This article presents a detailed timeline of events in the history of
computing from 2020 to the present. For narratives explaining the overall developments, see the
history of computing.
Significant events in
computing include events relating directly or indirectly to
software,
hardware and
wetware.
Excluded (except in instances of significant functional overlap) are:
events about uses of computational tools
in biotechnology and similar fields (except for improvements to the underlying computational tools) as well as events in media-
psychology except when those are directly linked to computational tools
Chatbot and text-generating AI,
ChatGPT (released on 30 Nov 2022), a
large language model, became popular, with some considering the large public's attention as unwarranted hype as potential applications are limited. Similar software such as
Cleverbot existed for many years, and the software is, on the fundamental level, not structured toward accuracy – e.g. providing seemingly credible but incorrect answers to queries and operating "without a contextual
understanding of the language" – but only toward essentially the authenticity of mimicked human language.[13][14][15][16][17] It was estimated that only two months after its launch, it had 100 million active users.[18] Applications may include solving or supporting school writing assignments,[19] malicious
social bots (e.g. for
misinformation, propaganda, and scams),[20][21] and providing inspiration (e.g.
for artistic writing or in design or
ideation in general).[22][23]
Google released
chatbotBard due to effects of the ChatGPT release,[24] with potential for
integration into its Web search and, like ChatGPT software, also as a
software development helper tool.[25]DuckDuckGo released the DuckAssist feature integrated into its search engine that
summarizes information from Wikipedia to answer search queries that are questions. The experimental feature was shut down without explanation on 12 April.[26][27][28] There has been further development regarding LLMs or ChatGPT as user interfaces of Wikipedia or as software using its structured knowledge by others.[29][30] A proprietary feature by
scite.ai was released that delivered answers that use research papers and provide
citations for the quoted paper(s). It may demonstrate an alternative approach to ChatGPT whose fundamental algorithms are not designed to generate text that is true, including for example "
hallucinations" and fake citations or
misinformation more generally.[31][32]Elicit.org may provide a free alternative to this tool.[33][34] A broader alternative approach to the software's Q&A applications and use of text generation for assignments may be the improvement of
media literacy and
Web search skills in
education systems.
Further
LLM developments during what has been called an "
AI boom" included: local or
open source versions of
LLaMA which was
leaked in March,[35][36][37] news outlets reported on GPT4-based
Auto-GPT that given natural language commands uses the Internet and other tools in attempts to understand and achieve its tasks with unclear or so-far little practicality,[38] a systematic evaluation of answers from four "generative search engines" suggested their outputs "appear informative, but frequently contain unsupported statements and inaccurate citations",[39] a multi-modal open source tool for understanding and generating speech,[40] a data scientist argued that "researchers need to collaborate to develop open-source LLMs that are
transparent" and independent,[41]Stability AI launched an open source LLM.[42]
A method for editing
NeRF scenes, a novel media technique from 2020,[43] with natural language
commands was demonstrated by Nvidia.[44][45]
An
open letter "
Pause Giant AI Experiments" initiated by the
Future of Life Institute called for "AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4" due to "profound risks to society and humanity".[46][47] It received substantial media attention and also contributed to speculations about perceived large LLM potential). At the time there was extensive media coverage of views that regard ChatGPT as a potential step towards
AGI or sentient machines, also extending to some academic works (e.g. a popular
preprint by a company).[12] The coverage focused on such views may not represent the majority expert views and, for example, some researchers noted that e.g. the ability to generate coherent text and imitations are not the same as understanding language.[48] A set of techniques under development included self-refining code or text.[49]
ChatGPT was shown to outperform human doctors in responding to online medical questions when measured on quality and empathy by "a team of licensed health care professionals",[50][51] albeit the chatbot may have previously been trained with these
redditquestion and answers threads.
A novel potentially significantly more efficient
text-to-image approach, as implemented in MUSE, was reported.[63][64]
A first successful autonomous long-duration operation, including simulated
combat, of a modified
F-16 fighter jet,
X-62A, by two AI software was reported.[65][66][67]
A
text-to-speech synthesizer,
VALL-E, that can be trained to mimic anybody's
voice with just three seconds of voice data and may produce the most natural-sounding results to date, was reported in a preprint.[68][69]
A use of world models for a wide range of domains that make decisions using e.g. different 3D worlds and reward frequencies and outperforms previous approaches, DreamerV3, was reported as a step towards
general artificial intelligence in a preprint.[70][71]
A study reported the development of
deep learning algorithms to identify
technosignature candidates, finding 8 potential alien signals not detected earlier.[78][79]
The world's first
COVID-19 drug designed by
generative AI was approved for human use, with clinical trials expected to begin in China. The new drug, ISM3312, was developed by
Insilico Medicine.[84]
The
LLMGPT-4 was launched by
OpenAI.[85][86] It and ChatGPT based on it continued to receive major global media attention.
Researchers suggested that growing influence of industry in AI research means that "
public interest alternatives for important AI tools may become increasingly scarce".[87]
Google revealed
PaLM-E, an embodied
multimodal language model with 562 billion parameters.[88][89]
Researchers demonstrated an open source 'AI scientist' that can create models of natural phenomena from knowledge
axioms and experimental data, showing the software can rediscover physical laws like "Kepler's third law of planetary motion, Einstein's relativistic time-dilation law, and Langmuir's theory of adsorption" using logical reasoning and a few data points.[91][90]
Researchers demonstrated a non-invasive
brain-reading method. It can translate a person's neural activity into a continuous stream of text using
fMRI data and
transformer machine learning. Prior training data is required for this semantic decoding. Participants listened to stories for 16 hours while their brain activity was recorded.[92]
A machine learning model is trained to recognise the key features of chemicals with
senolytic activity. It finds three chemicals – ginkgetin,
periplocin and
oleandrin – able to remove
senescent cells without damaging healthy cells.[97][98]
Articles in science outlets like Nature suggest contemporary viral concerns about hypothetical
existential risk of AI "plays into the tech companies' agenda" – partly in the form of 'criti-hype'[99] – and that this "hinders effective regulation of the societal harms AI is causing right now" and in the near-future.[100]
A science writer provides an overview of "the nascent industry of
AI-designed drugs".[101]
A
preprint introduces the concept of "thought cloning" by which AI use data of or imitate human thinking.[102]
Metaresearchers showed that AI trained with study-author-networks data could generate scientifically promising "alien" hypotheses that would likely not be considered otherwise.[103]
A study provides an overview and living review of open source
LLMs, assessing the levels of openness of their differentiated elements and reviewing the risks of relying on proprietary software or the importance of
open source AI.[104]
AI-supported
mammography screening was demonstrated to have the potential to substantially reduce workload and to possibly improve cancer detection rates.[105]
A study that won an international competition demonstrated an approach that predicted 70% of earthquakes, suggesting some form of
earthquake prediction may be feasible in the future.[107]
A natural language system was demonstrated that can provide explanations for the conclusion-making of machine learning models for
explainable AI.[109][110]
A
preprint reported some
large language models have an 'extractable memorization' flaw by which training data can be extracted at affordable costs by queries.[111]
A study hypothesized
mental health awareness efforts (in current forms) or glamorised and romanticised mental disorders
on social media (e.g. quotes about depression on aesthetically-appealing backgrounds shared widely on certain social media)[which?] may have contributed to the recent rise in reported mental health problems – by intensifying and over-diagnosing of such – beyond e.g. increased reporting of previously under-recognised symptoms or mental health-related issues.[144][145]
Parts of
Twitter's
recommender algorithms became
open source, welcomed and requested by many albeit with several issues related to code exclusion and verifiability.[149][150][151] Around the time, the free version of its
API, which was also used for research, esd shut down[152] – followed shortly thereafter by
reddit,[153] proprietary verification checkmarks caused controversy,[154] parts of its source code were
leaked,[155] and applications of a "state-affiliated media" label – which purportedly uses "
Category:Publicly funded broadcasters" data which, like the label, does not
differentiate and list the shares of funding sources – caused controversy.[156][157] In April,
Twitter was warned by EU digital policy-makers after a report indicated its
recent policies "boost" Russian disinformation-based propaganda.[158]
An
umbrella review summarized the research on benefits and risks associated
with digital media use by youths, suggesting caregivers, policymakers and researchers should continue to move away from prevailing oversimplified recommendations to reduce
screen time to instead focus on distinguished types of screen use.[166]
Researchers reported the development of a fuel cell
implant powered by
bloodglucose. It can also release
insulin at certain levels and have enough energy to allow smartphone implant control.[189][190]
Researchers reported the development of
neuromorphicAI hardware using
nanowires(see also
2020-04-20) physically mimicking the brain's activity in identifying and remembering an image from memory.[192][193] A university reported on a demonstration of
multisensory motion cue integration by a neuromorphic nerve for robots.[191]
DeepMind announced that its
AlphaFold program had uncovered the structures of more than 200 million
foldedproteins, essentially all of those known to science.[197][198]
News outlets reported
artificial intelligence art had
won the first place in a
digital art competition.[199] Such artistic imagery is generated using input consisting of text and sometimes images, usually including parameters such as
artistic style (
text-to-image generation). Around the time, an expert concluded that "AI art is everywhere right now", with even experts not knowing what it will mean,[200] a news outlet established that "AI-generated art booms" and reported issues of copyright and automation of professional artists,[201] a news outlet investigated how
online communities (e.g. their rules) confronted with many such artworks react,[202] a news outlet raised concerns over
deepfakes,[203] a magazine highlighted possibilities of enabling "new forms of
artistic expression",[204] and an editorial noted that it may be seen as a welcome "augmentation of human capability".[205][additional citation(s) needed] Moreover, additional functionalities – such as enabling the use of user-provided
concepts (like an object or a style) learned from few images for novel personalized art generated from the associated word/s[206] or
expanding beyond the borders of artistic images in the same style[broken anchor][207] – were reported. On 22 August,[208][209]Stable Diffusion released as
open source software, making the technology more accessible and free to use on personal hardware as well as extendable by third-parties (i.e. other software projects).[209][210]
Researchers reported the development of a
deep learning system that learns intuitive physics from visual data (of virtual 3D environments)
to some degree "from scratch" based on an
unpublished approach inspired by studies of visual cognition in infants.[215][216] Two weeks later, other researchers reported the development of a
machine learning algorithm that could discover sets of basic variables of various physical systems and predict the systems' future dynamics from video recordings of their behavior.[217][218]
The first data transmission to exceed 1
petabit per second (Pbit/s) using a single laser and a single optical chip was demonstrated by European researchers.[239][240]
A satellite-free
GPS-alternative higher-resolution
positioning system using existing telecommunications networks was demonstrated, SuperGPS.[244][245]
Impossible Metals announced its first
underwater robotic vehicle, 'Eureka 1', had completed its first trial of selectively harvesting
polymetallic nodule rocks from the seabed nearly without harming the environment (as compared to other
seabed mining) to help address the
rising global need for
metals for
renewable energy system components – mainly batteries. It operates autonomously and uses advanced computer vision, e.g. using AI to determine which rocks have signs of visible life on them so that they are not harvested.[246]
Software
A report by the
Royal Society listed potential or proposed countermeasures against misinformation, mainly online misinformation, such as, broadly described,
building resilience to scientific
misinformation and a healthy online information environment.[247]
Computational biologists reported the largest detailed human
genetic genealogy, unifying human genomes from many sources for insights
about human history, ancestry and evolution. It demonstrates a novel computational method for estimating how human DNA is related, in specific as a series of 13 million linked trees along the genome, a tree-sequence, which has also been called "the largest human
family tree".[image needed][248][249][250]
Researchers reported the creation of a
version control system for
cell engineering, suggesting it to be a "significant step toward more open, reproducible, easier to trace and share, more trustworthy engineering biology", and possibly increased safety by enabling faster tracing of organisms lab of origin and design details via barcoding.[251][252]
A
preprint demonstrated how
backdoors can be placed undetectably into classifying (e.g. posts as "spam" or well-visible "not spam")
machine learning models which are often developed and/or trained by third parties. Parties can change the classification of any input, including in cases with types of
data/software transparency, possibly including
white-box access.[253][254][255]
Researchers reported routes for
recycling 200 industrial
waste chemicals into important drugs and agrochemicals using a software for computer-aided chemical synthesis design, helping enable "circular chemistry" as a potential area of a
circular economy.[256][257]
A study suggested that in
children at age 9–12 during two years time, gaming or watching digital videos can be positively correlated with
measures of intelligence, albeit correlations with overall
screen time (including social media, socializing and TV) were not investigated and 'time gaming' did not differentiate between categories of video games (e.g. shares of games' platform and
genre).[261][260]
Computing and the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine: An editorial published in a journal noted that
remote surgery and
types of videoconferencing for sharing expertise (e.g.
ad hoc assistance) have been and could be used to support doctors in Ukraine.[262] A forum contribution analyzed Russian users' reactions to the
Bucha massacre on social media – on nationalist
Telegram channels.[263] Computer science and technology was also used to defend against the 2022 Russian invasion such as with military technology,[264][265] to document and communicate war events including via facial recognition of dead Russian soldiers and Russian war crimes,[266][267] and for aggregated information about support opportunities for Ukrainian scientists.[268][269]
A study explored the efficacy of
GitHub Sponsors, launched in 2019, in terms of supporting
FOSS-efforts and the sponsors' intentions as well as the motivation of sponsors and various quantitative and qualitative analyses relevant to this approach of FOSS-funding.[272][273]
News outlets reported that in July, for the first time, more people watched
streaming TV than cable within the U.S.[globalize].[279][280]
A researcher reported that the social media
appTikTok adds a
keylogger to its, on iOS essentially unavoidable, in-app
browser in
iOS, which allows its Chinese company to gather, for example, passwords, credit card details, and everything else that is typed into websites opened from taps on any external links within the app. Shortly after the report, the company claimed such capabilities are only used for
debugging-types of purposes.[281][282] To date, it has
largely not been investigated which and to which extent (other) apps have capacities for such or similar data-collection.[281][282][additional citation(s) needed]
Results of investigations about the issue of
recommendation systems shifting their users' preferences "so they are easier to satisfy" were reported, including actively optimizing such software to avoid problematic shifts/
manipulation, suggesting "that recommenders that optimize for staying in the trust region can avoid manipulative behaviors while still generating engagement".[291][292]
After domain seizures of
Z-Library by
copyright law enforcement and moves toward
dark web and
IPFS technologies by its content providers, the
open sourceshadow libraryUIAnna's Archive – which also provides access to a full copy of Z-Library content and scientific articles – was established by a team of
archivists,[295][296] essentially providing the largest human book and literature
library.
Around the
acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk (27 October), interest in alternatives to the site – described as "one of the world's most high-profile information ecosystems", a contemporary suboptimal
public square, and as heavily used by many journalists and
news media – increased substantially. However, no alternative such as
Mastodon,
Reddit or the
Bluesky protocol was found to match its features such as
ease of use to date, in terms of being able to substitute the site.[301][302][303]
A university reported on the first study of the new
privacy-intrusion
Web tracking technique of "
UIDsmuggling" by the
ad industry, which finds it to be prevalent and largely not mitigated by the latest protection tools – such as
Firefox's tracking protection and
uBlock Origin – and contributes to countermeasures.[311][312]
A study estimated losses of 61 metals to help the development of
circular economy strategies, showing that usespans of, often scarce, tech-critical metals are short.[320][321]
Samsung announced the first mass production of computer chips using a
3 nm process. These feature a
gate-all-aroundtransistor architecture that reduces power consumption by up to 45%, improves performance by 23% and reduces area by 16% compared to 5 nm.[330][331]
Scientists reported a so far unique and unknown feature of material
VO2 – it can "remember" previous external stimuli (via structural rather than electronic states), with potential e.g. data storage.[336][337]
[Data usage] – In a static proprietary article that appeared in and was co-
reviewed by a
scientific journal, authenticated scientists analyzed data from multiple public databases to create a regional representation of levels of
deforestation induced by nations' recent, largely unmodulated,
trade-, production- and consumption-patterns.[346][347]
A study found that carbon emissions from
Bitcoin mining in China – where a majority of the
proof-of-work algorithm that generates current
economic value is computed, largely fueled by nonrenewable sources – had accelerated rapidly and would soon exceed total annual emissions of countries like Italy, interfering with
climate change mitigation commitments.[348][349]
Neuralink revealed a male
macaque with
chips embedded on each side of its brain, playing a mind-controlled version of Pong. While similar technology has been demonstrated for decades, and wireless implants have existed for years, some observers noted that the organization increased the number of implanted electrodes that are read wirelessly.[350][351][352]
Scientists
reviewed materials strategies for organic neuromorphic devices, suggesting that "their biocompatibility and mechanical conformability give them an advantage for creating adaptive biointerfaces, brain-machine interfaces, and biology-inspired prosthetics".[353][354][relevant?]
Researchers published the first in-depth study of
Web browsertabinterfaces. They found that many people struggle with tab overload and conducted surveys and interviews about people's tab use. Thereby they formalized pressures for closing tabs and for keeping tabs open. The authors then developed related UI design considerations which could enable better tools and changes to the code of Web browsers – like
Firefox – that allow
knowledge workers and other users to better manage their tabs.[355][356]
A new record for the smallest single-chip system was achieved, occupying a total volume of less than 0.1 mm³.[358][359]
Scientists demonstrated the first
brain–computer interface that decodes neural signals for
handwriting. The character output speed of a patient with a paralyzed hand was up to 90 characters per minute – more than double the previous record. Each letter is associated with a highly distinctive pattern of activity in the brain, making it relatively easy for the algorithm to distinguish them.[360][361]
Archivists initiated a rescue mission to secure enduring access to humanity's largest public
library of scientific articles,
Sci-Hub, due to the site's increased legal troubles, using Web and
BitTorrent technologies.[362]
El Salvador passed the
Bitcoin Law, making it the first country to give
cryptocurrency and
bitcoin a status of
legal tender.[367] The law was passed by the
Legislative Assembly of El Salvador on June 8, 2021, giving the cryptocurrency
bitcoin the status of
legal tender within
El Salvador after September 7, 2021.[368] It was proposed by President
Nayib Bukele. The text of the law states that "the purpose of this law is to regulate bitcoin as unrestricted legal tender with liberating power, unlimited in any transaction, and to any title that public or private natural or legal persons require carrying out".[369]
In the debate regarding the cognitive impacts of
smartphones and digital technology, a group reported that, contrary to widespread belief, scientific evidence does not show that these technologies
harm biological cognitive abilities and that they instead change predominant ways of
cognition – such as a reduced need to remember facts or conduct mathematical calculations by pen and paper outside contemporary schools. However, some activities – like reading novels – that require long attention-spans and don't feature ongoing rewarding stimulation may become more challenging in general.[373][374]
Researchers used a
brain–computer interface to enable a man who was paralyzed since 2003 to produce comprehensible words and sentences by decoding signals from electrodes in the speech areas of his brain.[376][377]
Japan achieved a new
world record Internet speed: 319
Tbit/s over ~3000 km which, albeit not being the fastest speed overall, beats the previous record of 178 Tbit/s.[378][379]
Scientists reported that worldwide
adolescentloneliness and depression increased substantially after 2012 and that loneliness in contemporary schools appears to be associated with
smartphone access and
Internet use.[380][381]
DeepMind announced that its
AlphaFold AI had
predicted the structures of over 350,000
proteins, including 98.5% of the ~20,000 proteins in the human body. The 3D data along with their degrees of confidence for accuracy was made freely available with a database, doubling the previous number of protein structures in the public domain.[382]
Scientists concluded that
personal carbon allowances (PCAs) could be a component of
climate change mitigation. They found that the
economic recovery from COVID-19 and novel digital technology capacities open a window of opportunity for first implementations. PCAs would consist of – e.g.
monetary – credit-feedbacks and decreasing default levels of per capita emissions concessions. The researchers found that recent advances in
machine learning technology and "smarter home and transport options make it possible to easily track and manage a large share of individuals' emissions" and that feedback effective in engaging individuals to reduce their energy-related emissions and relevant new personalized
apps could be designed.[388][389][390] Issues may include privacy, evaluating emissions from individuals co-running multinational companies and the availability and prices of products and services.
Cerebras announced a new hardware and software platform that can support
AI models of 120 trillion parameters, enabling
neural networks greater than the equivalent number of
human brainsynapses.[391]
Pathogen researchers reported the development of
machine learning models for genome-based
early detection and prioritization of high-risk potential
zoonotic viruses in animals prior to
spillover to humans. They concluded that their tool could be used for virus surveillance for
pandemic prevention via (i.a.) measures of "early investigation and outbreak preparedness" and would have been capable of predicting
SARS-CoV-2 as a high-risk strain.[392][393]
A loss of public
IP routes to the Facebook
DNS servers due to malfunctioning capacity-assessment code, routinely triggered after configuration changes of routers of the company's data centers, resulted in stoppage of
BGP routing information broadcasts caused the
2021 Facebook outage.[394][395]
A study
of data traffic by popular
smartphones running variants of the
Android software found substantial by-default data collection and sharing with no opt-out (i.e. even the
NetGuardfirewall, which is not installed by default, may not reliably and completely prevent such data traffic) and implications for users'
privacy, control and security.[396][397]
A method of
DNA data storage with 100 times the density of previous techniques was announced.[400]
Scientists demonstrated that
grown brain cells integrated
into digital systems can carry out goal-directed
tasks with
performance-scores. In particular, playing a simulated (via electrophysiological stimulation) Pong which the cells learned to play faster than known machine intelligence systems, albeit to a lower skill-level than both AI and humans, was reported. Moreover, the study suggested it provides the "first empirical evidence" of information-processing capacity differences between neurons from different species.[401][402]
Researchers reported the development of organic low-power
neuromorphic electronics which they built into a robot, enabling it to learn sensorimotorically within the real world, rather than via simulations like in the study above. For the chip,
polymers were used and coated with an ion-rich gel to enable the material to carry an electric charge like
real neurons.[403][404]
A
scientific review summarized research and data about
telemedicine. Its results indicated that, in general, outcomes of such
ICT-use are as good as in-person care with health care use staying similar.[408][409]
The Log4Shellsecurity vulnerability in a
Java logging framework was publicly disclosed two weeks after its discovery. Because of the ubiquity of the affected software, experts have described it as a most serious computer vulnerability.[410] In a high-level meeting, the importance of security maintenance of open-source software – often also carried out largely by few volunteers – to national security was clarified.[411][412]
Researchers reported the development of a database and analysis tool about
perovskite solar cells which systematically integrates over 15,000 publications, in particular device-data about over 42,400 of such photovoltaic devices. Authors described the site – which requires signing up to access the data and uses software that is partly open source but to date not free software[414] – as a participative "Wikipedia for perovskite solar cell research" and suggest that extensively capturing the progress of an entire field including interactive data exploration functionalities could also be applicable to many fields in
materials science, engineering and biosciences.[415][413]
May 22 – Australian computer scientists reported achieving, thus far, the highest
internet speed in the world from a single optical chip source over standard
optical fiber, amounting to 44.2
Terabits per sec, or "downloading 1000 high definition movies in a split second".[431][432][433]
May 27 – A study showed that
social networks can function poorly as pathways for inconvenient truths, that the
interplay between communication and action during disasters may depend on the structure of social networks, that communication networks suppress necessary "evacuations" in test-scenarios because of false reassurances when compared to groups of isolated individuals and that larger networks with a smaller proportion of informed subjects can suffer more damage due to human-caused
misinformation.[434][435]
July 6 – [Novel protocol/standard] – The
Versatile Video Coding standard (H.266) was finalised, designed to halve the
bitrate of previous formats, reducing data volume and being especially useful for on-demand
8K streaming services.[438][439]
September 3 – Scientists reported finding "176
Open Accessjournals that, through lack of
comprehensive and open archives, vanished from the Web between 2000–2019, spanning all major research disciplines and geographic regions of the world" and that in 2019 only about a third of the 14,068
DOAJ-indexed journals ensured the long-term preservation of their content themselves, with many papers not getting archived by
Web archiving initiatives such as the
Internet Archive.[445][446][447]
September 18 – Media reported what may be the first publicly confirmed case of a civilian fatality as a nearly direct consequence of a
cyberattack, after
ransomware disrupted a hospital in Germany.[448][relevant?]
October 28 – A
review suggested only
surgical robot platforms "that can effectively communicate their intent and explain their decisions to their human companions will find their way into the operating room of the future", defined levels of autonomy and suggested "positive evidence will soon emerge and build up" that would motivate "transition to clinical trials".[451][452]
Awards and challenges
To display all pages, subcategories and images click on the "►":
Leads the
Panfrost project,[458] a project to reverse engineer and implement a free driver for the Mali series of graphics processing units (GPUs) used on a wide variety of single-board computers and mobile phones.[453][454]
FSF Free Software Awards – Award for outstanding new Free Software contributor
A philosopher who since 2019 has become a mainstay of the
GNU Emacs community through his blog posts, conference talks, livestreams, and code contributions.[455][456][457]
^Salvi, Francesco; Manoel Horta Ribeiro; Gallotti, Riccardo; West, Robert (2024). "On the Conversational Persuasiveness of Large Language Models: A Randomized Controlled Trial".
arXiv:2403.14380 [
cs.CY].
^Ramsey, Imogen; Corsini, Nadia; Peters, Micah D.J.; Eckert, Marion (September 2017). "A rapid review of consumer health information needs and preferences". Patient Education and Counseling. 100 (9): 1634–1642.
doi:
10.1016/j.pec.2017.04.005.
PMID28442155.
^Boyer, Cé Gaudinat, Arnaud; Hanbury, Allan; Appel, Ron D.; Ball, Marion J.; Carpentier, Michel; van Bemmel, Jan H.; Bergmans, Jean-Paul; Hochstrasser, Denis; Lindberg, Donald; Miller, Randolph; Peterschmitt, Jean-Claude; Safran, Charles; Thonnet, Michè Hler, Antoine (2017). "Accessing Reliable Health Information on the Web: A Review of the HON Approach". MEDINFO 2017: Precision Healthcare Through Informatics. 245: 1004–1008.
doi:
10.3233/978-1-61499-830-3-1004.
PMID29295252.{{
cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link)
^
abPangrazio, Luci; Godhe, Anna-Lena; Ledesma, Alejo González López (November 2020). "What is digital literacy? A comparative review of publications across three language contexts". E-Learning and Digital Media. 17 (6): 442–459.
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S2CID223518782.
^Saha, Shritama (February 8, 2023).
"Give a Prompt, Make a Video". Analytics India Magazine.
Archived from the original on February 18, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
^Liesenfeld, Andreas; Lopez, Alianda; Dingemanse, Mark (July 19, 2023). "Opening up ChatGPT: Tracking openness, transparency, and accountability in instruction-tuned text generators". Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Conversational User Interfaces. ACM. pp. 1–6.
arXiv:2307.05532.
doi:
10.1145/3571884.3604316.
ISBN9798400700149.
S2CID259837343.
^Saad, Omar M.; Chen, Yunfeng; Savvaidis, Alexandros; Fomel, Sergey; Jiang, Xiuxuan; Huang, Dino; Oboué, Yapo Abolé Serge Innocent; Yong, Shanshan; Wang, Xin’an; Zhang, Xing; Chen, Yangkang (September 5, 2023). "Earthquake Forecasting Using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence: A 30-Week Real-Time Case Study in China". Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. 113 (6): 2461–2478.
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S2CID261570732.
^Kleinberger, Rebecca; Cunha, Jennifer; Vemuri, Megha M; Hirskyj-Douglas, Ilyena (April 19, 2023). "Birds of a Feather Video-Flock Together: Design and Evaluation of an Agency-Based Parrot-to-Parrot Video-Calling System for Interspecies Ethical Enrichment". Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 1–16.
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^Cardoso, Mário; Saleiro, Pedro; Bizarro, Pedro (October 26, 2022). "LaundroGraph: Self-Supervised Graph Representation Learning for Anti-Money Laundering". Proceedings of the Third ACM International Conference on AI in Finance. Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 130–138.
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This article presents a detailed timeline of events in the history of
computing from 2020 to the present. For narratives explaining the overall developments, see the
history of computing.
Significant events in
computing include events relating directly or indirectly to
software,
hardware and
wetware.
Excluded (except in instances of significant functional overlap) are:
events about uses of computational tools
in biotechnology and similar fields (except for improvements to the underlying computational tools) as well as events in media-
psychology except when those are directly linked to computational tools
Chatbot and text-generating AI,
ChatGPT (released on 30 Nov 2022), a
large language model, became popular, with some considering the large public's attention as unwarranted hype as potential applications are limited. Similar software such as
Cleverbot existed for many years, and the software is, on the fundamental level, not structured toward accuracy – e.g. providing seemingly credible but incorrect answers to queries and operating "without a contextual
understanding of the language" – but only toward essentially the authenticity of mimicked human language.[13][14][15][16][17] It was estimated that only two months after its launch, it had 100 million active users.[18] Applications may include solving or supporting school writing assignments,[19] malicious
social bots (e.g. for
misinformation, propaganda, and scams),[20][21] and providing inspiration (e.g.
for artistic writing or in design or
ideation in general).[22][23]
Google released
chatbotBard due to effects of the ChatGPT release,[24] with potential for
integration into its Web search and, like ChatGPT software, also as a
software development helper tool.[25]DuckDuckGo released the DuckAssist feature integrated into its search engine that
summarizes information from Wikipedia to answer search queries that are questions. The experimental feature was shut down without explanation on 12 April.[26][27][28] There has been further development regarding LLMs or ChatGPT as user interfaces of Wikipedia or as software using its structured knowledge by others.[29][30] A proprietary feature by
scite.ai was released that delivered answers that use research papers and provide
citations for the quoted paper(s). It may demonstrate an alternative approach to ChatGPT whose fundamental algorithms are not designed to generate text that is true, including for example "
hallucinations" and fake citations or
misinformation more generally.[31][32]Elicit.org may provide a free alternative to this tool.[33][34] A broader alternative approach to the software's Q&A applications and use of text generation for assignments may be the improvement of
media literacy and
Web search skills in
education systems.
Further
LLM developments during what has been called an "
AI boom" included: local or
open source versions of
LLaMA which was
leaked in March,[35][36][37] news outlets reported on GPT4-based
Auto-GPT that given natural language commands uses the Internet and other tools in attempts to understand and achieve its tasks with unclear or so-far little practicality,[38] a systematic evaluation of answers from four "generative search engines" suggested their outputs "appear informative, but frequently contain unsupported statements and inaccurate citations",[39] a multi-modal open source tool for understanding and generating speech,[40] a data scientist argued that "researchers need to collaborate to develop open-source LLMs that are
transparent" and independent,[41]Stability AI launched an open source LLM.[42]
A method for editing
NeRF scenes, a novel media technique from 2020,[43] with natural language
commands was demonstrated by Nvidia.[44][45]
An
open letter "
Pause Giant AI Experiments" initiated by the
Future of Life Institute called for "AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4" due to "profound risks to society and humanity".[46][47] It received substantial media attention and also contributed to speculations about perceived large LLM potential). At the time there was extensive media coverage of views that regard ChatGPT as a potential step towards
AGI or sentient machines, also extending to some academic works (e.g. a popular
preprint by a company).[12] The coverage focused on such views may not represent the majority expert views and, for example, some researchers noted that e.g. the ability to generate coherent text and imitations are not the same as understanding language.[48] A set of techniques under development included self-refining code or text.[49]
ChatGPT was shown to outperform human doctors in responding to online medical questions when measured on quality and empathy by "a team of licensed health care professionals",[50][51] albeit the chatbot may have previously been trained with these
redditquestion and answers threads.
A novel potentially significantly more efficient
text-to-image approach, as implemented in MUSE, was reported.[63][64]
A first successful autonomous long-duration operation, including simulated
combat, of a modified
F-16 fighter jet,
X-62A, by two AI software was reported.[65][66][67]
A
text-to-speech synthesizer,
VALL-E, that can be trained to mimic anybody's
voice with just three seconds of voice data and may produce the most natural-sounding results to date, was reported in a preprint.[68][69]
A use of world models for a wide range of domains that make decisions using e.g. different 3D worlds and reward frequencies and outperforms previous approaches, DreamerV3, was reported as a step towards
general artificial intelligence in a preprint.[70][71]
A study reported the development of
deep learning algorithms to identify
technosignature candidates, finding 8 potential alien signals not detected earlier.[78][79]
The world's first
COVID-19 drug designed by
generative AI was approved for human use, with clinical trials expected to begin in China. The new drug, ISM3312, was developed by
Insilico Medicine.[84]
The
LLMGPT-4 was launched by
OpenAI.[85][86] It and ChatGPT based on it continued to receive major global media attention.
Researchers suggested that growing influence of industry in AI research means that "
public interest alternatives for important AI tools may become increasingly scarce".[87]
Google revealed
PaLM-E, an embodied
multimodal language model with 562 billion parameters.[88][89]
Researchers demonstrated an open source 'AI scientist' that can create models of natural phenomena from knowledge
axioms and experimental data, showing the software can rediscover physical laws like "Kepler's third law of planetary motion, Einstein's relativistic time-dilation law, and Langmuir's theory of adsorption" using logical reasoning and a few data points.[91][90]
Researchers demonstrated a non-invasive
brain-reading method. It can translate a person's neural activity into a continuous stream of text using
fMRI data and
transformer machine learning. Prior training data is required for this semantic decoding. Participants listened to stories for 16 hours while their brain activity was recorded.[92]
A machine learning model is trained to recognise the key features of chemicals with
senolytic activity. It finds three chemicals – ginkgetin,
periplocin and
oleandrin – able to remove
senescent cells without damaging healthy cells.[97][98]
Articles in science outlets like Nature suggest contemporary viral concerns about hypothetical
existential risk of AI "plays into the tech companies' agenda" – partly in the form of 'criti-hype'[99] – and that this "hinders effective regulation of the societal harms AI is causing right now" and in the near-future.[100]
A science writer provides an overview of "the nascent industry of
AI-designed drugs".[101]
A
preprint introduces the concept of "thought cloning" by which AI use data of or imitate human thinking.[102]
Metaresearchers showed that AI trained with study-author-networks data could generate scientifically promising "alien" hypotheses that would likely not be considered otherwise.[103]
A study provides an overview and living review of open source
LLMs, assessing the levels of openness of their differentiated elements and reviewing the risks of relying on proprietary software or the importance of
open source AI.[104]
AI-supported
mammography screening was demonstrated to have the potential to substantially reduce workload and to possibly improve cancer detection rates.[105]
A study that won an international competition demonstrated an approach that predicted 70% of earthquakes, suggesting some form of
earthquake prediction may be feasible in the future.[107]
A natural language system was demonstrated that can provide explanations for the conclusion-making of machine learning models for
explainable AI.[109][110]
A
preprint reported some
large language models have an 'extractable memorization' flaw by which training data can be extracted at affordable costs by queries.[111]
A study hypothesized
mental health awareness efforts (in current forms) or glamorised and romanticised mental disorders
on social media (e.g. quotes about depression on aesthetically-appealing backgrounds shared widely on certain social media)[which?] may have contributed to the recent rise in reported mental health problems – by intensifying and over-diagnosing of such – beyond e.g. increased reporting of previously under-recognised symptoms or mental health-related issues.[144][145]
Parts of
Twitter's
recommender algorithms became
open source, welcomed and requested by many albeit with several issues related to code exclusion and verifiability.[149][150][151] Around the time, the free version of its
API, which was also used for research, esd shut down[152] – followed shortly thereafter by
reddit,[153] proprietary verification checkmarks caused controversy,[154] parts of its source code were
leaked,[155] and applications of a "state-affiliated media" label – which purportedly uses "
Category:Publicly funded broadcasters" data which, like the label, does not
differentiate and list the shares of funding sources – caused controversy.[156][157] In April,
Twitter was warned by EU digital policy-makers after a report indicated its
recent policies "boost" Russian disinformation-based propaganda.[158]
An
umbrella review summarized the research on benefits and risks associated
with digital media use by youths, suggesting caregivers, policymakers and researchers should continue to move away from prevailing oversimplified recommendations to reduce
screen time to instead focus on distinguished types of screen use.[166]
Researchers reported the development of a fuel cell
implant powered by
bloodglucose. It can also release
insulin at certain levels and have enough energy to allow smartphone implant control.[189][190]
Researchers reported the development of
neuromorphicAI hardware using
nanowires(see also
2020-04-20) physically mimicking the brain's activity in identifying and remembering an image from memory.[192][193] A university reported on a demonstration of
multisensory motion cue integration by a neuromorphic nerve for robots.[191]
DeepMind announced that its
AlphaFold program had uncovered the structures of more than 200 million
foldedproteins, essentially all of those known to science.[197][198]
News outlets reported
artificial intelligence art had
won the first place in a
digital art competition.[199] Such artistic imagery is generated using input consisting of text and sometimes images, usually including parameters such as
artistic style (
text-to-image generation). Around the time, an expert concluded that "AI art is everywhere right now", with even experts not knowing what it will mean,[200] a news outlet established that "AI-generated art booms" and reported issues of copyright and automation of professional artists,[201] a news outlet investigated how
online communities (e.g. their rules) confronted with many such artworks react,[202] a news outlet raised concerns over
deepfakes,[203] a magazine highlighted possibilities of enabling "new forms of
artistic expression",[204] and an editorial noted that it may be seen as a welcome "augmentation of human capability".[205][additional citation(s) needed] Moreover, additional functionalities – such as enabling the use of user-provided
concepts (like an object or a style) learned from few images for novel personalized art generated from the associated word/s[206] or
expanding beyond the borders of artistic images in the same style[broken anchor][207] – were reported. On 22 August,[208][209]Stable Diffusion released as
open source software, making the technology more accessible and free to use on personal hardware as well as extendable by third-parties (i.e. other software projects).[209][210]
Researchers reported the development of a
deep learning system that learns intuitive physics from visual data (of virtual 3D environments)
to some degree "from scratch" based on an
unpublished approach inspired by studies of visual cognition in infants.[215][216] Two weeks later, other researchers reported the development of a
machine learning algorithm that could discover sets of basic variables of various physical systems and predict the systems' future dynamics from video recordings of their behavior.[217][218]
The first data transmission to exceed 1
petabit per second (Pbit/s) using a single laser and a single optical chip was demonstrated by European researchers.[239][240]
A satellite-free
GPS-alternative higher-resolution
positioning system using existing telecommunications networks was demonstrated, SuperGPS.[244][245]
Impossible Metals announced its first
underwater robotic vehicle, 'Eureka 1', had completed its first trial of selectively harvesting
polymetallic nodule rocks from the seabed nearly without harming the environment (as compared to other
seabed mining) to help address the
rising global need for
metals for
renewable energy system components – mainly batteries. It operates autonomously and uses advanced computer vision, e.g. using AI to determine which rocks have signs of visible life on them so that they are not harvested.[246]
Software
A report by the
Royal Society listed potential or proposed countermeasures against misinformation, mainly online misinformation, such as, broadly described,
building resilience to scientific
misinformation and a healthy online information environment.[247]
Computational biologists reported the largest detailed human
genetic genealogy, unifying human genomes from many sources for insights
about human history, ancestry and evolution. It demonstrates a novel computational method for estimating how human DNA is related, in specific as a series of 13 million linked trees along the genome, a tree-sequence, which has also been called "the largest human
family tree".[image needed][248][249][250]
Researchers reported the creation of a
version control system for
cell engineering, suggesting it to be a "significant step toward more open, reproducible, easier to trace and share, more trustworthy engineering biology", and possibly increased safety by enabling faster tracing of organisms lab of origin and design details via barcoding.[251][252]
A
preprint demonstrated how
backdoors can be placed undetectably into classifying (e.g. posts as "spam" or well-visible "not spam")
machine learning models which are often developed and/or trained by third parties. Parties can change the classification of any input, including in cases with types of
data/software transparency, possibly including
white-box access.[253][254][255]
Researchers reported routes for
recycling 200 industrial
waste chemicals into important drugs and agrochemicals using a software for computer-aided chemical synthesis design, helping enable "circular chemistry" as a potential area of a
circular economy.[256][257]
A study suggested that in
children at age 9–12 during two years time, gaming or watching digital videos can be positively correlated with
measures of intelligence, albeit correlations with overall
screen time (including social media, socializing and TV) were not investigated and 'time gaming' did not differentiate between categories of video games (e.g. shares of games' platform and
genre).[261][260]
Computing and the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine: An editorial published in a journal noted that
remote surgery and
types of videoconferencing for sharing expertise (e.g.
ad hoc assistance) have been and could be used to support doctors in Ukraine.[262] A forum contribution analyzed Russian users' reactions to the
Bucha massacre on social media – on nationalist
Telegram channels.[263] Computer science and technology was also used to defend against the 2022 Russian invasion such as with military technology,[264][265] to document and communicate war events including via facial recognition of dead Russian soldiers and Russian war crimes,[266][267] and for aggregated information about support opportunities for Ukrainian scientists.[268][269]
A study explored the efficacy of
GitHub Sponsors, launched in 2019, in terms of supporting
FOSS-efforts and the sponsors' intentions as well as the motivation of sponsors and various quantitative and qualitative analyses relevant to this approach of FOSS-funding.[272][273]
News outlets reported that in July, for the first time, more people watched
streaming TV than cable within the U.S.[globalize].[279][280]
A researcher reported that the social media
appTikTok adds a
keylogger to its, on iOS essentially unavoidable, in-app
browser in
iOS, which allows its Chinese company to gather, for example, passwords, credit card details, and everything else that is typed into websites opened from taps on any external links within the app. Shortly after the report, the company claimed such capabilities are only used for
debugging-types of purposes.[281][282] To date, it has
largely not been investigated which and to which extent (other) apps have capacities for such or similar data-collection.[281][282][additional citation(s) needed]
Results of investigations about the issue of
recommendation systems shifting their users' preferences "so they are easier to satisfy" were reported, including actively optimizing such software to avoid problematic shifts/
manipulation, suggesting "that recommenders that optimize for staying in the trust region can avoid manipulative behaviors while still generating engagement".[291][292]
After domain seizures of
Z-Library by
copyright law enforcement and moves toward
dark web and
IPFS technologies by its content providers, the
open sourceshadow libraryUIAnna's Archive – which also provides access to a full copy of Z-Library content and scientific articles – was established by a team of
archivists,[295][296] essentially providing the largest human book and literature
library.
Around the
acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk (27 October), interest in alternatives to the site – described as "one of the world's most high-profile information ecosystems", a contemporary suboptimal
public square, and as heavily used by many journalists and
news media – increased substantially. However, no alternative such as
Mastodon,
Reddit or the
Bluesky protocol was found to match its features such as
ease of use to date, in terms of being able to substitute the site.[301][302][303]
A university reported on the first study of the new
privacy-intrusion
Web tracking technique of "
UIDsmuggling" by the
ad industry, which finds it to be prevalent and largely not mitigated by the latest protection tools – such as
Firefox's tracking protection and
uBlock Origin – and contributes to countermeasures.[311][312]
A study estimated losses of 61 metals to help the development of
circular economy strategies, showing that usespans of, often scarce, tech-critical metals are short.[320][321]
Samsung announced the first mass production of computer chips using a
3 nm process. These feature a
gate-all-aroundtransistor architecture that reduces power consumption by up to 45%, improves performance by 23% and reduces area by 16% compared to 5 nm.[330][331]
Scientists reported a so far unique and unknown feature of material
VO2 – it can "remember" previous external stimuli (via structural rather than electronic states), with potential e.g. data storage.[336][337]
[Data usage] – In a static proprietary article that appeared in and was co-
reviewed by a
scientific journal, authenticated scientists analyzed data from multiple public databases to create a regional representation of levels of
deforestation induced by nations' recent, largely unmodulated,
trade-, production- and consumption-patterns.[346][347]
A study found that carbon emissions from
Bitcoin mining in China – where a majority of the
proof-of-work algorithm that generates current
economic value is computed, largely fueled by nonrenewable sources – had accelerated rapidly and would soon exceed total annual emissions of countries like Italy, interfering with
climate change mitigation commitments.[348][349]
Neuralink revealed a male
macaque with
chips embedded on each side of its brain, playing a mind-controlled version of Pong. While similar technology has been demonstrated for decades, and wireless implants have existed for years, some observers noted that the organization increased the number of implanted electrodes that are read wirelessly.[350][351][352]
Scientists
reviewed materials strategies for organic neuromorphic devices, suggesting that "their biocompatibility and mechanical conformability give them an advantage for creating adaptive biointerfaces, brain-machine interfaces, and biology-inspired prosthetics".[353][354][relevant?]
Researchers published the first in-depth study of
Web browsertabinterfaces. They found that many people struggle with tab overload and conducted surveys and interviews about people's tab use. Thereby they formalized pressures for closing tabs and for keeping tabs open. The authors then developed related UI design considerations which could enable better tools and changes to the code of Web browsers – like
Firefox – that allow
knowledge workers and other users to better manage their tabs.[355][356]
A new record for the smallest single-chip system was achieved, occupying a total volume of less than 0.1 mm³.[358][359]
Scientists demonstrated the first
brain–computer interface that decodes neural signals for
handwriting. The character output speed of a patient with a paralyzed hand was up to 90 characters per minute – more than double the previous record. Each letter is associated with a highly distinctive pattern of activity in the brain, making it relatively easy for the algorithm to distinguish them.[360][361]
Archivists initiated a rescue mission to secure enduring access to humanity's largest public
library of scientific articles,
Sci-Hub, due to the site's increased legal troubles, using Web and
BitTorrent technologies.[362]
El Salvador passed the
Bitcoin Law, making it the first country to give
cryptocurrency and
bitcoin a status of
legal tender.[367] The law was passed by the
Legislative Assembly of El Salvador on June 8, 2021, giving the cryptocurrency
bitcoin the status of
legal tender within
El Salvador after September 7, 2021.[368] It was proposed by President
Nayib Bukele. The text of the law states that "the purpose of this law is to regulate bitcoin as unrestricted legal tender with liberating power, unlimited in any transaction, and to any title that public or private natural or legal persons require carrying out".[369]
In the debate regarding the cognitive impacts of
smartphones and digital technology, a group reported that, contrary to widespread belief, scientific evidence does not show that these technologies
harm biological cognitive abilities and that they instead change predominant ways of
cognition – such as a reduced need to remember facts or conduct mathematical calculations by pen and paper outside contemporary schools. However, some activities – like reading novels – that require long attention-spans and don't feature ongoing rewarding stimulation may become more challenging in general.[373][374]
Researchers used a
brain–computer interface to enable a man who was paralyzed since 2003 to produce comprehensible words and sentences by decoding signals from electrodes in the speech areas of his brain.[376][377]
Japan achieved a new
world record Internet speed: 319
Tbit/s over ~3000 km which, albeit not being the fastest speed overall, beats the previous record of 178 Tbit/s.[378][379]
Scientists reported that worldwide
adolescentloneliness and depression increased substantially after 2012 and that loneliness in contemporary schools appears to be associated with
smartphone access and
Internet use.[380][381]
DeepMind announced that its
AlphaFold AI had
predicted the structures of over 350,000
proteins, including 98.5% of the ~20,000 proteins in the human body. The 3D data along with their degrees of confidence for accuracy was made freely available with a database, doubling the previous number of protein structures in the public domain.[382]
Scientists concluded that
personal carbon allowances (PCAs) could be a component of
climate change mitigation. They found that the
economic recovery from COVID-19 and novel digital technology capacities open a window of opportunity for first implementations. PCAs would consist of – e.g.
monetary – credit-feedbacks and decreasing default levels of per capita emissions concessions. The researchers found that recent advances in
machine learning technology and "smarter home and transport options make it possible to easily track and manage a large share of individuals' emissions" and that feedback effective in engaging individuals to reduce their energy-related emissions and relevant new personalized
apps could be designed.[388][389][390] Issues may include privacy, evaluating emissions from individuals co-running multinational companies and the availability and prices of products and services.
Cerebras announced a new hardware and software platform that can support
AI models of 120 trillion parameters, enabling
neural networks greater than the equivalent number of
human brainsynapses.[391]
Pathogen researchers reported the development of
machine learning models for genome-based
early detection and prioritization of high-risk potential
zoonotic viruses in animals prior to
spillover to humans. They concluded that their tool could be used for virus surveillance for
pandemic prevention via (i.a.) measures of "early investigation and outbreak preparedness" and would have been capable of predicting
SARS-CoV-2 as a high-risk strain.[392][393]
A loss of public
IP routes to the Facebook
DNS servers due to malfunctioning capacity-assessment code, routinely triggered after configuration changes of routers of the company's data centers, resulted in stoppage of
BGP routing information broadcasts caused the
2021 Facebook outage.[394][395]
A study
of data traffic by popular
smartphones running variants of the
Android software found substantial by-default data collection and sharing with no opt-out (i.e. even the
NetGuardfirewall, which is not installed by default, may not reliably and completely prevent such data traffic) and implications for users'
privacy, control and security.[396][397]
A method of
DNA data storage with 100 times the density of previous techniques was announced.[400]
Scientists demonstrated that
grown brain cells integrated
into digital systems can carry out goal-directed
tasks with
performance-scores. In particular, playing a simulated (via electrophysiological stimulation) Pong which the cells learned to play faster than known machine intelligence systems, albeit to a lower skill-level than both AI and humans, was reported. Moreover, the study suggested it provides the "first empirical evidence" of information-processing capacity differences between neurons from different species.[401][402]
Researchers reported the development of organic low-power
neuromorphic electronics which they built into a robot, enabling it to learn sensorimotorically within the real world, rather than via simulations like in the study above. For the chip,
polymers were used and coated with an ion-rich gel to enable the material to carry an electric charge like
real neurons.[403][404]
A
scientific review summarized research and data about
telemedicine. Its results indicated that, in general, outcomes of such
ICT-use are as good as in-person care with health care use staying similar.[408][409]
The Log4Shellsecurity vulnerability in a
Java logging framework was publicly disclosed two weeks after its discovery. Because of the ubiquity of the affected software, experts have described it as a most serious computer vulnerability.[410] In a high-level meeting, the importance of security maintenance of open-source software – often also carried out largely by few volunteers – to national security was clarified.[411][412]
Researchers reported the development of a database and analysis tool about
perovskite solar cells which systematically integrates over 15,000 publications, in particular device-data about over 42,400 of such photovoltaic devices. Authors described the site – which requires signing up to access the data and uses software that is partly open source but to date not free software[414] – as a participative "Wikipedia for perovskite solar cell research" and suggest that extensively capturing the progress of an entire field including interactive data exploration functionalities could also be applicable to many fields in
materials science, engineering and biosciences.[415][413]
May 22 – Australian computer scientists reported achieving, thus far, the highest
internet speed in the world from a single optical chip source over standard
optical fiber, amounting to 44.2
Terabits per sec, or "downloading 1000 high definition movies in a split second".[431][432][433]
May 27 – A study showed that
social networks can function poorly as pathways for inconvenient truths, that the
interplay between communication and action during disasters may depend on the structure of social networks, that communication networks suppress necessary "evacuations" in test-scenarios because of false reassurances when compared to groups of isolated individuals and that larger networks with a smaller proportion of informed subjects can suffer more damage due to human-caused
misinformation.[434][435]
July 6 – [Novel protocol/standard] – The
Versatile Video Coding standard (H.266) was finalised, designed to halve the
bitrate of previous formats, reducing data volume and being especially useful for on-demand
8K streaming services.[438][439]
September 3 – Scientists reported finding "176
Open Accessjournals that, through lack of
comprehensive and open archives, vanished from the Web between 2000–2019, spanning all major research disciplines and geographic regions of the world" and that in 2019 only about a third of the 14,068
DOAJ-indexed journals ensured the long-term preservation of their content themselves, with many papers not getting archived by
Web archiving initiatives such as the
Internet Archive.[445][446][447]
September 18 – Media reported what may be the first publicly confirmed case of a civilian fatality as a nearly direct consequence of a
cyberattack, after
ransomware disrupted a hospital in Germany.[448][relevant?]
October 28 – A
review suggested only
surgical robot platforms "that can effectively communicate their intent and explain their decisions to their human companions will find their way into the operating room of the future", defined levels of autonomy and suggested "positive evidence will soon emerge and build up" that would motivate "transition to clinical trials".[451][452]
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Leads the
Panfrost project,[458] a project to reverse engineer and implement a free driver for the Mali series of graphics processing units (GPUs) used on a wide variety of single-board computers and mobile phones.[453][454]
FSF Free Software Awards – Award for outstanding new Free Software contributor
A philosopher who since 2019 has become a mainstay of the
GNU Emacs community through his blog posts, conference talks, livestreams, and code contributions.[455][456][457]
^Salvi, Francesco; Manoel Horta Ribeiro; Gallotti, Riccardo; West, Robert (2024). "On the Conversational Persuasiveness of Large Language Models: A Randomized Controlled Trial".
arXiv:2403.14380 [
cs.CY].
^Ramsey, Imogen; Corsini, Nadia; Peters, Micah D.J.; Eckert, Marion (September 2017). "A rapid review of consumer health information needs and preferences". Patient Education and Counseling. 100 (9): 1634–1642.
doi:
10.1016/j.pec.2017.04.005.
PMID28442155.
^Boyer, Cé Gaudinat, Arnaud; Hanbury, Allan; Appel, Ron D.; Ball, Marion J.; Carpentier, Michel; van Bemmel, Jan H.; Bergmans, Jean-Paul; Hochstrasser, Denis; Lindberg, Donald; Miller, Randolph; Peterschmitt, Jean-Claude; Safran, Charles; Thonnet, Michè Hler, Antoine (2017). "Accessing Reliable Health Information on the Web: A Review of the HON Approach". MEDINFO 2017: Precision Healthcare Through Informatics. 245: 1004–1008.
doi:
10.3233/978-1-61499-830-3-1004.
PMID29295252.{{
cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link)
^
abPangrazio, Luci; Godhe, Anna-Lena; Ledesma, Alejo González López (November 2020). "What is digital literacy? A comparative review of publications across three language contexts". E-Learning and Digital Media. 17 (6): 442–459.
doi:
10.1177/2042753020946291.
S2CID223518782.
^Saha, Shritama (February 8, 2023).
"Give a Prompt, Make a Video". Analytics India Magazine.
Archived from the original on February 18, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
^Liesenfeld, Andreas; Lopez, Alianda; Dingemanse, Mark (July 19, 2023). "Opening up ChatGPT: Tracking openness, transparency, and accountability in instruction-tuned text generators". Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Conversational User Interfaces. ACM. pp. 1–6.
arXiv:2307.05532.
doi:
10.1145/3571884.3604316.
ISBN9798400700149.
S2CID259837343.
^Saad, Omar M.; Chen, Yunfeng; Savvaidis, Alexandros; Fomel, Sergey; Jiang, Xiuxuan; Huang, Dino; Oboué, Yapo Abolé Serge Innocent; Yong, Shanshan; Wang, Xin’an; Zhang, Xing; Chen, Yangkang (September 5, 2023). "Earthquake Forecasting Using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence: A 30-Week Real-Time Case Study in China". Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. 113 (6): 2461–2478.
Bibcode:
2023BuSSA.113.2461S.
doi:
10.1785/0120230031.
S2CID261570732.
^Kleinberger, Rebecca; Cunha, Jennifer; Vemuri, Megha M; Hirskyj-Douglas, Ilyena (April 19, 2023). "Birds of a Feather Video-Flock Together: Design and Evaluation of an Agency-Based Parrot-to-Parrot Video-Calling System for Interspecies Ethical Enrichment". Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 1–16.
doi:
10.1145/3544548.3581166.
ISBN9781450394215.
S2CID258216835.
^Liu, Haoyu; Leith, Douglas J.; Patras, Paul (February 3, 2023). "Android OS Privacy Under the Loupe – A Tale from the East".
arXiv:2302.01890 [
cs.CR].
^Shimada, Naomichi; Xiao, Tao; Hata, Hideaki; Treude, Christoph; Matsumoto, Kenichi (May 2022). "GitHub sponsors: Exploring a new way to contribute to open source". Proceedings of the 44th International Conference on Software Engineering. pp. 1058–1069.
doi:10.1145/3510003.3510116.
ISBN9781450392211.
S2CID246822794.
^Cardoso, Mário; Saleiro, Pedro; Bizarro, Pedro (October 26, 2022). "LaundroGraph: Self-Supervised Graph Representation Learning for Anti-Money Laundering". Proceedings of the Third ACM International Conference on AI in Finance. Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 130–138.
arXiv:2210.14360.
doi:
10.1145/3533271.3561727.
ISBN9781450393768.
S2CID253022343.
^Randall, Audrey; Snyder, Peter; Ukani, Alisha; Snoeren, Alex C.; Voelker, Geoffrey M.; Savage, Stefan; Schulman, Aaron (October 25, 2022). "Measuring UID smuggling in the wild". Proceedings of the 22nd ACM Internet Measurement Conference. Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 230–243.
doi:
10.1145/3517745.3561415.
ISBN9781450392594.
S2CID250494286.
^Nichol, Alex; Jun, Heewoo; Dhariwal, Prafulla; Mishkin, Pamela; Chen, Mark (December 16, 2022). "Point-E: A System for Generating 3D Point Clouds from Complex Prompts".
arXiv:2212.08751 [
cs.CV].
^Chang, Joseph Chee; Hahn, Nathan; Kim, Yongsung; Coupland, Julina; Breneisen, Bradley; Kim, Hannah S; Hwong, John; Kittur, Aniket (May 6, 2021). "When the Tab Comes Due:Challenges in the Cost Structure of Browser Tab Usage". Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 1–15.
doi:10.1145/3411764.3445585.
ISBN9781450380966.
S2CID233987809. Available under
CC BY 4.0.
^Jyothi, Sangeetha Abdu (August 9, 2021). "Solar superstorms: Planning for an internet apocalypse". Proceedings of the 2021 ACM SIGCOMM 2021 Conference. Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 692–704.
doi:10.1145/3452296.3472916.
ISBN9781450383837.
^Kagan, Brett J.; Kitchen, Andy C.; Tran, Nhi T.; Parker, Bradyn J.; Bhat, Anjali; Rollo, Ben; Razi, Adeel; Friston, Karl J. (December 3, 2021). "In vitro neurons learn and exhibit sentience when embodied in a simulated game-world". pp. 2021.12.02.471005.
bioRxiv10.1101/2021.12.02.471005v2.
^Coldewey, Devin (June 11, 2020).
"OpenAI makes an all-purpose API for its text-based AI capabilities". TechCrunch.
Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved July 31, 2020. If you've ever wanted to try out OpenAI's vaunted machine learning toolset, it just got a lot easier. The company has released an API that lets developers call its AI tools in on "virtually any English language task."
^Laakso, Mikael; Matthias, Lisa; Jahn, Najko (2021). "Open is not forever: A study of vanished open access journals". Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology. 72 (9): 1099–1112.
arXiv:2008.11933.
doi:
10.1002/ASI.24460.
S2CID221340749.