Authoritarian regimes exert control over the internet through transit networks that operate largely out of public view, according to a recent study by researchers in the U.S. and Germany. The work, published in PNAS Nexus, also shows how more sophisticated authoritarian regimes extend their influence by providing network access in poorer but politically similar countries.
As artificial intelligence gains momentum, University of California researchers are identifying discrimination in the algorithms that are shaping our society, devising solutions, and helping build a future where computers do us less harm and more good.
As machine learning and artificial intelligence become more involved with decision-making, Professor Ian Davidson is on a quest to integrate fairness into human-AI systems.
Assistant Professor of Computer Science Maike Sonnewald weighs in on gaining information from a recent onslaught of storms to provide intel on climate change and make long-range weather forecasts.
A multidisciplinary research team in communication and computer science at the University of California, Davis, performed a systematic audit of YouTube’s video recommendations in 2021 and 2022. They tested how a person’s ideological leaning might affect what videos YouTube’s algorithms recommend to them.
Computer science researchers' study on ad targeting and Amazon's Echo smart speakers wins the Best Paper Award at the ACM 2023 Internet Measurement Conference.
With the next step in computer evolution on our doorstep, researchers are grappling with how the technology of today can facilitate designing the computers of tomorrow. Enter gem5, a computer simulation tool that could become a gateway to future generations of supercomputers.
As large language models like ChatGPT become more integrated into the human experience, Assistant Professor of Computer Science Muhao Chen wants to ensure that these tools are reliable, credible and protected.
This may come as no surprise to internet users that Amazon collects data from your interactions with Alexa and shares it with advertising partners to curate online ads. But Alexander Gamero-Garrido, a new assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, proved this was the case.
Assistant Professor of Computer Science Setareh Rafatirad was announced as a recipient of the 2023 Chancellor's Fellowships for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion by Chancellor Gary S. May and the Academic Senate's Committee on Affirmative Action and Diversity.
The recognized project seeks to address malware issues inherent to the Internet of Things, or IoT, the system of physical objects that communicate with other devices over the Internet. These can range from modern thermostats to smartwatches and self-driving cars.
Air travel now accounts for about 3% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, and the sector’s emissions are rising: Global air travel more than doubled from 2004 to 2019. This is literally a first-world problem — most people on Earth fly rarely, if ever. By some estimates, the 1% of humans who fly most often are responsible for half of all air travel emissions.
Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute (CITRIS) at the University of California (UC) recently announced the 2022 CITRIS Seed Awards recipients. The eight selected proposals, submitted by multicampus teams from Berkeley, Davis, Merced and Santa Cruz, will receive up to $60,000 for their work, thanks in part to external philanthropic support.
There’s been a lot of media discussion about blockchain over the last several years, particularly in the context of the ever-fluctuating cryptocurrency market. But what is blockchain technology really?
A new study from UC Davis suggests that artificial intelligence recommendation algorithms on sites like YouTube and TikTok can play a role in political radicalization. The research team trained “sock puppets” — artificial entities that act like users. Each sock puppet was given a series of right- or left-leaning videos to watch every day, and then the team would compare the recommendations on the sock puppet’s homepage to see if its recommended videos gradually became more biased.
