https://www.scmp.com/rss/322318/feed Michael Edesess is an adjunct professor in the Division of Environment and Sustainability at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Michael Edesess Michael Edesess In the past three years, we have experienced an extraordinary level of hype around artificial intelligence. AI as a concept has been around for nearly 70 years but the discussion has exploded since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022. ChatGPT uses a technology called a large language model (LLM). It is not the only AI technology, but it’s the one that has seemingly drawn all the attention. It is the model that enables ChatGPT and other chatbots to write impressive prose and even poetry, and... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3336751/why-ai-chatbots-are-unlikely-bring-about-human-extinction?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3336751/why-ai-chatbots-are-unlikely-bring-about-human-extinction?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Dec 2025 12:30:09 +0000 In Paul Theroux’s 2002 book Dark Star Safari, he travels from Cairo to Cape Town on low-cost transport, staying in cheap hotels. It was his return to Africa after 35 years. As a young man, he had taught in Malawi and lectured at a university in Uganda. Malawi had been one of the world’s poorest countries. On his return, he wanted to see how it compared. Theroux was appalled to find that things were mostly not better, and in many cases worse. He visited small cities such as Mbeya in western... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3243976/chinas-belt-and-road-initiative-rightly-offers-charity-free-development?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3243976/chinas-belt-and-road-initiative-rightly-offers-charity-free-development?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Dec 2023 08:30:08 +0000 Hong Kong’s protesters legitimately worry that Beijing’s repression of freedoms of speech and information might spread to Hong Kong. In expressing that concern, they have had a policy of solidarity with all elements of the protest movement, embodied in the pledge of “no splitting and no condemning”. On Thursday evening, a 70-year-old man who was hit on the head with a brick, during what was reported as a clash between anti-government protesters and residents in Sheung Shui, died of his wounds.... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3038055/hong-kong-protest-movement-must-cut-out-violent-faction?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3038055/hong-kong-protest-movement-must-cut-out-violent-faction?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 Nov 2019 04:00:08 +0000 Hong Kong’s protesters take pride in being leaderless. This is a very serious mistake. Without a strong leader who can not only embody their moral force, but negotiate and compromise as necessary on their behalf, they will be consigned to the status of martyrs or abject failures. There is a belief among the young these days that being leaderless is an admirable quality in a protest movement. This originated with the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York, if not earlier. But that movement had... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3020505/if-hong-kong-protesters-have-dream-they-need-their-own-martin?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3020505/if-hong-kong-protesters-have-dream-they-need-their-own-martin?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 31 Jul 2019 01:00:05 +0000 Last week, reports of a massive increase in US defence spending confirmed the momentous shift in America’s national security policy that defence secretary James Mattis announced on January 19 in Washington. His announcement, though highly noteworthy, was only lightly reported in the United States.  Mattis said: “We will continue to prosecute the campaign against terrorists that we’re engaged in today, but great power competition, not terrorism , is now the primary focus of US national security”... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2131522/trumps-national-security-strategy-welcome-shift-away-war?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2131522/trumps-national-security-strategy-welcome-shift-away-war?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Feb 2018 06:15:30 +0000 Bitcoin’s price has doubled four times this year, from US$1,000 in early January to over US$16,000. An Atlantic magazine headline asks: “Is bitcoin the most obvious bubble ever?” Rapid increases in price alone do not prove a bubble, especially when conventional valuation is virtually impossible. There is a reason, however, why bitcoin could continue its rise – and this offers a means for comparative valuation: bitcoin may be the new gold. Economic convention says money has three properties: it... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2123922/why-bitcoin-may-be-new-gold-savvy-investors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2123922/why-bitcoin-may-be-new-gold-savvy-investors?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Dec 2017 04:51:26 +0000 The US Republican Party seems increasingly likely to nominate for its candidate for US president a man whom Financial Times journalist Martin Wolf correctly describes as “a narcissistic bully … a promoter of paranoid fantasies, a xenophobe and an ignoramus”. READ MORE: What would a Donald Trump presidency mean for US trade and diplomacy within Asia? Donald Trump horrifies even the vast majority of leaders of his own party. Circumstances in the US – brought about in large part by major errors... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1923092/donald-trumps-rise-america-cautionary-tale-democracy-seekers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1923092/donald-trumps-rise-america-cautionary-tale-democracy-seekers?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Mar 2016 01:45:00 +0000