How artificial intelligence can free you from having to read legalese

Edition: US - Today's top story: Teaching machines to understand – and summarize – text [Click here to view this message in your web-browser](. Edition: US 22 June 2017 [[The Conversation]Academic rigor, journalistic flair]( Editor's note Participating in the modern world means clicking “Agree” without reading the privacy policies for every online service, frequent-buyer program, and mobile device. Nobody has the time or the patience. University of Maryland, Baltimore County computer scientists Karuna Pande Joshi and Tim Finin explain how they’re [harnessing artificial intelligence to summarize complex texts for regular people](. A new report released this week reveals that, on average, university presidents in the U.S. are even older and whiter than they were five years ago. To give just one data point: While 56 percent of college students are women, only 30 percent of college presidents are. SUNY Albany’s Jason Lane reflects on the recent retirement announcement of one of the most prominent female presidents, Harvard’s Drew Faust, and what her departure means for [the future diversity of university leadership](. Next week marks the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling that made gay marriage a nationwide right. For decades, researchers have studied the benefits of marriage but those studies only looked at people who were allowed to marry. Jayn Goldsen and her team at the University of Washington [report on their findings from the first study of how marriage has influenced the health of LGBT Americans](. Jeff Inglis Editor, Science + Technology Top story Can artificial intelligence help us stop drowning in paperwork? Jiw Ingka/shutterstock.com [Teaching machines to understand – and summarize – text]( Karuna Pande Joshi, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Tim Finin, University of Maryland, Baltimore County Nobody can understand the legal language in privacy policies. Can artificial intelligence digest the text and produce a human-readable explanation? Arts + Culture - [Are LGBT Americans actually reaping the benefits of marriage?]( Jayn Goldsen, University of Washington Marriage has long been tied to better health. The first study of the relationship between marriage, health and quality of life for LGBT Americans affirms the benefits of marriage – with some caveats. Politics + Society - [Why the latest wave of terrorism will get worse before it gets better]( Bruce Newsome, University of California, Berkeley The latest wave of terrorism aims to kill as many people as possible, as horrifically as possible, with new tools and methods. That makes fighting back more difficult. Education - [Drew Faust and old, white men: The changing role of university presidents]( Jason Lane, University at Albany, State University of New York Most university presidents in the US are still white, male and over the age of 60. But as they retire, is there an opportunity to reshape college leadership and, with it, higher education itself? Environment + Energy - [Government action isn't enough for climate change. The private sector can cut billions of tons of carbon]( Michael Vandenbergh, Vanderbilt University; Jonathan M. Gilligan, Vanderbilt University Without the private sector cutting carbon emissions – rather than just lobbying the government for action on climate – the world will never reach the temperature targets of the Paris Agreement. - [Even ugly animals can win hearts and dollars to save them from extinction]( Diogo Veríssimo, Johns Hopkins University; Bob Smith, University of Kent Must the money raised to save wildlife always aid the most popular animals? New research suggests that marketing can persuade donors that northern hairy-nosed wombat lives matter too. Ethics + Religion - [Why cash remains sacred in American churches]( James Hudnut-Beumler, Vanderbilt University ATMs began appearing in churches providing a way for people to come up with ready cash to give to God and their church. But why was cash necessary? Trending on site - [Did Sessions and Trump conspire to obstruct justice?]( - [Is lead in the US food supply decreasing our IQ?]( - [Fixing a toxic culture like Uber's requires more than just a new CEO]( - [“Who would’ve guessed 50 years ago when the automatic teller machine was invented that this modern human financial interface would also play a part in the interface between human beings and their God?”]( James Hudnut-Beumler Vanderbilt University [Read more]( [James Hudnut-Beumler] [Follow us on Twitter.]( [Join us on Facebook.]( You’re receiving this newsletter from [The Conversation](. Not interested anymore? [Unsubscribe instantly](. We’ll miss you. 625 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 USA