An editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation.                                  Video

The Year in Computer Science

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2024-12-23 06:00:02

An editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation.

Video: The year’s biggest computer science stories included a new understanding of large language models, and a breakthrough in being able to compute complex quantum systems.

T he end of 2024 seems a particularly uncertain time in history, and theoretical computer science is no exception. Amid several breakthroughs and new findings, the field also confronted its own doubts and limitations.

For example, artificial intelligence once again dominated the popular discourse this year. Researchers have begun to understand what might be going on within the “black boxes” of neural networks that power chatbots such as Bard and ChatGPT, and to show that these systems truly understand the data they’re manipulating and composing. But there’s also a growing sense that AI’s progress has already started to slow.

Other areas of computer science saw clearer successes. After decades of hiding, an elusive numerical critter known as the fifth busy beaver finally gave itself up. But even here the news is not all good: Initial searches for its successor — the sixth busy beaver — suggest that it may lie beyond impassable mathematical barriers.

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