AI in Society

AI in Society encompasses the widespread effects of artificial intelligence systems on everyday life, public institutions, labor markets and civic infrastructure. Truncated covers policy debates, ethics research, socioeconomic impacts, labor shifts and regulatory developments.

Monday 9 November

Scotland's AI Data Centers Could Become Country's Biggest Polluter by 2030

A vast industrial data center facility rises against a bruised Scottish twilight sky, its rows of humming server cooling units exhaling white vapor plumes that drift over a

AI-generated summary Friends of the Earth Scotland and Action to Protect Rural Scotland warned Holyrood's Climate Action Committee that twenty-three proposed artificial intelligence data center projects could become the country's biggest polluter. The groups stated that these twenty-three projects could generate fourteen million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually by 2030 and consume over half of Scotland's remaining carbon budget.

America's school buses are becoming AI-powered ticket machines, generating millions from drivers who fail to stop

AI-generated summary Manufacturers equipped school buses with artificial intelligence cameras to function as mobile traffic enforcement systems that flag drivers who fail to stop. BusPatrol and Verra Mobility report that their systems help protect children and reduce violations, while investigations question the safety benefits and fine revenue.

Also covered by Futurism

Import AI 480: Self-sustaining space economies; AI for science progress, and Meta builds perfect hands for a superintelligence

AI-generated summary Physical Superintelligence reports that an internal research system running an Anthropic model has proved a quantum computing conjecture from Scott Aaronson and Andris Ambainis. Meta Reality Labs Research has published details on Tactus, a textile-integrated tactile and pose sensing glove designed for naturalistic manipulation data collection.

Authors Can Defend Against AI Allegations With ‘Paper Trail’ Tools. Is It Enough?

AI-generated summary As authors face growing accusations of using artificial intelligence to write their books, software developers are offering paper trail tools to track and document the writing process. While platforms like Workings, Blindproof, Wintertext, Human Ink, and ObraVera promise to help prove human authorship or track copyright provenance, industry experts note these tools are not foolproof.

Anti-AI populism is the future of American politics | Garrison Lovely

AI-generated summary The Guardian reports that artificial intelligence and datacenters emerged as crucial factors for twenty-three percent of voters in recent elections, with Democrats winning sixty-seven percent of those voters. Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, and Elon Musk face growing political backlash as voters and local communities increasingly reject datacenters and the development of labor-automating systems.

A Stanford Study Just Explained When to Use AI for Research—and When Not to

AI-generated summary A new study from Stanford University tested tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude on multiple-choice questions about recent events to evaluate AI effectiveness as a news source. Tech journalist David Nield used those results alongside other research to outline when users should rely on artificial intelligence for searches and when they should avoid it.

Also covered by www.forbes.com