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Public health departments in Michigan are on life support.

Health officials across the state worry their departments are on the edge of becoming another casualty of the pandemic. A prolonged battle with the coronavirus, misinformation and efforts to undermine emergency orders has left public health weaker. The consequences could last years.

Nearly two years since the initial outbreak, multiple waves of infections and vaccine-resistant variants signal that COVID-19 isnt just going away. The coronavirus will likely become another permanent community health problem to grapple with. More than 26,375 Michigan residents have died from the virus.

Marcia Mansaray, deputy health officer for Ottawa County, said the pandemic added tremendous strain to a system that was already struggling to make do with limited resources. Now many departments are dealing with widespread burnout, unprecedented staff shortages and the publics fury.

There were lots of things were weak in, but we had strong staff, Mansaray said. Lots of expertise and leadership within the health system. That is what has been compromised now.

Congress appropriated $275 billion in emergency dollars to help Michigan health departments secure equipment and hire short-term staff. As the pandemic drags on, and the one-time funds dry up in 2022, those resources arent expected to make a long-term impact.

I think its fair to say we were not structurally prepared going into this, said Kevin Hughes, health officer of the District Health Department No. 10 in Northwest Michigan. We didnt have the appropriate staffing levels to be able to address something of this magnitude for this length of time ... When those funds run out, were still in this same place. Were gonna be right back where we were before.

Perhaps most harmful is the strain created by misinformation and politics. An erosion of the publics trust doesnt just undermine efforts to keep communities safe, it could bring controversy to mundane duties that were quietly carried out for decades.

Public health is being just seen through this narrow lens of this little slice of our role in enforcement and authority, when the majority of work we do is not that, said Lisa Peacock, director of the Health Department of Northwest Michigan. Public health has increased the longevity of our population in so many ways.

Norm Hess, executive director for the Michigan Association for Local Public Health, said people dont become acquainted with their health department until something goes wrong. The pandemic pushed health officials into the spotlight, for better and for worse.

People are more aware of how important public health is, but at the same time they have very strong emotional opinions on how public health has performed during this, Hess said. I think rebuilding public trust in local health departments and local health officials is going to be a primary task, and it will take years.

Protecting public health isnt just a job, its required by law. Health departments have a mandate to inspect restaurants, keep a handle on preventable diseases, monitor toxic exposure and respond to other threats.

Weve seen PFAS, weve seen Legionella, weve seen lead in water, those are all public health issues, said Ingham County Health Director Linda Vail. I dealt with a million gallons of oil spilled into the Kalamazoo River. You either need us to handle those things or you dont, and I think you do.

Genesee County Health Director Pamela Hackett said people in her field want to protect their neighbors. Public health policy is driven by scientific evidence, but the pandemic -- seemingly like everything else these days -- quickly became political.

Attitudes and behavior became divided along party lines. A growing body of research found Republicans are generally less likely to wear masks, get vaccinated and support policy interventions like closing businesses.

New activist groups sprung up across Michigan during the pandemic. Some worked hand-in-hand with lawmakers and party officials.

These very loud and active groups in the community are still the same ones were going to want to reach out to when we have a preventable outbreak such as measles or chickenpox, Hackett said. This deliberate politicization of COVID has made it, potentially, so we have a society thats more vulnerable to other types of outbreaks that weve already had control over.

Expressions of intense anger over health rules pit school boards and county commissions against health officials who saw the outrage derail efforts to protect their communities. Health officials were also targets of harassment, death threats and accusations of treason and child abuse.

Hackett was one of many who faced pressure to resign after requiring protective face masks in public schools. She also received a death threat from a woman who allegedly told Hackett to leave our children alone or I am going to kill you.

The threat still makes Hackett uneasy in her own home. She doesnt take walks alone anymore. Hackett shared other precautions that became part of her routine, which MLive will not publish due to safety concerns.

I will jump at a branch falling from a tree now, Hackett said.

The Genesee health director said she didnt expect politics to affect the response so disastrously. She had been working as a clinician at Henry Ford Hospital before coming to the county in 2019 and said she may not have taken the health director job had she known what was coming.

Internet trolls published addresses and cell phone numbers of health officials on social media. Mansaray said pictures of Ottawa County health department staff were posted online encouraging people to go get them. Police departments are monitoring social media for threats and keeping a watch on her home.

Vail installed a security system after someone mailed a threatening message to her house. Sometimes she wears a hat and sunglasses to avoid being recognized in public. Vail said the shadow of harassment hung over a visit to the county fair with her granddaughters.

Its this environment thats been created, where even if youre not being attacked youre preparing yourself, she said. Most of my colleagues are wondering at which point is something really bad going to happen to one of us?

Each health officer that spoke with MLive has considered how much they can endure. Its tempting to cut losses and leave, but they worry their community would be worse off.

I am concerned about what the future will hold for public health, Mansaray said.

Im a person of faith, and so I put part of it there. I feel called to do what Im doing. I have a community that I want to take care of and is depending on me.

Power struggles

Two color-coded folders sit on Peacocks desk. A red folder houses printouts of all the voicemails, texts and emails from people who disagree with her decision to require masks in public schools. Next to it sits a green folder containing messages of support.

Peacock estimates positive messages outnumber the negative pile five to one. But while the red folder is physically smaller, its contents extracted a heavy toll from Peacock.

Peacock filed a complaint with the Michigan Attorney General alleging local officials on the board of health encouraged people to bully her. In the complaint, Peacock describes a four-hour planned ambush at a September board of health meeting. The meeting was centered on a motion to rescind her order, something the board cant legally do.

Attendees called for Peacock to be arrested. The meetings Zoom broadcast was disrupted by racial slurs and a pornographic video. Hecklers intimidated health department staff. Peacocks said the crowd seemed on the verge of rioting.

Peacock was escorted out of the building through an alternate exit to avoid a group of people who were waiting in the parking lot. Health department staff continued to face harassment days after the meeting. One facility was put on lockdown for two days after police found threatening messages on social media.

The health director said shes seen flyers calling to pluck the Peacock with an image of an injured bird.

The Health Department of Northwest Michigan relies on a 90-year-old partnership between four counties. The board of health is filled by elected commissioners from around Northern Michigan.

Peacock said those relationships have deteriorated. She and Medical Director Joshua Meyerson narrowly survived an attempt to fire them in November when a board ended in a tie.

Otsego County residents asked their commissioners to sever ties with the health department, block its funding or sue Peacock. Commissioners asked county administrators to look into what it would take to abandon the health department.

A district health department is a great option in rural areas where you have counties with smaller populations, Peacock said. When were facing all these different threats, it could take away something really good.

Supporters have rallied behind Peacock. More than 300 people signed a letter thanking the health department for protecting the community. The board of health received 497 comments in support of the health department and 66 in opposition before voting on whether to fire Peacock.

Peacock says she stands behind the orders she issued. They were based on overwhelming medical evidence. Some residents accused Peacock of being on a power trip, but she says epidemic orders are reserved as a last resort for when other measures arent working.

Issuing orders is a tiny fraction of what we do for the public, Peacock said. Its one tool that we dont even like to use.

Michigans Public Health Code empowers health directors to set emergency procedures during an epidemic. But lawmakers and local politicians have worked to peel back this authority and give control to other groups.

Republicans added language in the 2022 budget threatening to withhold funding from health departments with mask orders. The governor said the budget language is unconstitutional and departments received their usual allocation of state funds, but several smaller counties pulled back school mask orders to avoid a potential lawsuit.

An activist group is also gathering signatures to shift power from nonpartisan health departments to elected officials. A ballot initiative seeks to end epidemic orders after 28 days unless extended by legislators or county commissions.

Hess said state law puts authority in the hands of unelected officials for a reason: Health departments have to make tough, sometimes unpopular, decisions that shouldnt be influenced by politics.

There are very few public health emergencies in the area of epidemics that come and go in 28 days, Hess said. I believe that it could make it even more difficult to make hard decisions if people are worried about whether or not they will be reelected.

Hess said taking power from experts would have a long-standing impact on the ability to deal with health emergencies.

People are basing their opinions on what is happening with COVID, but that could really limit the ability of health departments to respond to public health emergencies that we havent even thought of yet, Hess said.

Loss of knowledge and funding

Linda Vail has worked to exhaustion nearly every day since March 2020.

This is like being full-on, adrenaline push every day, all day, the Ingham County health director said. Youve got to be ready to respond. Having that level of readiness constantly is not really good for your body.

Sometimes the stress builds to a point where it cant be held in any longer. Vail said it can feel like the world is crashing around her. She probably would have retired already if she didnt feel supported by local officials.

I refer to them as my meltdown moments, Vail said. " Ive had my meltdowns where Im crying and Im beside myself. Im depressed and Im anxious.

Health officials say burnout and the stress of public scrutiny are driving people out of the field. They reported early retirements, unprecedented turnover and low rates of retention among new staff. Its resulted in a large loss of institutional knowledge and leadership.

People who face the public are getting yelled at every day. People are just treating them with such disregard for their expertise, Peacock said. Its getting harder and harder to conduct trace investigations and contact tracing, which are important tools to keep this from getting worse, because people dont want to talk to us.

Hughes said hes had staff leave because theyre fed up with getting abused when trying to trace contacts of people infected with COVID-19. Quitting has crossed Hughes mind too, but the 27-year veteran of public health said hes committed to staying.

I think many of them feel an ethical responsibility to hang in there for now, but when this crisis is over we could see people exiting the workforce to find meaningful work in other areas, Hess said.

Berrien County lost its health director over what she called the politicization of public health during the pandemic. Interim Health Officer Courtney Davis resigned, saying she can no longer effectively do her job in this climate. The health departments communications manager also resigned.

Its hard to find replacements at a time when people in the public eye and (are worried) the job would maybe endanger their children or their spouse and expose them to a lot of intimidation and threats, Mansaray said.

Whats next?

Fully staffing health departments would only solve one problem. Hess said a bigger issue is chronic underfunding since the 1990s. Long-term investments are needed to get health departments back on track.

A 2019 report from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services noted that failing to adequately support local health departments puts residents at risk. The report found that state appropriations actually decreased by $658,000 from 2003 to 2018.

The state is supposed to evenly split the cost of administering health services with local governments, but this isnt happening. In 2019, the state was only reimbursing 25% to 30% of the cost. Hess estimated that the state is likely still about $30 million short of meeting its obligation.

The Michigan Association for Local Public Health requested a $5 million to $8 million increase in the state health departments budget to meet the need. That request did not make it into the final 2022 budget.

Weve had an influx of COVID funding and some staff resources which has helped greatly, but the problems were created by years of neglect are going to remain, Hess said. When these COVID emergency funds dry up, I think we are going to be in a more difficult position than we were to start with.

Thats what makes threats to revoke funding so concerning. Health departments are already struggling to get by with what they have.

One thing does seem sure: COVID-19 is here to stay.

While some viruses can be considered extinct -- like SARS-CoV, a coronavirus responsible for the SARS pandemic in 2003 -- virologists believe COVID-19 will become an endemic disease. Thats because its highly transmissible and could continue to find new hosts to infect.

The next wave of infections is already here. The Omicron variant quickly became the dominant strain in the U.S.

Michigan cases and deaths began to rise again in the winter, filling hospital beds and ICU wings. The federal government sent medical teams to support four overburdened hospitals across the state.

Peacock said health departments need more resources to survive the current emergency and be prepared for whatever challenges lie ahead. Health departments have had to shift resources to COVID, resulting in scaled-back nutrition assistance for low-income mothers, testing for sexually transmitted diseases and other health monitoring programs.

Reflecting on the last year, several health officials said there was a lot of appreciation and trust for public health until the situation became politicized. Trust is difficult to repair once broken.

I wish that our culture hasnt lost the civility that I thought we had, Mansaray said.

Health officials arent sure if the highly-charged environment is the new normal; they havent had much chance to take a breath and think about it.

There is a segment of the population that distrusts public health, because its seen as the government, and theres a lack of trust in the government, Hughes said. Theres still a fair segment of the population that appreciates what it is that we do, but theres also now that that segment that that doesnt. The longer this goes on, I think the potential is there for that segment to get a little larger.

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Pandemic strife put Michigan health departments on life support. Can it heal while COVID surges? - MLive.com

The tiny faces. The high-pitched yaps. The outfits. The drama! Welcome to the world of toy dog breeds. Here youll find miniature versions of large dogs, impressively small paws and enough personality to sink a ship. Now, just because a dog is small doesnt mean it belongs in the toy dog breed group! Small pups like Boston Terriers and French Bulldogs are actually members of the non-sporting group, according to The American Kennel Club. The toy group is made up of breeds designed specifically to be companion animals. While some toy dog breeds are descendants of other breeds given specific tasks, many have lived in laps of luxury and existed as status symbols for wealthy families for centuries. Anyone eager to have a loyal friend for life who can travel anywhere should definitely consider a toy breed.

Due to their extensive backgrounds as companion animals, toy dog breeds are going to be incredibly loyalto their one favorite person. Purina says since most toy breeds werent designed to work, they tend to embrace relaxing activities and indulge in food (which means some are very picky eaters). They enjoy sitting in laps and snuggling up next to a warm body. Leaving them home alone for long stretches will probably make them mador, at the very least, sad. Separation anxiety is common in toy dog breeds.

Now, just because a toy breed wants to be near you all day doesn't mean they want to be near anyone else. The pups on our list may not trust strangers easily or enjoy attention from folks they dont know. This isnt always the case, but it can be. To prevent your toy dog breed from turning into a monster when new people or animals enter the scene, socialize them early and often!

Youll notice our toy dog breeds list has a lot of crossover with our longest-living dog breeds list. This is because smaller breeds tend to live longer than large ones. Genetics and inherent physical features certainly play a role in longevity, but you still have to put in effort to ensure a healthy pup, no matter their size.

People uninterested in jogging with their dogs or going to the dog park for long stretches of time to play fetch will love toy dog breeds. Yes, these animals need their exercise! No, they shouldnt become total couch potatoes! But, they dont require as much vigorous exercise as many large breeds do. In case you hadnt noticed, toy dog breeds have tiny legs and small bodies. Sometimes, too much walking can exhaust them or put strain on their cute little paws.

Since separation anxiety is common among toy dog breeds, spending as much time as possible with them is key to a happy, stress-free pup. People with one of these breeds consistently find ways to incorporate them into errands, events and work. (Dog-friendly workplaces or working from home options are ideal!) Investing in a durable, comfy dog carrier is a must if youve got a toy breed.

Unlike large breeds, toy breeds dont need nearly as much living space. They make excellent apartment pets and are less threatening to renters who dont own their homes. Sure, a big yard is fun for any dog, but smaller pups dont need it the way a Doberman or an Alaskan Malamute does.

Finally, many sources say toy dog breeds and kids dont mix. While this is certainly the case for some small pups, it is possible to raise a family-friendly toy breed with proper training and socialization. Introducing any breed, of any size, to kids early on is essential to a good child-canine relationship. Include your kids in training and encourage them to learn how to safely interact with your dog and any pup they may meet.

RELATED: The 10 Naughtiest Dog Breeds

AGENCY ANIMAL PICTURE/GETTY IMAGES

Height: 9-12 inchesWeight: 7-10 poundsPersonality: Goofy, ProudActivity Level: ModerateShedding Factor: HypoallergenicLife Expectancy: 12 to 15 years

This tiny German dog breed is one of the few on our list bred with a purpose. Affenpinschers have been killing and hunting rats for centuries, and today are goofy companion pets. The Affenpinscher Club of America warns these dogs are Rottweiler wannabes and may try too hard to fit in with the big dogs. Keep them entertained with a friend (like kittens, owning two Affenpinschers improves socialization).

Height: 7-10 inchesWeight: 8-10 poundsPersonality: Sensitive, LoyalActivity Level: ModerateShedding Factor: ModerateLife Expectancy: 12-15 years

Brussels Griffons come in smooth- and wire-coated varieties. Though they may look similar to the Affenpinscher, they are slightly smaller and more sensitive. Brussels tend to make better friends with adults than kids. Until the 1870s, these dogs would sniff out rats for Belgian coachmen. As soon as Henrietta Maria, the Queen of the Belgians, fell in love with these smart pups, the rest of the upper class in Brussels followed suit.

Vincent Scherer/Getty Images

Height: 7-11 inchesWeight: 4-8 poundsPersonality: Smart, LovingActivity Level: ModerateShedding Factor: LowLife Expectancy: 16 years

The Biewer Terrier is a relatively new breed that made its Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show and National Dog Show debuts this year. First bred in Germany in the 1980s, Biewers made their way to the U.S. in 2003. Incredibly affectionate and friendly, these dogs are eager to be a part of the action. Include your Biewer in everything! They will be vocal and let you know if they feel left out (or if they dont recognize someone and want to let strangers know whos boss).

Tara Gregg/EyeEm/Getty Images

Height: 12-13 inchesWeight: 13-18 poundsPersonality: Affectionate, FriendlyActivity Level: Low to ModerateShedding Factor: Low to ModerateLife Expectancy: 12-15 years

As a well-loved breed among senior citizens, young renters and Courteney Cox, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is a versatile and adaptable pet. Their silky soft coats and sweet dispositions make them sweet companions. This is an example of a toy breed descended from English hunting dogs. Cavs excel at high-energy activities but are content lounging with you if you prefer to Netflix and chill.

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Height: 5-8 inchesWeight: 6 poundsPersonality: Charming, independentActivity Level: ModerateShedding Factor: LowLife Expectancy: 14-16 years

Ah, the prestigious Chihuahua. Easily one of the most recognizable dog breeds on this or any list, Chihuahuas hail from Mexico where the breed has been perfected over centuries. Both long-haired and short-haired varieties exude charm through their tiny stature and enormous, expressive eyes. Chihuahuas have been made even more famous by celebrities like Paris Hilton and films like Legally Blonde. Be sure to toss a sweater on them in cold weather!

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Height: 11-13 inchesWeight: 8-12 poundsTemperament: Lively, lovingShedding Factor: Non-shedding / HypoallergenicActivity Level: Moderate to HighLife Expectancy: 13-18 years

The American Chinese Crested Club says these graceful, amusing dogs love to entertain their favorite human. They can be hairless, with tufts of fur on their heads and feet, or whats called powderpuff, with long, soft fur covering their whole bodies. Hairless Chinese Crested dogs can get sunburned, so protect them with doggy sunscreen or shade! Perhaps surprisingly, these toy dogs are excellent athletes who enjoy agility training.

Sergey Ryumin/Getty Images

Height: 10 inchesWeight: 5 poundsPersonality: Sweet, EnergeticActivity Level: HighShedding Factor: ModerateLife Expectancy: 13-15 years

Say hello to a feisty dog bred years ago to chase and kill rats. Today, Toy Fox Terriers are meant to be small, active pets. But dont be surprised if that terrier energy takes over when youre out on walks. They are energetic bundles of fun who tend to be very in tune with their familys emotions. However, The American Toy Fox Terrier Club says they arent great with small children, nor are they fans of cold, wet weather.

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Height: 8.5-11.5 inchesWeight: 7-13 poundsPersonality: Smart, SocialActivity Level: ModerateShedding Factor: HypoallergenicLife Expectancy: 14-16 years

Allergy sufferers rejoice! This toy breed is hypoallergenic. Take your Havanese with you on vacation, shopping trips and more without worrying youll have a sneezing fit. These dogs are incredibly outgoing, enjoy making new friends and have low prey drives. Havanese come from Cuba where they were adoring companions to the wealthier classes. If you want their silky coats to grow long, youll have to groom them daily. Otherwise, a short cut is just as sweet.

Height: 13-15 inchesWeight: 7-14 poundsPersonality: Sensitive, alertActivity Level: ModerateShedding Factor: ModerateLife Expectancy: 14-15 years

Be prepared to cover Italian Greyhounds in sweaters and booties come cold weather! These teeny, tiny pups are incredibly sensitive and live for warmth and companionship. The Italian Greyhound Club of America says these are definitely indoor dogs - in fact, they are known for their cat-like tendencies. Watch out for an Italian Greyhound who loves to jump or climb as they could fall easily and injure themselves. They also dont do well in chaotic, multi-pet households.

Height: 8-11 inchesWeight: 7-11 poundsTemperament: Mellow, regalShedding Factor: ModerateActivity Level: Low to ModerateLife Expectancy: 10-12 years

Dont let their name fool youJapanese Chins were initially bred in China. While sweet and mellow, they definitely have stubborn streaks. This is because their history involves literally no work. They were bred only to love and be loved by a dedicated human. When training, its critical to use positive reinforcement and consistency. The noble Japanese Chin will not tolerate a temper!

IOANNIS TSOTRA/GETTY IMAGES

Height: 7-9 inchesWeight: 6-7 poundsPersonality: Sweet, elegantActivity Level: ModerateShedding Factor: LowLife Expectancy: 12-15 years

If youve always wanted a puppy with a topknot in a bow, go for it with a Maltese. These dogs have some of the most elegant coats around. Makes sense, considering the AKC says these toy pups have been sitting in the lap of luxury since the Bible was a work in progress. Generally playful and adaptable, dont be afraid to play games outside with your Maltese! Theyre into it and will let you know when theyve had enough.

Height: 10-12 inchesWeight: 10-12 poundsPersonality: Lively, intelligentActivity Level: Moderate to HighShedding Factor: LowLife Expectancy: 15-17 years

Though Toy Manchester Terriers arent part of the terrier group like Standard Manchester Terriers, they definitely have some of the same qualities. Like standards, toys can have high prey drives and are excellent athletes. Super smart and eager to fulfill duties, these dogs are easily trained and enjoy being active. In the Victorian Era, Toy Manchesters were extremely popular among wealthier women in England. Today, they are happiest during playtime with their families.

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Height: 10-12.5 inchesWeight: 8-10 poundsPersonality: Energetic, proudActivity Level: HighShedding Factor: Moderate to HighLife Expectancy: 12-16 years

This is a fearless, high-energy watchdog with an even higher IQ. Sure, a Miniature Pinscher will learn commands easily, but it may also see what it can get away with when youre not looking. These proud dogs are most likely the products of breeding Dachshunds and Italian Greyhounds; they are not tiny versions of German Pinschers or Dobermans. The AKC calls them the King of Toys, a title that may have gone to their heads. We dont caretheyre cute enough to get away with being a little bossy!

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Height: 8-11 inchesWeight: 5-10 poundsPersonality: Happy, OutgoingActivity Level: HighShedding Factor: ModerateLife Expectancy: 14 to 16 years

Talk about an adaptable dog! Papillons are known for being friendly with people of all ages and pets of all kinds. Dont let a Papillon get too friendly with big dogs; Paps dont know the strength of a big dog and could get hurt. Versions of these small pups with their giant ears can be found in 15th century paintings of upper class ladies and their children. Papillons are easy to groom and love nothing more than hanging out with you.

Height: 6-9 inchesWeight: 14 poundsPersonality: Confident, LoyalActivity Level: LowShedding Factor: ModerateLife Expectancy: 12-14 years

Its hard to ignore the Pekingese when it walks into a room. These ancient Chinese dogs have incredible confidence and know how to command attention. Loyal to their favorite person, Pekingese will happily follow you to the ends of the earth. Unless of course youre trying to train them to do a trick they dont want to do. Their independent streaks are real and they much prefer a fun game or nap to following orders.

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Height: 6-7 inchesWeight: 3-7 poundsPersonality: Lively, AdaptableActivity Level: Moderate to HighShedding Factor: ModerateLife Expectancy: 12 to 16 years

We dare you to look at a Pomeranian and not smile. Look at their grinning faces! Those puffy coats! This German dog breed is curious and the American Pomeranian Club advises against letting them roam at will. Poms are fast and tend to ignore warning signs like car horns. Though Pomeranians can be territorial, barking at strangers or intruders, once they get to know someone, they make a friend for life.

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Height: 10 inchesWeight: 5 poundsPersonality: Intelligent, ConfidentActivity Level: Moderate to HighShedding Factor: HypoallergenicLife Expectancy: 10-18 years

Anyone who sees Poodles of any size as prissy, fussy dogs has never met one. Toy Poodles are athletic and confident dogs who excel at agility and course training. Theyre super smart, so teaching commands is a cinch. Toy Poodles do need to be brushed regularly or taken to a groomers for a neat trim every four to six weeks.

Square Dog Photography/Getty Images

Height: 10-13 inchesWeight: 14-18 poundsTemperament: Adaptable, charmingShedding Factor: HighActivity Level: Low to moderateLife Expectancy: 13-15 years

Pugs are some of the most adaptable and friendly breeds around. The biggest challenge with Pugs is making sure they dont overeat, which can lead to obesity and a whole host of health issues. Other than that, get ready for a delightful companion who makes friends wherever they go. Because of their social nature, leaving them home for long stretches is out of the question. Good thing they get along well with others!

Height: 9-11 inchesWeight: 9-16 poundsTemperament: Cheerful, lovingShedding Factor: LowActivity Level: Moderate to HighLife Expectancy: 10-18 years

A noble Chinese breed, the Shih Tzu can live almost two decades if cared for properly. This toy breed is actually praised for its ability to get along with kiddos and keep people of all ages entertained. Dubbed the Lion Dog for its wild mane of silky hair, Shih Tzus can be trimmed short or develop a lengthy coat. One drawback is the Shih Tzus stubbornness during training. They think they know it all already.

YEVGEN ROMANENKO/GETTY IMAGES

Height: 7-8 inchesWeight: 7 poundsPersonality: Affectionate, LivelyActivity Level: ModerateShedding Factor: HypoallergenicLife Expectancy: 11-15 years

One of the most popular and recognizable toy dog breeds is the Yorkie. These tiny terriers were developed to keep mines and factories free of rodents; they still retain this determination and gumption despite having become lap dogs in the 1880s. Early socialization ensures adult Yorkies are nice to new people and can adapt to unfamiliar environments.

RELATED: 14 American Dog Breeds

Read more:
20 Toy Dog Breeds That Prove Big Things Come in Small Packages - PureWow

All human actions are based on anticipated futures. We cannot know the future because it does not exist yet, but we can use our current knowledge to imagine the future and make them happen. The better we understand the present and the history that has created it, the better we can understand the possibilities of the future. To appreciate the opportunities and challenges that artificial intelligence (AI) creates, we need both a good understanding of what AI is today and what the future may bring when AI is widely used in society. AI can enable new ways of learning, teaching, and education, and it may also change society in ways that pose new challenges for educational institutions. It may amplify skill differences and polarise jobs, or it may equalise opportunities for learning.

The use of AI in education may generate insights into how learning happens, and it can change the way learning is assessed. It may re-organise classrooms or make them obsolete, it can increase the efficiency of teaching, or it may force students to adapt to the requirements of technology, depriving humans of the powers of agency and possibilities for responsible action. All this is possible. Now is a good time to start thinking about what AI could mean for learning, teaching, and education. There is a lot of hype, and the topic is not an easy one. It is, however, both important, interesting, and worth the effort.

Progressively, AI has played and continues to play a huge role in the transformation of society. It has been applied to various sectors and fields such as finance, public security, health, computational creativity, information processing, urban transportation, industrial manufacturing, mobile phone and internet entertainment, and retail. Moreover, AI is changing shopping, advertising, entertainment, education and healthcare, longevity, food and business insurance, and finance. Thus, AI has significant advances for all spheres of human endeavor. Society simply needs to keep abreast of the advances and evolve processes for maximising benefits or minimising weaknesses.

In sum, AI is recognised as a novel and dynamic approach that paves the way for enhanced and sophisticated knowledge discovery, learning, problem-solving, and efficiencies in decision-making in the world today.

Asiya Kassim Bataiya,

Skyline University Nigeria

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FALSE! Yoruba Not An Official Language In Brazil

Claim: A national newspaper and multiple online platforms claim Brazil has adopted Yoruba as its official language and that the language would be included in primary and secondary schools curriculum.

Verdict: The claim is false. The content of the article published by these online platforms is not new; it has been recirculated several times and has been debunked.

Viral Voice Note On WhatsApp Billing False

Claim: A viral WhatsApp voice note, purportedly made by the director and CEO of WhatsApp, claims users will have to start paying for WhatsApp services.

Verdict: The viral WhatsApp voice note claim is a hoax. The content is not new and has been circulated as a broadcast message several times in the past.

Marburg Virus: What You Need To Know About Disease Recently Detected In West Africa

On Monday, August 9, 2021, the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed the first case of Marburg virus in West Africa in Guinea. This development has sent shivers down the spines of West Africans who are still grappling with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. But before this dreaded disease is greeted by rumours and misinformation, here is what you have to know about the virus.

FACT CHECK: US Did Not Give Nigeria 48 Hours Ultimatum To Detain Abba Kyari

CLAIM: Several social media posts claim the United States of America (USA) gave Nigerias Federal Government 48 hours to detain suspended Deputy Police Commissioner, Abba Kyari, or face severe sanctions.

VERDICT: The claim is false and misleading. The US did not give Nigerian Federal Government 48 hours ultimatum to detain Abba Kyari.

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Knowledge, society and artificial intelligence in the media - NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

SAN PEDRO RIVER On a cloudy December Saturday, a group of wildlife enthusiasts met on a dirtpull-off in southern Arizona to embark on a mission. Wide-eyed and unified, thecadre of researchers, advocates, professorsand studentshad volunteered to spend the day collecting data for conservation.

At thehelm was Lisa Shipek, the executive director and founder of Watershed Management Group, a Tucson-basednon-profit that organizesecology-based community events.She had convened the group nearthe San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Areawitha single goal: finding Castor canadensis, the North American beaver, or at the very least spotting signs they're in the area.

Beavers once thrived in this part of southeastern Arizona. Centuries of trapping led to a local extinction by the late 19th century. In their absence, the ecosystem services they provided vanished, too. Their penchant for building dams slowed stream flows, enhanced riparian habitatand even restored aquifers when flood plains overflowed.

(T)hey were a keystone species in our creeks and rivers," Shipek told The Republic."And then they were wiped out by trappers. And that really caused an unraveling of a lot of these creek and river systems and almost to the extent where the creeks and rivers and wetlands were unrecognizable from what they would have been with beavers.

So we, in a lot of ways, don't actually know what our creeks, rivers and wetlands should look like," she said, "because we've only really seen them without beavers.

Twenty-two years ago, the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the Bureau of Land Management, which manages46-miles of the San Pedro andBabocomari rivers,took on an ambitious project to restore beavers to this portion of their historical range.

Sixteen beavers were captured in other areas of Arizona, often where they were creating problems near airports or stock ponds, and released on stretches of the river.Protected, remoteand perennial, the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area was an ideal spot for the releases.

With the return of beavers, groups like WMG are hoping some of those essential services would be restored. That could offer a glimpse into a world that beavers once helped create.

Yet modern challenges have in recent years stunted the recovery conservationists initially hoped for. To understand why, Shipek and her team of volunteers are counting beavers one survey at a time to find out where theyre going and maybe even whats causing their disappearance. Collectively, the volunteers are a part of a growing assemblage of citizen scientists who are reshaping the way people collect data and learn about the natural world.

After introductions, Shipek and her husband,Catlow Shipek, who serves as the group's policy and technical director, split the search party of 20 into five separate groups along distinct, two-mile sections of the conservation area.

Some of thevolunteers are trained scientists. Others are just curious about nature and want to help. A passion for beavers inspired most of them to join the survey, but an affinity forwatersheds and ecology was palpable. Conversations buzzed with hydrology terms and tales of pastoutings.

Before setting off, group leaders guided everyone through what to look for. Beaver chews, chunks of bark eaten out of treetrunks, are a telltale sign that beavers are near. On smaller tree trunks, the chews look like spears pointing to the sky. On larger trees, they look like gaping wounds, wide and crater-like. Other signs include the tracks, slides, which are trails left by the beaver's dragging tail, along with scat, food caches, scent mounds and the motherlode: a beaver lodge, denor dam.

Using an app called Survey123, the volunteers were able tolog the location, type of observationand key information related to the sighting. The data will be used later to take inventory of how many beavers live in the area.

"We saw a great opportunity to do community-based conservation here in Tucson and southern Arizona, really making these types of practices accessible to people at their homes, at schools, and neighborhoods. This concept of watershed health doesn't have to be limited to agencies working on it. We can all play a part in this,"Shipek said. "Beavers are a keystone species. And so that means that they play a critical role in the health of our rivers."

For the past 16 years, Shipek has built partnerships to engage the community in watershed restoration efforts. The plan to conduct surveys came about last year after Shipek and her team discovered that the original population of beavers wasn't doing so well. After years of growth from 16 to well over a hundred in 2010, the population had crashed by 2019. That year, observers reported limited beaver activity, with just two or three believed to be in the area. No dens or lodges were seen in the SPRNCA that year. An interesting bright spotappeared in Mexico, where the beavers naturally dispersed.

Shipek was shocked. "We hadn't heard that,"she admitted on hearing about the population drop at a panel discussion. "This was a surprise and really a wake-up call that we need to be paying more attention to beavers on the San Pedro."

In an effort to understand why and how populations were changing, Shipek organizedthe first-ever community-wide survey along a 15-mile section of the San Pedro in Arizona and worked with partners in Mexico tosurvey the other side of the border. Watershed Management Group's built-in network of dedicated river enthusiasts positioned her to hit the ground running when it came to marshaling support for the survey.

What they found wasencouraging. The population had rebounded, if only slightly. They estimated there were between 12 and 15 beavers in Arizona following the 2020 survey, though that was still woefully under the carrying capacity of the river ecosystem, which is around120 beavers, according to Watershed Management Group.

A key part of the effort to count beavers included local river expert Mike Foster, who works with the Friends of the Huachuca Mountains and the Friends of the San Pedro River, a non-profit dedicated to protecting natural resources near Bisbee and Sierra Vista.

Foster, who moved to Arizona 38 years ago from Michigan, has been conducting informal surveys for nearly 20 years, since 2002. He and a fellow river hobbyist, Steven Anderson, had been collecting data andreporting their findings back to Marcia Radke, a biologist with the BLM who worked on the San Pedro.

To this day, Foster is involved with the surveys and was a team lead at the Saturday event. For him, it's been a joy to watch his efforts grow and expand to include the larger community.

"From a guy who used to be one of two that would do the whole thing by ourselves, it's so great to see how there's been this groundswell of people who are interested and paying attention to beavers," Foster confessed. "I'm really, really happy with what both Cochise College and Watershed Management Group are doing."

Steve Merkley, a biology professor at Cochise College, was also involved with organizing that first survey. As a professor, he was able to spur interest among students who proved to be eager helpers. In February2020, they were enlisted to join Fosters survey, covering areashe and his partner hadn't.

LikeShipek, they were on a mission to find out what happened to the original population of beavers. While Merkley is still working on collecting information to finalizehis research on why the beaver population has plummeted, some other folks have theories. Mountain lion predation, droughtand human trapping have been presented as potential causes for the decline, though there couldalso be a less sinisterreason, Merkley said.

"There is also evidence in other beaver literature that beavers go through natural boom and bust cycles. The populations will get really dense and then they will decline and then they'll build back up,"Merkley said. "So it could be a natural population cycle. Or it could be that they are moving to a more favorable location for them habitat-wise."

Beavers are native to the Southwest. They once roamed the many watersheds, cienegasand waterways that circulated through Arizonas valleys. The San Pedro River was once referred to as Beaver River because of its abundant beaver populations. Easily captured and with some densest fur in the animal kingdom, beavers were extirpated by excessive trapping and hunting by the late 1800s. To this day, there are still few regulations that manage beaver trapping in Arizona, though it isillegal to hunt them.

The declining need to kill them as furbearers has allowed some populations to recover. But the pumping and diverting of major waterways presents another problem. Beavers need clean water,and they need lots of it. As a result, some of the beavers may have migrated to the headwaters of the San Pedro, in Mexico.

Merkley offers this as an alternative explanation for the population flip, whereby populations are growing in Mexico while declining in Arizona. The water flows on the Mexican side of the river tend to be slower, widerand calmer,habitat beavers favor over the narrower and deeper banks of the upper San Pedro, which are prone to flash floods and torrents during the monsoon.

No matter where they are, as a keystone species, beavers have a profound impact on their environments. Their reputation as ecosystem engineers is well known and backed up by the way they alter a place.They tear into trees, slowing water and creating habitat, often times improving what's there for wildlife.

"When they dam up water in a stream, it slows the flow, which provides habitat for lots of organisms that depend on a slower flowing river,"Merkley said. "And also for the hydrology, it allows more of the water to return to the aquifer. And so it's really good, not only for plant life, but also for the longevity of the river."

By early morning of the survey, each group was dispatched to their respective stretchesof the river. Each team focused on two main areas, the actual river or the river's banks. One could either get soaked or fight through tangles of 12-foot-highphragmites, a reed species that thrives in wetlands.

"There are two big ones," exclaimed Shipek from across the river while pointing to two massive beaver chews on the opposite side of the bank. Mark Briggs, a stream restoration ecologist, who was in Shipek'sgroup and wading through waist-high water at the time, took the first recording, logging thesize, recencyand approximation to any other would-be beaver activity.

The chews were huge and their bright yellow coloring indicated they were recent. Each team member was alert and keen. Several other chews were discovered soon after as participants trudged through deep water and fought through willows andthickets of cottonwoods on the bank.

Briggs and his partner, Brooke Bushman, had tag-teamed the river portion of the tracking expedition whileShipek traipsed up on the bank. Midway through the hike, Bushman, a green stormwater infrastructure maintenance program manager with the city of Tucson,had switched from that water to the bank.

An accidental fall led to the next major breakthrough of the day. Bushman had slipped through one of the vent holes of a beaver den.

"My foot fell in and I felt this neat wafting up of cold, really like, refreshing air, that was imbued with the strong aroma of fresh cut willow and smelled like a good, clean whiskey,"Bushman said.

Their discovery was one of the highlights of the day. "We found it," Shipek hollered from across the river, referring to an actual den. Both she and Bushman examined the lodge, took photosand logged their finding into the tracking app.

Unlike a dam, which stretches across water, this den was tucked intothe muddy bank. It was thick withoverhanging roots, carpetedwith wood chips, dark and narrow. Shipek stopped to make a video.

"We have stumbled upon a bank lodge after about a quarter-mile of seeing a lot of evidence of fresh beaver chews," Shipek explained, talking to the camera. "And it looks like the bank eroded here. We're right next to the river. There's definitely a cache of food. These bank lodges can go pretty far back."

Pointing the camera into the den, she continued, "so you can see back into maybe one of the ends where there's a cache of wood. We did step into the vent hole above it. And now we're going to go check out because we think there's a dam and maybe another lodge just down the creek. Pretty cool!"

As the daycame to a close, most of the groups were meeting back on the dirt pull-off, soaked and dirty, but excited about all the information they hadcollected. Their efforts will produce valuableinformation that can be used not only to assess the health of the river, but to find out how many beavers are in the area, where they're goingand how fast they're disbursing.

While there were no live beaver sightings on the outing, their presence was clear. Shipeks group alone found over 20 signs that suggest beavers live in the SPRNCA, including chews, slidesand a den.

It will take months to compile all the data.In addition to the December survey, there was also a November survey in other parts of the SPRNCA as well as along the San Pedro and tributaries in Mexico. In total, volunteers covered 40 miles of river in Arizona and 25 miles in Mexico. Pronatura and Naturalia, two NGO partners, helped with the latter survey. The results of all three are expected sometime in the spring.

This information will be vital when looking at future releases, something Shipek hopes will occur in otherareas of southeastern Arizona. Tributaries of the Santa Cruz River, like Cienega Creek, are ripe for reintroduction and one of her goals is to mirror the efforts on the San Pedro there.

"We see beavers as one of the best restoration solutions for our watersheds, including the Santa Cruz and San Pedro watersheds. So we're investing a lot of our resources into better understanding what's going on,"Shipek said. "This survey is kind of a fundamental piece, so we're planning to do this survey annually and making it a bi-national affair because these are bi-national watersheds. We have so many hopes and dreams. We're really just at the beginning in a lot of ways."

Lindsey Botts is an environmental reporter for The Arizona Republic/azcentral. Follow his reporting on Twitter at @lkbottsand Lkbotts on Instagram.Tell him about stories at lindsey.botts@azcentral.com

Environmental coverage on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Follow The Republic environmental reporting team atenvironment.azcentral.comand@azcenvironment onFacebook,TwitterandInstagram.

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Where are all the beavers on Arizona's San Pedro River? Volunteers go looking for them - The Arizona Republic

Artist and designer Nina Cho often uses a Korean adage to help frame her work. The adage, as its translated into English, says, It is modest but not humble, and impressive but not extravagant.

While Cho may use the saying to contextualize her own approach to furniture design, it could just as easily be applied to describe her (relatively) newfound home in Detroit. Born in San Francisco, Cho was raised in Seoul, South Korea, where she studied woodworking and furniture design at Hong-Ik University. Cho moved to Michigan on the strength of the states own legacy in furniture design, namely the mid-century furniture masterworks of Charles and Ray Eames. Its what drew her to the world-renowned Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, where she earned an MFA in 3D Design in 2015.

And though the Eames-Cranbrook connection is what initially attracted Cho to Michigan, its the city of Detroit that convinced her to stay.

Its a city of opportunity, to me. That's how I characterize Detroit, says Cho. The community is very welcoming and really interested in what you're doing. I think it's very open to possibilities; that's how I see Detroit.

Detroit-based artist and designer Nina Cho with her Cantilever Table.Its in this city of possibility where Cho works and lives, from her studio in Mexicantown and her apartment in Lafayette Park, the latter of which, its likely of no coincidence, is a neighborhood designed by yet another mid-century master designer: architect Mies van der Rohe.Chos own approach to furniture designis one thats informed by a forward-leaning reductive aesthetic impressive but not extravagant, as the Korean adage goes. She designs both high-end pieces as well as more affordable, accessible furniture lines for the everyday home.

Her work has taken her all over the world, from exhibitions in London and Milan to a residency in Tuscany, Italy. Still, she calls Detroit home. Theres any number of reasons for that; the bonds of community that shes formed here, the inspiration she draws from the park outside her apartment building. And then there are the practical ones, aspects like access to resources, geographic location, and affordability things important to just about any line of work.

Detroits manufacturing infrastructure provides Cho access to metal fabricators in the city and nearby communities like Hazel Park, a service upon which her work relies. Its geographic location allows Cho to zip over to New York City, a trip shell often take by car, a days drive. And the relative affordability of Detroit, especially when compared to places like New York and Los Angeles, affords Cho the ability to live and work freely.

It's just one of the rare cities that, as an artist or designer, you can actually buy your own studio building still. In New York, as an artist, you could never even imagine buying the studio building, right? Not that I even own the studio building here, but in places like New York, you couldn't even imagine doing that, Cho says.

Here, a lot of artists can own a studio or even a house. I think that's pretty amazing.

Finding a supportive ecosystem

Like Cho, Andre Sandifer is a furniture designer who moved to Detroit from elsewhere although his path is all his own. Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Sandifer earned a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Michigan in 2001, where hed meet his future wife Abir Ali. The couple became interested in designing and making their own line of handcrafted furniture, eventually opening the Ali Sandifer design studio and workshop. The couple moved to Chicago before settling in Detroit in 2011.

Although no longer married to Ali, the Ali Sandifer studio put Sandifer on the design and furniture-making map. Following the dissolution of their company, Sandifer went back to school before becoming senior product designer at Detroit furniture-makerFloyd. His first product there was a modular table that can be added to the companys sectional sofa.Andre Sandifer, senior product designer, at work in the Floyd R&D lab.Floyds design principles aligned with my previous work. What I was doing was about sustainability, a sense of longevity handmade pieces that hopefully will last for generations, Sandifer says. Although Sandifers previous work was handmade andFloyd operates on a much bigger, mass-produced scale, much of the thought that guides the two companies dovetail together.

Floyd definitely aligns with my design principles and definitely longevity, but also in being mindful of the materials that I use, mindful of how customers receive the products, and how much of a role the customer plays in the design process. I like to say that my design process is about human-centric qualities, like how people interact with the piece, how they use it and how does that piece help or improve their living environment.

When Sandifer first moved to Detroit, he found himself immersed in the citys supportive ecosystem of artists, designers, creatives, makers, and otherwise. Ali Sandifer set up shop in the Russell Industrial Center, a sprawling complex of seven industrial buildings teeming with makers of all stripes, from furniture-makers to glassblowers, a haven for artists, musicians, and more.The Floyd Modular Table in walnut.Its an attitude

A father of three boys, Sandifers oldest enrolled in the Henry Ford Academy: School for Creative Studies when they first moved to Detroit. A public charter school with a heavy focus on the arts, the Henry Ford Academy is located in the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education, an extension of the College for Creative Studies (CCS) campus. Its a building teeming with creativity, not only housing the academy and CCS, but also Shinola, Kresge Arts in Detroit, and Design Core Detroit.

Its there where Sandifer says he began to understand Detroit as a design community.

For us, it was important to find a place where our son had that sort of artistic outlet. But then being surrounded by businesses and people that were advocates for the creative process, is where that (understanding) started, says Sandifer. And then also when I had my own studio in the Russell Industrial. I mean, they have creative people ranging from glassblowers to people doing handmade furniture. A lot of different creative worlds met there.

Being part of Detroits creative eco-system has only further inspired Sandifer, he says. Its that oft-referenced spirit of innovation people talk about when they talk about Detroit, a phrase often used by local tourism boards but one that talented transplants like Nina Cho and Andre Sandifer have found to be real, and very much so.

Its an attitude as much as it is anything else, Sandifer says.

Being raised in a very conservative town like Grand Rapids, you know, and then being a Black male coming to a place where it's predominantly Black, that itself was exciting. I see more of me and I see more of me in the creative world. Im seeing people making similar things going through similar struggles, and especially here in Detroit but Im also seeing them persevere, Sandifer says.

I think Detroit has this reputation that people here are strong; you persevere and you get through stuff. I think that attitude is definitely heavily rooted here.

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In June 2020, OpenAI, an independent artificial-intelligence research lab based in San Francisco, announced GPT-3, the third generation of its massive Generative Pre-trained Transformer language model, which can write everything from computer code to poetry.

A year later, with much less fanfare, Tsinghua Universitys Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence released an even larger model, Wu Dao 2.0, with 10 times as many parametersthe neural network values that encode information. While GPT-3 boasts 175 billion parameters, Wu Dao 2.0s creators claim it has a whopping 1.75 trillion. Moreover, the model is capable not only of generating text like GPT-3 does but also images from textual descriptions like OpenAIs 12-billion parameter DALL-E model, and has a similar scaling strategy to Googles 1.6 trillion-parameter Switch Transformer model.

Tang Jie, the Tsinghua University professor leading the Wu Dao project, said in a recent interview that the group built an even bigger, 100 trillion-parameter model in June, though it has not trained it to convergence, the point at which the model stops improving. We just wanted to prove that we have the ability to do that, Tang said.

This isnt simple one-upmanship. On the one hand, its how research progresses. But on the other, it is emblematic of an intensifying competition between the worlds two technology superpowers. Whether the researchers involved like it or not, their governments are eager to adopt each AI advance into their national security infrastructure and military capabilities.

That matters, because dominance in the technology means probable victory in any future war. Even more important, such an advantage likely guarantees the longevity and global influence of the government that wields it. Already, China is exporting its AI-enabled surveillance technologywhich can be used to quash dissentto client states and is espousing an authoritarian model that promises economic prosperity as a counter to democracy, something that the Soviet Union was never able to do.

Ironically, China is a competitor that the United States abetted. Its well known that the U.S. consumer market fed Chinas export engine, itself outfitted with U.S. machines, and led to the fastest-growing economy in the world since the 1980s. Whats less well-known is how a handful of technology companies transferred the know-how and trained the experts now giving the United States a run for its money in AI.

Blame Bill Gates, for one. In 1992, Gates led Microsoft into Chinas fledgling software market. Six years later, he established Microsoft Research Asia, the companys largest basic and applied computer-research institute outside the United States. People from that organization have gone on to found or lead many of Chinas top technology institutions.

China is a competitor that the United States abetted. A handful of U.S. tech companies transferred their know-how and trained some of China's top AI experts.

Ever hear of TikTok? In 2012, Zhang Yiming, a Microsoft Research Asia alum, founded the video-sharing platforms parent company, ByteDance, which today is one of the worlds most successful AI companies. He hired a former head of Microsoft Research Asia, Zhang Hongjiang, to lead ByteDances Technical Strategy Research Center. This Zhang is now head of the Beijing Academy the organization behind Wu Dao 2.0, currently the largest AI system on the planet. That back-and-forth worries U.S. national-security strategists, who plan for a day when researchers and companies are forced to take sides.

Todays competition has roots in an incident on 7 May 1999, when a U.S. B-2 Stealth Bomber dropped bombs on the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, killing three people.

That's when the Chinese started saying, We're moving beyond attrition warfare to what they referred to as systems confrontation, the confrontation between their operational system and the American operational system, says Robert O. Work, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense and vice chairman of the recently concluded National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. Their theory of victory is what they refer to as system destruction.

The Chinese and the Americans see this much the same way, says Work, calling it a hot competition. If one can blow apart their adversarys battle network, the adversary won't be able to operate and won't be able to achieve their objectives.

System-destruction warfare is part and parcel of what the Peoples Liberation Army thinks of as intelligentized warfare, in which war is waged not only in the traditional physical domains of land, sea, and air but also in outer space, nonphysical cyberspace, and electromagnetic and even psychological domainsall enabled and coordinated with AI.

Work says the first major U.S. AI effort toward intelligentized warfare was to use computer vision to analyze thousands of hours of full-motion video being downloaded from dozens of drones. Today, that effort, dubbed Project Maven, detects, classifies, and tracks objects within video images, and it has been extended to acoustic data and signals intelligence.

The Chinese have kept pace. According to Georgetown Universitys Center for Security and Emerging Technology, China is actively pursuing AI-based target recognition and automatic-weapon-firing research, which could be used in lethal autonomous weapons. Meanwhile, the country may be ahead of the United States in swarm technology, according to Work. Georgetowns CSET reports that China is developing electromagnetic weapon payloads that can be attached to swarms of small unmanned aerial vehicles and flown into enemy airspace to disrupt or block the enemy's command and decision-making.

I worry about their emphasis on swarms of unmanned systems, says Work, adding that the Chinese want to train swarms of a hundred vehicles or more, including underwater systems, to coordinate navigation through complex environments. While we also test swarms, we have yet to demonstrate the ability to employ these types of swarms in a combat scenario.

Chinese firm Baiduwhose comparatively modest Sunnyvale, Calif. office is pictured here in 2018is one of the largest Internet companies in the world. Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

This type of research and testing has prompted calls for preemptive bans on lethal autonomous weapons, but neither country is willing to declare an outright prohibition. Barring a prohibition, many people believe that China and the United States, along with other countries, should begin negotiating an arms-control agreement banning the development of systems that could autonomously order a preemptive or retaliatory attack. Such systems might inadvertently lead to flash wars, just as AI-driven autonomous trading has led to flash crashes in the financial markets.

Neither of us wants to get into a war because an autonomous-control system made a mistake and ordered a preemptive strike, Work says, referring to the United States and China.

All of this contributes to a dilemma facing the twin realms of AI research and military modernization. The international research community, collaborative and collegial, prefers to look the other way and insist that it only serves the interest of science. But the governments that fund that research have clear agendas, and military enhancement is undeniably one.

Geoffrey Hinton, regarded as one of the godfathers of deep learning, the kind of AI transforming militaries today, left the United States and moved to Canada largely because he didnt want to depend on funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. The agency, the largest funder of AI research in the world, is responsible for the development of emerging technologies for military use.

Hinton instead helped to put deep learning on the map in 2012 with a now-famous neural net called AlexNet when he was at the University of Toronto. But Hinton was also in close contact with the Microsoft Research Lab in Redmond, Wash., before and after his group validated AlexNet, according to one of Hintons associates there, Li Deng, then principal researcher and manager and later chief scientist of AI at Microsoft.

In 2009 and 2010, Hinton and Deng worked together at Microsoft on speech recognition and Deng, then Editor-In-Chief of the IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, was invited in 2011 to lecture at several academic organizations in China where he said he shared the published success of deep learning in speech processing. Deng said he was in close contact with former Microsoft colleagues at Baidu, a Chinese search engine and AI giant, and a company called iFlyTek, a spin off from Dengs undergraduate alma mater.

When Hinton achieved his breakthrough with backpropagation in neural networks in 2012, he sent an email to Deng in Washington, and Deng said he shared it with Microsoft executives, including Qi Lu who led the development of the companys search engine, Bing. Deng said he also sent a note to his friends at iFlyTek, which quickly adopted the strategy and became an AI powerhousefamously demonstrated in 2017 with a convincing video of then-president Donald Trump speaking Chinese.

Qi Lu went on to become COO of Baidu where Deng said another Microsoft alum, Kai Yu, who also knew Hinton well, had already seized on Hintons breakthrough.

Chinas theory of victory is what they refer to as system destruction.

Robert O. Work, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense

Literally within hours of Hintons results, according to Deng, researchers in China were working on repeating his success.

Had they not learned of Hintons work through the research grapevine, they still would have read about it in published papers and heard about it through international conferences. Research today has no borders. It is internationally fungible.

But the United States has since tried to limit this crosspollination, barring Chinese nationals known to have worked for Chinas military or intelligence organizations from working with U.S. research institutions. Yet research continues to flow back and forth between the two countries: Microsoft maintains its research lab in Beijing, and the Chinese Internet and AI giant Baidu has a research lab in Silicon Valley, for example.

Tsinghua Universitys Tang said decoupling the two countries would slow Chinas AI researchnot because it would stop the flow of ideas, but because it would cut China off from the advanced semiconductors needed to train AI models. He said his group is working on chip designs to speed AI training. China, meanwhile, is working to build extreme ultraviolet lithography machines and upgrade its semiconductor foundries to free itself from Western control.

While the U.S. government must negotiate with private sector organizations and researchers to participate in its military modernization, Chinas National Intelligence Law compels its companies and researchers to cooperate when asked.

China began pouring billions of dollars into AI research in 2017, following Google subsidiary DeepMinds success at defeating the world Go champion with its AI model AlphaGo. Among the organizations set up with that funding was Tsinghuas Beijing Academy, where Tang and his team built Wu Dao 2.0.

We hope that we can do science for the world, not just the one country, Tang says. But, he added, we should do something on demand based on the national project research plan.

By most metrics, Wu Dao 2.0 has surpassed OpenAIs GPT-3. Tang says it was trained on 4.9 terabytes of clean data, including Chinese-language text, English-language text, and images. OpenAI has said that GPT-3 was trained on just 570 gigabytes of clean, primarily English-language text.

Tang says his group is now working on video with the goal of generating realistic video from text descriptions. Hopefully, we can make this model do something beyond the Turing test, he says, referring to an assessment of whether a computer can generate text indistinguishable from that created by a human. That's our final goal.

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