There are a few things that seem to be very popular in discussions of machine learning algorithms these days. First is the role that algorithms play now, or might play in the future, when it comes to manipulating public opinion, for example with fake news. Second is the impressive success of generative adversarial networks, and similar algorithms. Third is making state-of-the-art natural language processing algorithms and naming them after muppets. We get all three this week: GROVER is an algorithm for generating, and detecting, fake news. It’s quite successful at both tasks, which raises an interesting question: is it safer to embargo the model (like GPT-2, the algorithm that was “too dangerous to release”), or release it as the best detector and antidote for its own fake news?

Relevant links:

https://grover.allenai.org/

https://arxiv.org/abs/1905.12616