OpenAI, DeepSeek, and Google vary widely in identifying hate speech
Neil Fasching and Yphtach Lelkes of the Annenberg School for Communication have found dramatic differences in how large language models classify hate speech, with especially large variations for language about certain demographic groups, raising concerns about bias and disproportionate harm.
Through the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program, students Ethan Yang, Kevin Li, and Henry Huang worked with linguistics professor Jianjing Kuang to study the ability of AI models to replicate the expressiveness of human speech.
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Where AI models fall short in mimicking the expressiveness of human speech
Undergraduates Kevin Li, Henry Huang, and Ethan Yang worked with linguistics professor Jianjing Kuang to compare speech production and perception by humans and AI—research that can help companies move closer to natural and expressive AI speech.
President J. Larry Jameson offered a message of encouragement, comparing the scaffolding on Fisher Fine Arts Library to the support Penn will provide the Class of 2029, and Provost John L. Jackson Jr. told students they will be challenged both with new ideas and to embrace differences.
Wendy Hernandez Higarede and Veronica Baladi made observations in Houston Hall as part of their fieldwork.
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Three undergraduates map climate and health education opportunities across campus
For a Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program project, Wendy Hernandez Higarede, Veronica Baladi, and Faith Amolo Owino are engaging with Penn’s Climate and Health Education Working Group and learning ethnographic methods.
Understanding how young children recognize emotions in music
Research from psychologists in the School of Arts & Sciences shows that children ages 3 to 5 can identify emotions in music, but that kids who show fewer signs of empathy or guilt demonstrate poorer emotion recognition. “We’re excited to continue to use music as a paradigm both to understand underlying mechanisms and as a treatment target,” Rebecca Waller says.
Rethinking extreme environments, from human spaceflight to heat in Philadelphia
Anthropology professor Mallika Sarma of the School of Arts & Sciences is challenging what we think of as an extreme environment—beyond settings like low temperature or high altitude—and who gets studied.
A public-facing, interdisciplinary, and student-centered approach to philosophy
Philosophy professor Jennifer Morton’s experiences growing up in Peru during the politically turbulent 1980s and ’90s and as a first-generation college student shaped her research interests.
Disaster simulation trains nursing students in mass casualty incident response
The School of Nursing—in collaboration with Penn Medicine, the School of Social Policy & Practice, and the Division of Public Safety—held a disaster simulation, with graduate nursing students responding to volunteer actors injured in a mock explosion.
250 years in the making, Penn Libraries’ postal archives
In honor of the 250th anniversary of the United States Post Office, Penn Today highlights postal-related items in the Penn Libraries’ Kislak Center for Special Collections.
One of six field trips in Sally Willig’s Regional Field Ecology class took students to Natural Lands’ Mariton Wildlife Sanctuary.
(Image: Chi-Hyun Kim)
A hands-on education of Pennsylvania and New Jersey ecology
Sally Willig has been teaching Regional Field Ecology at Penn since 1999, educating students about plants, soils, and more at sites such as Ringing Rocks County Park and the Pine Barrens.
