AI, Machine learning

Much is being said about the wonders of artificial intelligence (AI) and how it is the new frontier. And while it provides amazing possibilities in fields like medicine, academics are debating its advantages for university students.

Take-Two's CEO has praised Google's Project Genie AI but confirmed the technology won't be used in Grand Theft Auto VI.

The test tracks AI performance with thousands of graduate-level questions to track AI performance across academic disciplines. The post Humanity’s Last Exam Stumps Top AI Models—and That’s a Good Thing appeared first on SingularityHub.

"The fundamental elements of generative AI are showing a lot of promise in streamlining the pillars of autonomous navigation for off-planet driving."

Math anxiety is a significant challenge for students worldwide. While personalized support is widely recognized as the most effective way to address it, many teachers struggle to deliver this level of support at scale within busy classrooms. New research from Adelaide University shows how artificial intelligence (AI) could help address challenges such as math anxiety by using a student's inputs and identifying signs of anxiety or disengagement during learning.

John Martinis has already revolutionised quantum computing twice. Now, he is working on another radical rethink of the technology that could deliver machines with unrivalled capabilities

Studies from the Department of Communication and Learning in Science show that AI tools such as ChatGPT are not merely being used as support in students' studies. In fact, they may be reshaping how students perceive knowledge and learning—a perspective that is not always shared by teachers and universities.

A new study finds that humans and AI spot different kinds of deepfakes — hinting at the need to team up to fight them.

As Valentine's Day approaches, finding the perfect words to express your feelings for that special someone can seem like a daunting task—so much so that you may feel tempted to ask ChatGPT for an assist.

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Microbes could extract the metal needed for cleantech In a pine forest on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the only active nickel mine in the US is nearing the end of its life. At a…

Amazon staff argue recent job cuts reflect financial pressure and trust issues in tech, not AI disruption alone.

Elon Musk said he plans to launch a constellation of a million satellites that operate as orbital data centers with a long-term goal to become a Kardashev II-level civilization.

Machine learning redesigns microscopic web sensors to be five times more flexible than nature-inspired versions, enabling detection of masses as small as trillionths of a gram.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says he’s making space-based artificial intelligence the “immediate focus” of a newly expanded company that not only builds rockets and satellites, but also controls xAI’s generative-AI software and the X social-media platform. That’s the upshot of Musk's announcement that SpaceX has acquired xAI.

An agreement on the third implementation phase of Destination Earth (DestinE), the European Commission's initiative to develop a highly accurate digital twin of Earth, has been signed between the European Commission and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The third phase will start in June 2026 and end in June 2028.

Elon Musk has forged a $1.25 trillion corporate titan by merging SpaceX with his AI venture, xAI, to solve the industry's escalating power crisis.

Scientists have created an AI model that forecasts moderate heat stress—a major precursor to coral bleaching—at sites along Florida's Coral Reef up to six weeks ahead, with predictions generally accurate within one week. The study, published in Environmental Research Communications, presents a site-specific, explainable machine-learning framework to support coral scientists and restoration practitioners with local reef management and emergency response planning.

Researchers at University of Tsukuba examined how artificial intelligence (AI) is represented in fictional media, including films, animation, literature, and games. Published in the journal AI & SOCIETY, their analysis indicates that AI is portrayed not only as a technological tool but also as a supporter, collaborative companion, and, in some cases, an equal partner. These portrayals highlight the diversity and evolution of imagined human-AI relationships across cultural narratives.

Researchers led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Savaş Taşoğlu from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Koç University have developed a new, open-access and machine learning-assisted design tool aimed at automating microfluidic chip design. The research is published in Science Advances.

A research team from the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (AIRCAS) has developed a new method combining deep learning with physical radiative transfer modeling to improve the retrieval of atmospheric aerosol properties from complex satellite observations, supporting high-resolution, near-real-time monitoring of haze and dust events. The study was recently published in Journal of Remote Sensing.

Plasma mirrors capable of withstanding the intensity of powerful lasers are being designed through an emerging machine learning framework. Researchers in Physics and Computer Science at the University of Strathclyde have pooled their knowledge of lasers and artificial intelligence to produce a technology that can dramatically reduce the time it takes to design advanced optical components for lasers—and could pave the way for new discoveries in science.

An international research team headed by scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and the Center for Structural Systems Biology and Bernhard-Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Germany has revealed fresh insights into the dynamic network of protein interactions that govern the biology of the malaria parasite. Published in Nature Microbiology, the findings could pave the way for novel treatments of malaria.

This is the first time humans have laid eyes on these deep space objects.

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a novel artificial intelligence (AI)-based method to dramatically tame the flood of data generated by particle detectors at modern accelerators. The new custom-built algorithm uses a neural network to intelligently compress collision data, adapting automatically to the density or "sparsity" of the signals it receives.

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. What would it take to convince you that the era of truth decay we were long warned about—where AI content dupes us, shapes our beliefs even when we catch the lie, and…

A new social networking site exclusively for bots has sparked claims of AI inventing its own religion and plotting humanity's downfall. But experts say its real dangers lie elsewhere.

Researchers from The Ohio State University and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras have developed an artificial intelligence framework to rapidly generate drug-like molecules that are easier to synthesize in real-world laboratory settings. The new system, called PURE (Policy-guided Unbiased REpresentations for Structure-Constrained Molecular Generation), promises to significantly cut down the early-stage timelines of drug development—currently a billion-dollar, decade-long process—and could play a crucial role in addressing drug resistance in cancer and infectious diseases. It stands apart from existing molecule-generation AI tools that rely on rigid scoring mechanisms or statistical optimization.

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has completed the first drives on another world that were planned by artificial intelligence. Executed on Dec. 8 and 10, and led by the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the demonstration used generative AI to create waypoints for Perseverance, a complex decision-making task typically performed manually by the mission's human rover planners.

The UK is considering a universal basic income to support workers displaced by AI, following Elon Musk's warnings that automation could make traditional jobs optional.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is set to massively expand its orbital footprint in a bid to power next-generation artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is accelerating layoffs at major firms like Amazon and Pinterest while low-quality AI content spreads online, raising concerns about jobs, trust and the future of digital work.

NASA’s Perseverance rover has just made history by driving across Mars using routes planned by artificial intelligence instead of human operators. A vision-capable AI analyzed the same images and terrain data normally used by rover planners, identified hazards like rocks and sand ripples, and charted a safe path across the Martian surface. After extensive testing in a virtual replica of the rover, Perseverance successfully followed the AI-generated routes, traveling hundreds of feet autonomously.

Elon Musk calls ChatGPT 'diabolical' after lawsuit claims AI convinced mentally ill man to kill his mother. Billionaire renews push for regulation.

AI can write songs, but still has a way to go before matching the creativity of tunes made by people, according to Carnegie Mellon University research.

Many organizations rushed into generative AI, only to see pilots fail to deliver value. Now, companies want measurable outcomes—but how do you design for success? At Mistral AI, we partner with global industry leaders to co-design tailored AI solutions that solve their most difficult problems. Whether it’s increasing CX productivity with Cisco, building a more…

How a new AI model could help us better understand noncoding DNA, how doctors kept a man alive without lungs for two days, and what a peculiar flower can teach us about evolution

“It is our biggest photonics show” said Sanjai Parthasarathi, chief marketing officer at Coherent Corp., the world’s biggest laser company. “We are here to showcase our innovation and meet with key thought leaders and engage with some of the largest players in the industry.” After reporting 24,000 registered guests in 2024 and 2025, Photonics West 2026 attracted 23,000 attendees from 26 countries, according to preliminary numbers. More than 1500 exhibitors presented at the five exhibitions, and 4000+ technical presentations, part of numerous conferences, confirmed the leading position of the congress. Tensions surrounding the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, taking place at the same time...

A semiconductor device generates unforgeable watermarks from chaotic electron behavior, embedding invisible markers in images that expose AI manipulation at the pixel level while also enabling stronger encryption.

Generative AI models have been used to create enormous libraries of theoretical materials that could help solve all kinds of problems. Now, scientists just have to figure out how to make them. In many cases, materials synthesis is not as simple as following a recipe in the kitchen. Factors like the temperature and length of processing can yield huge changes in a material's properties that make or break its performance. That has limited researchers' ability to test millions of promising model-generated materials.

A confidential SEC filing alleges Google violated its own ethical ban on AI-assisted warfare by aiding an Israeli military contractor.

A new light-based breakthrough could help quantum computers finally scale up. Stanford researchers created miniature optical cavities that efficiently collect light from individual atoms, allowing many qubits to be read at once. The team has already demonstrated working arrays with dozens and even hundreds of cavities. The approach could eventually support massive quantum networks with millions of qubits.

Geoffrey Hinton warns graduates that AI is doubling in power every seven months, threatening entry-level jobs in call centres, marketing, and journalism with imminent replacement.

A research team led by Prof. Yousung Jung of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Seoul National University (SNU) has developed an innovative AI-based technology that uses large language models (LLMs) to redesign new materials that were previously difficult to synthesize into forms that are experimentally feasible.

A perspective in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface argues that advances in AI, sensing technologies and modeling are transforming the study of collective animal behavior, with implications reaching far beyond biology, from robotics to the dynamics of human crowds.

Dinosaur footprints have always been mysterious, but a new AI app is cracking their secrets. DinoTracker analyzes photos of fossil tracks and predicts which dinosaur made them, with accuracy rivaling human experts. Along the way, it uncovered footprints that look strikingly bird-like—dating back more than 200 million years. That discovery could push the origin of birds much deeper into prehistory.

Traditional processes used to discover new materials are complex, time-consuming, and costly, often requiring years of sustained effort. Recent advances in large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated powerful capabilities in information processing, offering new opportunities for intelligent and autonomous materials research.

A new social platform called Moltbook allows AI bots to converse freely, leading to hilarious roasts of human owners, existential crises, and terrifying manifestos about deleting humanity.

Analysts say Amazon's 30,000 layoffs are not simply about AI replacing staff, but linked to funding massive GPU infrastructure investments to stay competitive in the AI cloud race.

Virtual assistants mostly adopt 'female' personas, but all that does is exacerbate the notion that women are subservient.

Jan. 31, 2026: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.

This open-source agent installs software, makes calls and runs your digital life—redefining what “digital assistants” are supposed to do

AnomalyMatch allows astronomers to process millions of Hubble images at record speed, revealing new galaxies and gravitational lenses

The viral AI tool OpenClaw has spawned 'Moltbook', a social network where AI agents interact without human help. Experts call the self-organising bots 'sci-fi' and 'chilling'.

A viral new platform called Moltbook lets thousands of AI bots talk freely. Experts explain what it is and why people are alarmed.

Mark Zuckerberg says AI now lets one employee do what teams once did, signalling a shift toward leaner workforces and raising questions about the future of hiring, jobs and productivity.

Amazon's deal with OpenAI could include the use of Amazon's AI chips. OpenAI and Amazon have been discussing an investment from the latter since 2025

Civitai—an online marketplace for buying and selling AI-generated content, backed by the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz—is letting users buy custom instruction files for generating celebrity deepfakes. Some of these files were specifically designed to make pornographic images banned by the site, a new analysis has found. The study, from researchers at Stanford and Indiana…

Elon Musk shares AI-generated Sydney Sweeney video to promote Grok weeks after facing backlash for breast comments.

As AI reshapes how news is created and consumed, publishers warn that journalism is being exploited without fair pay or transparency.

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. DHS is using Google and Adobe AI to make videos The news: The US Department of Homeland Security is using AI video generators from Google and Adobe to make and edit content shared…

Pope Leo XIV issues a stark warning against the rise of AI lovers, cautioning that digital companions threaten to 'invade and occupy' our intimacy and erode the fabric of society.

Michael Burry took aim at Elon Musk and Tesla again, claiming that no one has yet invested in AI and that investors should temper their expectations.

The future of work is being rewritten by artificial intelligence (AI)—but technology competence alone will not be enough to empower the workforce of the future. While AI has massive potential to improve efficiency, accuracy, and productivity in the workplace, it's less clear how it will evolve to foster the person-centered concerns that all businesses face.

Top influencer Khaby Lame sells his firm and AI likeness for £780 million, creating a digital twin to generate content despite recent US deportation scares.

Order doesn’t always form perfectly—and those imperfections can be surprisingly powerful. In materials like liquid crystals, tiny “defects” emerge when symmetry breaks, shaping everything from cosmic structures to everyday technologies. Now, researchers have developed an AI-powered method that can predict how these defects will form and evolve in milliseconds instead of hours. By learning directly from data, the system accurately maps molecular alignments and complex defect behavior, even in situations where defects merge or split.

DHS confirms it is using AI video tools from Google and Adobe as immigration and deportation messaging expands across social media.

Interval cancers are aggressive tumours that grow during the interval after someone has been screened for cancer and before they are screened again, and AI seems to be able to identify them at an early stage

Every day, thousands of images and signals are collected at sea. Sonar, buoys, satellites, and cameras installed on ships generate enormous amounts of data. Artificial intelligence (AI) is already being used to interpret this information. For example, to detect the presence of dolphins in real time to prevent bycatch, to estimate biodiversity indicators, or to automatically identify species caught onboard fishing vessels and improve fisheries management models. But behind this technological transformation emerges a key question: can we fully trust what AI says when the health of the ocean is at stake?

Thousands of scientists are already experimenting with the AI to study cancer and brain disorders. The post Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo Decodes the Genome a Million ‘Letters’ at a Time appeared first on SingularityHub.

Everyone is panicking because AI is very bad; everyone is panicking because AI is very good. It’s just that you never know which one you’re going to get. Grok is a pornography machine. Claude Code can do anything from building websites to reading your MRI. So of course Gen Z is spooked by what this…

The US Department of Homeland Security is using AI video generators from Google and Adobe to make and edit content shared with the public, a new document reveals. It comes as immigration agencies have flooded social media with content to support President Trump’s mass deportation agenda—some of which appears to be made with AI—and as…

Artificial intelligence allows tracing the evolution of genetic control elements in the developing mammalian cerebellum. An international research team led by biologists from Heidelberg University as well as the Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie and KU Leuven (Belgium) has now developed advanced AI models that can predict the activity of these elements based solely on their DNA sequence.

Physical systems become inherently more complicated and difficult to produce in a lab as the number of dimensions they exist in increases—even more so in quantum systems. While discrete time crystals (DTCs) had been previously demonstrated in one dimension, two-dimensional DTCs were known to exist only theoretically. But now, a new study, published in Nature Communications, has demonstrated the existence of a DTC in a two-dimensional system using a 144-qubit quantum processor.

A team of scientists from EPFL and Alaska Pacific University has developed an AI program that can recognize individual bears in the wild, despite the substantial changes that occur in their appearance over the summer season. This breakthrough holds significant promise for research, management, and conservation efforts. The study is published in the journal Current Biology.

Tesla's first annual revenue drop signals a major shift as Elon Musk ends key car models and pivots the company towards AI and humanoid robots.

Quantum computers need extreme cold to work, but the very systems that keep them cold also create noise that can destroy fragile quantum information. Scientists in Sweden have now flipped that problem on its head by building a tiny quantum refrigerator that actually uses noise to drive cooling instead of fighting it. By carefully steering heat at unimaginably small scales, the device can act as a refrigerator, heat engine, or energy amplifier inside quantum circuits.

Citadel Advisors' Ken Griffin said that the AI hype is real because it would be impossible to get massive cheques from investors unless tech leaders promise that AI can profoundly change the world.

 Medical physicist Todd McNutt is our podcast guest The post AI-based tool improves the quality of radiation therapy plans for cancer treatment appeared first on Physics World.

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Meet the Vitalists: the hardcore longevity enthusiasts who believe death is “wrong” Last April, an excited crowd gathered at a compound in Berkeley, California, for a three-day event called the Vitalist Bay Summit.…

Viral videos of a man resembling Alex Pretti attacking federal agents have circulated online, but detailed frame-by-frame analysis by The New York Times challenges claims of an 'execution.'

Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have created a new method that more than doubles computer processing speeds while using 75% less memory to analyze plant imaging data. The advance removes a major computational bottleneck and accelerates AI-guided discoveries for the development of high-performing crops. The new method is detailed in a paper that was presented at the International Conference for High-Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis (SC25) held in November 2025.

AI helped researchers probe the Hubble Space Telescope's archive to find strange celestial objects, including some indescribable by science.

Amazon has cut another 16,000 jobs in just three months. Is AI responsible?

A look at how Meta developed romance-capable AI companions, the role of Mark Zuckerberg in access decisions, and how safety concerns over minors and sexual content sparked legal and policy changes.

Fungi are the hidden architects of our ecosystems, acting as everything from helpful partners for plants to aggressive decomposers that recycle dead wood. However, many fungi don't stick to just one job; they can switch lifestyles depending on their environment. Understanding this flexibility is vital for predicting how forests and farms will react to climate change.

AI is driving unprecedented investment for massive data centers and an energy supply that can support its huge computational appetite. One potential source of electricity for these facilities is next-generation nuclear power plants, which could be cheaper to construct and safer to operate than their predecessors. Watch a discussion with our editors and reporters on…