AI Writing Assistants Homogenize Global South Writing Styles

2025-05-02
AI Writing Assistants Homogenize Global South Writing Styles

A Cornell University study reveals that AI writing assistants may homogenize writing styles toward Western norms, particularly impacting billions of users in the Global South. The study found that Indian and American users' writing became more similar when using an AI assistant, primarily at the expense of Indian writing styles. While both groups experienced increased writing speed, Indians saw less productivity gain due to frequent correction of AI suggestions. The AI often suggested American foods and holidays, even replacing Indian celebrities with Western ones. Researchers term this 'AI colonialism,' urging tech companies to focus on cultural nuances for more inclusive AI tools.

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AI Cracks 3000-Year-Old Cuneiform, Revolutionizing Ancient Studies

2025-03-08
AI Cracks 3000-Year-Old Cuneiform, Revolutionizing Ancient Studies

Researchers from Cornell and Tel Aviv Universities have developed ProtoSnap, an AI system that automatically identifies and copies cuneiform characters from 3000-year-old tablets. Using a diffusion model, ProtoSnap compares pixel similarity between an image of a character and a prototype, accurately recreating characters despite variations in writing styles and age. This drastically accelerates cuneiform translation and research, providing massive datasets for studying ancient societies and offering new insights into their religion, economy, social structures, and legal systems.

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