What if the idea of the autism spectrum is completely wrong? For years, we've thought of autism as lying on a spectrum, but emerging evidence suggests that it comes in several distinct types. These three words have become synonymous with autism, yet behind them lies a common misunderstanding. The idea of "the spectrum" suggests that all autistic people share similar experiences and behave in similar ways - only to a greater or lesser extent. The reality couldn't be further from the truth. Some autistic people may not speak at all; others are hyperverbal and extremely fluent.

Avoiding systemic discrimination requires investigating AI models' potential to propagate stereotypes resulting from the inherent biases of training datasets. Our study investigated how text-to-image models unintentionally perpetuate non-rational beliefs regarding autism. The research protocol involved generating images based on 53 prompts aimed at visualizing concrete objects and abstract concepts related to autism across four models: DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, SDXL, and Midjourney (N=249). Expert assessment of results was performed via a framework of 10 deductive codes representing common stereotypes contested by the community regarding their presence and spatial intensity, quantified on ordinal scales and subject to statistical analysis of inter-rater reliability and size effects. The models frequently utilised controversial themes and symbols which were unevenly distributed, however, with striking homogeneity in terms of skin colour, gender, and age, with autistic individuals portrayed as engaged in solitary activities, interacting with objects rather than people, and displaying stereotypical emotional expressions such as pale, anger, or sad. Secondly we observed representational insensitivity regarding autism images despite directional prompting aimed at falsifying the above results. Additionally, DALL-E explicitly denied perpetuating stereotypes. We interpret this as ANNs mirroring the human cognitive architecture regarding the discrepancy between background and reflective knowledge, as justified by our previous research on autism-related stereotypes in humans.

Six months ago my son Zac started to play a video game I knew very little about – which, as a games journalist, I found slightly disconcerting. Created by the Canada-based developer Digital Extremes, Warframe is an online sci-fi shooter, originally launched in 2013. Though little discussed outside its fanbase, it is consistently one of the biggest titles on Steam, with 75 million registered users. Set in a distant future version of our solar system, riddled with warring alien factions, the player takes part on the side of the Tenno, an ancient warrior race that employs barely sentient cybernetic fighters – the warframes of the title – as their primary weapons. Each day, Zac spends hours whizzing between planets, carrying out missions or exploring, all the while fighting enemies including a brutish clone army known as the Grineer, and the diseased, monstrous Infested.

Terence Mills, CEO of AI.io, a data science & engineering company that is delivering AI solutions in healthcare, travel and entertainment. We know that the future is bright, and lately, it's like someone has been turning up the contrast. We're fortunate to have the chance to lean into technology. For every misstep that the information age has bestowed upon us, we double down our efforts. We learn how to do better. After all, humans fall short when it comes to being infallible.

Terence Mills, CEO of AI.io, a data science & engineering company that is delivering AI solutions in healthcare, travel and entertainment. We know that the future is bright, and lately, it's like someone has been turning up the contrast. We're fortunate to have the chance to lean into technology. For every misstep that the information age has bestowed upon us, we double down our efforts. We learn how to do better. After all, humans fall short when it comes to being infallible.

Researchers from several American universities are collaborating to develop artificial intelligence based software to help people on the autism spectrum find and hold meaningful employment. The project is a collaboration between experts at Vanderbilt, Yale, Cornell and the Georgia Institute of Technology. It consists of developing multiple pieces of technology, each one aimed at a different aspect of supporting people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in the workplace, according to Nilanjan Sarkar, professor of engineering at Vanderbilt University and the leader of the project. "We realized together that there are some support systems for children with autism in this society, but as soon as they become 18 years old and more, there is a support cliff and the social services are not as much," Sarkar said. The project began a year ago with preliminary funding from the National Science Foundation. The NSF initially invested in around 40 projects, but only four -- including this one -- were chosen to be funded for a longer term of two years.

The quartet, consisting of Kircoff, her husband Andrew Kephalidis, who works in Reflector's animation department, public relations manager Noémie de Rothschild and marketing head André Vu, is now watching some aspiring student game developers attempt to answer their question. With help and mentorship from the team at Reflector, eight students at the video game design school ISART Digital Montréal are racing to complete a 10-minute-long game as part of their graduation project. It will be judged in June by a panel of professionals in the game industry.

Peter Souza'a employer trains adults on the autism spectrum for tasks and roles in IT. Years ago, Michael Field-house had a dinner party and friends attended with their young son Andrew, who is autistic, non-verbal, and low-functioning. At one point, Fieldhouse noticed Andrew, who was five- or six-years-old at the time, outside dropping pebbles into an urn in a Japanese garden. "I was curious about that and I started timing him," recalls Fieldhouse. "I noted there were perfect intervals between every stone. He did that for at least an hour."

LONDON (Reuters) - "This is nice, it tickles me," Kaspar the social robot tells four-year-old Finn as they play together at an autism school north of London. Kaspar, developed by the University of Hertfordshire, also sings song, imitates eating, plays the tambourine and combs his hair during their sessions aimed at helping Finn with his social interaction and communication. If Finn gets too rough, the similarly sized Kaspar cries: "Ouch, that hurt me." A therapist is on hand to encourage the child to rectify his behavior by tickling the robot's feet. Finn is one of around 170 autistic children that Kaspar has helped in a handful of schools and hospitals over the last 10 years.

IBM Watson burst onto the world stage in 2011 when it participated in the trivia-based game show Jeopardy!. The supercomputer beat out two former champions to claim a victory for "artificial intelligence". Since then, Watson has embarked on a number of challenges across a variety of domains, from identifying the best cancer treatments to improving weather forecasting. For its latest endeavor, Watson is looking to improve the quality of life for individuals with autism and other cognitive disorders. Autism refers to a group of complex disorders of brain development characterized by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and possible repetitive behaviors.