Scents play a central role in nature, as olfactory interactions are the language of life. In a new research project of the UvA Molecular and Materials Design Technology hub, scientists will use machine learning to predict what types of olfactory molecules interact with insect olfactory receptors. This information is important to develop safe-by-design molecules that do not interfere with insect olfaction. Scents play a central role in the lives of living beings, from locating food and mates to sensing and avoiding danger. Insects use many different types of scents, such as sex, trail, alarm and aggregation pheromones, as well as plant odors to locate their host plants.

A backlash against AI imagery in ads may have begun as brands promote'human-made' In a wave of new ads, brands like Heineken, Polaroid and Cadbury have started hating on artificial intelligence (AI), celebrating their work as "human-made". But in these advertising campaigns on TV, billboards on New York streets and on social media, the companies are signalling something larger. Even Apple's new series release, Pluribus, includes the phrase "Made by Humans" in the closing credits. Other brands including H&M and Guess have faced a backlash for using AI brand ambassadors instead of humans. These gestures suggest we have reached a cultural moment in the evolution of this technology, where people are unsure what creativity means when machines can now produce much of what we see, hear and perhaps even be moved by.

"We really can't do this research without collaboration." Wąsala collaborates with atmospheric scientists from SRON (Space Research Organisation Netherlands) on machine learning models that detect large greenhouse gas emissions from space. There is too much data to review manually, and such models offer a solution. How much greenhouse gas do humans emit? The machine learning method Wąsala refers to detects emissions in the form of a point source: plumes.

In March 2025, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), published a report on the Future of AI Research . The report, which was led by outgoing AAAI President Francesca Rossi covers 17 different AI topics and aims to clearly identify the trajectory of AI research in a structured way. As part of this project, members of the report team are taking part in a series of video panel discussions covering selected chapters from the report. In the first panel, the AI experts tackled the considerations around artificial general intelligence (AGI) development. AIhub is dedicated to free high-quality information about AI.