Technology opportunities are critical information that serve as a foundation for advancements in technology, industry, and innovation. This paper proposes a framework based on the temporal relationships between technologies to identify emerging technology opportunities. The proposed framework begins by extracting text from a patent dataset, followed by mapping text-based topics to discover inter-technology relationships. Technology opportunities are then identified by tracking changes in these topics over time. To enhance efficiency, the framework leverages a large language model to extract topics and employs a prompt for a chat-based language model to support the discovery of technology opportunities. The framework was evaluated using an artificial intelligence patent dataset provided by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The experimental results suggest that artificial intelligence technology is evolving into forms that facilitate everyday accessibility. This approach demonstrates the potential of the proposed framework to identify future technology opportunities.

Language encodes societal beliefs about social groups through word patterns. While computational methods like word embeddings enable quantitative analysis of these patterns, studies have primarily examined gradual shifts in Western contexts. We present the first large-scale computational analysis of Chinese state-controlled media (1950-2019) to examine how revolutionary social transformations are reflected in official linguistic representations of social groups. Using diachronic word embeddings at multiple temporal resolutions, we find that Chinese representations differ significantly from Western counterparts, particularly regarding economic status, ethnicity, and gender. These representations show distinct evolutionary dynamics: while stereotypes of ethnicity, age, and body type remain remarkably stable across political upheavals, representations of gender and economic classes undergo dramatic shifts tracking historical transformations. This work advances our understanding of how officially sanctioned discourse encodes social structure through language while highlighting the importance of non-Western perspectives in computational social science.

"Learning about the social implications of the technology you're working on is really important," says senior Austen Roberson. Austen Roberson's favorite class at MIT is 2.S007 (Design and Manufacturing I-Autonomous Machines), in which students design, build, and program a fully autonomous robot to accomplish tasks laid out on a themed game board. "The best thing about that class is everyone had a different idea," says Roberson. "We all had the same game board and the same instructions given to us, but the robots that came out of people's minds were so different." The game board was Mars-themed, with a model shuttle that could be lifted to score points.

Covid-19 created cascades of shortages, disruptions, and problems that rolled downhill and landed in the most vulnerable neighborhoods. In these neighborhoods, it's often nonprofit organizations that provide services to members of the community. While the pandemic accelerated the need for digital transformation throughout the economy, the nonprofit sector was not immune to the need for nearly overnight innovation. As experts on the use of technology for social good, we've observed the many ways that nonprofits have been adopting "smart tech" to further social change in the wake of the pandemic, which we chronicle in our upcoming book, The Smart Nonprofit. We use "smart tech" as an umbrella term for advanced digital technologies that make decisions for people.

Artist Stephanie Lepp hosts Reckonings, a narrative podcast that explores how people shift their political worldviews, transcend extremism, and make other kinds of transformative change. Recently, she has been experimenting with a maligned technology, deepfakes, to create Deep Reckonings, a series of synthetic videos that imagine controversial public figures having a reckoning; in the deepfake footage, Alex Jones, Brett Kavanaugh, and Mark Zuckerberg reflect on the damage they have inflicted on society. I spoke to Stephanie about the impact of her project, and the positive potential of deepfake technology. What inspired you to create Deep Reckonings? We think of social change as requiring large numbers of people pushing for change. But there's also the question of, what are the fewest number of people it would take to create broad-based social change?

Describe why we--the "social good sector"--should care about and help shape the role AI plays in our society

SciTech Europa Quarterly attended the UN AI for Good global summit, where the topic of discussion was how Artificial Intelligence can be delivered for social change in various ways across the public and private sectors. We spoke to Neil Sahota, IBM Master Inventor and World Wide Business Development Leader in the IBM Watson Group; United Nations (UN) Artificial Intelligence (AI) subject matter expert; and Professor at UC Irvine, at the event about how Artificial Intelligence can be used to deliver social change to achieve to UN sustainable development goals. Artificial Intelligence is critical for delivering social change for the goal of sustainable development. The United Nations estimates that there is a $7 trillion shortfall every year trying to achieve the sustainable development goals. The goals are for a better society and a better world, so the question of how we bridge the shortfall is very important.

Today at our flagship technology event, Future Decoded, we announced the launch of the Microsoft UK AI for Good 2020 accelerator programme to help UK purpose-driven ventures advance their AI solutions and create positive social change. Now in its second year, the Accelerator builds on last year's success, which saw 11 organisations graduate, all of whom reported positive impact on their business following the programme. Unveiled this morning by our Chief Environmental Officer Dr Lucas Joppa, the UK AI for Good Accelerator will be run by Microsoft for Startups and the Social Tech Trust from our accelerator space in Shoreditch, London. "AI is one of the most important tools we have to accelerate innovation at the speed and scale we need to address climate change and other important societal challenges. It's exciting to see Microsoft's AI for Good initiative evolving to engage new partners and help catalyse social impact organisations across the UK." "We have an exciting opportunity to help more social tech ventures to shape the future we want to see, using AI. I'm inspired by the growth we've seen from the 11 ventures in our first cohort and can't wait to see the very best UK social tech innovations that emerge as we open applications for our second AI for Good programme, in partnership with Microsoft."

Today at our flagship technology event, Future Decoded, we announced the launch of the Microsoft UK AI for Good 2020 accelerator programme to help UK purpose-driven ventures advance their AI solutions and create positive social change. Now in its second year, the Accelerator builds on last year's success, which saw 11 organisations graduate, all of whom reported positive impact on their business following the programme. Unveiled this morning by our Chief Environmental Officer Dr Lucas Joppa, the UK AI for Good Accelerator will be run by Microsoft for Startups and the Social Tech Trust from our accelerator space in Shoreditch, London. "AI is one of the most important tools we have to accelerate innovation at the speed and scale we need to address climate change and other important societal challenges. It's exciting to see Microsoft's AI for Good initiative evolving to engage new partners and help catalyse social impact organisations across the UK." "We have an exciting opportunity to help more social tech ventures to shape the future we want to see, using AI. I'm inspired by the growth we've seen from the 11 ventures in our first cohort and can't wait to see the very best UK social tech innovations that emerge as we open applications for our second AI for Good programme, in partnership with Microsoft."

Sex robots could one day help failing marriages. According to an economics professor at the University of British Columbia, the futuristic droids could improve marriages by making husbands and wives focus more on love and parenting, instead of sexual compatibility. In a book called'Robot Sex: Social and Ethical Implications,' professor Marina Adshade claims the advent of sex robots will change our societal norms around marriage, particularly when it comes to monogamy. Adshade refers to this phenomenon as'sex-bot induced social change' and compares it to the societal impacts of birth control when it was first commercialized. 'I predict their availability will give couples greater opportunity to define their own types of marriages,' Adshade explained. 'One example might be that more couples could choose "companionship marriages" that do not involve sex, but focus solely on the creation of a family.'