Machine learning & AI news

Consumer & Gadgets

Research finds hotel booking chatbots can 'creep out' customers

Travelers who use AI-powered chatbots on hotel booking platforms often feel uneasy. That discomfort can cause them to disengage or delay booking decisions, according to new research from the Texas A&M College of Agriculture ...

Hardware

New light-based switch could cut chip energy use and speed future AI photonics

Photonic devices are hardware systems that can process information using light instead of electricity. These systems could potentially perform computations faster than electronic devices, while also consuming less energy.

Computer Sciences

Enhanced YOLO framework boosts 360-degree small-object detection to 90% accuracy

Omnidirectional cameras are widely popular as they capture a full 360-degree view. They are often utilized for surveillance, traffic analysis, and autonomous systems. But the same wide-angle vision also leads to a technical ...

Machine learning & AI

AI controversy swirls around writer from Trinidad and Tobago who won a prestigious prize

A prize-winning Caribbean writer from Trinidad and Tobago is embroiled in the latest controversy involving the use of AI for a creative work, after allegations that artificial intelligence was used to write a short story.

Machine learning & AI

When AI imagines cities, smaller communities can disappear

When College of Natural Resources and Environment geospatial data scientist Junghwan Kim asked an artificial intelligence (AI) image generator to create a picture of Blacksburg, the result wasn't quite right. "The image looked ...

Robotics

What AI taxis and robots can learn from bees

Even advanced technology can struggle when the real world becomes unpredictable. In April 2026, a Waymo robotaxi in San Antonio, Texas, drove into a flooded lane during severe weather, prompting the company to recall about ...

Internet

US enforces law to crack down on sexual deepfakes

The United States on Tuesday began enforcing a law requiring tech platforms to remove sexual deepfakes and other non-consensual intimate imagery, but experts warned of shortcomings and raised online censorship concerns.

Machine learning & AI

From graduation boos to voter unease: AI anxiety grows in the US

Speakers promoting AI are getting booed at universities, voters are rebelling against data centers, and even AI-friendly Trump administration officials are starting to retreat as an artificial intelligence backlash gathers ...

Security

AI can seem more human than real humans in a classic Turing test

A new University of California San Diego study unveils the first empirical evidence that a modern artificial intelligence system can pass the Turing test—a major scientific benchmark that asks whether a machine can imitate ...

Machine learning & AI

How transparent is AI in the workplace and in recruitment?

As artificial intelligence continues to transform recruitment and workplace practices, questions around transparency, fairness, and trust are becoming increasingly urgent. A new article sheds light on how workers and job ...

Machine learning & AI

SmartDJ lets users reshape audio experiences with simple words

Penn Engineers have developed SmartDJ, an AI-powered editor that lets users modify immersive audio environments with simple instructions in everyday language, with potential applications in virtual reality, augmented reality, ...

Consumer & Gadgets

Why faster AI isn't always better

In the race to make AI models not just reason better but respond faster, latency—the delay before an answer appears—is often treated as a purely technical constraint, something to minimize and move past. But how is this relentless ...

Machine learning & AI

China's top AI players

China's artificial intelligence boom is in full swing, with the release of a new large language model (LLM) by top startup DeepSeek on Friday highlighting the country's rapid progress despite U.S. export restrictions on advanced ...

Business

'Clearly me': AI drama accused of stealing faces

Christine Li is a model and influencer, but not an actor, so when she saw herself playing a cruel character in a Chinese microdrama she felt bewildered, then angry and afraid.

Internet

YouTube offers deepfake detection to Hollywood

YouTube is offering Hollywood celebrities and entertainers a free detection tool to help combat their deepfakes, expanding the Google-owned video platform's efforts to guard against AI-driven impersonations.

Business

Making big tech algorithms 'fair' is harder than it looks

Before big tech engineers can improve the fairness of recommendation systems, such as social media feeds and online shopping results, they need to define what "fairness" even means. Should an app show people only the content ...

Internet

How AI bias can creep into online content moderation

A University of Queensland study has shown large language models (LLMs) used in AI content moderation may be prone to subtle biases that undermine their neutrality. A team led by data scientist Professor Gianluca Demartini ...