N1BOS — broadcast
20260911 223000 UTC
366 transcript segments
Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking
Data courtesy of The GDELT Project (https://www.gdeltproject.org/), from the Internet Archive TV News Archive.
Machine transcription. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a verbatim quotation record.

[00:01:02] image reveals the hidden superpower of Did I do the right
[00:01:05] thing? Should I go see a doctor?
[00:01:09] What should I cook for dinner? People are
[00:01:11] turning to artificial intelligence as a constant companion,
[00:01:15] chatting with it, almost like it's a close
[00:01:17] friend.
[00:01:20] But what is AI actually good at? When should we
[00:01:23] trust it, and when should we be more
[00:01:26] skeptical?
[00:01:28] Answers to those questions, and much more, this time on
[00:01:32] DW's Science Show, Welcome to Tomorrow
[00:01:35] Today.
[00:01:38] Helping with career decisions, replacing a psychotherapist or even
[00:01:42] a friend, whatever the problem, artificial intelligence
[00:01:46] always seems to have the right answer, but
[00:01:49] Hamburg-based AI researcher Maximilian Kennar encourages
[00:01:52] his students to think critically about AI
[00:01:55] responses.
[00:02:19] Yeah, maybe emails, that's just optimization, but talking
[00:02:23] to students, interacting, showing empathy, taking
[00:02:26] responsibility, you can't do that. You're just imitating.
[00:02:30] True, I am you, the optimized version.
[00:02:33] Many users believe AI really is the optimized version, that it can be
[00:02:37] the perfect friend, for example, and that's no
[00:02:40] surprise. Developers almost always design AI avatars to
[00:02:44] be friendly and non-confrontational.
[00:02:48] It presents itself like a human, it understands us, it sounds so
[00:02:52] real, and we need to protect ourselves against that.
[00:02:55] AI can create the illusion of being trustworthy, human and
[00:02:59] empathetic.
[00:04:00] Socratic AI differs from conventional AI in that it asks
[00:04:03] questions. It challenges me with critical follow-up
[00:04:07] questions and helps me find my own solution to a problem instead of just giving me
[00:04:11] answers.
[00:04:13] Asking follow-up questions leads to more balanced responses and helps
[00:04:17] build trust, especially among professionals. A study
[00:04:20] found that doctors, for example, often remain cautious about
[00:04:23] AI. That's because experts can sometimes
[00:04:26] underestimate what the technology is actually able to do.
[00:04:31] The A3G has been closed after an Antonov aircraft made an
[00:04:35] emergency landing. Fortunately, no one was
[00:04:37] injured. AI deepfakes like these have become
[00:04:41] very convincing in recent years and as computing power
[00:04:44] continues to grow, they're getting even more realistic. The same goes
[00:04:48] for deepfakes circulating on the dark web, but is that really
[00:04:51] innovation? Just because something's new doesn't make it
[00:04:55] innovation. There has to be value in it. For example, I
[00:04:59] find it difficult to see deep fake sexualized images of children
[00:05:03] as innovation. It may be technically new, but it's not
[00:05:06] innovation, it's something else. Innovation, that's something
[00:05:09] else. And ethics is exactly.
[00:05:42] is a vast network of computers housed in
[00:05:45] massive, highly secure facilities protected
[00:05:49] from dust and heat. And
[00:05:51] nowhere has more of them than Northern Virginia in the U.S., just
[00:05:55] next to Washington D.C. They
[00:05:57] take up enormous amounts of space, consume huge amounts
[00:06:01] of electricity, and they're not just an
[00:06:04] eyesore, they're pretty noisy
[00:06:06] too.
[00:06:12] stepped outside the home he just bought in 2012, he was
[00:06:16] surrounded by greenery, but where there was
[00:06:18] once a forest, there's now a data
[00:06:21] center. It's really frustrating. We, you
[00:06:25] know, how they how they could have voted to change the
[00:06:29] zoning to allow this so close to a neighborhood is beyond
[00:06:32] my comprehension. It's not just the view that's
[00:06:36] changed, the soundscape has
[00:06:38] too.
[00:06:41] It's just such an annoying
[00:06:45] sound of angry
[00:06:47] because, uh, uh, it will reduce the value of our properties
[00:06:51] here. Uh, angry because, uh, it's chased the
[00:06:55] wildlife away from us. The
[00:06:58] area in Northern Virginia has become a global hub for data centers
[00:07:02] where the information that powers giant companies such as Uber,
[00:07:05] Netflix and Amazon, as well as from AI applications, is
[00:07:09] stored and processed. AI
[00:07:11] data centers in particular require enormous amounts of
[00:07:14] electricity.
[00:07:17] These are data centers. Look that direction, that direction, behind
[00:07:20] us, all three sides. Elena Schlossberg is also
[00:07:24] frustrated. Of Virginia's more than 600 data
[00:07:27] centers, 260 are concentrated in just two residential
[00:07:31] communities. In the 1990s, the area was home
[00:07:35] to AOL, America's first major internet service
[00:07:38] provider. Today it's at the heart of the AI
[00:07:41] boom. Look, see another American flag. We're all a
[00:07:45] part of America when we're building out, uh, the wealthiest
[00:07:48] industry in the world and paying for their infrastructure.
[00:07:51] Northern Virginia leads the world in data center concentration,
[00:07:55] accounting for 14% of all data centers
[00:07:58] globally.
[00:08:00] Running those facilities doesn't require many workers, but it does
[00:08:04] consume vast amounts of electricity,
[00:08:07] and that's having an impact on local residents. Communities are in
[00:08:11] direct competition with
[00:08:14] industry that has an unprecedented need for power and
[00:08:18] water, and so those things that you normally rely on your
[00:08:21] affordable, clean energy is now being
[00:08:24] consumed by this one
[00:08:27] customer, and that's why you see your utility bills
[00:08:30] increasing. Electricity prices here have risen
[00:08:34] by 30% in just five years. The enormous demand
[00:08:37] for energy is one major downside of the AI
[00:08:40] boom. So it looked - so it was a matter of economic
[00:08:44] development and a good thing for the community, but they did
[00:08:47] not think through the implications for the ordinary
[00:08:51] ratepayer. Industry often needs a certain amount
[00:08:54] of power, but it tends to be distributed and the
[00:08:57] increases are predictable and
[00:09:00] measurable. There's almost nothing that compares to
[00:09:04] this in the past, but there are
[00:09:06] locals who are benefiting. Some residents have joined forces to
[00:09:10] sell farmland for the construction of centers and power
[00:09:13] plants.
[00:09:16] Mine has been a family farm for generations, and
[00:09:20] unfortunately my kids and grandchildren have
[00:09:23] absolutely no interest in it, and we came up with a win-win
[00:09:27] solution. The county's going to make money, the
[00:09:31] um, which helps them pay other people, all their employees,
[00:09:35] more money, get better parks, get better schools for everyone, and yes, we're going
[00:09:39] to make money. Data centers generate more than one billion
[00:09:42] dollars in tax revenue every year, and construction
[00:09:46] continues around the clock, but that growth comes at a
[00:09:49] cost. Depending on its capacity, a single AI
[00:09:52] data center can consume as much electricity as an entire
[00:09:56] city.
[00:09:59] Keeping buildings cool already accounts for more than 10% of
[00:10:03] global electricity consumption, and demand is only expected to
[00:10:07] rise. Researchers think they may have found a way to
[00:10:11] dramatically reduce the energy needs for air conditioners.
[00:10:14] They're developing new cooling technology that uses special
[00:10:18] metals that heat up when stretched and cool down again when
[00:10:21] released. only enough
[00:10:55] electricity and doesn't require environmentally harmful or flammable
[00:10:59] refrigerants, but how? The
[00:11:02] key lies in bundles of fine wires, a bit like artificial
[00:11:05] muscles that rotate around the cooling chamber.
[00:11:09] They're made from a shape memory alloy, a material engineered
[00:11:12] to return to a preset shape after being deformed.
[00:11:16] Palmotski is a professor of smart material systems at Saarland
[00:11:20] University. He uses an infrared camera to show us
[00:11:23] what's happening. The thermal
[00:11:27] the nickel titanium wires under tension. It's the same
[00:11:31] phenomenon seen in a balloon, phase
[00:11:33] transformation.
[00:11:35] The atoms arrange themselves differently depending on the temperature and the
[00:11:38] mechanical stress in the material. So when I
[00:11:41] stretch this bundle of wires, I force it into a different
[00:11:44] phase. The atoms reorganize themselves.
[00:11:48] That creates a different energy state. Heat is released and the material
[00:11:51] warms up. When I release the tension, the atoms rearrange
[00:11:55] themselves again, we get a different energy state, heat is absorbed and
[00:11:59] the bundle cools down again. This is known as
[00:12:02] an elastocaloric effect. It can create temperature
[00:12:05] differences of up to 40 degrees Celsius within the
[00:12:08] material. The phenomenon is well known, but only recently
[00:12:12] have researchers tried to harness it for use in refrigerators and heat
[00:12:15] pumps.
[00:12:20] How do we transfer the heat and cold that we generate to where it's actually
[00:12:23] needed? In a fridge, we need to bring the cooling into the interior and
[00:12:27] release the heat into the surroundings.
[00:12:31] Here, circulating air passes over the cooled wires, then
[00:12:35] flows around the cooling chamber, circled in blue, causing the
[00:12:38] contents inside to cool down too. The team from
[00:12:42] Saarbrücken demonstrates the technology with this mini refrigerator at trade
[00:12:46] shows and conferences. However, its compact design limits
[00:12:49] its cooling performance. Drinks inside can only be cooled to about
[00:12:53] 12° Celsius.
[00:12:55] The team has also developed more powerful prototypes with cooling
[00:12:59] capacities of up to 250 watts, roughly what an average fridge
[00:13:03] needs. But in computer simulations,
[00:13:06] electricity consumption is about half that of comparable conventional
[00:13:10] systems. The technology is slowly gaining
[00:13:13] momentum. Startups around the world are developing caloric
[00:13:17] heat pumps and refrigerators. Both the
[00:13:19] European Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy see enormous
[00:13:23] potential. Air conditioners are becoming more common in
[00:13:26] households around the world, in India for
[00:13:29] example, and they consume huge amounts of
[00:13:33] energy. The world's roughly 1.6 billion air
[00:13:36] conditioning units account for around 30% of global electricity
[00:13:40] consumption, according to estimates from the International Energy
[00:13:43] Agency. That figure has at least tripled since
[00:13:46] 1990. Researchers at the Center for
[00:13:50] Mechatronics and Automation Technology in Saarbrücken are
[00:13:53] convinced we'll need innovative technology.
[00:14:25] That goal is still a long way off. For now, the latest
[00:14:28] prototype is tackling a different challenge. The nickel
[00:14:31] titanium wire bundles wear out over time.
[00:14:35] Depending on the alloy and the amount of force applied, they can withstand
[00:14:38] anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of
[00:14:41] cycles. The new replacement cartridge makes swapping them
[00:14:45] out relatively easy. In this case, just 28 grams of
[00:14:49] nickel titanium wire provide roughly 100 watts of cooling
[00:14:52] power, more than enough for the small laboratory.
[00:14:58] The technology is very well suited to places that need to be clean.
[00:15:02] The air passes directly over the wires and releases into the room
[00:15:05] without causing any problems.
[00:15:08] The Saarbrücken team believes its cooling systems could find a market in niche
[00:15:12] applications such as lab equipment. They believe the
[00:15:16] technology could be ready within two to three years, but they
[00:15:19] estimate it will be at least another decade before consumers can start
[00:15:23] replacing conventional.
[00:15:30] As temperatures rise around the world, so does the risk of
[00:15:33] wildfires. Particularly vulnerable.
[00:15:38] dominated by a single species and trees of the same
[00:15:41] age, one solution could be more resilient mixed
[00:15:45] forests, but choosing the right trees to plant for the future is
[00:15:49] a complex task. Forest
[00:15:51] owners have to think decades ahead. Could AI help
[00:15:55] them make those
[00:15:56] decisions?
[00:16:01] What I plant here today will be harvested by future generations and I hope I
[00:16:05] make the right decisions.
[00:16:11] If the decision is wrong, I have to make expensive changes, rebuild and
[00:16:14] basically start all over again. To
[00:16:17] create the forest of the future, you first need a lot of information about its
[00:16:21] current condition. A research team at Anhalt University of
[00:16:25] Applied Sciences in Central Germany is developing an app that
[00:16:28] allows anyone walking in the woods to share their
[00:16:30] observations.
[00:16:35] The app tells you to hold your smartphone.
[00:17:37] take photos on their walks.
[00:17:41] The project is called Minervalt car E, meaning My Forest
[00:17:45] AI.
[00:17:48] The researchers trained the AI model behind the app using more than
[00:17:52] 6,000 of their own photos from two
[00:17:54] forests.
[00:17:57] The next step is to encourage enough citizen scientists to take
[00:18:00] part. The first version of the free
[00:18:04] MyForest AI app is already available for Android. It
[00:18:08] should provide invaluable insights about the forest's current
[00:18:11] conditions, but many forest owners need to make changes
[00:18:15] now, like here in Munich. They need to know which tree species can
[00:18:18] best withstand heat, drought and pests, and these are big
[00:18:22] decisions: replacing the ecological benefits of a single
[00:18:25] mature tree, like water storage and carbon capture, can
[00:18:29] require up to 400 young trees at a cost of up to
[00:18:32] €25,000 euros per hectare, and they're having to
[00:18:35] make these decisions largely on their
[00:19:07] forester. That's why he founded a startup called Arbero.
[00:19:11] Using software and AI, he calculates which tree species can
[00:19:15] best survive in specific locations. To do that, he
[00:19:18] purchases data, including from the European Space
[00:19:21] Agency.
[00:19:24] The app combines factors from a wide range of
[00:19:26] data: how acidic is the soil,
[00:19:30] is the location expected to receive a lot of rainfall or very
[00:19:33] little,
[00:19:36] how much sunshine there, how are
[00:19:39] temperatures changing, and is the terrain flat or
[00:19:43] mountainous? All of this is mapped with precision down to just
[00:19:47] a few square meters, using data from the year 2000 up to
[00:19:50] now. The platform shows which of the existing
[00:19:54] tree species is most suitable, both today and in
[00:19:57] projections extending to the year 2100. I can
[00:20:01] also change the mix of tree species and see exactly which ones are best
[00:20:05] suited to that location.
[00:20:08] Today Sylvius is inspecting bark beetle damage with forester
[00:20:12] Thomas Venger, whose experience helped with the development of Arbero.
[00:20:15] After the outbreak, many
[00:20:18] beetle-infested trees had to be felled and removed, leaving large
[00:20:21] stretches almost empty of
[00:20:23] trees.
[00:20:26] The losses were substantial. In the future, the digital forester
[00:20:30] he created will hopefully reduce that risk, but
[00:20:34] these AI supported systems won't make decisions for people, nor will
[00:20:38] they replace foresters. Instead, they provide information to
[00:20:42] support reforestation planning, and that's becoming
[00:20:45] increasingly important. In such a
[00:20:48] dry phase in spring, dry spell in spring, and it goes six
[00:20:52] weeks without rain, what you've planted for the season goes to
[00:20:55] waste, then we have to replant. In those
[00:20:58] situations, we have losses of up to 50 to
[00:21:01] 60%.
[00:21:03] The forest of the future will look different to those we know
[00:21:06] today. Experts envision something like
[00:21:08] this: uniform monocultures such as
[00:21:12] spruce forests will be replaced by mixed forests made up of deciduous
[00:21:16] and coniferous trees of different ages and heights. This
[00:21:20] creates distinct forest layers: the canopy, middle layer and
[00:21:23] undergrowth. Light and shade alternate across the forest
[00:21:26] floor, encouraging different layers of growth. Sustainability
[00:21:30] will also play a role; only individual trees will be removed,
[00:21:34] a process known as group selection
[00:21:36] harvesting. The gaps allow the forest to
[00:21:40] regenerate without losing its cool, moist
[00:21:42] microclimate.
[00:21:46] It starts with a single decision: which tree and where.
[00:22:20] They also receive some information about the
[00:22:22] forests.
[00:22:24] Building the forest of the future means making decisions today that will
[00:22:28] affect generations to come. No one knows
[00:22:31] exactly what these forests will look like in a hundred years, but the
[00:22:34] process of creating them has already
[00:22:37] begun.
[00:22:42] And now for something on a completely different note. A
[00:22:45] new invention allows people who are deaf or hard of hearing to
[00:22:49] feel music through their entire body and get out
[00:22:53] on the dance floor. Now everyone's picking up good
[00:22:56] vibrations.
[00:23:04] Young musicians are competing for recognition, prestige and
[00:23:07] prize money in one of Switzerland's biggest talent
[00:23:10] contests. The crowd is feeling the music, especially
[00:23:14] the people standing on these special platforms. They convert
[00:23:17] sound into vibrations, sending it directly through the
[00:23:20] body.
[00:23:24] That makes the concerts a tangible experience, even for people with
[00:23:28] hearing
[00:23:28] impairments.
[00:23:33] It makes a huge difference. When I go
[00:23:36] to a party, I can feel vibrations through my
[00:23:38] body, but I don't pick up the finer nuances of the
[00:23:42] music. Here with this part, they really come
[00:23:45] through. Wow, wow,
[00:23:48] incredible. I've experienced anything like this. The
[00:23:52] platform, the music, it's fantastic.
[00:23:56] I want more of it, much more, a thousand times
[00:24:00] more.
[00:24:02] It's amazing. They should keep doing
[00:24:04] this.
[00:24:08] Until now, sign language interpreters could only convey song lyrics and
[00:24:12] the mood of the music.
[00:24:14] Now deaf concert-goers are getting a much more immersive sensory
[00:24:18] experience. The vibration platform is being used at
[00:24:22] concerts for the first time and still requires close supervision from its
[00:24:25] inventor, Roland.
[00:24:32] This is a live concert, not pre-recorded music.
[00:24:35] As soon as the band gets on stage, you have to be ready to make adjustments and
[00:24:39] bring out the frequencies that are best felt through the
[00:24:41] body.
[00:24:45] Event technology specialist Roland developed the platform largely
[00:24:49] from home. He had to do a lot of experimenting to make
[00:24:52] sure all the key elements of a piece of music could be felt
[00:24:55] physically. There were no technical models to
[00:24:58] follow. The vibration platform is his own
[00:25:02] design.
[00:25:07] This is the tactile transducer.
[00:25:09] Inside there's a large coil that creates a magnetic field from the signal we
[00:25:13] send to it.
[00:25:16] That moves a 1.5 kilogram iron core which taps against the house.
[00:25:22] The vibration platform came about during preparations for the Eurovision
[00:25:26] Song Contest in Basel. Roland was
[00:25:29] part of the communications team at Swiss Public Broadcaster,
[00:25:32] SRG.
[00:25:36] The motto was "united by music," and we really wanted to embody that
[00:25:39] idea. The goal was to bring as many people together as
[00:25:43] possible. Including those who can't hear music, and let them
[00:25:46] experience it. The vibration
[00:25:49] platform made its debut at Eurovision Disco where it
[00:25:53] proved to be a hit with people both with and without hearing
[00:25:56] impairments.
[00:26:03] Back at the talent competition, installing the technology cost
[00:26:07] organizers several thousand Swiss francs, but the team says
[00:26:11] it's money well spent.
[00:26:13] Music is for everyone. Personally, I think it's one of the most beautiful
[00:26:17] experiences there is. Every emotion is connected to music. Why should
[00:26:21] anyone be left out?
[00:26:24] As a deaf community, we're often left out. A concert without a
[00:26:27] vibration platform isn't nearly as engaging. Here we can take part
[00:26:31] on equal terms.
[00:26:35] The goal is to make live music more accessible and more inclusive
[00:26:39] so that more people can enjoy it together, sharing that extra
[00:26:42] buzz.