The recent stunning AI developments call for fast and vigorous action, free from the illusions of the turn of the 21st century, so that the benevolent potential of these technologies can start being harnessed for the collective good. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Western-type liberal representative democracy was no longer considered under threat […]

Northwestern Engineering’s Noshir Contractor has been named Executive Director of the Web Science Trust (WST), effective May 1, 2024. Contractor is the Jane S. & William J. White Professor of Behavioral Sciences in the McCormick School of Engineering, the Northwestern School of Communication, and the Kellogg School of Management, and director of the Science of […]

Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres has posted a warning regarding “a dystopian AI future”  and points to the upcoming UN conference: Summit of the Future. Read more

Summaries of the latest Brave Conversations – hosted at WebSci’24 in Stuttgart are now on-line. Please click to read more..

Southampton WSTNet lab the Web Science Institute have released an annual e-Report.

Young voters in key election battlegrounds are being recommended fake AI-generated videos featuring party leaders, misinformation, and clips littered with abusive comments, the BBC has found. With TikTok emerging as a new social media battleground in this election, the political parties have begun a war of memes on the app in a bid to reach […]

The EU’s AI Act will come into force shortly following its recent approval … Summary of Legislative Process and Analyses of the AI Act: Legislative Process: The AI Act, approved by the Council of the EU on May 21, is the world’s first legislation of its kind. It uses a risk-based approach to impose stricter […]