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The light and dark sides of AI have been in the public spotlight for many years. Think facial recognition, algorithms making loan and sentencing recommendations, and medical image analysis. But the impressive – and sometimes scary – capabilities of ChatGPT, DALL-E 2 and other conversational and image-conjuring artificial intelligence programs…

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has laid out an opening gambit in what is likely to be a lengthy battle over the debt ceiling, suggesting that Republicans are open to a deal – but at a very high price.

Editor’s note: This story is part of a series that includes live interviews with Canada’s top social sciences and humanities academics. Click here to register for In Conversation With Jordan Stanger-Ross and Audrey Kobayashi, April 18 at 2 p.m. ET. This is a virtual event co-hosted by The Conversation Canada…

For the first 4 billion years of Earth’s existence, its continents were dusty, barren and rocky landscapes similar to the surface of Mars. But, around 500 million years ago, this all changed.

Public rights of way are legally protected footpaths which let anyone pass over private land so that they can access the countryside for leisure and recreation. Each path is recorded and maintained by local authorities to ensure they remain open, unobstructed and free for all to use. But not all…

Public debt repayments in some African countries are at their highest levels since 1998. The Conversation Africa’s founding editor Caroline Southey talks to dean and economics professor Philippe Burger about the danger of debt problems some African countries face.

The Australian Universities Accord is a grandly named 12-month review seeking ideas to reform Australia’s higher education system for the next 30 years. Led by a prominent former vice-chancellor, Professor Mary O’Kane, it is one of the most important initiatives announced by Education Minister Jason Clare in his early days…

What we know – or think we know – about the progress of the war in Ukraine over the past few days has come courtesy of leaked Pentagon documents which appear to cover, in some detail, a wide range of issues around the conflict. As you’d expect, among the main…

Conserving or protecting natural resources, like landscapes or products, can involve limiting people’s access or use. When natural resources are connected to cultural, religious or spiritual practices, conservation needs to consider both biological and cultural diversity.

Fast fashion is that ever-changing need to have the latest beautiful thing at a bargain price — that club-ready piece of clothing, that status symbol shoe or that must-have top you just found at the mall.

A 23-year western drought has drastically shrunk the Colorado River, which provides water for drinking and irrigation for Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California and two states in Mexico. Under a 1922 compact, these jurisdictions receive fixed allocations of water from the river – but now there’s not…