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 ...

Business

Google parent Alphabet to raise $80 bn to fuel AI expansion

Google parent Alphabet announced Monday it plans to raise up to $80 billion in stock to fund a major expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, with Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway committing $10 billion ...

Machine learning & AI

AI unearths soccer talent beyond scouts' radar

Brazilian teenager Leo Veiga had almost given up on his dream of becoming a professional soccer player when artificial intelligence helped him secure a spot in the youth ranks of an Italian club.

Machine learning & AI

This researcher put AI in the big game. It did not play well

A researcher analyzing reams of data. A traveler translating a foreign language. A student writing an essay. There are many ways that artificial intelligence has been proven to help an individual in a challenging situation. ...

Hardware

Rethinking AI hardware with tiny vibrating beams

Cornell researchers have developed a new type of computing device that stores information electrically but reads it through tiny mechanical motion, an unusual approach that could open a path toward more energy-efficient hardware ...

Internet

What platforms need to consider when labeling AI-generated images

AI-generated images are widespread on social media. Starting in August 2026, platforms will be required under the EU AI Act to label certain types of such content. A study by CISPA researcher Sandra Höltervennhoff investigates ...

Business

AI giant Anthropic confidentially files for IPO

AI giant Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, announced Monday that it had filed confidentially for an initial public offering (IPO), as Silicon Valley AI companies look to raise the enormous sums needed to fuel the ...

Machine learning & AI

Survey finds generational gap in attitudes to AI romance

Almost 50% of young adults in six major economies think AI romantic companionship will improve human happiness through emotional support in the next decade, the results of a large survey suggested Monday.

Machine learning & AI

Florida sues OpenAI, CEO Altman over ChatGPT harm to minors

Florida's attorney general on Monday sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, accusing the company's ChatGPT chatbot of endangering young users by making them addicted and encouraging harmful behaviors.

Electronics & Semiconductors

Photon-driven synapse advances low-power neuromorphic systems

Modern artificial intelligence systems rely on moving large amounts of data between memory and processors, a design that limits speed and increases energy use. The human brain works differently: it combines memory and computation ...

Robotics

A stair-climbing robot that catches itself when it falls

SUTD researchers have developed a reinforcement-learning-based safety system that teaches a stair-traversing service robot to brace itself mid-fall, addressing one of the biggest barriers to deploying autonomous robots on ...