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A team led by researchers at the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ has developed deep-learning algorithms that let users pick which sounds filter through their headphones in real time. Either through voice commands or a smartphone app, headphone wearers can select which sounds they want to include from 20 classes, such as sirens, baby cries, speech, vacuum cleaners and bird chirps.

Seven researchers at the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ conducted a three-month autoethnographic study — drawing on their own experiences as people with and without disabilities — to test AI tools’ utility for accessibility. Though researchers found cases in which the tools were helpful, they also found significant problems.

Training a large language model, such as ChatGPT, uses on average roughly equivalent to the yearly electricity consumption of over 1,000 U.S. households, according to Sajjad Moazeni, Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, who studies networking for AI and machine learning supercomputing.

Researchers at the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ created a new audio chatbot, Self-Talk with Superhero Zip, aimed to help children speak positively to themselves. This chatbot is “a ‘Sesame Street’ experience for a smart speaker.â€�

Leaders from Washington higher education institutions met with national policymakers April 4 to discuss opportunities provided by the CHIPS and Science Act. U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene and National Science Foundation Director Sethuraman Panchanathan visited the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ campus to talk about the legislation, which provides more than $100 billion to fund scientific research and workforce training. The Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ and other Washington colleges and universities are poised to receive funds from the CHIPS and Science Act to invest in chip…

A team led by researchers at the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ studied how artificial intelligence could help people on the platform TalkLife, where people give each other mental health support. The researchers developed an AI system that suggested changes to participants’ responses to make them more empathetic. The best responses resulted from a collaboration between AI and people.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ’s Virtual Field Geology project has many goals: to make geology field experiences accessible to more people; to document geological field sites that may be at risk from erosion or development; to offer virtual “dry runâ€� experiences; and to allow scientific collaborators to do virtual visits to a field site together. While the pandemic brought new urgency to the project, its developers believe it’s part of a “new normal” for geology research and education.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ researchers developed UnlockedMaps, a web-based map that allows users to see in real time how accessible rail transit stations are in six metro areas. UnlockedMaps shows which stations are accessible and which ones are experiencing elevator outages.

Yejin Choi, Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, has received a “genius grant” from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Choi uses natural language processing to develop artificial intelligence systems that have the ability to reason and can understand the implied meanings in human language.

In a proof-of-principle study, Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ and University of California San Diego researchers have shown that smartphones are capable of detecting blood oxygen saturation levels down to 70%. This is the lowest value that pulse oximeters should be able to measure, as recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

A Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ pilot project is exploring the use of fiber-optic sensing for seismology, glaciology, and even urban monitoring. Funded in part with a $473,000 grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, a nonprofit based in Vancouver, Washington, the new Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Photonic Sensing Facility will use photons traveling through a fiber-optic cable to detect ground motions as small as 1 nanometer.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ history professor Margaret O’Mara says Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter has renewed debate about freedom of online speech, online content moderation and the power of billionaires to shape public conversation.