Stefaan Verhulst
Article by Mary Harrington: “When I was a kid in the 1980s, my parents sent me to a Waldorf school in England. At the time, the school discouraged parents from allowing their kids to watch too much TV, instead telling them to emphasize reading, hands-on learning and outdoor play.
I chafed at the stricture then. But perhaps they were on to something: Today I don’t watch much TV and I still read a lot. Since my school days, however, a far more insidious and enticing form of tech has taken hold: the internet, especially via smartphones. These days I know I have to put my phone in a drawer or in another room if I need to concentrate for more than a few minutes.
Since so-called intelligence tests were invented around a century ago, until recently, international I.Q. scores climbed steadily in a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect. But there is evidence that our ability to apply that brain power is decreasing. According to a recent report, adult literacy scores leveled off and began to decline across a majority of O.E.C.D. countries in the past decade, with some of the sharpest declines visible among the poorest. Kids also show declining literacy.
Writing in The Financial Times, John Burn-Murdoch links this to the rise of a post-literate culture in which we consume most of our media through smartphones, eschewing dense text in favor of images and short-form video. Other research has associated smartphone use with A.D.H.D. symptoms in adolescents, and a quarter of surveyed American adults now suspect they may have the condition. School and college teachers assign fewer full books to their students, in part because they are unable to complete them. Nearly half of Americans read zero books in 2023.
The idea that technology is altering our capacity not just to concentrate but also to read and to reason is catching on. The conversation no one is ready for, though, is how this may be creating yet another form of inequality…(More)”.
Article by Maha Hosain Aziz: “Traditional foreign aid is losing steam. Budget constraints, donor fatigue and nationalist politics have eroded the once-dominant western development model. But as governments pull back, a new actor has stepped in. Artificial intelligence is being deployed with a speed and reach that traditional organisations struggle to match. Code — not cash — is the new foreign aid.
Across the global south, AI is already doing some of the work that aid agencies once dominated. Ubenwa’s neonatal diagnostic app in Nigeria, Somanasi’s AI tutor in Kenya and Hello Tractor’s AI-enabled fleet management for small farmers are delivering essential services where public institutions are overstretched or absent.
Who is delivering this AI-powered development? It’s not the World Bank or USAID. Instead, tech companies like OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Nvidia, alongside local civic-tech innovators, are stepping forward.
Consider what has already been rolled out. In the past year OpenAI has partnered with a primary care provider in Kenya to support local AI development in healthcare. In South Africa, billionaire Strive Masiyiwa worked with Nvidia to launch the continent’s first “AI factory” — a Johannesburg-based hub designed to train local talent and build regionally relevant models. In Kenya and Ghana, Google is investing in AI research centres. These projects are not labelled as foreign aid, but they’re delivering infrastructure, skills, and tools in exactly the areas where traditional donors have pulled back.
This work isn’t altruism, it’s strategy. The Trump administration’s recently released AI Action Plan makes the point explicit: AI is now a core pillar of foreign policy. The plan outlines a bold objective — exporting “the full AI stack” (from chips to models to standards) to build alliances, spread American values and counter Chinese influence in emerging markets.
But those values are not always clear — or universally shared. Alongside the push to expand access to “responsible AI,” US policymakers are backing efforts to remove what some see as “woke” elements from AI models — curbing progressive language on race, gender and history…(More)”.
Book by Kieron O’Hara: “Likening contemporary extremes of far-right populism and identity politics to 17th century Peasants and Puritans, Blockchain Politics examines the enduring importance of trust in political life. Kieron O’Hara develops a new theory of trust to analyse how these extremes undermine social accord and weaken representative democracy, and to suggest remedies.
Outlining a novel and insightful theory of trust as the basis of community relations and political institutions, the book describes in detail how the shift towards individualism in liberal democracies frames trust as a vulnerability, taking inspiration from new technologies such as blockchain and smart contracts to implement ‘trustless trust’. O’Hara demonstrates that, on the contrary, conservative measures are needed to preserve and protect liberal societies from the excesses of modern liberalism, progressivism and identity politics. He illustrates the importance of trust in responding effectively to climate change, geopolitical uncertainty and ageing populations, and argues that the solution to such serious political issues lies in rival parties accepting the positive characteristics of modern democracies, and committing to sustaining them…(More)”.
Paper by Xin Lu et al: “Human mobility forms the backbone of contact patterns through which infectious diseases propagate, fundamentally shaping the spatio-temporal dynamics of epidemics and pandemics. While traditional models are often based on the assumption that all individuals have the same probability of infecting every other individual in the population, a so-called random homogeneous mixing, they struggle to capture the complex and heterogeneous nature of real-world human interactions. Recent advancements in data-driven methodologies and computational capabilities have unlocked the potential of integrating high-resolution human mobility data into epidemic modeling, significantly improving the accuracy, timeliness, and applicability of epidemic risk assessment, contact tracing, and intervention strategies. This review provides a comprehensive synthesis of the current landscape in human mobility-informed epidemic modeling. We explore diverse sources and representations of human mobility data, and then examine the behavioral and structural roles of mobility and contact in shaping disease transmission dynamics. Furthermore, the review spans a wide range of epidemic modeling approaches, ranging from classical compartmental models to network-based, agent-based, and machine learning models. And we also discuss how mobility integration enhances risk management and response strategies during epidemics. By synthesizing these insights, the review can serve as a foundational resource for researchers and practitioners, bridging the gap between epidemiological theory and the dynamic complexities of human interaction while charting clear directions for future research…(More)”.
Article by Stefaan Verhulst: “Europe is facing a defining moment in its approach to science, research and innovation. As geopolitical tensions mount and investment in dual-use technologies surges, the EU is being called to reimagine its research policy – not just for strategic autonomy but for lasting societal relevance and real global impact.
At a recent CEPS dialogue on ‘Reimagining EU Research and Innovation Policy,’ this author focused on five asymmetries that policymakers absolutely must address if Europe is to avoid a future of diminished influence, declining trust and squandered opportunity. And the best way to avoid such a future is to build a truly (open) Science Stack.
Data asymmetry – or ‘Winter is Coming’
The foundation of modern research – especially in the AI age – is data. Yet access to high-quality, dynamic datasets remains highly concentrated among a few private actors.
Despite years of rhetorical support for data sharing, there’s been little progress made to foster systematic, sustainable and responsible data reuse. Without real incentives for data collaboration and investment in data stewardship, Europe risks entering a ‘data winter,’ where researchers and innovators are unable to access the very resources needed to compete or contribute meaningfully.
A Data Commons approach – governed by clear purpose, ethical principles and structured collaboration mechanisms – isn’t a luxury. It’s an existential necessity…(More)”
Article by Emily Anthes: “In the spring of 2019, a nature photographer hiking in the mountains of northern China snapped an image of an unusual insect: a fly that appeared to be disguised as a bumblebee, down to its fuzzy black-and-yellow stripes.
The photographer uploaded the image to iNaturalist, a citizen science platform, where it attracted the attention of an entomologist. The following year, the entomologist published a paper describing the bumblebee mimic as a new species, now known as the mountain ghost stiletto fly.
It’s a testament to the power of citizen science — and it’s not an isolated occurrence, according to a new study, which documents how scientists are harnessing iNaturalist data. Since iNaturalist was founded in 2008, observations submitted to the platform have been incorporated into more than 5,000 peer-reviewed papers, with references exploding in recent years, the scientists found. More than 1,400 such articles were published in 2022 alone — 10 times as many as just five years earlier and a publication rate of nearly four studies per day.
The data has helped scientists identify new species, track the spread of invasive organisms, pinpoint critical habitats, predict the effects of climate change and explore animal behavior, among other things.
“iNaturalist is really pervasive throughout the biodiversity research,” said Corey Callaghan, an ecologist at the University of Florida and an author of the paper, which was published in BioScience on Monday. “It is fundamentally shaping the way that scientists think about research and think about designing studies and think about answering questions about biodiversity.”
iNaturalist users submit photos or audio recordings of the plants and animals they observe, along with the date, time and location. Anyone in the iNaturalist community can suggest an identification for the organism in the observation. If two-thirds of these suggestions agree, and the submission passes the platform’s data quality review, the observation is classified as “research grade,” and sent to a global biodiversity database available to scientists…(More)”.
Article by Valentine Benjamin: “In countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), women face regressive stereotypes informed by religious and political mores that have historically made it difficult for them to openly discuss their sexual and reproductive health needs. As a result, they encounter significant hurdles in accessing sexual-health education and information about their sexuality, bodily autonomy, and menstrual health.
With the launch of Daleela in 2023, CEO Yousef ElSammaa and cofounders Nour Emam and Ahmad Abou Hashem aim to provide Arabic women with secure, anonymous access to information about sexual and reproductive health.
The concept for Daleela originated in Emam’s experience with postpartum depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, which went undiagnosed for eight months in 2019. The following year, she, ElSammaa, and Hashem cofounded the Motherbeing clinic, a hybrid clinic in Cairo, Egypt, offering in-clinic medical services and online consultations on TikTok and Instagram. Emam also hosts Motherbeing webinars on women’s fertility, pregnancy, and birth.
Through active social media engagement, Motherbeing quickly amassed more than three million users, who often reached out with questions about health concerns. Recognizing this ongoing demand for reliable information, the team decided to create their own AI model to address this need—the innovation became Daleela AI…(More)”. See also 100 Questions Women’s Health
Google: “We’ve spent years building powerful AI models to solve real-world problems. Today we’re introducing Google Earth AI, our collection of geospatial models and datasets to help people, businesses and organizations tackle the planet’s most critical needs. AlphaEarth Foundations, also announced today, is part of Google Earth AI.
Google Earth AI expands on our recent Geospatial Reasoning effort and includes models that address multiple areas. Notable examples include detailed weather predictions, flood forecasting and wildfire detection. Other models help improve urban planning and public health by providing a rich understanding of imagery, population dynamics and urban mobility.
These models already power features used by millions, like flood and wildfire alerts in Search and Maps; they also provide actionable insights through Google Earth, Google Maps Platform and Google Cloud. As we continue this work, we’re committed to giving people the information they need to solve some of the biggest challenges of our time…(More)”
PressRelease: “The Commission has published a template to help General-Purpose AI (GPAI) providers summarise the content used to train their model.
This template is a simple, uniform and effective manner for GPAI providers to increase transparency in line with the AI Act, including making such a summary publicly available.
General-purpose AI models are trained with large quantities of data but there is only limited information available regarding the origin of this data. The public summary will provide a comprehensive overview of the data used to train a model, list main data collections and explain other sources used. This template will also assist parties with legitimate interests, such as copyright holders, in exercising their rights under Union law.
The template is part of a broader initiative linked to the EU-wide rules for general-purpose AI models kicking in on 2 August 2025. It complements the guidelines on the scope of the rules for general-purpose AI models, published 18 July, and the General-Purpose AI Code of Practice released on 10 July.
More information is available in the questions and answers online.
Download the Template for general-purpose AI model providers to summarise their training content…(More)”.
Primer by Meg Young with Sarah Fox, Vinhcent Le and Oscar J. Romero Jr.: “As government technology increasingly mediates people’s access to essential services — and impacts their rights — technology purchasing has never been more high stakes. Yet government technology decision-making processes rarely feature robust public input. Gear Shift: Driving Change in Public Sector Technology through Community Input argues that such input is essential, and that the most strategically important time to elicit it is before a procurement process begins.
This primer explores why public agencies do not typically look to affected people for input on technology design, and explains why technology purchasing will be a focal point for needed change. We call for a deeper gear shift, in which community input is prioritized before the government has even begun a pilot project, and outline specific opportunities and tactics to this end.
Ultimately, this challenge is not technical but democratic, and requires a reconfiguration of how power is distributed in decisions about the technologies that shape public life…(More)”.