MIT researchers see blockchain-based decentralized frameworks as the next generation of the Internet; the economic disruption could be huge. — By Paula Klein The next wave of the Web is rolling in and it’s massive. Avatars simulating daily transactions in the metaverse may still be more typical in games than in real life right now, but a nascent Web3 for the distribution of goods and secure financial exchange is taking…

At IDE’s annual conference, researchers called for a closer look at artificial intelligence tools that generate text, videos, images and more — whether for good or ill. — By Peter Krass The latest iterations of generative AI have made great strides in human-machine communications. They also raise economic and ethical concerns that need to be considered moving forward. That was the upshot of several sessions at the annual conference of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE)…

Research shows AI-driven platforms are already standard for employment and social media; decentralized networks could prove even more disruptive — By Philo Uwamaria and Paula Klein Introduced slowly at first, digital platforms are rapidly becoming ubiquitous to how we communicate, work, and entertain ourselves. They are upending traditional human resource structures and forward-thinking researchers see even more far-reaching societal impact to come.

Industry is taking the lead on AI research that has traditionally been the domain of academia. What does this mean for research in the public interest? — By Brian Eastwood, MIT Sloan Until the early 2000s, AI research in academia and in industry was split fairly evenly. But over the past decade, the balance has shifted significantly. …

LLMs will be transformative, but they don’t have to lead to dire results, according to new reports — By Irving Wladawsky-Berger “How to worry wisely about artificial intelligence” was the overall theme of the April 22 issue of The Economist, with several articles on the subject. “Rapid progress in AI is arousing fear as well as excitement. How worried should you be?” said the issue’s lead article. …

AI initiatives often are too small and too tentative. Testing the waters may deliver valuable insights, but it probably won’t achieve true business transformation. Here are 10 solutions. — By Thomas H. Davenport and Nitin Mittal Courtesy of Harvard Business Review If you ask someone to name a company that’s putting artificial intelligence at the center of its business, you’ll probably hear a predictable list of technology powerhouses: Alphabet (Google), Meta (Facebook), Amazon, Microsoft, Tencent, and Alibaba. But at…

Research shows that job seekers with AI-checked resumes are more likely to be hired and they earn more — By Deborah Lynn Blumberg, MIT Sloan New job applicants who were randomly assigned algorithmic assistance with their resumes — that is, received help from an interface that offered suggestions to improve spelling and grammar — were 8% more likely to be hired, according to an experiment conducted by MIT Sloan…

Large Language Models will impact human jobs. The question is: how much and how soon? — By Irving Wladawsky-Berger Throughout the Industrial Revolution there were periodic panics about the impact of automation on jobs, going back to the Luddites — textile workers in the 1810s who smashed the new machines that were threatening their jobs. But each time those fears arose in the past, technology advances…

New research measures how French government regulation stymies innovation among smaller firms — Updated May 1 Worker protests in France. TikTok under fire in China and the U.S. EU countries continue to restrict big tech firms and even GPT. Will efforts like these stymie innovation and growth? The Impact of Regulation on Innovation was studied by IDE Fellow John Van Reenen and his…