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Artificial intelligence is becoming more persuasive than ever, often sounding human, empathetic, and trustworthy. But where does the technology actually help us, and where could it lead us astray?
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00:00Did I do the right thing?
00:03Should I go see a doctor?
00:06What should I cook for dinner?
00:08People are turning to artificial intelligence as a constant companion,
00:12chatting with it almost like it's a close friend.
00:17But what is AI actually good at?
00:20When should we trust it?
00:22And when should we be more skeptical?
00:25Answers to those questions and much more this time on DW Science Show.
00:31Welcome to Tomorrow Today.
00:35Helping with career decisions, replacing a psychotherapist or even a friend.
00:40Whatever the problem, artificial intelligence always seems to have the right answer.
00:45But Hamburg-based AI researcher Maximilian Kiener encourages his students to think critically about AI responses.
00:54Students are growing up in a world where a machine instantly answers any question.
00:59That's Maximilian Kiener's avatar talking.
01:02The researcher programmed it himself, thereby making himself replaceable, at least according to the AI.
01:09I could handle your emails, your reports, even this interview.
01:13And honestly, I'd do a pretty good job.
01:16Maybe emails, that's just optimization.
01:19But talking to students, interacting, showing empathy, taking responsibility, you can't do that.
01:25You're just imitating.
01:27True, I am you, the optimized version.
01:30Many users believe AI really is the optimized version, that it can be the perfect friend, for example.
01:37And that's no surprise.
01:38Developers almost always design AI avatars to be friendly and non-confrontational.
01:43It presents itself like a human.
01:47It understands us.
01:48It sounds so real.
01:50And we need to protect ourselves against that.
01:52AI can create the illusion of being trustworthy, human and empathetic.
01:57And that can easily mislead us.
02:01AI's real strength lies in processing huge amounts of data.
02:05Here it assesses 30 photos of every single cherry, down to the smallest detail.
02:10And that's no problem for AI.
02:12But cherries aren't people.
02:16What AI simply can't do is make value judgments.
02:20Which career path should I choose?
02:22The law, medicine, something else?
02:24There isn't one correct answer.
02:26It's not a calculation.
02:28The problem we keep running into is that we try to squeeze every complex problem into an AI format.
02:37In Kina's view, ethics doesn't slow down the development of AI.
02:41It's what makes AI genuinely useful for people in the first place.
02:45A team from the universities of Hohenheim and Bamberg has developed an AI that doesn't always have a quick answer.
02:52This socratic AI openly admits when it isn't entirely sure.
02:56Socratic AI differs from conventional AI in that it asks questions.
03:02It challenges me with critical follow-up questions and helps me find my own solution to a problem instead of
03:08just giving me answers.
03:10Asking follow-up questions leads to more balanced responses and helps build trust, especially among professionals.
03:17A study found that doctors, for example, often remain cautious about AI.
03:21That's because experts can sometimes underestimate what the technology is actually able to do.
03:28The A3 near Duisberg has been closed after an Antonov aircraft made an emergency landing.
03:34Fortunately, no one was injured.
03:36AI deepfakes like these have become very convincing in recent years.
03:40And as computing power continues to grow, they're getting even more realistic.
03:45The same goes for deepfakes circulating on the dark web.
03:48But is that really innovation?
03:50Just because something's new doesn't make it an innovation.
03:54There has to be value in it.
03:55For example, I find it very difficult to see deepfake sexualized images of children as an innovation.
04:01It may be technically new, but it's not an innovation.
04:04It's something else.
04:07And ethics is precisely the field that systematically examines what's valuable in all its complexity
04:13and can guide us in how to embed those values at different stages of AI development.
04:21If there's one thing AI does do particularly well, it's making huge, complex calculations.
04:28But Kina says humans still need to make the decisions.
04:33It's easy to forget what's really happening when we ask AI a question.
04:38Behind every answer is a vast network of computers, housed in massive, highly secure facilities,
04:45protected from dust and heat.
04:48And nowhere has more of them than Northern Virginia in the U.S., just next to Washington, D.C.
04:55They take up enormous amounts of space, consume huge amounts of electricity.
05:00And they're not just an eyesore, they're pretty noisy, too.
05:08When Greg Pirio first stepped outside the home he'd just bought in 2012,
05:13he was surrounded by greenery.
05:15But where there was once a forest, there's now a data center.
05:20It's really frustrating, you know, how they could have voted to change the zoning
05:26to allow this so close to a neighborhood is beyond my comprehension.
05:32It's not just the view that's changed. The soundscape has, too.
05:38It's just such an annoying sound. Angry because it will reduce the value of our properties here.
05:49Angry because it's chased the wildlife away from us.
05:55The area in Northern Virginia has become a global hub for data centers, where the information that powers giant companies
06:01such as Uber, Netflix and Amazon, as well as from AI applications, is stored and processed.
06:08AI data centers in particular require enormous amounts of electricity.
06:13These are data centers. Look that direction, that direction behind us. All three sides.
06:20Elena Schlossberg is also frustrated. Of Virginia's more than 600 data centers, 260 are concentrated in just two residential communities.
06:30In the 1990s, the area was home to AOL, America's first major internet service provider. Today, it's at the heart
06:38of the AI boom.
06:40Look, see another American flag. We're all a part of America when we're building out the wealthiest industry in the
06:46world and paying for their infrastructure.
06:49Northern Virginia leads the world in data center concentration, accounting for 14% of all data centers globally.
06:57Running those facilities doesn't require many workers, but it does consume vast amounts of electricity.
07:04And that's having an impact on local residents.
07:07Communities are in direct competition with an industry that has an unprecedented need for power and water.
07:16And so those things that you normally rely on, your affordable, clean energy, is now being consumed by this one
07:24customer.
07:26And that's why you see your utility bills increasing.
07:29Electricity prices here have risen by 30% in just five years.
07:33The enormous demand for energy is one major downside of the AI boom.
07:38So it looked as though it was a matter of economic development and a good thing for the community.
07:44But they did not think through the implications for the ordinary rate payer.
07:49Industry often needs a certain amount of power, but it tends to be distributed and the increases are predictable and
07:57measurable.
07:58There's almost nothing that compares to this in the past.
08:02But there are locals who are benefiting.
08:05Some residents have joined forces to sell farmland for the construction of data centers and power plants.
08:13Mine has been a family farm for generations.
08:16And unfortunately, my kids and grandchildren have absolutely no interest in it.
08:23And we came up with a win-win-win solution.
08:25The county is going to make money, which helps them pay other people, all their employees more money, get better
08:34parks, get better schools for everyone.
08:35And yes, we're going to make money.
08:38Data centers generate more than $1 billion in tax revenue every year, and construction continues around the clock.
08:44But that growth comes at a cost.
08:47Depending on its capacity, a single AI data center can consume as much electricity as an entire city.
08:56Keeping buildings cool already accounts for more than 10% of global electricity consumption, and demand is only expected to
09:04rise.
09:06Researchers think they may have found a way to dramatically reduce the energy needs for air conditioners.
09:11They're developing a new cooling technology that uses special metals that heat up when stretched and cool down again when
09:19released.
09:21Only enough room for a single soda can, but this mini refrigerator is packed with innovative technology.
09:28Researchers at Saarland University in southwest Germany have built it to demonstrate a new cooling method that could be more
09:35energy efficient and climate friendly.
09:39We need less energy for cooling. That means lower energy consumption overall, which ultimately means lower CO2 emissions globally.
09:50This cooling system uses very little electricity and doesn't require environmentally harmful or flammable refrigerants.
09:57But how?
09:58The key lies in bundles of fine wires, a bit like artificial muscles, that rotate around the cooling chamber.
10:06They're made from a shape memory alloy, a material engineered to return to a preset shape after being deformed.
10:13Paul Motsky is a professor of smart material systems at Saarland University.
10:18He uses an infrared camera to show us what's happening.
10:22The thermal image reveals the hidden superpower of the nickel-titanium wires under tension.
10:27It's the same phenomenon seen in a balloon, a phase transformation.
10:31The atoms arrange themselves differently depending on the temperature and the mechanical stress in the material.
10:38So when I stretch this bundle of wires, I force it into a different phase.
10:42The atoms reorganize themselves.
10:45That creates a different energy state, heat is released, and the material warms up.
10:50When I release the tension, the atoms rearrange themselves again.
10:53We get a different energy state, heat is absorbed and the bundle cools down again.
10:58This is known as an elastocaloric effect.
11:01It can create temperature differences of up to 40 degrees Celsius within the material.
11:06The phenomenon is well known, but only recently have researchers tried to harness it for use in refrigerators and heat
11:13pumps.
11:17How do we transfer the heat and cold that we generate to where it's actually needed?
11:21In a fridge, we need to bring the cooling into the interior and release the heat into the surroundings.
11:28Here, circulating air passes over the cooled wires, then flows round the cooling chamber, circled in blue, causing the contents
11:36inside to cool down too.
11:38The team from Zabrucken demonstrates the technology with this mini refrigerator at trade shows and conferences.
11:45However, its compact design limits its cooling performance.
11:48Drinks inside can only be cooled to about 12 degrees Celsius.
11:52The team has also developed more powerful prototypes with cooling capacities of up to 250 watts, roughly what an average
12:00fridge needs.
12:01But in computer simulations, electricity consumption is about half that of comparable conventional systems.
12:08The technology is slowly gaining momentum.
12:12Start-ups around the world are developing caloric heat pumps and refrigerators.
12:16Both the European Commission and the US Department of Energy see enormous potential.
12:22Air conditioners are becoming more common in households around the world, in India for example.
12:28And they consume huge amounts of energy.
12:31The world's roughly 1.6 billion air conditioning units account for around 30% of global electricity consumption, according to
12:38estimates from the International Energy Agency.
12:41That figure has at least tripled since 1990.
12:45Researchers at the Center for Mechatronics and Automation Technology in Zabrucken are convinced we'll need innovative technologies like this to
12:53bring rising global energy demand under control.
12:58This is where elastocaloric technology can help.
13:02It gives us the ability to provide cooling with much lower energy consumption.
13:06And it does so without producing harmful gases, making it safer for both the environment and people.
13:13The goal is to allow everyone to cool their homes without contributing to climate change.
13:21But that goal is still a long way off.
13:24For now, the latest prototype is tackling a different challenge.
13:28The nickel-titanium wire bundles wear out over time.
13:32Depending on the alloy and the amount of force applied, they can withstand anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds
13:38of thousands of cycles.
13:40The new replacement cartridge makes swapping them out relatively easy.
13:44In this case, just 28 grams of nickel-titanium wire provide roughly 100 watts of cooling power, more than enough
13:51for the small laboratory refrigerator.
13:55The technology is very well suited to places that need to be clean.
13:59The air passes directly over the wires and releases into the room without causing any problems.
14:05The Saarbrookan team believes its cooling systems could find a market in niche applications such as lab equipment.
14:12They believe the technology could be ready within two to three years.
14:16But they estimate it will be at least another decade before consumers can start replacing conventional refrigerators with elastocaloric systems.
14:27As temperatures rise around the world, so does the risk of wildfires.
14:32Particularly vulnerable are coniferous forests dominated by a single species and trees of the same age.
14:39One solution could be more resilient mixed forests.
14:43But choosing the right trees to plan for the future is a complex task.
14:48Forest owners have to think decades ahead.
14:51Could AI help them make those decisions?
14:58What I plant here today will be harvested by future generations, and I hope I make the right decisions.
15:07If the decision is wrong, I have to make expensive changes, rebuild and basically start all over again.
15:14To create the forest of the future, you first need a lot of information about its current condition.
15:19A research team at Anhalt University of Applied Sciences in central Germany is developing an app that allows anyone walking
15:27in the woods to share their observations.
15:32The app tells you to hold your smartphone horizontally, and then you take three photos.
15:38First, it says here, take a picture angled up into the tree canopy.
15:43Then it tells me to take a second photo straight ahead into the forest, and a third one angled down
15:48towards the ground.
15:50After that, I can share my location and upload the images.
15:54Photos taken by forest visitors are a real treasure trove of data, say the researchers.
16:02Every measurement, every piece of information helps.
16:06They've discovered a medium-sized fallen deadwood log, heavily decomposed. Even that will be recorded.
16:13The data is meant to provide the foundation for a completely new approach.
16:19We're developing an AI model and investigating whether AI can assess the condition of a forest based on photographs.
16:28What's special is that anyone can take part? As citizen scientists, volunteers use the app to take photos on their
16:36walks.
16:38The project is called Meine Welt KI, meaning My Forest AI.
16:45The researchers trained the AI model behind the app using more than 6,000 of their own photos from two
16:52forests.
16:54The next step is to encourage enough citizen scientists to take part.
16:59The first version of the free My Forest AI app is already available for Android.
17:05It should provide invaluable insights about the forest's current conditions.
17:09But many forest owners need to make changes now, like here in Munich.
17:14They need to know which tree species can best withstand heat, drought and pests.
17:18And these are big decisions.
17:20Replacing the ecological benefits of a single mature tree, like water storage and carbon capture,
17:26can require up to 400 young trees at a cost of up to 25,000 euros per hectare.
17:32And they're having to make these decisions largely on their own.
17:37We've seen bark beetles eat away at our forest year after year.
17:41Our forestry operation isn't big enough to employ our own professional forester, so we depend heavily on outside advice.
17:49Out of curiosity, I brought in three different consultants for the exact same area.
17:54And as I expected, I ended up with five different opinions.
18:00Silvius Michke is one of two and a half million forest owners without a dedicated forester.
18:05That's why he founded a start-up called Arbero.
18:08Using software and AI, he calculates which tree species can best survive in specific locations.
18:14To do that, he purchases data, including from the European Space Agency.
18:21The app combines factors from a wide range of data.
18:25How acidic is the soil?
18:27Is a location expected to receive a lot of rainfall or very little?
18:33How much sunshine and frost is there?
18:36How are temperatures changing?
18:39And is the terrain flat or mountainous?
18:42All of this is mapped with precision down to just a few square meters, using data from the year 2000
18:47up to now.
18:49The platform shows which of the existing tree species is most suitable, both today and in projections extending to the
18:56year 2100.
18:58I can also change the mix of tree species and see exactly which ones are best suited to that location.
19:05Today, Silvius is inspecting bark beetle damage with forester Thomas Wenger, whose experience helped with the development of Arbero.
19:14After the outbreak, many beetle-infested trees had to be felled and removed, leaving large stretches almost empty of trees.
19:23The losses were substantial. In the future, the digital forester he created will hopefully reduce that risk.
19:30But these AI-supported systems won't make decisions for people, nor will they replace foresters.
19:37Instead, they provide information to support reforestation planning.
19:41And that's becoming increasingly important.
19:46If you have a dry spell in spring, and go six weeks without rain, what you've planted for the season
19:52goes to waste.
19:53Then we have to replant. In those situations, we have losses of up to 50-60%.
20:00The forest of the future will look different to those we know today.
20:04Experts envision something like this.
20:08Uniform monocultures such as spruce forests will be replaced by mixed forests made up of deciduous and coniferous trees of
20:15different ages and heights.
20:17This creates distinct forest layers, the canopy, middle layer and undergrowth.
20:21Light and shade alternate across the forest floor, encouraging different layers of growth.
20:27Sustainability will also play a role.
20:29Only individual trees will be removed, a process known as group selection harvesting.
20:35The gaps allow the forest to regenerate without losing its cool, moist microclimate.
20:43It starts with a single decision. Which tree and where? Which species am I putting my faith in?
20:49It's difficult, but we have access to a huge amount of data and we should make use of it.
20:56In the future, data will also come from citizen scientists and everyone who contributes gets a little something in return.
21:09When someone uploads a contribution, they receive a thank you message.
21:14Because we're grateful for every submission from the public.
21:17They also receive some information about the forests.
21:21Building the forest of the future means making decisions today that will affect generations to come.
21:27No one knows exactly what these forests will look like in a hundred years, but the process of creating them
21:33has already begun.
21:39And now for something on a completely different note.
21:43A new invention allows people who are deaf or hard of hearing to feel music through their entire body and
21:49get out on the dance floor.
21:51Now everyone's picking up good vibrations.
22:00Young musicians are competing for recognition, prestige and prize money in one of Switzerland's biggest talent contests.
22:08The crowd is feeling the music, especially the people standing on these special platforms.
22:14They convert sound into vibrations, sending it directly through the body.
22:21That makes the concerts a tangible experience, even for people with hearing impairments.
22:30It makes a huge difference.
22:32When I go to a party, I can feel vibrations through my body.
22:36But I don't pick up the finer nuances of the music.
22:40Here, with this platform, they really come through.
22:44Wow, incredible. It's the first time I've experienced anything like this.
22:49The platform, the music, it's fantastic.
22:53I want more of it. Much more. A thousand times more.
22:59It's amazing. They should keep doing this.
23:05Until now, sign language interpreters could only convey song lyrics and the mood of the music.
23:11Now, deaf concert goers are getting a much more immersive sensory experience.
23:17The vibration platform is being used at concerts for the first time,
23:21and still requires close supervision from its inventor, Roland Wigner.
23:27This is a live concert, not pre-recorded music.
23:32As soon as the band gets on stage, you have to be ready to make adjustments
23:36and bring out the frequencies that are best felt through the body.
23:42Event technology specialist Roland developed the platform largely from home.
23:47He had to do a lot of experimenting to make sure all the key elements of a piece of music
23:52could be felt physically.
23:54There were no technical models to follow.
23:57The vibration platform is his own design.
24:03This is the tactile transducer.
24:06Inside, there's a large coil that creates a magnetic field from the signal we send to it.
24:13That moves a 1.5 kg iron core, which taps against the housing.
24:19The vibration platform came about during preparations for the Eurovision Song Contest in Basel.
24:25Roland was part of the communications team at Swiss public broadcaster SRG.
24:32The motto was United by Music, and we really wanted to embody that idea.
24:37The goal was to bring as many people together as possible, including those who can't hear music, and let them
24:44experience it.
24:46The vibration platform made its debut at a Eurovision disco, where it proved a hit with people both with and
24:52without hearing impairments.
25:00Back at the talent competition, where installing the technology cost organizers several thousand Swiss francs.
25:07But the team says it's money well spent.
25:11Music is for everyone. Personally, I think it's one of the most beautiful experiences there is.
25:16Every emotion is connected to music. Why should anyone be left out?
25:21As a Deaf community, we're often left out. A concert without a vibration platform isn't nearly as engaging.
25:27Here, we can take part on equal terms.
25:32The goal is to make live music more accessible and more inclusive, so that more people can enjoy it together,
25:38sharing that extra buzz.
25:44That's all from us for now, but thanks for watching, and see you again next time on DW Science Show
25:51tomorrow today.
25:52Bye-bye.
25:54.
25:55.
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