All posts tagged: promise

AI Friends and Lovers: Promise and Peril

AI Friends and Lovers: Promise and Peril

Published by Jenni Sidey

OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public in 2022. Instead of learning commands or writing code, you simply talked to it. This created a radical shift in our culture that we are just beginning to appreciate and dread. OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic all worried at that time that giving their chatbots too much personality, or letting users form emotional bonds with them, was too risky. Smaller startups saw an opportunity and jumped in, constructing the kinds of artificial intelligence (AI) companionship tools that the giants were reluctant to build. Some of the most popular have been Nomi.AI, Character.ai, and EVA. Many smaller ones like Paradot, Anima, and CrushOnAI provide similar services. Nomi.AI is representative of this genre. I visited its website, where it describes itself as “an AI companion with memory and a soul.” It promises users they can “build a meaningful friendship, develop a passionate relationship, or learn from an insightful mentor. No matter what you’re looking for, Nomi’s humanlike memory and creativity foster a deep, consistent, and evolving relationship.” To register, it asks you …

Promise Me Never by Liv Constantine

Promise Me Never by Liv Constantine

Published by Jenni Sidey

Halfway through dinner, a bestselling novelist orders the entree for his wife without asking what she wants. The waiter takes it down. She looks at him and says, plainly, never do that again. He apologises, charmingly, and means none of it. It is the third chapter of Promise Me Never by Liv Constantine and it passes in under a page. Two hundred pages later the same man performs the same move on a different wife, in a different restaurant. She feels the flicker of annoyance, decides it would be ungracious to make a scene, and thanks him for being thoughtful. That doubling is the engine of the book, and it is the cleverest thing in it. Same husband, same script, two women. One of them is still alive. How Promise Me Never Works Bennett Bryson is a horror novelist whose debut sold in the millions and whose every book since has sold a little less. He lives on fourteen acres in Bedford, New York, in a colonial with a twenty-seat dining room he never eats …

The promise of an appropriate education for every child with a disability is under strain

The promise of an appropriate education for every child with a disability is under strain

Published by Sam Flores

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has been a bipartisan priority for decades, but the federal government has never fulfilled its funding promise and the law has not been updated to reflect the realities of a post-pandemic educational landscape, leaving states and local districts to absorb the costs and students with disabilities vulnerable and exposed. Source link

Repeated doses of psilocybin show promise for treating obsessive-compulsive disorder

Repeated doses of psilocybin show promise for treating obsessive-compulsive disorder

Published by José Betancourt

A new clinical trial suggests that multiple doses of psilocybin, the active compound in “magic mushrooms,” could provide substantial relief for individuals suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. The findings indicate that repeated weekly treatments are safe and tend to significantly reduce the severity of obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors. This research, published in the https://doi.org/10.1177/02698811261424214” target=”_blank”>Journal of Psychopharmacology, provides evidence for a new potential treatment avenue for those who have not found success with standard therapies. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a debilitating psychiatric condition characterized by intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors. These symptoms consume a significant amount of time and can severely disrupt daily functioning. Current standard treatments typically include a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy and daily medications like serotonin reuptake inhibitors. However, these traditional approaches often fall short for many patients. People frequently experience delayed or incomplete symptom relief, and they sometimes struggle to adhere to the treatments due to unwanted side effects. Because of these challenges, scientists have sought alternative therapeutic approaches that might offer faster or more robust relief. Psilocybin has recently emerged …

A whole new way to prevent death from sepsis shows promise

A whole new way to prevent death from sepsis shows promise

Published by Miika Tikkanen

People with severe sepsis could one day be treated by having their blood filtered to remove a crucial protein that seems to drive the life-threatening reaction. The approach has shown promise in animal models, with aims for a trial in people next year. Sepsis occurs when the body’s immune system overreacts to an infection, damaging tissues and organs. It can also escalate into septic shock, in which blood pressure falls dramatically, leading to even more damage. In 2017, there were an estimated 49 million cases of sepsis worldwide. A later meta-analysis of patients in Europe, North America and Australia found that 32 per cent of people with sepsis die within 90 days, rising to 39 per cent for those with septic shock, despite treatments being available to treat the initial infection and compensate for organ damage. But a novel approach that filters out a driver of this process could stop sepsis in its tracks. Isaac Eliaz at the Amitabha Medical Clinic and Healing Center in Santa Rosa, California, has spent decades studying a protein called …

A common antidepressant shows promise in treating methamphetamine dependence

A common antidepressant shows promise in treating methamphetamine dependence

Published by José Betancourt

Methamphetamine – more commonly known as meth, crystal or ice – is a highly addictive, stimulant drug. An estimated 7.4 million people in the world are dependent on it or “addicted” to it. They face multiple health risks including paranoia, feeling suicidal, heart problems, strokes, injuries from accidents, and a higher risk of early death. But there are no medications approved anywhere in the world to treat meth dependence. Now, a cheap, safe and readily available medicine that has been used to treat depression for years is showing promise. Our trial of mirtazapine, just published in JAMA Psychiatry, shows people who take it cut back their meth use. Few other options Australia has one of the highest number of people dependent on meth per capita worldwide. As there are no medications approved for meth dependence anywhere in the world, we have few treatment options. Currently available treatment options include counselling, detox or withdrawal and long-stay residential rehabilitation. However, access can be difficult and treatment dropout rates are high. Most people who go to rehab relapse. …

The billionaires made a promise — now some want out

The billionaires made a promise — now some want out

Published by Miika Tikkanen

In 2010, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates launched a disarmingly simple campaign they called the Giving Pledge: a public commitment, open to the world’s wealthiest people, to give away more than half their fortune during their lifetime or upon their death. The moment seemed to call for it. Tech was minting billionaires faster than any industry in history, and the question of how those fortunes would impact society was just beginning to take shape. “We’re talking trillions over time,” Buffett told Charlie Rose that year. The trillions materialized. The giving, less so. The numbers are no longer shocking to anyone paying attention. The top 1% of American households now hold roughly as much wealth as the bottom 90% combined — the highest concentration the Federal Reserve has recorded since it began tracking wealth distribution in 1989. Globally, billionaire wealth has grown 81% since 2020, reaching a whopping $18.3 trillion, while one in four people worldwide don’t regularly have enough to eat. This is the world in which a small group of extraordinarily wealthy people are …

Investing in the promise of quantum

Investing in the promise of quantum

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Like all MIT’s strategic priorities, QMIT will help ensure that new technologies are used for the benefit of society. Faculty director Danna Freedman, the Frederick George Keyes Professor of Chemistry, is leading the initiative with a focus that extends beyond research and discovery to the way quantum technologies are developed and deployed. QMIT will enable scientists and engineers to co-develop quantum tools, generating unprecedented capabilities in science, technology, industry, and national security.  Although QMIT is a new initiative, it grew naturally from the Center for Quantum Engineering (CQE), created in 2019 to help bridge the gap between PIs at MIT and Lincoln Laboratory. A key to QMIT’s success will be integration with Lincoln Lab, with its deep and broad expertise in scaling and deployment. And CQE has already gotten us started with industry collaborations through its Quantum Science and Engineering Consortium (QSEC), which brings together companies—from startups to large multinationals—that can help us realize positive, practical impact. We’re even envisioning a physical home for quantum at the heart of campus, a space for academic, industry, …

Psilocybin shows promise for rapid reduction of cancer-related depression

Psilocybin shows promise for rapid reduction of cancer-related depression

Published by José Betancourt

A new analysis of clinical trial data indicates that psilocybin, when administered alongside psychotherapy, may provide rapid relief for patients suffering from cancer-related anxiety and depression. The research suggests that while the reduction in anxiety symptoms persists for at least two weeks, the antidepressant effects may diminish more quickly without specific dosing strategies. This study, which synthesized data from prior randomized controlled trials, was published in The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine. Patients facing terminal illness often experience profound psychological challenges that differ from standard mood disorders. Individuals with advanced cancer frequently struggle with major depressive disorder and prolonged grief. They also face a unique form of existential distress characterized by a loss of meaning and a fear of death. Treating these conditions in a palliative care setting is notoriously difficult. Standard antidepressant medications, such as SSRIs, typically require a gradual increase in dosage over several weeks. It can take six to twelve weeks for the full therapeutic effect to manifest. This delay is often untenable for patients with limited life expectancy. Additionally, patients …