October 2026

Moonshot AI today introduced Kim K3.1 Pro, a large language model that can perform some tasks better than Claude Opus 5.5 and GPT-6 Astra. The LLM is a post-trained, or upgraded, version of an algorithm that the Chinese artificial intelligence company released in July. The latter model, Kimi K3, comprises 896 individual neural networks with […]

During a lengthy news conference NASA on Friday provided a detailed overview of how it plans to return astronauts to the lunar surface, as soon as 2028, as part of its Artemis Program. Although much of the information behind these plans has been previously reported in Ars Technica and elsewhere, this marked the first time

BBC series deliberately uses ‘more organic’ shots to assure viewers animals are not AI-generated, producers say The David Attenborough-narrated series Blue Planet III deliberately includes cloudier, less polished footage to counter AI fakery and assure viewers it is “authentic”, its producers have said. Nearly a decade after Blue Planet II shone a light on plastic

As reported by Music Business Worldwide, Spotify appears to be stepping up enforcement of existing policies regarding Family and Duo subscription plans by requiring users to scan a QR code in person on the plan manager’s device in order to maintain access to it. Those who fail to scan the address verification QR code within

Leaders in the US Space Force would like to have a new spaceport up and running in four years, adding a third heavy-lift launch site to relieve pressure from bases in Florida and California that have shot rockets into orbit for nearly 70 years. The obvious problem with that ambition is 2030 is four years

Using Google’s products and services has always been fundamentally precarious—doing so gives the world’s largest advertising company a lot of juicy personal data. Google has long said it won’t use the sensitive data from products like Gmail, Drive, and Photos for ad personalization, but a change to the company’s privacy policy appears to dismantle that

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo warning military personnel against using nonpublic information to make bets on prediction markets, saying the wagers could give important clues to enemy countries. “Do Not Compromise Military Operations for Personal Financial Gain,” said the subject line of an October 20 memo published yesterday by CBS News. Hegseth’s memo

Legal scholar Martha Minow delivered this fall’s Compton Lecture at MIT on Thursday, examining the civic foundations of democracy — and describing how artificial intelligence is undermining it, but could be used to help reinforce traditional U.S. governance.  “It’s not a good time for democracy or constitutionalism,” said Minow, who is the 300th Anniversary University

Earlier in October, Finnish authorities ordered Google’s affiliate data center developer Tuike Finland Oy to immediately suspend the illegal cutting of some 1,300 acres of forest. The tech giant was given a week to draft a report explaining its actions, which soon became a flashpoint for Europe’s growing outrage over the data center boom. As

Enterprise artificial intelligence is entering a cost-conscious phase, and hybrid infrastructure is where that reckoning plays out. As inference spending climbs, business leaders are weighing where models run, which models they use and how much of their data they are willing to hand to someone else. Those cost considerations are reshaping buying decisions across industries,