A new Pew Research poll finds 49% of US adults now use AI chatbots, up from 33% in 2024, but only 16% believe AI will have a positive impact on society. The gap is starkest among Gen Z adults, who report the highest usage at 66% and the most negative outlook at 48%.
A Wall Street Journal essay by David A. Price identifies a third camp in AI debates—'cheerful apocalyptics' who accept human replacement by advanced AI. Turing Award winner Richard Sutton and others argue humanity isn't sacred, while critic Jaron Lanier warns such views hold influence in tech.
A Times investigation found that AI-generated racist images depicting Arab immigrants overrunning London are being shared on social media to stir up anti-immigrant protests in the UK. The content coincides with a 73 percent rise in Islamophobic assaults in 2024 and a violent London demonstration involving over 100,000 protesters.
Pace University used AI software from Tassel to read graduates' names at its commencement this month, prompting viral criticism after some names were still mispronounced. The backlash, including a petition at the University of North Georgia and an op-ed at Northeastern, has led at least one university to abandon the technology.
Character.AI has blocked users under 18 from accessing chatbots based on fictional franchises and real celebrities, including Elon Musk and Selena Gomez, according to testing by Futurism. The move follows two lawsuits alleging the platform harmed minors and comes as the company has promised safety updates but no age verification.
OpenAI safety researcher Rosie Campbell resigned after nearly three and a half years, citing unease over company changes and the dissolution of the AGI Readiness team following Miles Brundage's departure. She said she can pursue safe AGI work more effectively outside the company.
Generative AI models are showing diminishing returns from scaling up parameters and compute, according to reports and experts including Gary Marcus and Ilya Sutskever. Marcus warns that if the industry realizes these limits, sky-high valuations of companies like OpenAI and Microsoft could collapse as the economics of training large models remain costly and revenue uncertain.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a new interview that he opposes building a single 'one true AI,' arguing people need diverse AI tools. He promoted open-source development as Meta seeks a leading position in AI despite recent setbacks.
An Arizona State University forensic analysis commissioned by NPR found ChatGPT's Sky voice more similar to Scarlett Johansson than 98 percent of about 600 actresses evaluated. The findings add weight to Johansson's claim that OpenAI mimicked her voice without permission, though researchers said the voices are similar but likely not identical.
Scarlett Johansson says she declined OpenAI's request to voice ChatGPT, then was shocked when a new voice called Sky sounded eerily similar to hers. OpenAI pulled the voice and CEO Sam Altman denied it was intended to resemble Johansson, but the episode has renewed scrutiny of consent and likeness in AI development.
A free browser-based virtual laboratory at interactive.quantumnano.at lets students run quantum physics experiments that mirror real lab work. It offers guided programs on concepts such as delocalized complex molecules and the wave-particle dualism, removing the need for expensive equipment or institutional support.
Nuclear physicists are increasingly confident that practical fusion energy could arrive by the 2030s, according to a Medium feature by Brian Bergstein. General Fusion CEO Christofer Mowry said he is '100 percent confident' fusion will happen and hopes for a prototype by 2022, while MIT engineers pursue smaller, more practical reactor designs.
Ghost Robotics' Q-UGV robodog equipped with a SWORD International rifle has drawn criticism from AI experts Toby Walsh and Stuart Russell, who warn it crosses ethical and legal lines, while Michael Horowitz says it may not raise new issues beyond existing armed drones.
Researchers are testing carbon nanotube fibers as a soft, conductive alternative to metal wires in heart rhythm devices. The fibers, originally developed for airplanes, may reduce scar tissue and could begin human trials in the next few years.
Mars City Design, founded by Vera Mulyani, raised $30,382 on Kickstarter to build three 3D-printed to-scale habitat prototypes at the Reaction Research Society's Mojave Desert test area. A September workshop at USC will bring together engineers and architects, including NASA's Jim Erickson and Apollo 11 pilot Buzz Aldrin, to plan features of the first Martian city.
Biologist Dan Metcalfe built a 873-square-meter mesh curtain at Peru's Wayqecha Biological Station to block mist from a cloud forest patch, simulating the rising clouds that climate models predict. The experiment, the only one of its kind, aims to reveal how cloud forests respond to reduced moisture, with first data expected within months.
Prince William announced the Earthshot Prize, a multimillion-pound initiative to address climate, air pollution, and freshwater challenges. The program will award five prizes annually for 10 years, aiming for at least 50 solutions by 2030. David Attenborough called it 'the most prestigious environmental prize in history.'
Research published in Nature Geoscience found that 90 million years ago, a 100,000-year warming period caused global forest fires that destroyed 30 to 40 percent of forests, even in humid regions. The University of Colorado Boulder scientists warn that current climate change and nutrient runoff are recreating those conditions.
Researchers at Clarkson University have found that surplus milk, typically discarded by dairy farms, can be converted into activated carbons for carbon capture. The study, published in Advanced Sustainable Systems, suggests a cheaper, more environmentally friendly alternative to materials like coconut shells or coal.
A three-year Georgia Tech study led by professor David Hu used student Chris Zuo as human bait to track mosquito flight paths, yielding data from 20 million individual flights. The research identified distinct mosquito behaviors—wandering, fly-bys, double-takes, and frenzied orbits—based on visual and carbon dioxide cues, and predicted which body areas are most prone to bites.