Month: September 2022

Epilepsy is a neurological condition in which brain nerve cell activity is disturbed, resulting in seizures.

The AI algorithm detects brain abnormalities that cause epileptic seizures.

International researchers working under the direction of University College London have created an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that can identify subtle brain abnormalities that cause epileptic seizures.

In order to create the algorithm that reveals where abnormalities occur in instances with drug-resistant focal cortical dysplasia (FCD), a major cause of epilepsy, the Multicentre Epilepsy Lesion Detection project (MELD) analyzed more than 1,000 patient MRI images from 22 international epilepsy centers.

FCDs are brain regions that have developed abnormally and often cause drug-resistant epilepsy. Surgery is typically used to treat it, however, finding the lesions on an MRI is an ongoing problem for physicians since MRI scans for FCDs can appear normal.

The scientists utilized about 300,000 locations throughout the brain to develop the algorithm, which measured cortical features using MRI scans, such as how thick or folded the cortex/brain surface was. After that, based on patterns and characteristics, professional radiologists classified examples as either having FCD or having a healthy brain, which served as the algorithm’s training data.

According to the results, which were published in the journal Brain, the algorithm was successful in identifying the FCD in 67% of cases in the cohort (538 participants).

Tech ethicists and sex workers alike brace for impact

By Kyle Wiggers, Amanda Silberling

A red-headed woman stands on the moon, her face obscured. Her naked body looks like it belongs on a poster you’d find on a hormonal teenager’s bedroom wall — that is, until you reach her torso, where three arms spit out of her shoulders.

AI-powered systems like Stable Diffusion, which translate text prompts into pictures, have been used by brands and artists to create concept images, award-winning (albeit controversial) prints and full-blown marketing campaigns.

But some users, intent on exploring the systems’ murkier side, have been testing them for a different sort of use case: porn.

AI porn is about as unsettling and imperfect as you’d expect (that red-head on the moon was likely not generated by someone with an extra arm fetish). But as the tech continues to improve, it will evoke challenging questions for AI ethicists and sex workers alike.

Pornography created using the latest image-generating systems first arrived on the scene via the discussion boards 4chan and Reddit earlier this month, after a member of 4chan leaked the open source Stable Diffusion system ahead of its official release. Then, last week, what appears to be one of the first websites dedicated to high-fidelity AI porn generation launched.