Tech Alchemy: Latest Developments in AI and Technology

Welcome to the Tech Alchemy Newsletter! In this issue, we share the latest developments in AI and technology from MIT News.

Read on to learn about a new AI tool that can protect images from manipulation, a new AI dataset to spur artificial intelligence research, a new system that can generate AI models for biology research, and a new dataset that can help researchers develop automatic systems that generate richer, more descriptive captions for online charts.

We hope you enjoy this issue of the Tech Alchemy Newsletter!

MIT Researchers Develop AI Tool to Protect Images from Manipulation

MIT researchers have developed a new tool called "PhotoGuard" that can help protect images from AI manipulation. The tool works by putting an invisible "immunization" over images that stops AI models from being able to manipulate the picture.

PhotoGuard could be used to protect a variety of images, including news photos, social media posts, and even medical images. It could also be used to prevent the creation of deepfakes, which are videos or audio recordings that have been manipulated to make it look or sound like someone is saying or doing something they never actually said or did.

New AI Dataset to Spur Artificial Intelligence Research

A new dataset of Arctic images is being collected as part of a U.S. Coast Guard science mission. The dataset will be released open source to help advance naval mission planning and climate change studies.

The dataset will include images of sea ice, icebergs, and other features of the Arctic environment. It will also include data on weather conditions and other environmental factors.

The dataset is expected to be a valuable resource for AI researchers who are developing new algorithms to detect and track objects in Arctic imagery. It could also be used to develop new models for predicting climate change and its impact on the Arctic.

MIT Scientists Build System that Can Generate AI Models for Biology Research

BioAutoMATED, an open-source, automated machine-learning platform, aims to help democratize artificial intelligence for research labs.

BioAutoMATED can generate AI models for a variety of biology tasks, such as predicting protein structure and function, identifying disease-causing mutations, and designing new drugs. The platform is easy to use, even for researchers who have no prior experience with machine learning.

BioAutoMATED could help to accelerate biological research and make it more accessible to a wider range of scientists.

Researchers Teach AI to Write Better Chart Captions

A new dataset can help scientists develop automatic systems that generate richer, more descriptive captions for online charts.

The dataset contains over 100,000 charts from a variety of sources, such as news articles, scientific papers, and government websites. Each chart is paired with a human-written caption that describes the data in the chart.

Researchers can use this dataset to train AI models to generate their own chart captions. This could help to make online charts more accessible to people who are blind or have low vision, and it could also help to improve the accuracy and clarity of chart captions.

AI and technology are constantly evolving, and it can be difficult to keep up with the latest developments. But that's what we're here for! We hope that this newsletter will help you stay informed about the latest trends and learn about new technologies that have the potential to change our world.

We also hope that this newsletter will inspire you to think critically about the future of AI and technology. How can we use these technologies to make our world a better place? What are some of the potential risks and challenges that we need to be aware of?

We encourage you to share your thoughts and ideas with us in the comments section below. We look forward to hearing from you!

Sources:
1. https://news.mit.edu/topic/artificial-intelligence2?page=2#:~:text=MIT%20scientists%20build%20a%20system,artificial%20intelligence%20for%20research%20labs.

2. https://news.mit.edu/2023/bioautomated-open-source-machine-learning-platform-for-research-labs-0706#:~:text=for%20biology%20research-,MIT%20scientists%20build%20a%20system%20that%20can%20generate%20AI%20models,artificial%20intelligence%20for%20research%20labs.

3. https://news.mit.edu/2023/researchers-chart-captions-ai-vistext-0630#:~:text=To%20help%20people%20author%20high,on%20the%20needs%20of%20users.