Search results

The purpose of this study is to provide a series of observations to help information professionals understand and anticipate the future developments.

This column delves into artificial intelligence (AI)-powered search and its implications for the open Web to show how multifaceted the impact of generative text AI might be in a single arena.

This framework includes the following observations: future applications are unpredictable, interdependent and will require flexibility, AI’s ability to create the feeling of intelligence combined with the power of language are key to its future; the technology is not neutral, it has biases and significant limitations; its widespread adoption will come with trade-offs that matter; and that libraries should develop a positive vision for how to use it.

For libraries to serve their patrons or embody their values, they must be prepared to grapple with a rapidly evolving technology by understanding the technologies possibilities, what makes it compelling, as well as its limitations and dangers.

Understanding how the intersection of Facebook’s incentives and their potential misalignment with the values of libraries and society is likely to be a driving force in creating the technology of the future.

This column examines different models Facebook has tried to resolve the legitimacy challenges raised by its massive scale.

The misinformation example highlighted in the previous column and the XCheck controversy in this part underscore that an organization of Facebook’s size creates problems that may have similar dynamics to smaller social media companies or other large technology companies, but the resolutions to those problems might look very different.

Navigating the challenges of this kind of social media will be one of the primary tests of how libraries deal with technology in the future and set the course for the technology that comes after.

By involving themselves in this emerging technology, libraries can directly impact their patrons for good and demonstrate their relevance to a world where text and images are increasingly interchangeable.

This column will provide an overview of how Midjourney, DALL·E, Stable Diffusion and Google fund their text-to-image generation and the incentives those models create.

The ability to easily generate complex images from text creates marketing and information literacy opportunities for libraries, as well as raising issues of stewardship and disinformation.

By understanding how Midjourney, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion and Google fund their text-to-image generation and the incentives created by their operation, libraries will be better positioned to imagine their role in meeting the challenges created by this technology.

The purpose of this column is to provide a foundational understanding of the technology behind ChatGPT, the chatbot released by OpenAI that has suddenly generated headlines on the topic. Text is foundational to modern communication.

This was written almost entirely through asking ChatGPT questions and verifying the answers along with some light editing.

This column summarizes the deep learning model that makes ChatGPT function, as well as some of its key features such as its use of attention mechanisms and transformer architecture that allow its responses to focus on the right concepts. It also explores some of the potential controversies around this technology, with an emphasis on bias and false information.

For information professionals having a foundation for understanding these concepts will continue to be relevant into the future.

The word “drone” is the common term for an unmanned aerial vehicle – a robot that combines flight with sensors (usually cameras) to allow for unprecedented freedom in observing and interacting with the world.

This column will explore the technology that makes modern drones possible, what makes drones useful and the role of libraries in making drones accessible to their patrons, now and in the future.

Many of these applications are equally appealing to hobbyists and professionals. For some small-scale gardeners, drones can be used to scare away pests, such as deer, or take aerial photographs that provide a new perspective of their garden.

For the agriculture industry, drones already account for $864.4 million in spending per year and are expected to grow to account for over $4 billion by 2022, as they are used not only to monitor and plan crops but also to plant seeds and provide accurate pesticide control (Wood, 2016).