Note: only the third panel from the original image has been used here. Last month, Google announced SynthID Detector, a new tool to detect AI-generated content. Google claims it can identify AI-generated content in text, image, video or audio. But there are some caveats. One of them is that the tool is currently only available to "early testers" through a waitlist.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has taken off at lightning speed in the past couple of years, creating disruption in many industries. A new report published this week finds that news audiences and journalists alike are concerned about how news organisations are – and could be – using generative AI such as chatbots, image, audio and video generators, and similar tools. The report draws on three years of interviews and focus group research into generative AI and journalism in Australia and six other countries (United States, United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland, Germany and France). Only 25% of our news audience participants were confident they had encountered generative AI in journalism. About 50% were unsure or suspected they had.

We describe a significant emerging trend away from the techno-solutionist approach to problems that seeks to create and understand a new paradigm: a productive interplay between algorithms and people.

Image-based abuse – when someone takes, shares or threatens to share nude, semi-nude or sexual images or video without consent – has become a growing issue, experienced by 1 in 3 Australians surveyed in 2019. Lead researcher behind the creation of'Umibot', Professor Nicola Henry from RMIT's Social and Global Studies Centre, said'deepfake' content (fake videos or images generated using AI), incidents where people are pressured into creating sexual content and being sent unsolicited sexual images or videos also count as image-based abuse. "It's a huge violation of trust that's designed to shame, punish or humiliate. It's often a way for perpetrators to exert power and control over others," said Henry, who is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. "A lot of victim-survivors we talked to just want the issue to go away and the content to be taken down or removed but often they don't know where to go for help."

UNSW Engineering Professor Flora Salim has been honoured for her pioneering work in computing and machine learning by Women in AI, a global advocacy group for women in the artificial intelligence (AI) field. The 2022 Women in AI Awards Australia and New Zealand recognised women across various industries committed to excellence in AI. Finalists were judged on innovation, leadership and inspiring potential, global impact, and the ability of the AI solution to provide a social good for the community. Prof. Salim was recognised for her AI achievements in the Defence and Intelligence award category. The award acknowledged her research in the cross-cutting areas of ubiquitous computing and machine learning, with a focus on efficient, fair, and explainable machine learning for multi-dimensional sensor data, towards enabling situational and behaviour intelligence for multiple applications.

Scientists in Hong Kong have developed artificial skin that bruises like the real thing. The material, called I-skin, could be used on artificial limbs to alert users they have damaged their prosthetics. It's embedded with a gel that turns from yellow to welt-like purple when subjected to physical stress. Volunteers wearing strips of I-skin on their fingers, hands and knees repeatedly banged the appendage against a wall, proving the'bruise' would appear if enough force was used. Scientists in Hong Kong have developed an artificial skin that will mimic the discoloration of a bruise if hit hard enough.

A graphic illustration showing how the technology combines the core software needed to drive AI with image-capturing hardware, in a single electronic device. Prototype tech shrinks AI to deliver brain-like functionality in one powerful device. Researchers have developed artificial intelligence technology that brings together imaging, processing, machine learning, and memory in one electronic chip, powered by light. The prototype shrinks artificial intelligence technology by imitating the way that the human brain processes visual information. The nanoscale advance combines the core software needed to drive artificial intelligence with image-capturing hardware in a single electronic device.

BEGIN ARTICLE PREVIEW: A graphic illustration showing how the technology combines the core software needed to drive AI with image-capturing hardware, in a single electronic device. Credit: RMIT University Prototype tech shrinks AI to deliver brain-like functionality in one powerful device. Researchers have developed artificial intelligence technology that brings together imaging, processing, machine learning, and memory in one electronic chip, powered by light. The prototype shrinks artificial intelligence technology by imitating the way that the human brain processes visual information. The nanoscale advance combines the core software needed to drive artificial intelligence with image-capturing hardware in a single electronic device.

Local partners specialising in artificial intelligence AI, machine learning and automation may want to get ready for a wave of public sector work as the federal government moves to boost its automated decision making capabilities. On 9 October, Australia's Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews and Education Minister Dan Tehan jointly announced that the government would spend $31.8 million to establish a research centre to investigate responsible, ethical, and inclusive automated decision making. The new Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society will be based at RMIT University in Melbourne, and will bring together national and international experts from the humanities, and the social and technological sciences in its efforts to develop a sound basis upon which to build out automated decision making across government. While the controversy around the government's much maligned automated debt collection scheme may have left a bad taste in the public's collective mouth when it comes to automation in public services, Tehan is confident that automated decision making technology can be a force for good in the public sector. "Our Government is funding research into automated decision making to ensure this technology provides the best possible outcomes for society and industry," Tehan said in a statement.

What better way to build smarter computer chips than to mimic nature's most perfect computer – the human brain? Being able to store, delete and process information is crucial for computing, and the brain does this extremely efficiently. Our new electronic chip uses light to create and modify memories, moving us closer towards artificial intelligence (AI) that can replicate the human brain's sophistication. To develop this, we drew inspiration from a new technique called optogenetics, to develop a device that replicates the way the brain stores (and loses) information. Optogenetics involves using light to control cells in living tissue, typically nerve cells (neurons).