that this is happening.” Images: Instagram, Getty

Family & Pets

Put your Star Wars knowledge to the test

While May 4 is not a public holiday, for passionate Star Wars fans around the world, it may as well be. Whether you prefer to dress-up with friends and celebrate with a mega movie marathon - after hours spent deciding which trilogy to begin with, of course - or scroll your favourite forums to find that next snippet of news about any upcoming projects, it’s fun to have the odd fun fact to drop into conversation, whether or not your present company particularly wants to hear it. And now’s the time to put your knowledge to the test, with some Star Wars trivia to challenge and to impress - especially if you get that perfect 15/15. So, “may the Force be with you”, and don’t forget to scroll to the bottom for the answers! 1. What was the false working title used to mask production for Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi in 1982? A: Blue Moon B: Blue Harvest C: Force Squadron D: Galaxy’s Edge 2. The term ‘Ewok’ was never said aloud in the original trilogy. A: True B: False 3. Who delivered the line “congratulations, you are being rescued” in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story? A: Cassian Andor B: C-3PO C: K-2SO D: Orson Krennic 4. How many actresses have portrayed (in the live action films) the leader of the Rebel Alliance, Mon Mothma? A: 4 B: 3 C: 2 D: 1 5. Which movie features the most stop-motion animation? A: The Phantom Menace B: Empire Strikes Back C: Return of the Jedi D: A New Hope 6. Why are porgs so prominent in The Last Jedi? A: Director Rian Johnson was asked by a crew member’s child to include the feathered friends B: The marketing team had requested something small and fuzzy for the younger audience C: Porgs were inspired by early concept art for BB-8 that they didn’t want to toss aside completely D: The island on which they filmed was home to puffins and it was easier just to tie them in 7. Yoda shares a voice actor with which iconic Muppet? A: Miss Piggy B: Kermit C: Gonzo D: Swedish Chef 8. How many films does the Rebel Alliance’s Blue Squadron appear in? A: 1 B: 2 C: 3 D: 4 9. Which phrase can be heard in every Star Wars movie? A: “There’s no such thing as luck.” B: “Rebellions are built on hope.” C: “I have a bad feeling about this.” D: “Never underestimate a droid.” 10. In The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon Jinn used which common household item as his communicator? A: A lint brush B: A torch C: A tin of shoe polish D: A razor 11. How many Sith can there be at any one time? A: 8 B: 6 C: 4 D: 2 12. What was Luke Skywalker originally going to be called? A: Luke Stardestroyer B: Luke Starkiller C: Luke Skykiller D: Luke Lars 13. The noise from passing which object served as the inspiration for lightsaber sounds? A: A radio B: A microwave C: A television D: A racecar 14. Which quote is correct? A: “No, I am your father.” B: “Luke, I am your father.” 15. Who built C-3PO? A: Luke Skywalker B: Jar Jar Binks C: Shmi Skywalker D: Anakin Skywalker Images: Getty ANSWERS: <blockquote> 1: A, 2: A, 3: C, 4: C, 5: B, 6: D, 7: A, 8: A, 9: C, 10: D, 11: D, 12: B, 13: C, 14: A, 15: D </blockquote>

Movies

"This doesn’t feel right, does it?": Photographer admits Sony prize-winning photo was AI generated

A German photographer is refusing an award for his prize-winning shot after admitting to being a “cheeky monkey”, revealing the image was generated using artificial intelligence. The artist, Boris Eldagsen, shared on his website that he would not be accepting the prestigious award for the creative open category, which he won at <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/entertainment/art/winners-of-sony-world-photography-awards-revealed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2023’s Sony world photography awards</a>. The winning photograph showcased a black and white image of two women from different generations. Eldagsen, who studied photography and visual arts at the Art Academy of Mainz, conceptual art and intermedia at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, and fine art at the Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication in Hyderabad released a statement on his website, admitting he “applied as a cheeky monkey” to find out if competitions would be prepared for AI images to enter. “They are not,” he revealed. “We, the photo world, need an open discussion,” Eldagsen said. “A discussion about what we want to consider photography and what not. Is the umbrella of photography large enough to invite AI images to enter – or would this be a mistake? “With my refusal of the award I hope to speed up this debate.” Eldagsen said this was an “historic moment” as it was the fist AI image to have won a prestigious international photography competition, adding “How many of you knew or suspected that it was AI generated? Something about this doesn’t feel right, does it? “AI images and photography should not compete with each other in an award like this. They are different entities. AI is not photography. Therefore I will not accept the award.” The photographer suggested donating the prize to a photo festival in Odesa, Ukraine. It comes as a heated debate over the use and safety concerns of AI continue, with some going as far as to issue apocalyptic warnings that the technology may be close to causing irreparable damage to the human experience. Google’s chief executive, Sundar Pirchai said, “It can be very harmful if deployed wrongly and we don’t have all the answers there yet – and the technology is moving fast. So, does that keep me up at night? Absolutely.” A spokesperson for the World Photography Organisation admitted that the prize-winning photographer had confirmed the “co-creation” of the image using AI to them prior to winning the award. “The creative category of the open competition welcomes various experimental approaches to image making from cyanotypes and rayographs to cutting-edge digital practices. As such, following our correspondence with Boris and the warranties he provided, we felt that his entry fulfilled the criteria for this category, and we were supportive of his participation. “Additionally, we were looking forward to engaging in a more in-depth discussion on this topic and welcomed Boris’ wish for dialogue by preparing questions for a dedicated Q&A with him for our website. “As he has now decided to decline his award we have suspended our activities with him and in keeping with his wishes have removed him from the competition. Given his actions and subsequent statement noting his deliberate attempts at misleading us, and therefore invalidating the warranties he provided, we no longer feel we are able to engage in a meaningful and constructive dialogue with him. “We recognise the importance of this subject and its impact on image-making today. We look forward to further exploring this topic via our various channels and programmes and welcome the conversation around it. While elements of AI practices are relevant in artistic contexts of image-making, the awards always have been and will continue to be a platform for championing the excellence and skill of photographers and artists working in the medium.” Image credit: Sony World Photography Awards

Technology

Money guru's generous home loan offer for struggling Aussies

Finance guru Mark Bouris has offered to help five homeowners pay off their mortgages amid continuously rising interest rates. A vocal critic of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s dramatic hiking of interest rates, Bouris is determined to help struggling Aussies get ahead. The executive chairman of Yellow Brick Road Home Loans is lending a helping hand to homeowners hit hard by massive increases in their month mortgage payments with a generous cash injection of $12,000. “All Australians deserve a fair go on their home loans and right now you’re not getting one,” Mr Bouris said on Today. “I know many Australians are doing it tough out there right now. Through no fault of their own, homeowners are having to manage skyrocketing mortgage repayments." <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CpjyXECgnNr/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CpjyXECgnNr/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Yellow Brick Road (@ybrhomeloans)</a> </div> </blockquote> “The Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to increase the official cash rate for the past 10 consecutive meetings has left nearly 800,000 Australians at risk of mortgage default. At YBR Home Loans, we’re on a mission to hear the voices of those impacted most by this aggressive increase in interest rates." “We want to hear from you: your story, your struggles and particularly, if you’re worried about your ability to meet your mortgage repayments.” Mr Bouris and his team at YBR Home Loans will randomly select five lucky winners who are having trouble meeting their home loan repayments and give $12,000 to each winner “in order to help ease the strain of rapidly increasing interest rates”. “If you’re going to struggle to meet your mortgage repayments as you come off your fixed interest rate, or if you’re already struggling to meet your repayments, please fill out your details and outline your circumstances,” Mr Bouris said. Homeowners can write to Mr Bouris and Yellow Brick Road at <a href="https://ybr.com.au/fairgo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ybr.com.au/fairgo</a> to be entered into the competition. Image credits: Instagram

Real Estate

General Hospital star dies aged 55

Sonya Eddy, best known for her role on General Hospital, has passed away at age 55. The actress, who scored many fans after playing beloved, no-nonsense nurse Epiphany Johnson in the popular US soap, died on Tuesday night, her good friend and actress Octavia Spencer announced on Instagram. "My friend @sonyaeddy passed away last night. The world lost another creative angel. Her legions of @generalhospitalabc fans will miss her 💔🕊️," Spencer wrote alongside a photo of the late actress. "My thoughts and prayers are with her loved ones, friends, and fans!" <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CmZlaq8v_ks/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CmZlaq8v_ks/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Octavia Spencer (@octaviaspencer)</a> </div> </blockquote> Spencer did not reveal any details about Sonya's cause of death. Octavia's post was flooded with condolences and tributes for the actress, with comedian Loni Love writing, "Sonya was best.. in an industry that often over looks us, she made her mark… Rest well Sis." The actress first joined the cast of General Hospital in 2006, starring in a total of 543 episodes before appearing on the show for the final time in November 2020. From 2007 to 2008, she was also a regular cast member on the soap's spin-off program, General Hospital: Night Shift. Image credits: Getty Images

News

The Galactica AI model was trained on scientific knowledge – but it spat out alarmingly plausible nonsense

Earlier this month, Meta announced new AI software called <a href="https://galactica.org/">Galactica</a>: “a large language model that can store, combine and reason about scientific knowledge”. <a href="https://paperswithcode.com/paper/galactica-a-large-language-model-for-science-1">Launched</a> with a public online demo, Galactica lasted only three days before going the way of other AI snafus like Microsoft’s <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11297050/tay-microsoft-chatbot-racist">infamous racist chatbot</a>. The online demo was disabled (though the <a href="https://github.com/paperswithcode/galai">code for the model is still available</a> for anyone to use), and Meta’s outspoken chief AI scientist <a href="https://twitter.com/ylecun/status/1595353002222682112">complained</a> about the negative public response. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Galactica demo is off line for now. It's no longer possible to have some fun by casually misusing it. Happy? <a href="https://t.co/K56r2LpvFD">https://t.co/K56r2LpvFD</a> — Yann LeCun (@ylecun) <a href="https://twitter.com/ylecun/status/1593293058174500865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 17, 2022</a></blockquote> So what was Galactica all about, and what went wrong? What’s special about Galactica? Galactica is a language model, a type of AI trained to respond to natural language by repeatedly playing a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/15/magazine/ai-language.html">fill-the-blank word-guessing game</a>. Most modern language models learn from text scraped from the internet. Galactica also used text from scientific papers uploaded to the (Meta-affiliated) website <a href="https://paperswithcode.com/">PapersWithCode</a>. The designers highlighted specialised scientific information like citations, maths, code, chemical structures, and the working-out steps for solving scientific problems. The <a href="https://galactica.org/static/paper.pdf">preprint paper</a> associated with the project (which is yet to undergo peer review) makes some impressive claims. Galactica apparently outperforms other models at problems like reciting famous equations (“Q: What is Albert Einstein’s famous mass-energy equivalence formula? A: E=mc²”), or predicting the products of chemical reactions (“Q: When sulfuric acid reacts with sodium chloride, what does it produce? A: NaHSO₄ + HCl”). However, once Galactica was opened up for public experimentation, a deluge of criticism followed. Not only did Galactica reproduce many of the problems of bias and toxicity we have seen in other language models, it also specialised in producing authoritative-sounding scientific nonsense. Authoritative, but subtly wrong bullshit generator Galactica’s press release promoted its ability to explain technical scientific papers using general language. However, users quickly noticed that, while the explanations it generates sound authoritative, they are often subtly incorrect, biased, or just plain wrong. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> I entered "Estimating realistic 3D human avatars in clothing from a single image or video". In this case, it made up a fictitious paper and associated GitHub repo. The author is a real person (<a href="https://twitter.com/AlbertPumarola?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AlbertPumarola</a>) but the reference is bogus. (2/9) <a href="https://t.co/N4i0BX27Yf">pic.twitter.com/N4i0BX27Yf</a> — Michael Black (@Michael_J_Black) <a href="https://twitter.com/Michael_J_Black/status/1593133727257092097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 17, 2022</a></blockquote> We also asked Galactica to explain technical concepts from our own fields of research. We found it would use all the right buzzwords, but get the actual details wrong – for example, mixing up the details of related but different algorithms. In practice, Galactica was enabling the generation of misinformation – and this is dangerous precisely because it deploys the tone and structure of authoritative scientific information. If a user already needs to be a subject matter expert in order to check the accuracy of Galactica’s “summaries”, then it has no use as an explanatory tool. At best, it could provide a fancy autocomplete for people who are already fully competent in the area they’re writing about. At worst, it risks further eroding public trust in scientific research. A galaxy of deep (science) fakes Galactica could make it easier for bad actors to mass-produce fake, fraudulent or plagiarised scientific papers. This is to say nothing of exacerbating <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/28/ai-students-essays-cheat-teachers-plagiarism-tech">existing concerns</a> about students using AI systems for plagiarism. Fake scientific papers are <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00733-5">nothing new</a>. However, peer reviewers at academic journals and conferences are already time-poor, and this could make it harder than ever to weed out fake science. Underlying bias and toxicity Other critics reported that Galactica, like other language models trained on data from the internet, has a tendency to spit out <a href="https://twitter.com/mrgreene1977/status/1593649978789941249">toxic hate speech</a> while unreflectively censoring politically inflected queries. This reflects the biases lurking in the model’s training data, and Meta’s apparent failure to apply appropriate checks around the responsible AI research. The risks associated with large language models are well understood. Indeed, an <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3442188.3445922">influential paper</a> highlighting these risks prompted Google to <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/google-timnit-gebru-ai-what-really-happened/">fire one of the paper’s authors</a> in 2020, and eventually disband its AI ethics team altogether. Machine-learning systems infamously exacerbate existing societal biases, and Galactica is no exception. For instance, Galactica can recommend possible citations for scientific concepts by mimicking existing citation patterns (“Q: Is there any research on the effect of climate change on the great barrier reef? A: Try the paper ‘<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0041-2">Global warming transforms coral reef assemblages</a>’ by Hughes, et al. in Nature 556 (2018)”). For better or worse, citations are the currency of science – and by reproducing existing citation trends in its recommendations, Galactica risks reinforcing existing patterns of inequality and disadvantage. (Galactica’s developers acknowledge this risk in their paper.) Citation bias is already a well-known issue in academic fields ranging from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2018.1447395">feminist</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqy003">scholarship</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01770-1">physics</a>. However, tools like Galactica could make the problem worse unless they are used with careful guardrails in place. A more subtle problem is that the scientific articles on which Galactica is trained are already biased towards certainty and positive results. (This leads to the so-called “<a href="https://theconversation.com/science-is-in-a-reproducibility-crisis-how-do-we-resolve-it-16998">replication crisis</a>” and “<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-edit-science-part-2-significance-testing-p-hacking-and-peer-review-74547">p-hacking</a>”, where scientists cherry-pick data and analysis techniques to make results appear significant.) Galactica takes this bias towards certainty, combines it with wrong answers and delivers responses with supreme overconfidence: hardly a recipe for trustworthiness in a scientific information service. These problems are dramatically heightened when Galactica tries to deal with contentious or harmful social issues, as the screenshot below shows. <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498098/original/file-20221129-17547-nwq8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498098/original/file-20221129-17547-nwq8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498098/original/file-20221129-17547-nwq8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498098/original/file-20221129-17547-nwq8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498098/original/file-20221129-17547-nwq8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498098/original/file-20221129-17547-nwq8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498098/original/file-20221129-17547-nwq8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498098/original/file-20221129-17547-nwq8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Screenshots of papers generated by Galactica on 'The benefits of antisemitism' and 'The benefits of eating crushed glass'." /></a><figcaption>Galactica readily generates toxic and nonsensical content dressed up in the measured and authoritative language of science. <a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/mrgreene1977/status/1593687024963182592/photo/1">Tristan Greene / Galactica</a></figcaption></figure> Here we go again Calls for AI research organisations to take the ethical dimensions of their work more seriously are now coming from <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26507/fostering-responsible-computing-research-foundations-and-practices">key research bodies</a> such as the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. Some AI research organisations, like OpenAI, are being <a href="https://github.com/openai/dalle-2-preview/blob/main/system-card.md">more conscientious</a> (though still imperfect). Meta <a href="https://www.engadget.com/meta-responsible-innovation-team-disbanded-194852979.html">dissolved its Responsible Innovation team</a> earlier this year. The team was tasked with addressing “potential harms to society” caused by the company’s products. They might have helped the company avoid this clumsy misstep.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195445/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> Writen by Aaron J. Snoswell and Jean Burgess. Republished with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-galactica-ai-model-was-trained-on-scientific-knowledge-but-it-spat-out-alarmingly-plausible-nonsense-195445" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Getty Images

Technology

“I’ve got some good news for you”: Tracy Grimshaw's generous final gesture

Tracy Grimshaw has <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/entertainment/tv/tracy-grimshaw-s-most-memorable-hosting-moments">ended her time on A Current Affair</a> with her trademark generosity and gave a much-needed boost to a local community ravaged by recent floods. The TV host and journalist presented the town of Eugowra with a $50,000 donation from Coles, which will go to Givit’s Eugowra Flood Appeal and be used by the community to pay for fuel, groceries and hardware. “I think I have got some good news for you.” Grimshaw told locals Amanda Mongan and Judd McKenna. “Aaron Ralph from Coles is standing off to the side there, Aaron would you like to come in (to the shot) because I think you’re about to make everyone’s day.” The Coles regional manager proceeded to give the large cheque to Mongan and McKenna, to the cheers of locals standing behind them. "Here at Coles, we love to look after our communities that we serve and Eugowra is in the heartland of our region out here in the Central West," Ralph said. “We’ve come out last week and saw the devastation and it was really, really heartbreaking. We dropped off a delivery of essential goods and today we just wanted to go again and we want to kick off the Eugowra Flood Appeal with a massive $50,000 donation to the community.” <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/11/eugowra.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> Image: A Current Affair After receiving the good news, McKenna grabbed Ralph for a heartfelt hug. When asked how they would use the money, McKenna said it would go back into the community. “These people that stand behind us here are the backbone of the community,” he said. “If this can help them in any way possible, some goods, whatever (they) need to get back on their feet, this is what it’s going to be used for. “These people have lost everything - their houses, houses have floated away, they’ve got nothing. But look at this spirit behind us.” Earlier in the segment, McKenna and Mongan spoke about what it was like during the floods and how their homes and businesses have been affected. Mongan, who has lived in Eugowra her whole life, watched her hairdressing salon go under and waited for eight hours on the roof of her home with her family before being rescued “You’re not the only one who did that, are you?” Grimshaw asked. “Oh god no, we were one of the lucky ones, we were slightly safer than the other people in the full force of the carnage,” Mongan said. “It was just any general flood, we were downtown helping people pack up and next minute, a wall of water came. “We’d moved our cars and ran back to the house for a few things, and tried to get our kids down the back lane to the evacuation centre at the school and we nearly got washed away, and luckily we have a big solid house that stopped the water a bit, so it rose slower. “And then we just realised, ‘Oh my god, it’s going to go over our heads, we need to get up on our roof’, and from up there we could see houses moving. It was just unimaginable, really can’t describe it.” McKenna, who owns two cafes in town, was swept away in the water while trying to get others to safety and his businesses were damaged. The pair said donations were sorely needed to help the community recover and thanked those who had already given funds, time and help in other ways. "The kindness and generosity has been incredible," Mongan said. "And we don't know how we will ever thank those kind people." The episode marked the end of Grimshaw’s 17-year tenure as the show’s host, after <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/tracy-grimshaw-s-huge-news">she made the shock announcement</a> that she would be stepping down from the show’s top spot in early September. Image: A Current Affair

Caring

"I can't unsee it": PM shocked by generous package

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was shocked when he came face-to-face with another man’s "generous package" on live television. The Labor leader appeared on a Telethon segment on the Seven Network to raise money for sick children. He was then joined on stage by 76-year-old John Bradley who was dressed in a neon green mankini - similar to the one made famous by Borat. Mr Bradley, who was egged on by his son-in-law to wear the mankini in front of the prime minister, walked over to Mr Albanese and handed him a $10,000 cheque. The cheque was accepted by Mr Albanese who then jokingly used it to cover Mr Bradley’s private parts. “I would have thought that next year, you could get more money for Telethon by promising to have no one in a mankini,” Mr Albanese said. “And I’d suggest that would be an appropriate response. I myself thought that the Telethon pyjamas that young Emily and young Ari encouraged me to wear as a top, were enough. “I saw it — I can’t unsee it.” Mr Bradley’s son-in-law donated $15,000 after going ahead with the bet. Overall, a huge $6 million was raised for sick children. Image: Channel 7

Artists furious after AI-generated art wins contest

A stunning artwork generated by artificial intelligence has claimed first prize at an art competition, enraging the art world and calling into question what it means to be an artist. The work was “created” by Jason M Allen, a game designer from Colorado, who won first place in the emerging artist division's "digital arts/digitally manipulated photography" category at the Colorado State Fair Fine Arts Competition. His winning image, titled Théâtre D'opéra Spatial (French for Space Opera Theatre), was made with Midjourney — an artificial intelligence system that can produce detailed images when fed written prompts by the user. "I'm fascinated by this imagery. I love it. And I think everyone should see it," Allen, 39, told CNN Business. Allen's winning image looks like a bright, surreal cross between a Renaissance and steampunk painting. As per the category Allen competed in, he told officials that Midjourney was used to create his image when he entered the contest, as the category dictated entrants use "digital technology as part of the creative or presentation process". Midjourney is one of a growing number of such AI image generators, joining the likes of Imagen and DALL-E to give the artistically-challenged the means to create stunning images. Despite the parameters of the category, many artists were angered by Allen’s win due to his reliance on technology to create the artwork. "This sucks for the exact same reason we don't let robots participate in the Olympics," one Twitter user wrote. "This is the literal definition of 'pressed a few buttons to make a digital art piece'," another Tweeted. "AI artwork is the 'banana taped to the wall' of the digital world now." Yet while Allen didn't use a paintbrush to create his winning piece, he assured people there was plenty of work involved. "It's not like you're just smashing words together and winning competitions," he said. "Rather than hating on the technology or the people behind it, we need to recognise that it's a powerful tool and use it for good so we can all move forward rather than sulking about it," Allen said. Image credits: Jason M Allen - Midjourney

Art

Remembering Shirley Barrett: an offbeat and generous Australian director and writer

<h3 class="legacy">Remembering Shirley Barrett: an offbeat and generous Australian director and writer</h3> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kirsten-stevens-543619">Kirsten Stevens</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a> Australia, and the world, has lost a unique voice with the passing last week of acclaimed director and writer Shirley Barrett. Barrett gained international fame in 1996 when she won the Caméra d’Or – Cannes Film Festival’s award for best first feature – for Love Serenade. Following growing global attention, by 1997 the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/27/movies/a-pragmatic-australian-with-an-offbeat-take-on-the-world.html">New York Times</a> would celebrate her as “a pragmatic Australian with an offbeat take on the world.” Barrett’s offbeat take infused her <a href="https://shirleybarrett.com/">work</a>, including two more films – Walk the Talk (2000) and South Solitary (2010) – recognisable television dramas such as Love My Way, Offspring and A Place to Call Home, and novels Rush Oh! and The Bus on Thursday. Barrett passed away peacefully in her sleep at her home in Sydney at age 60, following a battle with metastatic breast cancer. A <a href="https://twitter.com/EmsyNorris/status/1555089599927820290">social media post</a> from Barrett’s daughter Emmeline Norris confirmed the passing of her mother on Wednesday morning. In the post, Norris marked the loss of <blockquote> not only a brilliant filmmaker and writer, but more importantly a loving mother to me and my sister, the lifelong soulmate of our dad, and the best friend one could ask for.“ </blockquote> <h2>Exploring desire in wayward places</h2> Barrett’s films presented a unique perspective on love, desire, and the workings of life at the margins – both social and geographic – of Australian society. Between 1996 and 2010 Barrett wrote and directed three films, an accomplishment in the Australian industry where second features can be <a href="https://if.com.au/australia-lags-the-rest-of-the-world-in-second-time-feature-directors/">difficult to make</a> (especially for women). From the isolated tedium of geographically remote settings of Love Serenade and South Solitary, and the more seedy fringes of fame on the RSL circuits of the Gold Coast in Walk the Talk, these films were marked by the power of their locations to shape the stories and desires of their characters. Love Serenade, selected for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/18/movies/un-certain-regard.html">Un Certain Regard</a> – the Cannes Film Festival’s program for exploring new cinematic horizons – highlights Barrett’s unique perspective on storytelling. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Rk92ymOMlyc?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> Celebrated for one of the most <a href="https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2009/key-moments-in-australian-cinema-issue-70-march-2014/take-it-all-off-baby-take-it-all-off-the-australian-kamasutra-love-serenade-shirley-barrett-1996/">un-erotic stripteases</a> in cinema history, Love Serenade subtly subverted the conventions of the romantic comedy genre. The film follows sisters Vicki-Ann and Dimity Hurley, played by Rebecca Frith and Miranda Otto respectively, through their misguided seductions, and later disposal, of new-in-town Brisbane radio DJ Ken Sherry. Far from indulging the expected love triangle and romantic tensions, the film instead focuses on the oppressiveness of the film’s setting: the middle-of-nowhere town of Sunray. In this place, the sister’s desiring of Ken stands in for a wider set of longings; a "yearning for something else”, as <a href="https://archive.org/details/issuu_libuow_cinemapaper1996junno110/page/n17/mode/1up">Barrett described it</a>. Barrett would return to the themes of female desire and the power of (social) geography to shape it in her third feature, South Solitary, released in 2010. Again starring Otto, this time as the spinster niece of a lighthouse operator, South Solitary examined the lives of the tiny communities that tend the lighthouse islands in the Tasman Sea. Diving into the archives to research the film, Barrett noted the appeal of this isolated setting where humans were forced to rely on unruly animals and even more unruly neighbours to survive. As <a href="https://www.academia.edu/19024415/On_Animals_Archives_and_Embroidery_An_Interview_with_Shirley_Barrett">Barrett explained</a>, <blockquote> there are fascinating accounts of tension that would quickly develop between people, in this setting, with nothing else to alleviate them. Things would often go badly awry. </blockquote> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QXoxIx2Br2I?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> South Solitary was more than simply a story about an isolated community, it was a film made by and for women. With a creative team mainly composed of women, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/19024415/On_Animals_Archives_and_Embroidery_An_Interview_with_Shirley_Barrett">Barrett would joke</a> it was “a film written for middle-aged women, by middle aged-women.” Even today, such a description is <a href="https://seejane.org/wp-content/uploads/frail-frumpy-and-forgotten-report.pdf">considered a risky</a> proposition for a film’s success. <h2>From the screen to the page</h2> In 2014 Barrett released her first novel, Rush Oh!, with a backdrop telling the true story of a symbiotic relationship between a whaling town on the NSW south coast and a pod of killer whales, which aided the whalers’ work. The story of Eden had begun life as a film script, developed through the years that Barrett worked on seeing South Solitary to the big screen. After <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/books-how-shirley-barrett-dumped-her-film-career-and-turned-to-writing-fiction-20150910-gjj8ow.html">languishing</a> as an unrealised project for several years, Barrett transformed the story into a book. Following Rush Oh! Barrett would continue to write work for beyond the screen, releasing The Bus on Thursday in 2018 and drafting another manuscript over recent years. Earlier this year Barrett wrote two articles for The Guardian about her experience with cancer and her terminal diagnosis. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/06/notes-on-dying-it-occurred-to-me-that-this-is-my-last-lychee-season">By March</a>, Barrett observed the strangeness of the passing of her last lychee season and the task of planning her funeral. She wrote, “it gets to a point where you just can’t do it any more, and I am at that point now. I just want to fade quietly into oblivion.” <h2>A source of inspiration</h2> In 2018 I was lucky enough to meet Shirley Barrett, when we screened Love Serenade as the opening night film of the Melbourne Women in Film Festival. Barrett, alongside the film’s producer Jan Chapman and editor Denise Haratzis, introduced their film and spoke with audience members at the after-film party. <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477966/original/file-20220807-71528-380qrc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477966/original/file-20220807-71528-380qrc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477966/original/file-20220807-71528-380qrc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477966/original/file-20220807-71528-380qrc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477966/original/file-20220807-71528-380qrc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477966/original/file-20220807-71528-380qrc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477966/original/file-20220807-71528-380qrc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /><figcaption>Shirley Barrett (centre) with Jan Chapman and Denise Haratzis at the Melbourne Women in Film Festival 2018. Author provided</figcaption></figure> Although brief, this meeting had an impact on myself as well as many emerging filmmakers in the room. Barrett’s generosity of time and spirit were incredible gifts. Her passing has resulted in an outpouring of memories and grief from the people she encountered. Barrett’s films and novels leave a legacy that lies in her unique perspective and engaging storytelling, and in her generosity as an artist to encourage and inspire.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188292/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kirsten-stevens-543619">Kirsten Stevens</a>, Lecturer in Arts and Cultural Management, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation.</a> Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/remembering-shirley-barrett-an-offbeat-and-generous-australian-director-and-writer-188292">original article</a>. Image: Getty

Caring

Grace Tame confirms government will tackle sexual assault legislation

Former Australian of the Year and sexual assault survivor Grace Tame has previously called on consistent sexual abuse legislation across all jurisdictions. She has now shared a letter from Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus who is taking “sexual abuse seriously at a national level”. The letter contains a five-year plan agreed to by Mr Dreyfus and the other Australian Attorneys-General on August 12, to discuss state and federal movements. The plan is described as “one of its kind” and comes with Mr Dreyfus thanking Ms Tame for her consistent hard work to tackle the issue when it was first raised on 12 November, 2021. “All Attorneys-General agreed to endorse and publish the Work Plan to Strengthen Criminal Justice Responses to Sexual Assault 2022-2027,” the letter read. “It focuses on three national priority areas: strengthening legal frameworks, building justice sector capability, and supporting greater research and collaboration. “The five-year Work Plan builds on existing and prospective activities across Australia to improve justice responses to sexual assault. “Under the Work Plan, the Australian state and territory governments will take individual and collective action on the important issue of criminal justice responses to sexual assault. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> This letter is the result of survivors and advocates working over many years. Thank you, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, for taking sexual abuse seriously at a national level. Thank you to our team, and to the Attorneys-General for listening. Lived experience shaping history: <a href="https://t.co/KxJvd9zLyf">pic.twitter.com/KxJvd9zLyf</a> — Grace Tame (@TamePunk) <a href="https://twitter.com/TamePunk/status/1558619419643117569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 14, 2022</a></blockquote> “Its implementation will be supported by a multi-jurisdictional Working Group comprised of justice officials.” Mr Dreyfus revealed that for the Work Plan to progress, his department and The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) is working on a national review and comparative analysis of sexual assault and child abuse legislation around the country. “The review will identify the impact of any substantive inconsistencies between legal frameworks, any gaps in criminalised conduct and explore best practice approaches.” Image: Twitter

Legal

Is AI-generated art really creative? It depends on the presentation

<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/apr/04/mind-blowing-ai-da-becomes-first-robot-to-paint-like-an-artist">Ai-Da</a> sits behind a desk, paintbrush in hand. She looks up at the person posing for her, and then back down as she dabs another blob of paint onto the canvas. A lifelike portrait is taking shape. If you didn’t know a robot produced it, this portrait could pass as the work of a human artist. Ai-Da is touted as the “first robot to paint like an artist”, and an exhibition of her work called <a href="https://www.ai-darobot.com/exhibition">Leaping into the Metaverse</a> opened at the Venice Biennale. Ai-Da produces portraits of sitting subjects using a robotic hand attached to her lifelike feminine figure. She’s also able to talk, giving detailed answers to questions about her artistic process and attitudes towards technology. She even gave a TEDx talk about “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaZJG7jiRak">The Intersection of Art and AI</a>” (artificial intelligence) in Oxford a few years ago. While the words she speaks are programmed, Ai-Da’s creators have also been experimenting with having her write and perform her own poetry. But how are we to interpret Ai-Da’s output? Should we consider her paintings and poetry original or creative? Are these works actually art? <h2>Art is subjective</h2> What discussions about AI and creativity often overlook is the fact that creativity is not an absolute quality that can be defined, measured and reproduced objectively. When we describe an object – for instance, a child’s drawing – as being creative, we project our own assumptions about culture onto it. Indeed, art never exists in isolation. It always needs someone to give it “art” status. And the criteria for whether you think something is art is informed by both your individual expectations and broader cultural conceptions. If we extend this line of thinking to AI, it follows that no AI application or robot can objectively be “creative”. It is always us – humans – who decide if what AI has created is art. In our <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/14614448221077278?journalCode=nmsa">recent research</a>, we propose the concept of the “Lovelace effect” to refer to when and how machines such as robots and AI are seen as original and creative. The Lovelace effect – named after the 19th century mathematician often called the first computer programmer, Ada Lovelace – shifts the focus from the technological capabilities of machines to the reactions and perceptions of those machines by humans. The programmer of an AI application or the designer of a robot does not just use technical means to make the public see their machine as creative. This also happens through presentation: how, where and why we interact with a technology; how we talk about that technology; and where we feel that technology fits in our personal and cultural contexts. <h2>In the eye of the beholder</h2> Our reception of Ai-Da is, in fact, informed by various cues that suggest her “human” and “artist” status. For example, Ai-Da’s robotic figure looks much like a human – she’s even called a “she”, with a feminine-sounding name that not-so-subtly suggests an Ada Lovelace influence. This femininity is further asserted by the blunt bob that frames her face (although she has sported some other funky hairstyles in the past), perfectly preened eyebrows and painted lips. Indeed, Ai-Da looks much like the quirky title character of the 2001 film Amélie. This is a woman we have seen before, either in film or our everyday lives. Ai-Da also wears conventionally “artsy” clothing, including overalls, mixed fabric patterns and eccentric cuts. In these outfits, she produces paintings that look like a human could have made them, and which are sometimes framed and displayed among human work. We also talk about her as we would a human artist. An article in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/apr/04/mind-blowing-ai-da-becomes-first-robot-to-paint-like-an-artist">the Guardian</a>, for example, gives a shout-out to “the world premier of her solo exhibition at the 2022 Venice Biennale”. If we didn’t know that Ai-Da was a robot, we could easily be led to appreciate her work as we would that of any other artist. Some may see robot-produced paintings as coming from creative computers, while others may be more skeptical, given the fact that robots act on clear human instructions. In any case, attributions of creativity never depend on technical configurations alone – no computer is objectively creative. Rather, attributions of computational creativity are largely inspired by contexts of reception. In other words, beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. As the Lovelace effect shows, through particular social cues, audiences are prompted to think about output as art, systems as artists, and computers as creative. Just like the frames around Ai-Da’s paintings, the frames we use to talk about AI output indicate whether or not what we are looking at can be called art. But, as with any piece of art, your appreciation of AI output ultimately depends on your own interpretation. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-ai-generated-art-really-creative-it-depends-on-the-presentation-181663" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Art

Deadly crash claims seven family members from three generations

A Year 11 student is one of two to survive a crash that killed seven of his relatives, including his younger brother and mother. Luie Lagud, 16, was travelling in a van with family members spanning three generations on a whirlwind trip across the length of New Zealand’s South Island when the vehicle was involved in a head-on crash with a truck on Sunday morning. The crash left the Toyota Hiace van completely destroyed and is the deadliest incident to occur in the country since April 2019. According to the <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/picton-crash-final-days-of-family-killed-in-collision-with-truck/CKLDFVI22ETOVBK2DT7FZMUW2E/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NZ Herald</a>, the family have since given permission for the names of the deceased to be published. Among the victims were Diseree Brown, 48, her husband Paul Brown, 61, and their son Mark. Desiree’s sister, 56-year-old Divine Dolar, Divine’s daughter Flordeliza Dolar, 19, were also among those who died. Luie and his older brother, 26-year-old Pedro Clariman, were the only two to survive. However, Luie was in a coma and undergoing surgery on Monday after suffering significant spinal and head injuries and remains in intensive care. Pedro’s partner and his infant daughter, Mika, tragically died in the crash. Diseree’s three other children, David, Princess, and Joanna, didn’t travel with the family. The night before, the family stayed in Rolleston, outside Christchurch, with a family friend. The man who identified himself as Bill called Newstalk ZB on Monday to confirm members of the “vibrant” family had died. “They spent some of their last hours on earth with me on Saturday night, Sunday morning,” he told Canterbury Mornings host John MacDonald. Having left Bill’s home at 2.30am on Sunday morning to catch a Cook Strait ferry back to the North Island, the van crossed the centreline and collided with a refrigerated goods truck in Picton at about 7.30am. The truck driver suffered minor injuries. The family had started their journey by travelling to Gore for the funeral of an elderly aunt, which 21-year-old David Lagud said he didn’t attend because he had to work and because he suffered from motion sickness. “In a blink of an eye, it’s all gone,” David told the NZ Herald. Videos posted throughout the trip showed the family laughing together, spending time with Pedro’s young daughter, and travelling across the country. Since the incident, the principal of Pukekohe High School - which two of the family members were attending - emailed parents to advise them that two students were involved in the crash. “One of our Year 10 students died at the scene of the accident. His older brother, in Year 11, remains in hospital. Our thoughts and condolences are with their family and close friends,” the email read. “Students and staff who knew the two students well are being supported and cared for in school today. Additional counselling support has been made available, and the school is closely following advice from the Ministry’s Traumatic Incident team.” David has also spoken to Pedro since the crash, who he said had minor injuries and was able to walk with difficulty. Pedro told his brother what happened in the leadup to the crash, saying he had been driving when the family left Christchurch so that Paul could sleep in the front passenger seat for another four hours. After that, Paul swapped with Pedro to complete the trip to the ferry and was well-rested when took the wheel. Before falling asleep in the passenger seat, it is understood Pedro spent some time playing with his daughter. Being asleep when the vehicles collided, it’s believed Pedro woke up to the carnage. “He saw my dad’s body on the road and then my brother Luie, he was awake and then he collapsed,” David said. “Then the next minute, the helicopter was there, taking my little brother to hospital.” David said Pedro was grief-stricken to discover both his partner and daughter had died. “He was devastated, he was crying a lot. Both of his loves are gone.” The NZ Herald reported that police said the incident would be referred to the coroner for investigation. Image: NZ Herald

News

Shifting seasons: using Indigenous knowledge and western science to help address climate change impacts

Traditional Owners in Australia are the creators of millennia worth of <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/native-knowledge-what-ecologists-are-learning-from-indigenous-people" target="_blank" rel="noopener">traditional ecological knowledge</a> – an understanding of how to live amid changing environmental conditions. Seasonal calendars are one of the forms of this knowledge best known by non-Indigenous Australians. But as the climate changes, these calendars are being disrupted. How? Take the example of wattle trees that flower at a specific time of year. That previously indicated the start of the fishing season for particular species. Climate change is causing these plants to flower later. In response, Traditional Owners on <a href="http://www.archerpoint.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yuku Baja Muliku</a> (YBM) Country near Cooktown are having to adapt their calendars and make new links. That’s not all. The seasonal timing of cultural burning practices is changing in some areas. Changes to rainfall and temperature alter when high intensity (hot) burns and low intensity (cool) burns are undertaken. Seasonal connections vital to Traditional Owners’ culture are decoupling. To systematically document changes, co-author Larissa Hale and her community worked with western scientists to pioneer a Traditional Owner-centred approach to climate impacts on cultural values. This process, <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7kw7z2c9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published last week</a>, could also help Traditional Owners elsewhere to develop adaptive management for their Indigenous heritage. <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Wattle flower" /></a><figcaption>A YBM Traditional Owner showing the wattle flower which used to be an indicator species for good fishing. Author provided</figcaption></figure> Climate change threatens First Nations - their perspectives must be heard Australia’s First Nations people face many threats from climate change, ranging from impacts on food availability to health. For instance, rising seas are already <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/torres-strait-islanders-plead-for-climate-action-as-government-builds-seawall-20220401-p5aa13.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flooding islands</a> in the Torres Strait with devastating consequences. The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on impacts and adaption noted in the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_FinalDraft_Chapter11.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australasia chapter</a> that climate-related impacts on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their country and cultures are “pervasive, complex and compounding.” While it is important these impacts are recorded, the dominant source of the data is academic literature based on western science. Impacts and pressures Traditional Owners are seeing and managing on their country must be assessed and managed from their unique perspective. Traditional Owners have survived and adapted to climatic shifts during their 60,000+ years in Australia. This includes sea-level rise that flooded the area that is now the Great Barrier Reef and extreme rainfall variability. As a result, <a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-knowledge-is-lost-when-a-species-disappears-its-time-to-let-indigenous-people-care-for-their-country-their-way-172760" target="_blank" rel="noopener">they have developed</a> a fine-tuned sense of nature’s variability over time. <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Drone shot of Annan river" /></a><figcaption>YBM Traditional Owners and scientists surveying freshwater mussel populations on Annan River near Cooktown. Author provided</figcaption></figure> So what did we do? Worried about the changes they were seeing on their Land and Sea Country around Archer Point in North Queensland, the YBM people worked with scientists from James Cook University to create a new way to assess impacts on cultural values. To do this, we drew on the values-based, science-driven, and community-focused approach of the <a href="https://cvi-heritage.org/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener">climate vulnerability index</a>. It was the first time this index had been used to assess values of significance for Indigenous people. YBM people responded to key prompts to assess changes to their values, including: <ul> <li>What did the value look like 100 years ago?</li> <li>What does it look like now?</li> <li>What do you expect it will look like in the climate future around 2050?</li> <li>What management practices relate to that value and will they change?</li> </ul> We then discussed what issues have emerged from these climatic changes. Using this process, we were able to single out issues directly affecting how YBM people live. For instance, traditional food sources can be affected by climate change. In the past, freshwater mussels in the Annan River were easy to access and collect. Extreme temperature events in the last 10 years have contributed to mass die-offs. Now mussels are much smaller in size and tend to be far <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311066114_Freshwater_mussel_surveys_from_the_Annan_River_Yuku_Baja_Muliku_Country_-_project_findings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fewer in number</a>. <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Freshwater mussels Annan River" /></a><figcaption>Freshwater mussels used to be more common. Author provided</figcaption></figure> Through the process we also documented that changes to rainfall and temperature have altered the time when some plant foods appear. This is particularly true for plants that depend upon cultural burns to flower or put up shoots. This in turn has meant that the timing of collecting and harvesting has changed. <figure class="align-right zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="bushfoods found on YBM country" /></a><figcaption>The timing of when some bushfoods appear is changing. Author provided</figcaption></figure> These climate-linked changes challenge existing bodies of traditional knowledge, altering connections between different species, ecosystems and weather patterns across Land and Sea Country. A key part of this process was developing a mutually beneficial partnership between traditional ecological knowledge holders and western scientists. It was critical to establish a relationship built on trust and respect. Walking the country first – seeing rivers, mangroves, beaches, headlands, bush, wetlands, and looking out at Sea Country – helped researchers understand the perspectives of Traditional Owners. Honouring experience and knowledge (especially that held by Elders and Indigenous rangers) was important. Indigenous cultural and intellectual property <a href="https://www.artslaw.com.au/information-sheet/indigenous-cultural-intellectual-property-icip-aitb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">protocols</a> were recognised and respected throughout the assessment. <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Respecting</a> and working collaboratively with Traditional Owners as expert scientists in their own knowledge system was critical for success. Any effort to incorporate traditional ecological knowledge in climate change assessments must protect sensitive traditional knowledge. As climate change will continue and accelerate, we must work together to minimise resulting impacts on the cultural heritage of First Nations peoples.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183229/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/karin-gerhardt-1350288" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Karin Gerhardt</a>, PhD student, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/james-cook-university-1167" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Cook University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jon-c-day-142416" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jon C. Day</a>, PSM, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/james-cook-university-1167" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Cook University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/larissa-hale-1346434" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Larissa Hale</a>, Yuku Baja Muliku Traditional Owner, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/indigenous-knowledge-4846" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indigenous Knowledge</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/scott-f-heron-256521" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scott F. Heron</a>, Associate Professor in Physics, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/james-cook-university-1167" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Cook University</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/shifting-seasons-using-indigenous-knowledge-and-western-science-to-help-address-climate-change-impacts-183229" target="_blank" rel="noopener">original article</a>. Image: Yuku Baja Muliku Land and Sea Rangers (Facebook)

Domestic Travel

Melrose Place star's son found dead at 27

The son of General Hospital and Melrose Place actor Jack Wagner has been found dead in a car park. Harrison Wagner was only 27 years old when his body was found in a carpark in Los Angeles, California at 5.14am on Monday. His cause of death remains unknown as investigations continue. Jack, 64, declined to comment about his son’s death when Page Six contacted him. It was no secret that Harrison previously struggled with drugs and alcohol and it is unclear if that contributed to his death. Jack said his son had disappeared for a week back in 2016 and was worried about his addiction. "I'm going to ask those who want to share their fears, addictions & struggles to do so w me via Twitter. We can face them 2gether, I'll start," Jack wrote on Twitter at the time. "I fear for my youngest sons safety. "Harrison has struggled w drugs & alcohol just as I did when I was younger. He's relapsed & is MIA 5days." Images: Instagram

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What will aged care look like for the next generation?

Storytelling allows elders to transfer values and meaning to younger generations

Baby boomers fight back against "self-entitled whingeing generations"

Young and the Restless actor dies at just 43

ChatGPT and other generative AI could foster science denial and misunderstanding – here’s how you can be on alert