Laughter reveals how we use AI at home

Voice assistants such as Alexa are often marketed as smart tools that streamline everyday life. But once the technology moves into people’s homes, interest quickly fades. This is shown by new research in which laughter is used as a key to understanding how people actually use—and understand—artificial intelligence in everyday life. The paper is published …

Can AI build a machine that draws a heart? What automated mechanism design could mean for mechanical engineering

Can you design a mechanism that will trace out the shape of a heart? How about the shape of a moon, or a star? Mechanism design—the art of assembling linkages and joints to create machines with prescribed motion—is one of the quintessential activities of mechanical engineers, but has resisted automation for almost two centuries.

Why AI may overcomplicate answers: Humans and LLMs show ‘addition bias,’ often choosing extra steps over subtraction

When making decisions and judgments, humans can fall into common “traps,” known as cognitive biases. A cognitive bias is essentially the tendency to process information in a specific way or follow a systematic pattern. One widely documented cognitive bias is the so-called addition bias, the tendency of people to prefer solving problems by adding elements …

Brain inspired machines are better at math than expected

Neuromorphic computers modeled after the human brain can now solve the complex equations behind physics simulations — something once thought possible only with energy-hungry supercomputers. The breakthrough could lead to powerful, low-energy supercomputers while revealing new secrets about how our brains process information.

From flattery to debate: Training AI to mirror human reasoning

Generative artificial intelligence systems often work in agreement, complimenting the user in its response. But human interactions aren’t typically built on flattery. To help strengthen these conversations, researchers in the USF Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing are challenging the technology to think and debate in ways that resemble human reasoning.