Oct 4, 2024 12:15 AM
(This post was last modified: Oct 4, 2024 12:19 AM by C C.)
AI-generated college admissions essays exhibit male, privileged bias
[https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1060132
EXCERPTS: In an examination of thousands of human-written college admissions essays and those generated by AI, researchers found that the AI-generated essays are most similar to essays authored by students who are males, with higher socioeconomic status and higher levels of social privilege. The paper, published in the Journal of Big Data, also found the AI-generated writing is also less varied than that written by humans.
[...] “It’s likely that students are going to be using AI to help them craft these essays – probably not asking it to just write the whole thing, but rather asking it for help and feedback,” said Rene Kizilcec, associate professor of information science at Cornell and co-author of the paper. “But even then, the suggestions that these models will make may not be well aligned with the values, the sort of linguistic style, that would be an authentic expression of those students.
“It’s important to remember that if you use an AI to help you write an essay, it's probably going to sound less like you and more like something quite generic,” he said. “And students need to know that for the people reading these essays, it won’t be too difficult for them to figure out who has used AI extensively. The key will be to use it to help students tell their own stories and to enhance what they want to convey, not to replace their own voice.” (MORE - details)
Green subsidies may have hidden costs, experts warn
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1060130
INTRO: Government subsidies for business practices and processes should be approached with caution, even when they seem to be environmentally friendly, writes a group of scientists and economists in this week’s Policy Forum in the journal Science.
They argue that subsidies can alter market pressures, leading to unintended consequences that not only perpetuate harmful subsidies over time but also diminish the overall effectiveness of those intended to promote environmental sustainability. Therefore, when they must be used, subsidies should have clear end-dates, advise the authors.
“We’ve got this odd juxtaposition of trying to get rid subsidies in some sectors, and then ramping up subsidies in others,” says lead author Kathleen Segerson, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of Connecticut. “The question that interested me was: is this a good thing or a bad thing?”
Segerson and her coauthors are a group of internationally leading economists, ecologists, geographers, psychologists, and other scientists who convened for the 2022 Askö Workshop sponsored by the Beijer Institute for Ecological Economics in Stockholm, Sweden.
Subsidies can be powerful motivators that further environmental and sustainability goals, say the authors. For example, the United States’ Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 uses tax credits and incentives for things like electric vehicles (EVs), solar power, and wind power to meet its renewable energy and efficiency targets.
They can also be a politically easier approach to enacting change than creating new laws or taxes, says Segerson, and are even sometimes viewed as political capital, to ensure support from particular interest groups. But some subsidies that appear to encourage sustainability are not so simple, the authors explain. Sometimes they can have negative spillover effects.
Take the case of EVs: Switching from gasoline-powered cars to EVs reduces greenhouse gas emissions. When subsidies for EVs and their technology create more inexpensive EVs, however, that market will expand, increasing overall vehicle use. “When you’re subsidizing any industry, you’re essentially promoting that industry,” says Segerson.
But if subsidies instead went to increased infrastructure for and access to public transportation, more people might get rid of their cars, making the net positive environmental impact much greater. “A subsidy that might have initially been viewed as beneficial for society might eventually be recognized as having costs that greatly exceed benefits,” the authors write.
Many subsidies in place for decades have long been identified by economists and environmentalists alike as actively contributing to climate change and biodiversity threats... (MORE - details, no ads)
[https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1060132
EXCERPTS: In an examination of thousands of human-written college admissions essays and those generated by AI, researchers found that the AI-generated essays are most similar to essays authored by students who are males, with higher socioeconomic status and higher levels of social privilege. The paper, published in the Journal of Big Data, also found the AI-generated writing is also less varied than that written by humans.
[...] “It’s likely that students are going to be using AI to help them craft these essays – probably not asking it to just write the whole thing, but rather asking it for help and feedback,” said Rene Kizilcec, associate professor of information science at Cornell and co-author of the paper. “But even then, the suggestions that these models will make may not be well aligned with the values, the sort of linguistic style, that would be an authentic expression of those students.
“It’s important to remember that if you use an AI to help you write an essay, it's probably going to sound less like you and more like something quite generic,” he said. “And students need to know that for the people reading these essays, it won’t be too difficult for them to figure out who has used AI extensively. The key will be to use it to help students tell their own stories and to enhance what they want to convey, not to replace their own voice.” (MORE - details)
Green subsidies may have hidden costs, experts warn
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1060130
INTRO: Government subsidies for business practices and processes should be approached with caution, even when they seem to be environmentally friendly, writes a group of scientists and economists in this week’s Policy Forum in the journal Science.
They argue that subsidies can alter market pressures, leading to unintended consequences that not only perpetuate harmful subsidies over time but also diminish the overall effectiveness of those intended to promote environmental sustainability. Therefore, when they must be used, subsidies should have clear end-dates, advise the authors.
“We’ve got this odd juxtaposition of trying to get rid subsidies in some sectors, and then ramping up subsidies in others,” says lead author Kathleen Segerson, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of Connecticut. “The question that interested me was: is this a good thing or a bad thing?”
Segerson and her coauthors are a group of internationally leading economists, ecologists, geographers, psychologists, and other scientists who convened for the 2022 Askö Workshop sponsored by the Beijer Institute for Ecological Economics in Stockholm, Sweden.
Subsidies can be powerful motivators that further environmental and sustainability goals, say the authors. For example, the United States’ Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 uses tax credits and incentives for things like electric vehicles (EVs), solar power, and wind power to meet its renewable energy and efficiency targets.
They can also be a politically easier approach to enacting change than creating new laws or taxes, says Segerson, and are even sometimes viewed as political capital, to ensure support from particular interest groups. But some subsidies that appear to encourage sustainability are not so simple, the authors explain. Sometimes they can have negative spillover effects.
Take the case of EVs: Switching from gasoline-powered cars to EVs reduces greenhouse gas emissions. When subsidies for EVs and their technology create more inexpensive EVs, however, that market will expand, increasing overall vehicle use. “When you’re subsidizing any industry, you’re essentially promoting that industry,” says Segerson.
But if subsidies instead went to increased infrastructure for and access to public transportation, more people might get rid of their cars, making the net positive environmental impact much greater. “A subsidy that might have initially been viewed as beneficial for society might eventually be recognized as having costs that greatly exceed benefits,” the authors write.
Many subsidies in place for decades have long been identified by economists and environmentalists alike as actively contributing to climate change and biodiversity threats... (MORE - details, no ads)
