Machine learning & AI news

Electronics & Semiconductors

AI speeds up discovery of next-gen computer chips and electronic materials

An international study team, led by Flinders University in collaboration with Khalifa University UAE, built the machine-learning platform to act like a "smart materials discovery engine," which is capable of dramatically ...

Robotics

Motion tracking system shows robots the path most traveled by, keeping them on task

There's a delicate art to teaching robots, even when you're preparing them for predictable environments like factories, where they'll repeat the same tasks a little differently depending on the obstacles they face. Whether ...

Robotics

New framework helps robots turn complex language into precise 3D actions

Over the past few decades, roboticists worldwide have introduced increasingly advanced robots that can understand human instructions, move in their surroundings and reliably complete basic manual tasks. While they perform ...

Robotics

Unlocking soft robotics control with AI's cousin: Reservoir computing

Soft robotics—machines made of flexible, muscle-like materials—can bend and stretch in fluid ways that put the rigid robots of old sci-fi movies to shame. But the flexibility that lets them pick ripe tomatoes or navigate ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Consumer & Gadgets

Chatbots may fuel 'delusional spirals' that lead to real-world harm

Perhaps to the surprise of their creators, large language models have become confidants, therapists, and, for some, intimate partners to real human users. In a new study, AI researchers at Stanford studied verbatim transcripts ...

Machine learning & AI

AI works best with humans—not instead of them

A new academic study says the most effective use of artificial intelligence may be to strengthen human thinking and decision-making, rather than replace it. Published in the Journal of Knowledge Management, the paper examines ...

Consumer & Gadgets

New study reveals chatbot empathy can worsen customer reactions

When a service encounter goes south, customers expect empathy. Hearing an employee say, "I share your frustration," can calm tensions and rebuild trust. But new research from the University of South Florida suggests that ...

Business

Amazon invests another $5 bn in Anthropic

Amazon on Monday said it pumped another $5 billion into Anthropic as it ramps up its collaboration with the startup behind Claude artificial intelligence.

Machine learning & AI

Anthropic says will put AI risks 'on the table' with Mythos model

American AI developer Anthropic plans to "lay the risks out on the table" even as it restricts deployment of a new model dubbed Mythos, whose powerful cybersecurity capabilities raise stark questions for companies and governments.

Machine learning & AI

AI 'agent' fever comes with lurking security threats

Artificial intelligence "agents" promise to save users time and energy by automating tasks, but the growing power of systems like OpenClaw is setting cybersecurity experts on edge.

Machine learning & AI

China seeks to rein in risks from AI 'digital humans'

After her father died from cancer, Zhang Xinyu had an artificial intelligence avatar made that looks and sounds just like him, part of a growing "digital human" industry that China is moving to govern more tightly.