Wednesday, April 17, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
SCIENCE TALK: Deep
fakes will challenge
everyone
Continued from page 3
new policy to stop the spread
of fake news. But the com-
pany admits that it could
never hire or partner with
enough human beings to
monitor all of the news pub-
lished on its platform.
Staying even one step
ahead of determined <fakers=
is a major challenge for arti-
ficial intelligence software as
well.
<Neural networks can find
patterns in text and graphs,=
Dr. Lowd explains, <but arti-
ficial intelligence itself can
be fooled.=
For example, some algo-
rithms consider how many
people follow a Twitter
account, but such followers
can be bought. <Likes= for
false Facebook posts can be
paid for and mass-produced,
lending crowd credibility to
inaccurate claims. Reputable
news organizations are then
prompted to report <tweets=
and <likes= as indicators of
public opinion.
Machine learning is
dependent on large amounts
of data, and that data is pro-
duced by humans. In a recent
widely published article,
Dr. Lowd recounted the story
of <Tay,= a bot intended
to engage Twitter users in
meaningful conversation on
behalf of Microsoft.
<Instead, trolls flooded
the bot with hateful and abu-
sive messages,= Dr. Lowd
wrote. <As the bot analyzed
that text, it began to reply in
kind 4 and was quickly shut
down.=
Compounding the prob-
lem of fake information is
the rapid development of
easily learned software that
can falsify images and vid-
eos, changes that are rarely
detectable by non-experts.
An associate professor in
the Department of Computer
and Information Science
PHOTO PROVIDED
Dr. Daniel Lowd will speak at The
Belfry in the Frontiers of Science
series on Tuesday, April 23.
at University of Oregon,
Dr. Lowd earned his Ph.D. at
the University of Washington.
A prolific researcher with
interests in machine learning,
data mining, and artificial
intelligence, he collaborates
with international colleagues
and students.
D r. L o w d 9s l e c t u r e ,
<Algorithms and Artificial
Intelligence: Science Takes
on Fake News,= starts at
7 p.m. at The Belfry, with
an introduction by Jim
Cornelius, editor in chief of
The Nugget.
Social hour begins at 6
p.m. with light fare, beer, and
wine available. Admission is
$5; teachers and students are
admitted free. The Belfry is
located at 302 E. Main Ave.,
Sisters.
In addition to the evening
lecture, Dr. Lowd will meet
with Sisters Middle School
students enrolled in computer
programming classes taught
by Wes Estvold.
The Frontiers in Science
lecture series will conclude
on Tuesday, May 7 with Dr.
Robert Collins speaking on
<The Brain Makes the Mind,=
which argues that even <free
will is fake news.=
For more informa-
tion on these topics and on
the Sisters Science Club:
www.sistersscienceclub.org;
scienceinsisters@gmail.com.
It’s official...
PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK
The Lodge at Sisters Assisted Living Community celebrated its
grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday.
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