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Most designers will have received some tough briefs in their time, but Wikipedia's call for proposals for a sound logo was a particularly tall order. The community-run online encyclopaedia wanted nothing less than "the sound of all human knowledge" for its new audio identifier.

And it thinks it's found it in a sonic logo that will be rolled out from mid-year. So what does the sound of all human knowledge sound like? Well, it's a mix of traditional and contemporary sources of learning: a flutter of pages turning and frantic typing followed by some chirpy electronic chimes (see our pick of the best logos for inspiration for visual identities).

Strictly speaking, a logo is a visual identity, but sound idents are frequently called sound logos or sonic logos, since they serve much the same function. And they can be hugely effective. Just think of Apple's start-up chime, Intel's signature 'bong' or Netflix's 'ta-dum'. Hear them, and you instantly recall the brands (see our pick of the best audio logos for more examples).

Wikipedia wanted something similar to serve for "projects when visual logos are not an option". True to its collaborative community-sourced nature it opened the quest up to the public through a contest, which opened in September. Six months on, it's picked a winner from over 3,200 submissions received from 2,094 people in 135 countries.

The winning audio logo was created by nuclear scientist Thaddeus Osborne, who wins $2,500 for his creation and will be flown to a professional recording studio in London to help produce the final version. He says that music has always been a huge part of his life and "a way for me to 'travel the world from my small town backyard."

Osborne's creation sounds both novel and somehow familiar. The combination of fluttering pages and clicking keys feels apt to communicate the concept of a digital encyclopedia, while the rising synthesizer chimes feel optimistic and comfortingly, almost like something we already know. The Wikipedia Foundation says it hopes to have the final sound ready for use by June.

Making your own sound logos? See our pick of the best laptops for music production. We also have a guide to the best audio editing software.

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Wikipedia's new sound logo had a seriously ambitious design brief - Creative Bloq

By now, even those of us who live under a rock have become familiar with ChatGPT, the AI-powered chatbot that can find us the answer to almost every question under the sun. It seems to be able to effortlessly write reports, compose letters or even poetry for any subject its asked about, it dutifully complies and does so at breakneck speed. It has even been known to declare its love for the users that interact with it.

The technology, developed by OpenAI which execs at Microsoft have found so impressive, theyve bought a $10 billion stake in scours the net to piece together a vast corpus of human-made literature, and draws on this to find users the answers to users questions it thinks are most plausible. In this respect, as one journalist put it, the software is little more than a spicy autocorrect.

But now imagine the roles are reversed. Instead of AI bots drawing on a body of human writing, imagine that in the future, most of the material we humans will read about will be written by AI. Such a move could send shockwaves through the world of publishing, newsgathering and social media, and it could be just around the corner. Its a future that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is already spending a lot of time thinking about, as he weighs up how the worlds biggest online encyclopaedia will evolve in the years to come.

The discussion in the Wikipedia community that Ive seen so far ispeople are cautious in the sense that were aware that the existing models are not good enough but also intrigued because there seems like theres a lot of possibility here, Wales said.

I think were still a way away from: ChatGPT, please write a Wikipedia entry about the empire state building, but I dont know how far away we are from that, certainly closer than I would have thought two years ago, he said.

One of the issues with the existing ChatGPT is what they call in the field hallucinating I call it lying.

Wales says that as much as ChatGPT has gripped the worlds imagination over the past few weeks, his own tests of the technology show there are still plenty of flaws.

One of the issues with the existing ChatGPT is what they call in the field hallucinating I call it lying, he said.

It has a tendency to just make stuff up out of thin air which is just really bad for Wikipedia thats just not OK. Weve got to be really careful about that.

Wales is not the only person to have spotted ChatGPTs ability to hallucinate.

Last month, David Smerdon, an economist at the University of Queensland, asked ChatGPT: What is the most cited economics paper of all time?

Within seconds the AI chatbot came up with an answer. The most cited paper of all time is A Theory of Economic History by Douglass North and Robert Thomas, which was published in The Journal of Economic History in 1969.

The answer sounded perfectly plausible. But when Smerdon went to find the paper it had referenced, to check it was as popular as ChatGPT claimed it was, he found that no such article existed. The authors were real, published writers, and the journal was real too. But the name of the paper was completely fabricated. Citation needed.

But beyond failing to tell the truth, Wales says the technology often fails to spot the internal contradictions in its own writing.

I asked ChatGPT, did an airplane crash into the empire state building? And it said no, an airplane did not crash into the empire state building, he said.

But then it went on to say, there is a famous building in New York and one of the most famous things that happened is when a B25 bomber crashed into the empire state building.

I said, is a B25 bomber a type of airplane? It said says so I said you were wrong when you said a plane didnt crash into it.

And it said, youre right, I apologise for my error.

But while full AI authorship is off the cards in the near-term, theres already plenty of discussion at Wikipedia on what role AI technology could have in improving the encyclopaedia in the months ahead.

I do think there are some interesting opportunities for human assistance where if you had an AI that were trained on the right corpus of things to say, for example here are two Wikipedia entries, check them and see if there are any statements that contradict each other and identify tensions where one article sems to be saying something slightly different to the other, Wales said.

A human could detect this but youd have to read both articles side by side and think it through if you automate feeding it in so you get out hundreds of examples I think our community could find that quite useful.

One of the criticisms levelled at Wikipedia over the years is the scope for bias in both the way its volunteers describe particular subjects as well as the way they choose which topics deserve more or less prominence. The overwhelming majority of Wikipedias millions-strong army of volunteers are male and white, meaning they inevitably even if inadvertently interpret world events with a male-centric and white-centric perspective and may not bother covering important topics at all if they dont see any merit in doing so. Could AI be a way to counteract some of these biases, and make Wikipedia a truly neutral, impartial source of information once and for all? Wales is not convinced.

We know a lot of AI work has run into bias very quickly, because if you train an AI on biased data then its just going to just follow that bias, and a lot of people in the AI world are focused on that problem and they are aware of it, he said.

In other words, theres a real chance that an AI-powered Wikipedia wont put a stop to biases, but exacerbate and perpetuate them. But where it could be most useful is in spotting things that are missing the encyclopaedias coverage analysing all the available information in the world, pairing bits of it up with corresponding Wiki entries and identifying the gaps. And there might be a lot of them leading to a ballooning of Wikipedia content. But Wales is unfazed by this.

Using AI to triple the number of Wikipedia entries wouldnt increase our running costs by more than 1,000 a year, said Wales.

Originally posted here:
Will Wikipedia be written by AI? Founder Jimmy Wales is thinking about it - Evening Standard

Rodri has had his Wikipedia page edited after his toys out the pram reaction to Spain's loss against Scotland left the Tartan Army irked.

The Man City midfielder was in no mood for praise of Steve Clarke's men after their triumphant 2-0 win at Hampden in their second Euro 2024 Group A qualifier, criticising the tactics implemented and accusing those in navy blue of falling over to run down the clock. Rodri has been widely lamented since the post-match comments and that ire has now been directed to Wikipedia.

An information site widely available for editing, some crafty editors have decided to put in a few colourful details when it comes to the midfielder's bio and international history. Curiously, his club was changed from Manchester City to Arbroath, while his position was tweaked from 'midfielder' to 'Callum McGregor's back pocket.'

His entry reads: "Rodri is a greeting wee f**. Rodri's current whereabout are as yet unknown but it's said he is still in the away dressing room at Fortress Hampden Park crying his wee eyes out after being schooled by Steve Clarke's Tartan Army.

"Rodri was included in Luis Enrique's 24-man squad for UEFA Euro 2020. In the 2024 qualifiers went to Scotland, tried to play football and ended up crying into his haggis bon bons."

Follow Record Sport on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for all of the up-to-the minute breaking news, video and audio on the SPFL, the Scotland national team and beyond.

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Rodri suffers brutal Wikipedia takedown as Scotland tantrum leaves Spaniard 'crying into his haggis bon bons' - Daily Record

Whether its the Netflix ta-dum, your Apple Macs startup chime or the THX Deep Note, a brands audio logo can immediately make you feel at home, and might even tell you something about the product/service/technology youre about to start using.

Not to be left out, Wikipedia has just revealed its own sonic sting. This was chosen via the companys The Sound of All Human Knowledge contest, which invited composers from around the world to create a sound that demonstrates what Wikipedia is all about. The winner was decided by a vote among volunteer contributors to Wikimedia, the non-profit organisation that operates Wikipedia.

That winner, its now been confirmed, is Thaddeus Osborne, a nuclear engineer from Virginia, USA, who enjoys exploring music theory and production in his spare time. Sounds used in his submission include those of turning book pages, keyboard clicks and a chiming synth. Check it out in the Tweet below.

Music has always been a huge part of my life and a way for me to travel the world from my small towns backyard, commented Osborne. Every piece of music transported me to a new place and taught me something new.

As a dedicated fan of Wikipedia, I strongly believe that the platforms commitment to reliable and free information is essential to our global success. By incorporating my sound, I hope to make Wikipedia even more accessible and engaging, enabling readers [and now listeners] to embark on their own journey of discovery and knowledge. With more answers and information at our fingertips, we can tackle big problems and create a brighter future for all.

Noble aims, for sure, and Zack McCune, Director of Brand at the Wikimedia Foundation, agrees that Osbornes 4-second snippet does a good job of capturing what Wikipedia is all about.

Were honoured by his contribution to the free knowledge movement and grateful to the selection committee and voters for choosing a sound that wonderfully represents free knowledge, he said in a statement.

As part of his prize, Osborne will receive $2,500 and a trip to a pro studio to re-record his sound logo for use on Wikipedia. You can check out all 10 of the final shortlisted The Sound of All Human Knowledge contest entries on the Wikimedia Commons (opens in new tab) website.

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This is Wikipedia's new audio logo, which is designed to be 'The Sound of All Human Knowledge' - MusicRadar

It appears tech website CNET might not be the only platform experimenting with OpenAI's chatGPT and its incredible skills in writing articles.

What Happened: OpenAI's chatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot that has taken the world by storm and attracted a $10 billion investment from Microsoft Corporation MSFT, seems to have impressed Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales too, although he has some problems with the way it works, reported Evening Standard.

See Also: Pro-Putin Content May Be Infiltrating Wikipedia Due To Malicious Editors, Researchers Find

Already experts and netizens alike are marveling at chatGPT's ability to write decent pieces, be it poetry or an article, but they also agree that there are some significant risks associated with it.

Wales said the Wikipedia community is cautious about the existing AI models but also intrigued.

"I think we're still a way away from: ChatGPT, please write a Wikipedia entry about the empire state building', but I don't know how far away we are from that, certainly closer than I would have thought two years ago," he said.

He also shared concerns about chatGPT's "hallucinating" tendencies.

"It has a tendency to just make stuff up out of thin air, which is just really bad for Wikipedia that's just not OK."

Although achieving full AI authorship is not feasible in the short term, there are ongoing discussions at Wikipedia regarding the potential use of AI technology to enhance the encyclopedia in the coming months, the report noted.

Why It's Important: OpenAI released chatGPT for testing last year. Since then, people have been either awed or terrified by this technology. Debates about AI being the future and posing a threat to the human workforce have also escalated.

At the same time, tech icons like Bill Gates believe that the chatGPT invention is as big as the internet.

Check out more of Benzinga's Consumer Tech coverage by following this link.

Read Next: Wikipedia Finally Gets A Makeover After 10 Years But Blink, And You Will Miss It

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Jimmy Wales Wonders If AI Could Be Next Wikipedia Editor - Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) - Benzinga