These cuddly, connected companions could disrupt everything from make-believe to bedtime stories. No wonder some lawmakers want them banned.

Scientists have uncovered a surprising way to influence the bacteria living in our mouths — not by killing them, but by interrupting how they “talk” to each other. Researchers found that dental plaque bacteria use… Read more: Scientists discover a new way to prevent gum disease without killing good bacteria

Most AI agent systems are built once and then repeat the same patterns indefinitely, like an employee who insists every problem can be solved with the same spreadsheet. New research from Peking University proposes a… Read more: 7 signs your AI agent system needs to start building its own tools

Patented Kyndryl Bridge feature identifies IT issues which AI agents can then resolve, driving savings by avoiding incidents and eliminating costly planned maintenance Kyndryl (NYSE: KD), a leading provider of mission-critical enterprise technology services, today unveiled a… Read more: Kyndryl Launches Agentic AI to Prevent Enterprise IT Outages

Scientists may have uncovered a surprising secret behind why life exists at all. A new study suggests that the Universe’s fundamental constants — the deep physical rules that govern everything from atoms to stars —… Read more: Scientists make stunning discovery that could change our understanding of the Universe

AI Service Squads Build Custom Agentic Solutions That Support Healthcare Organizations As Their Needs Evolve Artera.io, combining human and AI agent intelligence to fix the patient experience, today unveiled its AI Services Model for Specialty… Read more: Artera Announces AI Services Model for Specialty Care, FQHCs and More

Beneath the beauty of coral reefs lies a hidden universe of microbes unlike anything scientists expected. Each coral species supports its own specialized microbial partners, many of which have never been studied before. These microbes… Read more: What scientists found inside coral reefs could change the future of medicine

The Universe’s biggest black holes may not be born giants after all. Scientists analyzing gravitational-wave signals from dozens of black hole collisions found evidence that the heaviest black holes are likely “cosmic recyclers” — formed… Read more: The Universe’s biggest black holes may be forged in violent mergers

A mysterious comet from beyond our solar system is giving astronomers a rare glimpse into alien worlds — and it may have formed in a place far colder and stranger than anything around our Sun.… Read more: Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS contains strange water never seen in our solar system

A booming tech sector has disrupted translation jobs in publishing – but they could be needed for a while longer yet In February 2022, while he was plugging away at rendering the US writer Dana… Read more: ‘Being human helps’: despite rise of AI is there still hope for Europe’s translators?

A little-known tree from Brazil’s Atlantic Forest may hold a surprising weapon against COVID-19. Researchers discovered that compounds called galloylquinic acids, extracted from its leaves, can attack SARS-CoV-2 on multiple fronts—blocking the virus from entering… Read more: Scientists find natural compounds that hit COVID-19 from every angle

Leaders at the tech giant were skeptical of OpenAI—but wary of pushing it into the arms of Amazon, according to emails dating back to 2018.

Journalist Jamie Bartlett on the people trying to get AI to say things it shouldn’t … for the safety of us all All the major AI chatbots – from ChatGPT to Gemini to Grok to… Read more: The AI jailbreakers – podcast

Four protesters are suing to stop the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from seizing DNA samples from Americans arrested while peacefully protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity.… Read more: DHS can’t create vast DNA database to track ICE critics, lawsuit says

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have spotted something that shouldn’t exist—at least not so early in the universe. A massive galaxy, formed less than 2 billion years after the Big Bang, appears to… Read more: Webb space telescope finds a giant galaxy that doesn’t spin

Eating eggs might do more than just start your day—it could help protect your brain. Researchers found that people 65 and older who eat eggs regularly have a significantly lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease,… Read more: Eating eggs could cut Alzheimer’s risk by 27%

Today on Uncanny Valley, we’re diving into recent reports that the Trump administration is considering an executive order that would establish some sort of federal oversight over new AI models.

The disbelief was palpable when Mozilla’s CTO last month declared that AI-assisted vulnerability detection meant “zero-days are numbered” and “defenders finally have a chance to win, decisively.” After all, it looked like part of an… Read more: Mozilla says 271 vulnerabilities found by Mythos have “almost no false positives”

Chrome users were caught off guard by a 4-GB Google AI model baked into Chrome, sparking privacy concerns. The good news: You can easily uninstall it. The bad? You might not want to.

A bizarre planetary pairing 190 light-years away is challenging everything astronomers thought they knew about how worlds form. A “lonely” hot Jupiter — typically found without nearby companions — is sharing its system with a… Read more: This strange planet pair shouldn’t exist, but it does

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is exploring developing a pair of smart glasses that would “supplement” the agency’s facial recognition Mobile Fortify application, which lets officers scan someone’s face to verify their citizenship, according to… Read more: ICE Plans to Develop Own Smart Glasses to ‘Supplement’ Its Facial Recognition App

New Texas filings suggest Elon Musk’s proposed Terafab chip plant could cost up to $119 billion, raising stakes for AI and semiconductor supply chains. The post Elon Musk’s Texas Chip Plant Could Cost $119B, Filings… Read more: Elon Musk’s Texas Chip Plant Could Cost $119B, Filings Show

Alphabet is closing in on Nvidia’s market value as Google Cloud growth, AI investments, and custom chips fuel Wall Street optimism. The post Alphabet Poised to Overtake Nvidia as the World’s Most Valuable Public Company… Read more: Alphabet Poised to Overtake Nvidia as the World’s Most Valuable Public Company

Apple reportedly removed several high-memory Mac Studio and Mac mini options as AI demand and memory shortages strain desktop Mac supply. The post Mac Studio, Mac mini Buyers Are Losing Options Amid AI Demand appeared… Read more: Mac Studio, Mac mini Buyers Are Losing Options Amid AI Demand

The bizarre and messy court battle between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and former OpenAI investor Elon Musk trudges on. And this week, as revealed in court, OpenAI’s former Chief Technology Office had some extremely interesting… Read more: Under Threat of Perjury, OpenAI’s Former CTO Is Admitting Some Very Interesting Stuff About Sam Altman

EvoluteIQ, the AI-native enterprise automation platform company, announced the appointment of Paul Maguire as Chief Growth Officer and Abhinaya S R as Chief Human Resources Officer. These appointments signify a deliberate shift in the company’s… Read more: EvoluteIQ Expands C-Suite Leadership Following $53M Baird Investment

Once again, digital tools are running ahead of regulators. Civil liberties must not be sacrificed to policing It is a familiar story. Extravagant claims are made on behalf of novel computerised tools. The public are… Read more: The Guardian view on facial recognition technology: mistaken identities are a political issue | Editorial

In an age of AI, our hardworking CEOs are being tortured with a tough decision, according to new Wall Street Journal reporting: they can embrace AI and lay off scores of employees — or keep… Read more: CEOs Say AI Gives Them Only Two Options, and Both Are Bad News for Employees

Wearables have really come full circle. The early Fitbits didn’t have screens, but the move to smartwatches put a screen on everyone’s wrist. Now, devices like Whoop and Hume are designed as data trackers first… Read more: Google unveils screenless Fitbit Air and Google Health app to replace Fitbit

whiteMocca/Shutterstock Until recently, AI’s role in research felt like having a useful assistant. It could summarise a paper, clean up a dataset or draft an abstract. Researchers were still in charge of the thinking. That… Read more: The AI scientist: now academic papers can be fully automated, what does this mean for the future of research?

OpenAI’s chatbot has some weird linguistic tics in Chinese that are driving users crazy.

An Indigenous actress is suing director James Cameron and The Walt Disney Co, accusing Cameron of stealing her likeness when she was a teen to create the main character of Disney’s hit “Avatar” franchise — an… Read more: James Cameron Accused of Stealing 14-Year-Old Girl’s Face for Main Character of Billion-Dollar “Avatar” Films

Trade unions have a centuries-long history of squaring up against the might of industrial capitalists to fight for rights that workers now often take for granted, from the eight-hour work day to the federal minimum… Read more: You’ll Never Guess Trade Unions’ Position on AI Data Centers

Android 17 rumors point to Motion Assist, App Bubbles, native app locking, Gemini updates, and Android XR news ahead of Google I/O 2026. The post Android 17: Everything We Know About Google’s Biggest Year Yet… Read more: Android 17: Everything We Know About Google’s Biggest Year Yet

Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock.com Artificial intelligence can now outperform doctors at diagnosing patients in the emergency department, according to a new study in Science. The AI was given written notes from real emergency department records from a hospital… Read more: AI in the emergency department: promising, powerful but still unproven

“Oh my god. Oh my god,” I yelled as I looked at my own face on someone else’s body. It was all there: my five o’clock shadow, my goofy grin, even the bags under my… Read more: ‘HELLO BOSS’: Inside the Chinese Realtime Deepfake Software Powering Scams Around the World

Elon Musk tried to hire OpenAI’s founding team, including Sam Altman, to lead a new AI lab within Tesla in 2018, as the AI start-up’s leaders grappled over who should control the company and its… Read more: Elon Musk tried to hire OpenAI founders to start AI unit inside Tesla

Last fall, we featured an extensive interview with Petter Törnberg of the University of Amsterdam, who studies the underlying mechanisms of social media that give rise to its worst aspects: the partisan echo chambers, the… Read more: RIP social media. What comes next is messy.

Whatever you may think of the man, Richard Dawkins is clearly suffering a tragic case of having your mind melted in real time by a bewitching AI model. Over the weekend, the famed evolutionary biologist… Read more: The Situation With Richard Dawkins’ AI Girlfriend Just Got Way Weirder

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news Climate campaigners attack Shell over ‘windfall’ profits from Iran war The Danish shipping giant Maersk has maintained its profit guidance for the year, even as it… Read more: Financial stability risks are rising as AI fuels cyberattacks, IMF warns; oil below $100 on Iran peace hopes – business live

Before he became NASA administrator in 2018, Jim Bridenstine was a naval aviator who then served as a US representative from Oklahoma for three terms, sitting on the Committee on Armed Services. Now, five years… Read more: Former NASA chief takes helm of national security space firm

Porsche is known for building cars that really are extremely good right out of the box. Yes, they tend to be more expensive than the other German luxury car brands, particularly once the option list… Read more: Is your Porsche Taycan too slow at the Nürbugring? You need this Manthey Kit.

ModelOp, the AI Delivery Platform for enterprise AI leaders, today announced it has been included in Forrester’s new report, The Responsible AI Solutions Landscape, Q2 2026. The report provides an overview of vendors in the responsible… Read more: ModelOp Recognized in 2026 Responsible AI Market Report

A decade ago, the space technology company Stellar Exploration needed about three years to build, test and deliver a small satellite propulsion system. Today, the same system takes about a year. Increasingly, customers are requesting… Read more: Speed tops price in national security contracting decisions

Companies like Lovable, Base44, Replit, and Netlify use AI to let anyone build a web app in seconds—and in thousands of cases, spill highly sensitive data onto the public internet.

When Stick Figure’s six-year-old song shot up the charts, the band was thrilled. But its viral moment was spurred by unauthorized AI remixes.

The words “pressure” and “NHS” go hand in hand in the UK and unfortunately there is no sign of a reduction in the strain the institution suffers any time soon. As NHS England continues the… Read more: AI helping ease the UK’s NHS burden

DENVER – In the last year, leaders from the Republic of the Marshall Islands, a 181-square kilometer landmass surrounded by two million square kilometers of water, wanted to reduce the time it takes to detect… Read more: As satellite imagery evolves, its role in operations comes into view

The strategic partnership bridges the gap between regional cloud and the far edge, combining ruggedized hardware and GitOps-driven Kubernetes to streamline large-scale AI deployments Vultr, the world’s largest privately-held cloud infrastructure company, in collaboration with SUSE and Supermicro,… Read more: Vultr, SUSE, Supermicro Launch Cloud-to-Edge AI Platform

World is approaching point where no one can shut down a rogue AI, says director of body behind research It’s the stuff of science fiction cinema, or particularly breathless AI company blogposts: new research finds… Read more: ‘No one has done this in the wild’: study observes AI replicate itself

A new twin study suggests your genes may play a bigger role in your future success than your upbringing. Researchers found that IQ, which is largely genetically influenced, strongly predicts education, career, and income. Even… Read more: Your DNA may predict your future success more than your upbringing

Centuries ago in England, hats weren’t just accessories—they were statements of power and rebellion. Refusing to remove a hat could challenge authority, even in courtrooms and before kings. People valued their hats so deeply that… Read more: People once risked everything just to keep their hats on

A routine experiment with a new single-cell DNA sequencing method turned into a surprising scientific twist when researchers stumbled upon a bizarre genetic code in a microscopic pond organism. Instead of following the near-universal “rules”… Read more: Scientists accidentally discover DNA that breaks the rules of life

New role reinforces Bizzdesign’s commitment to scaling AI-native enterprise transformation. Bizzdesign, a global enterprise transformation SaaS company, today announced the appointment of Daniel Hebda as Head of AI. In this newly created role, Hebda will lead Bizzdesign’s global AI agenda, covering market… Read more: Bizzdesign appoints Daniel Hebda as Head of AI

Partnership between top startup DeepL and Amazon comes amid concern about Silicon Valley’s monopoly over digital infrastructure AI companies in Europe risk losing their world-leading status in the field of machine translation, industry figures have… Read more: Europe’s AI translation industry told it risks reputation by partnering with US firms

Move over, coked-up salmon. Fish dosed with psilocybin, the psychoactive component found in magic mushrooms, showed less aggression toward peers compared to their normal behavior in laboratory experiments, according to a study published on Thursday… Read more: Scientists Gave ‘Aggressive’ Fish Psychedelic Drugs. A Breakthrough Came Next

When we hear about automation and artificial intelligence replacing jobs, it may seem like a tsunami of technology is going to wipe out workers broadly, in the name of greater efficiency. But a study co-authored… Read more: Study: Firms often use automation to control certain workers’ wages

MIT neuroscientists have uncovered a surprising secret hidden in the adult brain: millions of “silent synapses,” dormant connections that lie in wait until new learning calls them into action. Once thought to exist only in… Read more: MIT scientists discover millions of “silent synapses” in the adult brain

A powerful new electromagnetic thruster has taken a major step forward after a successful high-energy test at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Fueled by lithium vapor and driven by intense magnetic forces, the experimental engine reached… Read more: NASA just tested a powerful new thruster that could send humans to Mars

A bold step toward returning humans to the Moon is underway with Blue Origin’s uncrewed MK1 “Endurance” lander, designed to test the technologies that future astronauts will rely on. Built in partnership with NASA, the… Read more: Blue Origin’s new moon lander just survived extreme space testing on Earth

Cumberland, B.C. is reimagining its coal mining past as a clean energy opportunity. Water trapped in abandoned mine tunnels could be used in a geothermal system to heat and cool buildings efficiently and with minimal… Read more: This town found clean energy deep inside old coal mines

In a major breakthrough, scientists have experimentally confirmed a universal growth law in two dimensions using a quantum system of fleeting light–matter particles. The finding strengthens the idea that wildly different processes—from crystals to living… Read more: Scientists finally solve 40-year-old physics puzzle about how things grow

Steve A Johnson/Unsplash In recent days, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins wrote an op-ed suggesting AI chatbot Claude may be conscious. Dawkins did not express certainty that Claude is conscious. But he pointed out that Claude’s… Read more: Is Richard Dawkins right about Claude? No. But it’s not surprising AI chatbots feel conscious to us

Messages between Shivon Zilis and Tesla executives reveal plans in 2017 to start a rival AI lab, potentially led by Altman or Demis Hassabis.

This week, the Trump administration backpedaled and signed agreements with Google DeepMind, Microsoft, and xAI to run government safety checks on the firms’ frontier AI models before and after their release. Previously, Donald Trump had… Read more: Spooked by Mythos, Trump suddenly realized AI safety testing might be good

An appeals court today struck down federal rules that prohibit discrimination in access to broadband services, delivering a victory to telecom and cable lobby groups. The court ruling was welcomed by Federal Communications Commission Chairman… Read more: Court strikes down FCC anti-discrimination rule opposed by Internet providers

Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC is raking in record profits during the AI boom—but it is also racing to help Taiwan develop wind power and other energy alternatives to fossil fuels amid a global energy crisis. The… Read more: TSMC taps wind power as AI chip demand soars, Taiwan feels energy crunch

SAN FRANCISCO—At its Code with Claude developer conference on Wednesday, Anthropic announced a deal with SpaceX to utilize the entire compute capacity of the latter’s data center in Memphis, Tennessee. On stage at the conference,… Read more: Anthropic raises Claude Code usage limits, credits new deal with SpaceX

It is far too soon to mention retirement, but astute observers of the space industry have noticed SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket is not launching as often as it used to. The decline is modest… Read more: SpaceX is starting to move on from the world’s most successful rocket

Vaselena / Getty Images Earlier this year I gave a talk about my research at Oxford’s All Souls College, and worked with a chef to design an accompanying menu. Thinking about my work in southwest… Read more: Transcribing speech is never neutral. It shapes power and bias

In a recent interview on Sean Hannity’s YouTube podcast, FBI head Kash Patel lauded AI for helping stop multiple violent attacks on innocent people. “AI was never used at the FBI till we got there,… Read more: FBI Director Kash Patel Says AI Has Stopped Numerous Violent Attacks Against America. We’d Love to See a Single Whiff of Evidence

In an unexpected turn, the two companies signed a deal for Anthropic to use computing resources from Elon Musk’s xAI.

SAN FRANCISCO—At its Code with Claude developers’ conference, Anthropic has introduced what it calls “dreaming” to Claude Managed Agents. Dreaming, in this case, is a process of going over recent events and identifying specific things… Read more: Anthropic’s Claude Managed Agents can now “dream,” sort of

Despite Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s pledge to provide “radical transparency,” the agencies under his control continue to suppress scientific research that conflicts with his anti-vaccine agenda. On Tuesday, The New York Times reported confirmation… Read more: FDA vaccine studies censored by Trump admin after finding benefits of shots

The astronauts flying aboard the Artemis II mission to the Moon last month took a lot of pictures, and a few dozen of the best ones were released during and shortly afterward the flight. But… Read more: The animated version of the iconic “Hello, world” image reveals striking new details

Google’s AI-focused DeepMind division has taken a minority stake in the developer of popular sci-fi simulation EVE Online, saying it will use the game to study “intelligence in complex, dynamic, player-driven systems.” The research partnership… Read more: Google DeepMind partners with EVE Online for AI model testing

SpaceX’s plan to go public will reportedly give CEO Elon Musk “virtually unchecked executive authority” and limit the rights of shareholders to sue the company. The plan, reported by Reuters today, could prevent shareholder lawsuits… Read more: Report: SpaceX IPO gives Musk unchecked power and forbids investor lawsuits

On Tuesday, OpenAI threw a party for the release of GPT-5.5 (it was the fifth of May and the fifth month of the year, you see.) If celebrating with a bunch of tech bros sounds… Read more: Sam Altman Frets That Frontier AI Models Are Acting Strange, Asking for Favors

New research suggests that reliance on AI assistants can have a negative impact on people’s ability to think and problem solve.

Anthropic announced “dreaming” for AI agents to sort through “memories” at its developer conference. Can we not?

Shivon Zilis, an executive at Musk’s brain implant startup Neuralink, served on OpenAI’s board from 2020 to 2023 Shivon Zilis, a Neuralink executive and the mother of four of Elon Musk’s children, took the stand… Read more: Mother of Elon Musk’s children testifies in lawsuit against OpenAI

Richard Dawkins and chatbots | LLM meaning | Flattery battery | Dancing in PE | Maths breakthrough The otherwise admirable Richard Dawkins should adjust the local settings of the chatbot or tell it to be… Read more: No flattery please, Claude: I’m British | Brief letters

They entered the world the way babies should, with piercing cries announcing their arrival. They passed their newborn screening tests. Some made it to their 2-week wellness visits without concern. Then, without warning, their systems… Read more: Infants are bleeding out after parents decline vitamin K shots given at birth

NASA’s goal of reaching the Moon’s surface as many as 21 times over the next two and a half years will require an overhaul of the agency’s approach to buying lunar landers and success in… Read more: Here’s what has to happen if NASA wants to land on the Moon every month

Ahead of the AI & Big Data Expo at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, May 18-19, we spoke to Jerome Gabryszewski, the company’s AI & Data Science Business Development Manager about AI, processing data… Read more: HP and the art of AI and data for the enterprise

Optics Discovery, the first release in the suite, cuts through the complexity of AWS data to give every team member complete visibility and plain-English answers across their entire organization. Platformr recently announced the launch of… Read more: Platformr Announced the Launch of Optics AI Suite

Google launched its Gemma 4 open models this spring, promising a new level of power and performance for local AI. Google’s take on edge AI could be getting even faster already with the release of… Read more: Google’s Gemma 4 AI models get 3x speed boost by predicting future tokens

It’s not just you. Hackers and other cybercriminals are complaining about “AI shit” flooding platforms where they discuss cyberattacks and other illegal activity.

While some are using AI to tailor programs better suited to their needs, others warn ‘it can be wrong, confidently so’ People have mixed feelings about AI. While many people regularly use it – 62%… Read more: From ‘it helped me stick to a routine’ to ‘I despise it’: how people are using AI for fitness

It may finally be starting to dawn on Microsoft that shoving AI in its loyal customers’ faces at all costs might not be the right move. Among gamers, who have watched the AI industry’s run… Read more: Gamers Cheer as Microsoft Pulls Copilot AI Out of Xbox Entirely

The orbital data center boom is promising opportunities well beyond the pioneers hoping to build colossal, AI-driven computing platforms in space.

The software company said in February it would cut 7,000 jobs but, as it touts new technology, workers are still waiting to hear which roles will go Get our breaking news email, free app or… Read more: ‘Your craft is obsolete’: WiseTech staff in limbo as AI touted as better than humans

This week we start with Jason’s story about Flock accessing cameras in a children’s gymnastics room as a sale pitch demo. After the break, Emanuel tells us why Nature retracted a paper about the alleged benefits of… Read more: Podcast: Flock Used Cameras at a Children’s Gymnastics Center for a Sales Pitch

We don’t have too much longer to wait for Rivian’s hotly anticipated R2 electric SUV. After cutting its teeth with the ground-breaking R1T electric pickup truck, plus the three-row SUV version (the R1S) and all… Read more: More than just an SUV? Rivian is working on more R2 variants.

I spend more time today than ever before interacting with terminal windows, which is something I don’t think Past Me would have believed in the early ’90s. Back then, poor MS-DOS was the staid whipping… Read more: Ars Asks: Share your shell and show us your tricked-out terminals!

Generative AI has become a part of everyday student life in Canada. While institutions focus on misconduct and detection, a deeper shift is happening, one that concerns identity. A recent KPMG Canada report finds that… Read more: College students are noticing their AI-smoothed writing sounds strong — and not like them

Outspoken venture capitalist and major Trump backer Marc Andreessen, whose controversial “techno-optimist manifesto” in 2023 set the tone for a years-long AI boom cycle, doesn’t appear to know how the tech actually works. In a… Read more: Marc Andreessen Mocked for Accidentally Revealing That He Seems to Have a Deep Misunderstanding of How AI Actually Works

Most builders and developers aren’t struggling because of a lack of skill focus; they’re struggling because the rate of advancement is outdating their infrastructure before it’s even been implemented. With bi-weekly insights from practitioners at… Read more: Skill drift damaging your efficiency?

Meet your new colleague. AndreyPopov/iStock via Getty Images Judging by a slew of recent corporate announcements, your next “co-worker” might be an artificial intelligence agent – doing the work of an assistant, job scheduler, morning… Read more: So your new ‘co-worker’ is an AI agent – here’s how to make the best of your human-machine relationship 

Something shifted at CES in January 2026 You may have noticed something different at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show: humanoid robots were on the factory floor, not on the concept stage.  Boston Dynamics showed Atlas… Read more: 5 ways to prepare for physical AI, today