Machine learning & AI news

Machine learning & AI

AI agents can build consensus on a scale humans can't

Everyone is familiar with the situation: A larger group of people plans to visit a restaurant together, but it can take time and sometimes a great deal of patience to agree on a time and place to meet. The better the participants ...

Engineering

AI could help design cities, but planners need safeguards

AI is showing up in nearly every aspect of daily life—from internet searches to visits to the doctor's office. It could one day even play a role in the street layout in front of your apartment building.

Robotics

Robots learn new skills from a single video—in just 29 seconds

To operate reliably in dynamic real-world settings, robots should be able to acquire new skills quickly without undergoing extensive additional training. Most existing robotic systems, however, primarily perform well on the ...

Security

Swarm-inspired AI may expose suspicious blockchain cash flows more effectively

An AI model inspired by ants, bees and birds could be key to cracking down on blockchain-based money laundering, new research led by Charles Darwin University (CDU) has found. The study is published in the journal Communications ...

Machine learning & AI

AI helps turn citizen photos into water-level data

For the past 15 years, Christopher Lowry, Ph.D., has led CrowdHydrology, a University at Buffalo citizen-science project that relies on thousands of volunteers to collect water-level observations from streams and other waterways ...

Machine learning & AI

Q&A: Promise and perils of agentic AI

Chatbots and large language models can execute a seemingly countless number of tasks, from writing emails and reports to generating code and analyzing data. However, they still primarily act only in response to user prompts ...

Security

How attackers persuade AI agents to break the rules

Today, most of us interact with AI assistants—reactive bots that wait for human instructions. Yet AI assistants are rapidly being replaced by agentic AI agents that can interact with external tools, browse the web, generate ...

Machine learning & AI

OpenAI says ads are coming to ChatGPT in Europe next week

European users of ChatGPT's free and low-cost artificial intelligence agents will start seeing ads Aug. 24 as its creator, OpenAI, expands its plan to extract more revenue from its models.

Machine learning & AI

China goes rural with data centers in quest to power AI

In China's hilly Guizhou province, a cluster of European-style buildings complete with a clock tower and a multi-arched bridge emits a low, permanent hum—a clue to its unexpected identity as tech giant Huawei's largest data ...

Machine learning & AI

Don't let AI shape humanity's future: UN chief

The United Nations chief called Monday for a global governance system to shape artificial intelligence for the good of humanity, warning against allowing the technology to "vibe-code" our future.

Consumer & Gadgets

AI as a listening ear: Helpful or risky?

More and more people are turning to AI when they feel stressed or worried. Researchers at Leiden University studied how and why people use chatbots for emotional support. Their conclusion: AI meets a real need, but also raises ...

Consumer & Gadgets

AI-powered social media can subtly manipulate opinion at scale

AI tools used to generate, edit or contextualize social media posts can introduce hidden biases that spread through online networks and shape public opinion, according to new research from the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) ...

Business

AI race weakens climate pledges at Google, Amazon

Google and Amazon this week reported sharp increases in greenhouse gas emissions, driven by the frantic construction of artificial intelligence infrastructure that is pushing the tech giants further from their carbon-neutrality ...

Business

Meta shares surge on report of new AI cloud business

Shares of Meta Platforms jumped more than 6% on Wall Street on Wednesday after a report said the social media giant is preparing to launch a cloud computing business that would sell AI computing power to outside customers.