Artificial intelligence
A selection of our stories on AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing rapidly. The technology, which relies on large datasets and powerful computers, has recently made huge strides in solving real-world problems. As “large language models”—the type of AI that powers ChatGPT, a chatbot made by a startup called OpenAI—have been scaled up, they have surprised even their creators with their unexpected talents.
Below you will find our most recent coverage, including an explanation of how AI works, and why it matters. For a greater understanding of how AI might change the course of history, read our analyses of its economic impact and of how deep learning will improve scientific research.
Latest developments
Now AI can write, sing and act, is it still possible to be a star?
The deal that ended the Hollywood actors’ strike reflects a fear of the technology
The world wants to regulate AI, but does not quite know how
There is disagreement over what is to be policed, how and by whom
So long iPhone. Generative AI needs a new device
Is this the twilight of the screen age?
How Microsoft could supplant Apple as the world’s most valuable firm
It hopes to seize on AI to transform the future of work
Technology and research
How scientists are using artificial intelligence
It is already making research faster, better, and more productive
Could AI transform science itself?
Previous scientific revolutions have been led by academic journals and laboratories. Robots might create the next one
Meet Ernie, China’s answer to ChatGPT
Baidu’s bot is catapulting its maker back to stardom
How AI image-generators work
Some are getting good enough to fool humans
The bigger-is-better approach to AI is running out of road
If AI is to keep getting better, it will have to do more with less
Business and economics
Could OpenAI be the next tech giant?
What the business of AI’s leading startup says about the technology’s future
AI is setting off a great scramble for data
Feeding ever-larger models is requiring makers to get creative
Your employer is (probably) unprepared for artificial intelligence
That is bad news for your earnings—and the broader economy
A Lego-lover’s guide to preparing for the AI age
How to transform companies for the digital era, brick by pixel
Surging stockmarkets are powered by artificial intelligence
We calculate the extent to which the recent rally depends on tech optimism
Policy and regulation
Governments must not rush into policing AI
A summit in Britain will focus on “extreme” risks. But no one knows what they look like
The world wants to regulate AI, but does not quite know how
There is disagreement over what is to be policed, how and by whom
How to make Britain’s health service AI-ready
The NHS should clean up and open up its data. Patients will benefit
How worried should you be about AI disrupting elections?
Disinformation will become easier to produce, but it matters less than you might think
AI will change American elections, but not in the obvious way
How polarisation inoculates Americans against misinformation
AI and...
AI can catalogue a forest’s inhabitants simply by listening
That could help check whether reforestation projects work as advertised
AI could make it less necessary to learn foreign languages
That is good news for travellers, bad news for soulful connection
The world’s poor need to know about weather disasters ahead of time
Three things need to be done to make the most of meteorology’s potential
AI is making it possible to clone voices
That could help fraudsters and disrupt creative industries
Generative AI could radically alter the practice of law
Even if it doesn’t replace lawyers en masse
Art made by artificial intelligence is developing a style of its own
AI models not only reflect but magnify what they see in the images they are fed