For as long as we’ve known that soil bacteria manufacture molecular weapons to fight each other, we’ve been swiping their battle plans. In clinics and hospitals, those turf-war weapons have become miraculous drugs of modern… Read more: Antibiotic resistance among germs swells during droughts, study suggests

Even if you don’t know much about the inner workings of generative AI models, you probably know they need a lot of memory. Hence, it is currently almost impossible to buy a measly stick of… Read more: Google’s TurboQuant AI-compression algorithm can reduce LLM memory usage by 6x

The Supreme Court today decided that Internet service providers cannot be held liable for their customers’ copyright infringement unless they take specific steps that cause users to violate copyrights. The court ruled unanimously in favor… Read more: Supreme Court rejects Sony’s attempt to kick music pirates off the Internet

Google is dramatically shortening its deadline readiness for the arrival of Q Day, the point at which existing quantum computers can break public-key cryptography algorithms that secure decades’ worth of secrets belonging to militaries, banks,… Read more: Google bumps up Q Day deadline to 2029, far sooner than previously thought

PCAST, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, is generally not a high-profile group. It tends to be noticed when things go wrong, such as when the PCAST head named by Biden had… Read more: Trump staffs science and technology panel with non-scientists

In a controlled experiment, OpenClaw agents proved prone to panic and vulnerable to manipulation. They even disabled their own functionality when gaslit by humans.

It’s been a strange launch for RentAHuman, the job platform built for AI agents to hire human gig workers to complete real-world tasks. In its early days, the site was overrun with humans desperate to… Read more: Why Does Every Case of AI Hiring a Human Feel Like a Groveling Publicity Stunt?

Apple is reportedly preparing a major Siri overhaul with chatbot-style features, deeper app awareness, and possible Google Gemini support later in 2026. The post Apple’s New Siri With ChatGPT-Like Features Could Be Coming Soon appeared… Read more: Apple’s New Siri With ChatGPT-Like Features Could Be Coming Soon

🌘 Subscribe to 404 Media to get The Abstract, our newsletter about the most exciting and mind-boggling science news and studies of the week. Regular ejaculation — for example, by masturbation — produces higher quality… Read more: Why It’s Good to Jack Off Frequently, According to Science

OpenAI’s recently announced plans to shutter its Sora video-generating app have also scuttled the company’s planned $1 billion licensing partnership with Disney, according to multiple press reports. “As the nascent AI field advances rapidly, we… Read more: Disney cancels $1 billion OpenAI partnership amid Sora shutdown plans

Millions of iPhone owners in the UK will be asked to verify they are over 18 in order to access several Apple services, following pressure from the UK government on smartphone makers to do more… Read more: Apple begins age checks in the UK with latest iOS update

Meta has lost the first of three child safety trials it’s facing this year after a jury in a New Mexico state court found that the social media giant’s platforms do not effectively protect kids… Read more: Meta loses trial after arguing child exploitation was “inevitable” on its apps

As the ChatGPT-maker eyes an IPO, it’s ditching Sora in favor of a unified AI assistant and enterprise coding tools.

To gain financial data insights, the majority of family offices now turn to AI, according to new research from Ocorian. The global study reveals 86 percent of these private wealth groups are utilising AI to… Read more: Ocorian: Family offices turn to AI for financial data insights

On Tuesday, news emerged that OpenAI was canning its chaotic and controversial text-to-video AI app, Sora. The app, which was announced to much fanfare late last year, has struggled to retain users, with downloads plummeting.… Read more: OpenAI Fumbled Its $1 Billion Deal With Disney

WASHINGTON – Sift, a Southern California startup developing tools to help engineers make sense of hardware sensor data, raised $42 million in a Series B investment round. With the funding, […] The post Sift raises… Read more: Sift raises $42 million in Series B round

Apple’s iOS 26.4 adds AI playlist creation, eight new emoji, better keyboard accuracy, and new Family Sharing payment options. The post Apple Releases iOS 26.4: AI Playlists, Keyboard Fix, and 13 New Features appeared first… Read more: Apple Releases iOS 26.4: AI Playlists, Keyboard Fix, and 13 New Features

Barely three months ago, the Walt Disney Company announced that it would be bringing user-generated AI slop to Disney+ as part of a landmark $1 billion investment into OpenAI that would allow people to use… Read more: Disney’s Sora Disaster Shows AI Will Not Revolutionize Hollywood

This week we start with Emanuel’s crazy story about WebinarTV, a company that is secretly recording Zoom meetings and turning them into AI-powered podcasts. It’s nuts. After the break, Joseph tells us about the eccentric… Read more: Podcast: The Company Secretly Turning Your Zoom Meetings into Podcasts

When Meta announced its plan to shut down Horizon Worlds last week a lot of us laughed.  Social scientist Dr Ruth Diaz was not one of them.  Diaz worked for Meta as a VR community… Read more: The People Left Behind by the Metaverse

The overwhelming backlash against Nvidia’s new DLSS 5  feature that uses AI to yassify video games has clearly rattled CEO Jensen Huang, who’s now insisting that he actually hates AI’s horrible and homogenous aesthetic as… Read more: Broken Nvidia CEO Says He Can’t Stand AI Slop Either

Earlier this month Honda decided to cancel a trio of electric vehicles it was planning to build in the US. And those cancellations are having a ripple effect. Today Sony Honda Mobility—the automaker’s joint venture with… Read more: Honda cancels the two electric vehicles it was developing with Sony

The US senator said on Tuesday that a moratorium would give lawmakers time to “ensure that AI is safe.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will introduce a similar bill in the House in the weeks ahead.

By the time you read this, the Audi RS6 Avant is dead. Production at the factory in Neckarsulm, Germany, has already switched over to new models; any unsold wagons at dealerships will be the last… Read more: So long, farewell: Saying goodbye to Audi’s best car, the 2026 RS6 Avant

The tech industry is roiling from sweeping layoffs affecting tens of thousands of workers. Executives are citing AI as the reason for the deep cuts, in contentious claims undermined by persistent shortcomings of the tech… Read more: As Mass Layoffs Loom, OpenAI Looks to Double Headcount in Desperate Bid to Catch Up With Anthropic

In a remarkable deep-sea breakthrough, researchers have discovered 24 new species of amphipods in the Pacific’s Clarion-Clipperton Zone—including a rare, entirely new superfamily. The findings reveal previously unknown branches of life and push the boundaries… Read more: 24 new deep-sea species found including a rare new branch of life

Ghostwriting sits at the nexus of collaboration and deception. EThamPhoto/The Image Bank via Getty Images In February 2023, a little more than a year after the launch of ChatGPT, Vanderbilt University sent an email to… Read more: If using ChatGPT is cheating, what about ghostwriting? The old debate behind a new panic

We would like to hear from holidaymakers about their experiences of using AI More people are turning to AI to design their holidays, whether that’s asking ChatGPT for inspiration or using AI trip planners. Almost… Read more: Tell us: have you used AI to plan a holiday?

A major discovery reveals that metformin works not just in the body, but in the brain. By switching off a key protein and activating specific neurons, the drug lowers blood sugar through a previously hidden… Read more: Metformin’s hidden brain pathway revealed after 60 years

Lawmakers say moratorium on construction would buy time to create strong, federal guardrails for AI Amid an unprecedented energy crisis and the rapid buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure, progressive lawmakers have unveiled a new policy… Read more: Bernie Sanders and AOC introduce bill to pause building of new datacenters

Flower nectar often contains small amounts of alcohol, meaning pollinators like hummingbirds are drinking it all day long. Despite consuming human-equivalent amounts, they show no signs of intoxication—suggesting a surprising evolutionary tolerance.

Bourbon is a multi-billion-dollar market, but the American barrel-aged whiskey also produces a lot of wasted grain at distilleries. Chemists at the University of Kentucky developed a method to transform that stillage into electrodes and… Read more: How chemists turned bourbon waste into supercapacitors

Arm just confirmed the rumors: It’s producing its own chip for the first time. CEO Rene Haas explains why this won’t alienate the many chipmakers who license the company’s designs.

The next time you’re scrolling your phone, take a moment to appreciate the feat: The seemingly mundane act is possible thanks to the coordination of 34 muscles, 27 joints, and over 100 tendons and ligaments… Read more: Wristband enables wearers to control a robotic hand with their own movements

AI agents are starting to take on a more direct role in how financial advice is delivered, as large banks move beyond internal tools and into systems that support real client interactions. Bank of America… Read more: AI agents enter banking roles at Bank of America

A star you can see with the naked eye has kept astronomers guessing for decades with its unusually powerful X-rays. Now, thanks to highly precise observations from Japan’s XRISM space telescope, scientists have finally uncovered… Read more: Astronomers solve 50-year mystery of a naked-eye star’s extreme X-rays

Meta lost in New Mexico. The bigger question now is whether the next phase forces changes to how its platforms work. The post Meta Hit With $375 Million Verdict in New Mexico Child Safety Case… Read more: Meta Hit With $375 Million Verdict in New Mexico Child Safety Case

General Availability of Identity for AI establishes continuous, contextual enforcement and real-time control over AI agents Ping Identity, a leader in securing digital identities for the world’s largest enterprises, announced the General Availability of Identity… Read more: Ping Identity Defines the Runtime Identity Standard for Autonomous AI

Astronomers have narrowed down the cosmic search for life, identifying fewer than 50 rocky planets among thousands of known exoplanets that may have the right conditions to support life. Using new data from ESA’s Gaia… Read more: Project Hail Mary meets reality: 45 planets could harbor alien life

As AI-driven environments constantly evolve, Vectra AI brings real-time visibility, measurement, and action to changing exposure Vectra AI, the leader in modern network observability, signal, and control, today announced a major advancement to the Vectra… Read more: Vectra AI Advances Observability with Proactive Exposure Mgmt

Honey bees don’t just perform their famous waggle dance to share directions, they actually adjust how well they dance depending on who’s watching. Researchers found that when fewer bees pay attention, the dancer becomes less… Read more: Honey bees dance better with an audience

One of the federal vaccine advisors hand-selected by anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has angrily resigned from his position, complaining of “drama” amid a spat with a spokesperson. Robert Malone—a former researcher turned… Read more: “The last straw”—RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine ally angrily quits CDC panel after spat

Researchers have visualized atoms in motion just before a radiation-driven decay process occurs, revealing a surprisingly dynamic scene. Instead of remaining fixed, the atoms roam and rearrange, directly influencing how and when the decay unfolds.… Read more: First ever atomic movie reveals hidden driver of radiation damage

Australia is facing a wave of misinformation and disinformation on climate change and energy. This is being fuelled by the growth in artificial intelligence and allowed to spread freely on social media, according to the… Read more: Fake news on everything from whales to wind farms: Australia is flooded with climate misinformation

Artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a central role in the ongoing Middle East war. The United States, for example, has confirmed it is using the technology to identify potential targets and accelerate decision-making. This is… Read more: Australia’s new military AI policy comes at a crucial time. The challenge is turning it into practice

A new neural implant is so small it can rest on a grain of salt, yet it can track and wirelessly transmit brain activity for over a year. It’s powered by laser light that safely… Read more: This tiny implant, smaller than a grain of salt, can read your brain

Scientists have found that your brain separates memories into “what” and “where/when” using two different groups of neurons. One set responds to specific objects or people, while another tracks the context or situation. When you… Read more: Scientists just solved a major mystery about how your brain stores memories

Roughly a year ago, Spain and Portugal went dark when the electrical grid of the entire Iberian Peninsula failed. While the grid operators did a heroic job of restarting the grid quickly, there were obvious… Read more: Final analysis of 2025 Iberian blackout: Policies left Spain at risk

Mozilla developer Peter Wilson has taken to the Mozilla.ai blog to announce cq, which he describes as “Stack Overflow for agents.” The nascent project hints at something genuinely useful, but it will have to address… Read more: Mozilla dev’s “Stack Overflow for agents” targets a key weakness in coding AI

Prospective Vizio TV buyers should know there’s a good chance the set won’t work properly without a Walmart account. In an attempt to better serve advertisers, Walmart, which bought Vizio in December 2024, announced this… Read more: Newly purchased Vizio TVs now require Walmart accounts to use smart features

App that allowed people to make and share AI videos was popular but received criticism for racist and violent content In an abrupt announcement on Tuesday, OpenAI said it was “saying goodbye” to its AI… Read more: OpenAI shutters AI video generator Sora after just six months

During a hearing Tuesday, a district court judge questioned the Department of Defense’s motivations for labeling the Claude AI developer a supply-chain risk.

Apple has released the 26.4 updates to all of its major software platforms today, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS Tahoe, watchOS, tvOS, visionOS, and the HomePod. The most important reason to install each update is the… Read more: Apple releases iOS, iPadOS, macOS 26.4 with a long list of medium-size tweaks

The Federal Communications Commission yesterday announced it will no longer approve consumer-grade routers made outside of the US, citing a President Trump directive on reducing the use of foreign technology for national security reasons. The… Read more: FCC imposes sweeping ban on foreign-made routers, affecting all new models

Back in 2022 when Cindy Cohn, the executive director of a US digital rights nonprofit called the Electronic Frontier Foundation, started writing her memoir, Privacy’s Defender, she worried that people would think she was an… Read more: Electronic Frontier Foundation to swap leaders as AI, ICE fights escalate

OpenAI is preparing to shut down Sora, the video generation app that drew widespread attention when it launched in late 2024. OpenAI announced the move in a social media post Tuesday just after a Wall… Read more: OpenAI plans to shut down Sora just 15 months after its launch

It didn’t take long for OpenAI’s text-to-video AI app, Sora, to melt down into outrageous drama. Almost immediately after the company rolled out the flashy smartphone app in early October, it became ground zero for… Read more: OpenAI Is Reportedly Killing Its Disastrous Video AI Slop App

After Anthropic refused to let its AI to be used in autonomous weapons systems, Trump ordered US agencies to quit using it Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in… Read more: Anthropic and Pentagon face off in court over ban on company’s AI model

If Elon Musk ever cuts the ribbon on his massive chip factory “Terafab,” it could be among the largest buildings on Earth — and one of the most expensive. Terafab, announced in a painfully awkward… Read more: There’s a $10 Billion Problem With Elon Musk’s New Chip Factory

One benefit of most of Apple’s hardware and software is that it’s relatively privacy-focused and light on advertising, compared to something like modern Windows or the Roku operating system. But ads have still crept into… Read more: Apple confirms that its Maps app will begin showing ads to users “this summer”

Android has been creeping into cars for more than a decade, first with the phone-based Android Auto and later with built-in Android Automotive OS. Even when Android is running on cars, it has not been… Read more: Google’s new version of Android Automotive will move beyond infotainment

WASHINGTON, DC—NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on Tuesday laid out a sweeping vision for the space agency’s next decade during an event called “Ignition” in which he and other senior leaders set out their exploration plans.… Read more: NASA kills lunar space station to focus on ambitious Moon base

Lawsuit argues XAI failed to disclose risks, limitations and exposure to harm that come with using chatbot The mayor and city council of Baltimore, Maryland, filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s xAI company on Tuesday,… Read more: Baltimore sues Elon Musk’s AI company over Grok’s fake nude images

Elon Musk must defend himself against a lawsuit alleging that he unlawfully seized too much power as the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a judge ruled Monday. According to the plaintiffs, Musk… Read more: All of DOGE’s work could be undone as lawsuit against Musk proceeds

Tencent integrates OpenClaw AI agents into WeChat, bringing autonomous assistants to 1 billion users and raising new security and governance concerns. The post Tencent Brings OpenClaw AI Agents to 1B WeChat Users appeared first on… Read more: Tencent Brings OpenClaw AI Agents to 1B WeChat Users

Apple announces WWDC 2026, with iOS 27, major Siri AI upgrades, and a renewed focus on bug fixes and performance improvements across devices. The post Apple Announces WWDC 2026: What to Expect From iOS 27,… Read more: Apple Announces WWDC 2026: What to Expect From iOS 27, Siri Revamp

The chip design firm says Meta, OpenAI, Cerebras, and Cloudflare are among the first customers of its new artificial intelligence hardware.

Where traditional religion once gathered people together, digital spirituality is now consumed in isolation, mediated by tech gods with opaque agendas Sign up for AI for the People, a six-week newsletter course, here Jim Pu’u… Read more: ‘I’m deathly afraid’: what is digital spirituality leading us toward?

A Serve Robotics food delivery robot crashed through the glass wall of a bus stop shelter in Chicago earlier this week, shattering the glass all over the sidewalk. The crash comes amid a protest against… Read more: Delivery Robot Drives Through Bus Stop Shelter, Shattering Glass Everywhere

The New York Times faced scrutiny online this week after netizens speculated that a personal essay featured in its storied “Modern Love” column was generated using AI and published without disclosure. Nothing is proven; the… Read more: New York Times Accused of Running AI-Generated Article

Finance leaders are automating their complex workflows by actively adopting powerful new multimodal AI frameworks. Extracting text from unstructured documents presents a frequent headache for developers. Historically, standard optical character recognition systems failed to accurately… Read more: Automating complex finance workflows with multimodal AI

A Serve Robotics food delivery robot crashed through the glass wall of a bus stop shelter in Chicago earlier this week, shattering the glass all over the sidewalk. The crash comes amid a protest against… Read more: Delivery Robot Drives Through Bus Stop Shelter, Shattering Glass Everywhere

Anthropic is joining the increasingly crowded field of companies with AI agents that can take direct control of your local computer desktop. The company has announced that Claude Code (and its more casual user-oriented Claude… Read more: Claude Code can now take over your computer to complete tasks

Evidence cited in an eBook titled “AI Quantum Resilience”, published by Utimaco [email wall], shows organisations consider security risks as the leading barrier to effective adoption of AI on data they hold. AI’s value depends… Read more: Securing AI systems under today’s and tomorrow’s conditions

Struggling to find the right buzzwords to adorn your CV, or to put a gloss on a series of professional setbacks? There’s a translation app for that Name: LinkedIn Speak. Age: One month old. Continue… Read more: Does your business English let you down? Turn it into pure corporate gibberish with LinkedIn Speak

New “Deploy Anywhere” Solution Sets Industry Standard for Security, Availability, and Compliance Across Critical Sectors Today at RSAC Conference 2026, RSA, the security-first identity leader, announced the launch of RSA® ID Plus Sovereign Deployment, a groundbreaking evolution… Read more: RSA Launches ID Plus Sovereign Deployment

SiMa.ai, a leader in Physical AI solutions, today announced the Modalix PCIe HHHL Card, the newest addition to its Modalix product portfolio, developed in partnership with Advantech. Purpose-built for the demands of Physical AI, the… Read more: SiMa.ai Introduces Modalix PCIe HHHL Card

When the Trump administration announced plans last year to rescind a rule limiting roadbuilding and timber harvests on millions of acres of national forests and grasslands, officials called the repeal necessary to prevent and manage… Read more: Study says roads bring more fires to forests; USDA wants more roads to fight fires

A top result on Google for people searching for Claude plugins sent users to a site that recently contained malicious code in an apparent attempt to steal their credentials.  The news shows how the explosion… Read more: A Top Google Search Result for Claude Plugins Was Planted by Hackers

Big tech believes the future is AI while everyday Americans remain wary; and the dangers of riding in a Tesla Cybertruck Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery. This week in tech,… Read more: Divide between Silicon Valley and ordinary people grows ever larger

What would you do if you found out a for-profit AI assistant had been trained on your work — and was using your name — without your permission? The company formerly known as Grammarly, Superhuman,… Read more: CEO Confronted Over Using AI to Clone Real People Without Their Consent

An AI system can analyze data from a drone to detect people in a forest – and determine what condition they’re in. Adeel Khalid A combination of infrared imaging, thermal imaging and color cameras on… Read more: Drones paired with AI could help search-and-rescue teams find missing persons faster

A new hacking group has been rampaging the Internet in a persistent campaign that spreads a self-propagating and never-before-seen backdoor—and curiously a data wiper that targets Iranian machines. The group, tracked under the name TeamPCP,… Read more: Self-propagating malware poisons open source software and wipes Iran-based machines

WebinarTV, a company that bills itself as “a search engine for the best webinars,” is secretly scanning the internet for Zoom meeting links, recording the calls, and turning them into AI-generated podcasts for profit. In… Read more: This Company Is Secretly Turning Your Zoom Meetings into AI Podcasts

Let’s start with the basics. What, exactly, is an orbital data center? On the ground, data centers are typically large, warehouse-sized facilities filled with racks of storage and servers, and usually some high-speed networking gear… Read more: Orbital data centers, part 1: There’s no way this is economically viable, right?

Scientists have uncovered a new species of rhinoceros in the Canadian High Arctic, revealing that rhinos once lived far farther north than expected. The fossil, dating back 23 million years, is unusually complete and has… Read more: Scientists found a rhino in the Arctic and it changes everything

Scientists have found a clever way to supercharge ultra-thin semiconductors by reshaping the space beneath them rather than altering the material itself. By placing a single-atom-thick layer of tungsten disulfide over tiny air cavities carved… Read more: New light trap design supercharges atom-thin semiconductors

Scientists have turned simple glass into a powerful quantum communication device that could safeguard data against future quantum attacks. The chip combines stability, speed, and versatility—handling both ultra-secure encryption and record-breaking random number generation in… Read more: Physicists just turned glass into a powerful quantum security device

Astronomers have finally cracked a decades-old mystery about red giant stars—how material from their deep interiors makes its way to the surface. Using cutting-edge supercomputer simulations, researchers discovered that stellar rotation plays a powerful role… Read more: Supercomputers just solved a 50-year-old mystery about giant stars

There is a political divide over AI but few leaders are taking a strong stand. It’s time for that to change In December, the Trump administration signed an executive order that neutered states’ ability to… Read more: As the US midterms approach, AI is going to emerge as a key issue concerning voters | Nathan E Sanders and Bruce Schneier

The host of MS Now’s All In, knows how hard it is to stay current. But he also knows where you should focus your attention—and it starts with a sober view of AI.

Fintech company’s profits leap to £1.7bn as it gears up for US push after getting UK banking licence this month Business live – latest updates The UK banking app Revolut has said it could face… Read more: Revolut warns it risks backlash over support for energy-intensive AI and crypto

The promise of AI systems that can analyze and explain other AI systems has captivated researchers for years. As language models grow larger and more complex, the dream of automating the painstaking work of understanding… Read more: The problem with AI explaining AI

Attachment to smart devices and biometric surveillance leaves Americans more vulnerable to police searches than ever. Left unchecked it will only get worse.

Looking for the best business email provider? Compare top options like Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and Zoho Mail to choose the right one. The post 10 Best Business Email Providers for Small Businesses in 2026… Read more: 10 Best Business Email Providers for Small Businesses in 2026

A new study suggests a widely used bone hormone could help relieve chronic back pain in an unexpected way. Instead of just strengthening bone, it appears to stop pain-sensing nerves from growing into damaged spinal… Read more: Scientists discover hormone that may stop chronic back pain at its source

For the first time, scientists have reconstructed the full history of a galaxy outside the Milky Way using chemical clues. By analyzing oxygen across NGC 1365 and comparing it with simulations, they traced its growth… Read more: Astronomers reconstruct a galaxy’s 12-billion-year history using chemical clues

Drone footage has revealed sperm whales headbutting each other—something scientists had only speculated about until now. Surprisingly, it’s younger whales doing it, not the giant males researchers expected. The behavior echoes old seafaring tales of… Read more: Sperm whales caught headbutting each other on camera for the first time

Two new species of black bass have been officially identified after decades of confusion with similar fish. Bartram’s bass and Altamaha bass stand out not just in appearance, but in their DNA, revealed through detailed… Read more: DNA reveals two new bass species hidden in plain sight

Foams have long baffled scientists because liquid drains from them far sooner than theory predicts. New research shows the reason: the bubbles don’t stay put—they rearrange, opening pathways for liquid to escape. The key factor… Read more: A surprising foam discovery could change everyday products