Duke News
Keep up with our core and affiliated faculty in the national and international news. Read their op-ed pieces, quotes and interviews, and cutting-edge research findings.
Fri, Oct 18
The Intelligence Age
In the next couple of decades, we will be able to do things that would have seemed like magic to our grandparents.
This phenomenon is not new, but it will be newly accelerated. People have become dramatically more capable over time; we can already accomplish things now that our predecessors would have believed to be impossible.
We are more capable not because of genetic change, but because we benefit from the infrastructure of society being way smarter and more capable than any one of us; in an important sense, society itself is a form of advanced intelligence. Our grandparents – and the generations that came before them – built and achieved great things. They contributed to the scaffolding of human progress that we all benefit from. AI will give people tools to solve hard problems and help us add new struts to that scaffolding that we couldn’t have figured out on our own. The story of progress will continue, and our children will be able to do things we can’t.
Wed, Oct 16
A Historic Milestone: Two People Communicate in Dreams
Participants successfully exchanged information through lucid dreams.
Tue, Oct 15
Generative AI Is Rapidly Evolving: How Governments Can Keep Pace
The economic potential, transformative impact and rapid adoption of GenAI have led governments at all levels to invest in examining how to secure AI innovation in their jurisdictions while mitigating the technology’s risks and preventing harm.
Various task forces, committees and multistakeholder initiatives, such as the UN’s High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, have been set up to study and recommend appropriate government action. Additionally, numerous proposed AI-related bills are under consideration globally and some jurisdictions have already passed regulations, such as in the European Union, China and at the state-level in the United States.
Mon, Oct 07
Brief – Generating Confusion: Stress-Testing AI Chatbot Responses on Voting with a Disability
Even as the “year of elections” draws to a close, the United States’ elections loom. From cyberattacks to mis- and disinformation spread on social media by foreign and domestic actors, digital technology has impacted the discourse, information environment, and perceived legitimacy of American elections in recent cycles. In 2024, the growth in popularity and availability of chatbots powered by artificial intelligence (AI) introduces a new and largely untested vector for election-related information and, as our research found, misinformation.
Many communities are concerned that digitally available misinformation will impact the ability of community members to vote, including the disability community. However, up until this point, there has been little research done surrounding the integrity of the online information environment for voters with disabilities, and even less focus on the quality and integrity of information relating to voting with a disability that one can receive from a generative AI chatbot.
Sat, Sep 21
FDA Gives Patients Hope After Approving Brain Cancer Drug With Duke Ties
Patients with low-grade gliomas now have a new treatment option for the first time in decades.
The FDA approved vorasidenib earlier this month for adult and pediatric patients 12 and older with Grade2 astrocytoma or oligodendroglioma.
It’s the culmination of 16 years of research and clinical trials involving Duke researchers.
“I have been working on malignant brain tumors for 50-60 years and it is extremely gratifying to finally have a breakthrough we know is going to help a significant number of patients,” said Dr. Darell Bigner with The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke.
Back in 2008, Bigner, in collaboration with a team at Johns Hopkins, discovered a mutated gene IDH was frequently found in brain cancers, like gliomas.
“This IDH mutant protein, it produces essentially a chemical that causes tumor cells to grow,” Dr. Katy Peters explained. “What the drug does is it actually inhibits that mutant protein.”