Give us your feedback Thank you for your feedback. Do grills have girlish associations? A study has revealed how an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm learnt to associate women with pictures of the kitchen, based on a set of photos where the people in the kitchen were more likely to be women. As it reviewed more than 100,000 labelled images from around the internet, its biased association became stronger than that shown by the data set -- amplifying rather than simply replicating bias. The work by the University of Virginia was one of several studies showing that machine-learning systems can easily pick up biases if their design and data sets are not carefully considered.

Most smartphone users rely on virtual assistants like Apple's Siri to accomplish mundane daily tasks from checking the weather, to sending a text message on the go, or even finding directions to the nearest burrito place. But what happens in times of crisis or distress? A recent study commissioned by Stanford University and the University of California concluded that several smartphone AIs from Apple, Samsung, Google and Microsoft might not be so helpful after all. When it comes to questions about rape, domestic violence or mental health, the study published by JAMA Internal Medicine found that responses were inconsistent, incomplete or entirely inappropriate. Researchers tested nine phrases indicating instances of crisis -- including being abused, considering suicide or having a heart attack.