News & Comment

The current debate surrounding the use and regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) in Brazil has social and political implications. We summarize these discussions, advocate for balance in the current debate around AI and fake news, and caution against preemptive AI regulation.

Social and behavioural science offers a valuable toolkit for combating pandemics, but has not been broadly applied to tackle the rising pandemic of antimicrobial resistance.

Large language models (LLMs) do not distinguish between fact and fiction. They will return an answer to almost any prompt, yet factually incorrect responses are commonplace. To ensure our use of LLMs does not degrade science, we must use them as zero-shot translators: to convert accurate source material from one form to another.

State-of-the-art generative artificial intelligence (AI) can now match humans in creativity tests and is at the cusp of augmenting the creativity of every knowledge worker on Earth. We argue that enriching generative AI applications with insights from the psychological sciences may revolutionize our understanding of creativity and lead to increasing synergies in human–AI hybrid intelligent interfaces.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools have made it easy to create realistic disinformation that is hard to detect by humans and may undermine public trust. Some approaches used for assessing the reliability of online information may no longer work in the AI age. We offer suggestions for how research can help to tackle the threats of AI-generated disinformation.

If mistakes are made in clinical settings, patients suffer. Artificial intelligence (AI) generally — and large language models specifically — are increasingly used in health settings, but the way that physicians use AI tools in this high-stakes environment depends on how information is delivered. AI toolmakers have a responsibility to present information in a way that minimizes harm.

Variability in neuroimaging results has many causes and no solution. We need to be mindful of potential sources of discrepant results rather than dismiss them as human error.

Online health communities can provide valuable social support in China, writes Qingpeng Zhang. He argues that they offer benefits that artificial intelligence cannot match.

For the partnership between policy and academia to be a fruitful one, it is important that expectations on both sides are clear. In this World View, Ammaarah Martinus shares her experiences from working in government for over a decade.

Social media data enable insights into human behaviour. Researchers can access these data via platform-provided application programming interfaces (APIs), but these come with restrictive usage terms that mean studies cannot be reproduced or replicated. Platform-owned APIs hinder access, transparency and scientific knowledge.

We need human behavioural change to decarbonize our buildings. This requirement arises from our needs, lifestyle energy choices and interactions with buildings, and is an underexploited, yet essential demand-side opportunity for rapid and sustainable decarbonization. We propose a sufficiency-oriented approach that fosters equitable building decarbonization, while maintaining planetary boundaries.

On the basis of decades of cognitive science research into the nature of lexical concepts, we argue that gender categories that reflect the reality of the experiences of transgender people are more useful and cognitively natural than sex-based category definitions.

We spend a lot of time on the manuscripts we publish, from pre-review evaluation and finding reviewers to post-review decisions and revision evaluations. However, we reserve the closest level of scrutiny for manuscripts that have successfully passed the peer review process and are in preparation for acceptance.

Hopelessness and despair threaten health and longevity. We urgently need strategies to counteract these effects and improve population health. Prosociality contributes to better mental and physical health for individuals, and for the communities in which they live. We propose that prosociality should be a public health priority.

The rise of generative AI requires a research agenda grounded in the African context to determine locally relevant strategies for its development and use. With a critical mass of evidence on the risks and benefits that generative AI poses to African societies, the scaled use of this new technology might help to reduce rising global inequities.

Academic freedom is increasingly threatened by homophobic legislation. Stella Nyanzi describes how this affects queer African scholars, and calls for resistance.