Author: The Conversation
BY S. Shyam Sundar, Penn State; Cason Schmit, Texas A&M University, and John Villasenor, University of California, Los Angeles From fake photos of Donald Trump being arrested by New York City police officers to a chatbot describing a very-much-alive computer scientist as having died tragically, the ability of the new generation of generative artificial intelligence systems to create convincing but fictional text and images is setting off alarms about fraud and misinformation on steroids. Indeed, a group of artificial intelligence researchers and industry figures urged the industry on March 29, 2023, to pause further training of the latest AI technologies…
by Mzukisi Qobo, University of the Witwatersrand Since the UN Climate Change Agreement was signed by 196 nations in December 2015, many countries have announced policies to reduce their fossil fuel emissions. Their commitments are set out in nationally determined actions they’ll be taking to achieve this. But the transition must navigate political economy tensions, especially in developing countries. Take South Africa, for example. It has deep-seated socioeconomic challenges, such as inequality and unemployment. Its unemployment rate (including people who have given up looking for jobs) is unacceptably high at 42.5%. The country is also among the most unequal in…
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an international arrest warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes regarding the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia. Such acts are war crimes under two articles of the Rome Statute, which established the court. ICC arrest warrants against sitting heads of state are rare. Putin faces arrest if he sets foot in any of the 123 signatory states to the statute. Of these, 33 are African states. The issue could come to a head in August when South Africa is set to host the 15th summit of the…
by Mike Rogan, Rhodes University; Max Gallien, Institute of Development Studies; Nana Akua Anyidoho, University of Ghana, and Vanessa van den Boogaard, Institute of Development Studies In May 2022, the government in Ghana introduced a deeply unpopular tax on mobile money transactions, known as the e-levy. When it was introduced, the levy was structured as a 1.5% charge on all electronic and mobile money transactions over 100 cedis per day. The e-levy was designed to raise more money for the government by extracting larger tax contributions from Ghana’s informal sector. About 90% of total employment in Ghana is informal and…
by Konstantinos Lagos, Sheffield Hallam University With four banks down in the US and Europe and at least several more wobbling, we’re currently in the throes of the worst banking strife since 2007-08. Aggressive interest rate hikes have meant that banks are sitting on hefty losses on their portfolios of government bonds – some US$2 trillion (£1.6 trillion) or 15% losses on US banks alone. This makes many banks vulnerable to the same kind of funding problems that brought down Silicon Valley Bank – one in ten banks are sitting on even greater losses and tighter funding, putting the lie…
by Michael G. Madden, University of Galway The AI chatbot known as ChatGPT, developed by the company OpenAI, has caught the public’s attention and imagination. Some applications of the technology are truly impressive, such as its ability to summarise complex topics or to engage in long conversations. It’s no surprise that other AI companies have been rushing to release their own large language models (LLMs) – the name for the technology underlying chatbots like ChatGPT. Some of these LLMs will be incorporated into other products, such as search engines. With its impressive capabilities in mind, I decided to test the…
The fact that many businesses last Monday chose to close or keep staff at home showed widespread concern that the planned shutdown could lead to violence and disruption. It was natural to be worried – the memories of looting and destruction of property in July 2021 remain fresh. The irresponsible political rhetoric around the shutdown had inflamed fears. The state reacted appropriately to those concerns. While some have decried the extent of the mobilisation of police, backed by the army, the response was proportionate to the fears ordinary citizens and businesses had. The police promised to maintain law and order,…
by Motshedisi Mathibe, University of Pretoria South African president Cyril Ramaphosa recently reiterated plans to accelerate the commercialisation of hemp as well as cannabis plants. His speech setting out government’s priorities for 2023 was a reminder of a pledge in 2022 – also in his state of the nation address – that the government would mobilise investment in the hemp and cannabis sectors. In his speech, the president indicated that government is in the process of addressing the conditions for the growth of the cannabis sector, particularly for rural farmers. The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and…
By Doug Jacobson, Iowa State University TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on March 23, 2023, amid a chorus of calls from members of Congress for the federal government to ban the Chinese-owned video social media app and reports that the Biden administration is pushing for the company’s sale. The federal government, along with many state and foreign governments and some companies, has banned TikTok on work-provided phones. This type of ban can be effective for protecting data related to government work. But a full ban of the app is another matter, which…
by Matthew Wright, Rochester Institute of Technology and Christopher Schwartz, Rochester Institute of Technology You have just returned home after a long day at work and are about to sit down for dinner when suddenly your phone starts buzzing. On the other end is a loved one, perhaps a parent, a child or a childhood friend, begging you to send them money immediately. You ask them questions, attempting to understand. There is something off about their answers, which are either vague or out of character, and sometimes there is a peculiar delay, almost as though they were thinking a little…