AI Scientists Can’t Optimize Worsening Energy Efficiency: Why Behind-the-Scenes AI Is Costing You

AI is booming right now and it’s causing utility costs for everyday consumers to reach unprecedented highs. “There is increasing deployment of AI technologies behind the scenes, and that is definitely driving up these energy costs,” said Benjamin Lee to MSNBC.

• Computer and Information Science
• Electrical and Systems Engineering

(Artificial) Intelligence Saturation and the Future of Work

In Konrad Kording and Ioana Marinescu's new Brookings Institution working paper, they consider how to model an economy with rapidly increasing intelligence capital but slowly increasing physical capital in order to generate meaningful predictions of AI’s wage and output impacts.

• Bioengineering
• Neuroscience

Mapping the Links Between Brain Development and Mental Health

A collaborative team led by Ted Satterthwaite and postdoctoral fellow Golia Shafiei has developed Reproducible Brain Charts, a large-scale, open data resource to help researchers link brain development with mental health disorders.

• Psychiatry

How Has Talking About Politics Changed in the Last Quarter-Century?

Using a pair of pre-election surveys conducted 24 years apart, Diana Mutz found that Americans are not avoiding political conversations across party lines any more than they were 25 years ago. Instead, they are talking with more people more frequently about politics, primarily those people they agree with politically.

• Communication
• Political Science

How Tobacco Retail Exposure Impacts Smoking Behavior

Smokers reported higher levels of craving and smoked more cigarettes on days when their exposure to shops selling tobacco products was higher, according to a study from communication researchers. This has important implications for smokers and policymakers, says Emily Falk.

• Communication
• Marketing
• Operations Information and Decisions
• Psychology

Four Advances Redefining AI Innovation — Insights from Professor Chris Callison-Burch

Artificial Intelligence is no longer just advancing. It’s accelerating in ways that will redefine how humans and machines work together. For Chris Callison-Burch, this moment is both thrilling and pivotal. “I think now is the best time there’s ever been to experiment with AI,” says Callison-Burch.

• Computer and Information Science

AI Ethics: Bridging the Gap Between Public Concern and Global Pursuit

In an interview with The Center Square, Michael Kearns said that he’s less worried about autonomous machines becoming all-powerful than the challenges already posed by AI. “I think the harms that are already being demonstrated are much more worrisome,” said Kearns.

• Computer and Information Science

12 Years of the Warren Center

Twelve years ago, the Warren Center celebrated its launch. Since then, we've continued to host events, support collaborative research, and highlight leading thinkers and cutting-edge developments, connecting researchers, students, and entrepreneurs across the spectrum of data science, uniting them in the pursuit of knowledge.

Democratic Repercussions of Media Fragmentation

How does media fragmentation contribute to democratic erosion? Join Penn's new Center on Media, Technology, and Democracy on October 21st for lightning talks and a panel discussion on these critical issues.

• Communication
• Computer and Information Science
• Operations Information and Decisions

AI Is on the Rise, and So Is the Environmental Impact of the Data Centers That Drive It

Over the past year, the environmental consequences of AI—specifically its most popular generative platforms like ChatGPT—have been under intense scrutiny. “AI uses energy, and it doesn’t care where that energy is coming from,” said Benjamin C. Lee to Smithsonian Magazine.

• Computer and Information Science
• Electrical and Systems Engineering