Download PDF Spring Bridge on AI: Promises and Risks April 15, 2025 Volume 55 Issue 1 This issue of The Bridge features fresh perspectives on artificial intelligence’s promises and risks from thought leaders across industry and academia. Articles In This Issue A Word from the NAE Chair: Expanding the US Engineering Workforce Wednesday, April 16, 2025 AuthorErroll B. Davis Jr. As some would note, I am fond, perhaps too fond, of saying, “May you live in interesting times.” I have always lived in “interesting times,” ranging from working inside a UNIVAC I 8K memory unit in the early 1960s to working as the “computer jock” for Nobel ... Editor in Chief's Note Wednesday, April 16, 2025 AuthorRonald M. Latanision First, I want to thank William Isaac and Marian Croak for serving as guest editors of this issue on artificial intelligence (AI). They have assembled an issue that touches all the bases in terms of the pressing matters regarding AI, ranging from visual instrumentation, track system conditions, and ... Guest Editors' Note: Realizing the Transformative Potential of AI Wednesday, April 16, 2025 AuthorWilliam Isaac and Marian Croak The rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI) presents a defining moment in human history. The past year bore witness to both exhilarating progress and growing anxieties surrounding AI’s expanding role in society. The advent of generative AI, capable of crafting human-quality text and ... Toward an Evaluation Science for Generative AI Systems Wednesday, April 16, 2025 AuthorLaura Weidinger, Deb Raji, Hanna Wallach, Margaret Mitchell, Angelina Wang, Olawale Salaudeen, Rishi Bommasani, Sanmi Koyejo, a There is an urgent need for a more robust and comprehensive approach to AI evaluation. There is an increasing imperative to anticipate and understand the performance and safety of generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems in real-world deployment contexts. However, the current evaluation ... Dashboards for AI: Models of the User, System, and World1 Tuesday, April 15, 2025 AuthorFernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg AI dashboards can promote transparency and user trust, enabling more effective human-AI interaction. How should we interact with artificial intelligence (AI) language models? In this article, we contend that text is not all you need: Sophisticated AI systems should have visual instrumentation, ... The Next Frontier in AI: Understanding the 3-D World Tuesday, April 15, 2025 AuthorFei-Fei Li AI is being developed to understand and interact with the 3-D world, opening up new possibilities in fields like robotics and healthcare. Five hundred and forty million years ago, there was pure darkness. All life existed below the surface of the water. But the vast blackness was not due ... AI's Capabilities Make It a Powerful Tool for Driving Societal Impact Monday, April 14, 2025 AuthorYossi Matias, Avinatan Hassidim, and Philip Nelson AI innovations, developed and deployed responsibly, can help preserve our climate, improve health outcomes, and create a more accessible world for everyone. Many of us entered the sciences driven by a profound curiosity and by a desire to solve the challenges around us and make new discoveries ... Disrupting the Disruption Narrative: Policy Innovation in AI Governance Monday, April 14, 2025 AuthorAlondra Nelson Governance should not be understood as an impediment to AI innovation but as an essential component of it. “Disrupt!” has been a mantra of technology-driven commerce for more than three decades. Clayton M. Christensen, the late Harvard Business School professor, pioneered the ... Alignment of AI Systems' Risk Attitudes, and Four Real-Life Examples Friday, April 11, 2025 AuthorElisabeth Paté-Cornell AI systems’ risk preferences should be consistent with those of humans, particularly in critical domains like healthcare and national security. Artificial intelligence (AI) systems perform two kinds of functions: gathering and processing information, and, in some cases, suggesting ... Unlocking the Gut’s Brain with Ingestible Bioelectronics Friday, April 11, 2025 AuthorShriya Srinivasan Ingestible devices present a novel approach to accessing the gastrointestinal tract, making possible therapeutic interventions that can modulate gut function and potentially improve health outcomes. With the increasingly popular use of weight loss drugs, such as Ozempic and Wegovy (Sodhi et al. ... Op-Ed Why Engineers Should Learn Economics Friday, April 11, 2025 AuthorDebasis Mitra Engineers and economists have much to learn from each other, and there is much to be gained from them working collaboratively. Economics and economists wield great influence in policy-making at various levels of both the public and private sectors of our society. Examples in the ... Invisible Bridges Ports, Politics, and Peace: The Engineering of Stability Thursday, April 10, 2025 AuthorGuru Madhavan Civilizations don’t rise and fall by the sword alone. They are shaped—or shattered—by the infrastructure that anchors their networks. Infrastructure can foster peace and stability, but history shows it has also been a medium for influence. India’s ancient ports made this ...
A Word from the NAE Chair: Expanding the US Engineering Workforce Wednesday, April 16, 2025 AuthorErroll B. Davis Jr. As some would note, I am fond, perhaps too fond, of saying, “May you live in interesting times.” I have always lived in “interesting times,” ranging from working inside a UNIVAC I 8K memory unit in the early 1960s to working as the “computer jock” for Nobel ...
Editor in Chief's Note Wednesday, April 16, 2025 AuthorRonald M. Latanision First, I want to thank William Isaac and Marian Croak for serving as guest editors of this issue on artificial intelligence (AI). They have assembled an issue that touches all the bases in terms of the pressing matters regarding AI, ranging from visual instrumentation, track system conditions, and ...
Guest Editors' Note: Realizing the Transformative Potential of AI Wednesday, April 16, 2025 AuthorWilliam Isaac and Marian Croak The rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI) presents a defining moment in human history. The past year bore witness to both exhilarating progress and growing anxieties surrounding AI’s expanding role in society. The advent of generative AI, capable of crafting human-quality text and ...
Toward an Evaluation Science for Generative AI Systems Wednesday, April 16, 2025 AuthorLaura Weidinger, Deb Raji, Hanna Wallach, Margaret Mitchell, Angelina Wang, Olawale Salaudeen, Rishi Bommasani, Sanmi Koyejo, a There is an urgent need for a more robust and comprehensive approach to AI evaluation. There is an increasing imperative to anticipate and understand the performance and safety of generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems in real-world deployment contexts. However, the current evaluation ...
Dashboards for AI: Models of the User, System, and World1 Tuesday, April 15, 2025 AuthorFernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg AI dashboards can promote transparency and user trust, enabling more effective human-AI interaction. How should we interact with artificial intelligence (AI) language models? In this article, we contend that text is not all you need: Sophisticated AI systems should have visual instrumentation, ...
The Next Frontier in AI: Understanding the 3-D World Tuesday, April 15, 2025 AuthorFei-Fei Li AI is being developed to understand and interact with the 3-D world, opening up new possibilities in fields like robotics and healthcare. Five hundred and forty million years ago, there was pure darkness. All life existed below the surface of the water. But the vast blackness was not due ...
AI's Capabilities Make It a Powerful Tool for Driving Societal Impact Monday, April 14, 2025 AuthorYossi Matias, Avinatan Hassidim, and Philip Nelson AI innovations, developed and deployed responsibly, can help preserve our climate, improve health outcomes, and create a more accessible world for everyone. Many of us entered the sciences driven by a profound curiosity and by a desire to solve the challenges around us and make new discoveries ...
Disrupting the Disruption Narrative: Policy Innovation in AI Governance Monday, April 14, 2025 AuthorAlondra Nelson Governance should not be understood as an impediment to AI innovation but as an essential component of it. “Disrupt!” has been a mantra of technology-driven commerce for more than three decades. Clayton M. Christensen, the late Harvard Business School professor, pioneered the ...
Alignment of AI Systems' Risk Attitudes, and Four Real-Life Examples Friday, April 11, 2025 AuthorElisabeth Paté-Cornell AI systems’ risk preferences should be consistent with those of humans, particularly in critical domains like healthcare and national security. Artificial intelligence (AI) systems perform two kinds of functions: gathering and processing information, and, in some cases, suggesting ...
Unlocking the Gut’s Brain with Ingestible Bioelectronics Friday, April 11, 2025 AuthorShriya Srinivasan Ingestible devices present a novel approach to accessing the gastrointestinal tract, making possible therapeutic interventions that can modulate gut function and potentially improve health outcomes. With the increasingly popular use of weight loss drugs, such as Ozempic and Wegovy (Sodhi et al. ...
Op-Ed Why Engineers Should Learn Economics Friday, April 11, 2025 AuthorDebasis Mitra Engineers and economists have much to learn from each other, and there is much to be gained from them working collaboratively. Economics and economists wield great influence in policy-making at various levels of both the public and private sectors of our society. Examples in the ...
Invisible Bridges Ports, Politics, and Peace: The Engineering of Stability Thursday, April 10, 2025 AuthorGuru Madhavan Civilizations don’t rise and fall by the sword alone. They are shaped—or shattered—by the infrastructure that anchors their networks. Infrastructure can foster peace and stability, but history shows it has also been a medium for influence. India’s ancient ports made this ...