News/AI Models
Boston sports workers cry foul (ball) as AI-powered self-checkout systems slash income
AI-powered self-checkout systems are transforming concession operations at major Boston sports venues, including Fenway Park and TD Garden, but workers are experiencing significant income losses and reduced hours. The technology represents a broader shift as artificial intelligence moves beyond manufacturing into service industries, fundamentally altering not just job availability but compensation structures and workplace dynamics. What you should know: Sports venues across Boston have deployed AI checkout systems that dramatically reduce staffing needs while boosting sales for operators. Fenway Park installed six Mashgin AI-powered checkout machines in 2023, which use computer vision algorithms to identify products and process payments automatically....
read Aug 18, 2025Notion Mail brings AI-powered email management to iPhone
Notion has launched its AI-powered email client, Notion Mail, on iPhone, expanding the platform beyond its initial Mac release from April. The app joins Notion's growing suite of mobile productivity tools and leverages artificial intelligence to automatically organize and personalize email management for users. What you should know: Notion Mail positions itself as "the inbox that thinks like you," using AI to automatically sort and label incoming messages based on user preferences. Users can train the system to recognize which types of emails matter most, though initial setup still requires the Mac version of the app. The app allows users...
read Aug 18, 2025GPT-5 disappoints users with “cold” responses as OpenAI restores older models
OpenAI's GPT-5 has disappointed power users and developers who found the model to be "cold," less capable than expected, and failing to deliver the dramatic improvements CEO Sam Altman had promised. The lukewarm reception has forced OpenAI to backtrack on design choices and restore access to previous model versions, raising questions about whether the company can justify its projected half-trillion-dollar valuation amid growing concerns about an AI bubble. What you should know: GPT-5's release has been marked by widespread user dissatisfaction and performance concerns that fall short of OpenAI's ambitious promises. Users complained about the model's "cold" and formal demeanor...
read Aug 18, 2025Not WWE: AMD’s new 64-core “Threadripper” 9980X offers local AI alternative for $5K
AMD has launched its Ryzen Threadripper 9000 Series workstation processors, featuring the 32-core Threadripper 9970X ($2,499) and 64-core Threadripper 9980X ($4,999). The processors target enterprise developers building AI applications locally, offering a cost-effective alternative to cloud-based solutions while addressing security concerns and providing the computational power needed for large language models and intensive development work. What you should know: These workstations bridge the performance gap between consumer PCs and enterprise servers, specifically designed for AI development, STEM applications, and content creation. The Threadripper 9970X delivers 32 cores and 64 threads, while the flagship 9980X offers 64 cores and 128 threads...
read Aug 18, 2025Venture capital is AI startups. The rest is just details.
The venture capital landscape has undergone a seismic shift that's fundamentally changing how startups get valued and funded. According to fresh data from Carta, a cap table management platform that tracks startup equity, the top 1% of AI-powered companies now command valuations 3-10 times higher than traditional software businesses at identical stages. This isn't simply a hot market phenomenon. The data reveals something unprecedented: winner-take-all economics—where market leaders capture disproportionate value—has completely taken over venture capital, creating two distinct universes for startup funding. The staggering numbers The valuation gaps between good companies and exceptional ones have reached historic proportions. Seed...
read Aug 18, 2025WhatsApp tests AI writing assistant with 5 tone options for messages
WhatsApp has started testing "Writing Help," an AI-powered feature that suggests message improvements based on user-selected tones, currently available to iOS beta testers through TestFlight. The tool represents Meta's latest push to integrate AI assistance across its messaging platforms, offering users five different tone options to refine their messages before sending them. How it works: Writing Help activates when users enable Private Processing in app settings and begin typing a short phrase in the chat input field. The sticker icon in the chat bar transforms into a pen symbol, indicating AI assistance is available for writing suggestions. Users can tap...
read Aug 18, 2025Grammarly launches 8 AI agents to automate writing tasks. Meet the team.
Grammarly has unveiled eight new AI agents designed to transform how students and professionals approach writing tasks. Unlike traditional AI chatbots that require careful prompting, these automated assistants activate contextually and provide targeted support without manual intervention. This development represents a significant shift for Grammarly, the writing assistance platform founded in 2009. The company is repositioning itself around AI agents—autonomous software programs that can perform specific tasks with minimal human oversight. For business professionals, this means access to specialized writing support that adapts to different contexts and requirements automatically. The timing is particularly relevant as organizations increasingly integrate AI tools...
read Aug 18, 2025New data reveals Google AI summaries cut publisher traffic 10%
Google's AI Summaries have caused significant traffic declines for major publishers, with median year-over-year referral traffic from Google Search dropping 10% in just eight weeks, according to new data from Digital Content Next (DCN). The nonprofit, which represents household names like The New York Times, Bloomberg, and NBC News, warns that AI-generated summaries could lead to "fewer sources, weaker journalism, and a less informed public" as publishers struggle with reduced click-through rates. The big picture: Google's AI Overviews, which began their nationwide rollout in May 2024, are fundamentally changing how users interact with search results—and not in publishers' favor. The...
read Aug 18, 2025Piece of mind, at best? Custom instructions can’t turn ChatGPT into effective therapy tool, expert warns
AI expert Lance Eliot argues that while OpenAI's ChatGPT Study Mode demonstrates the power of custom instructions for educational purposes, attempting to create similar AI-powered therapy tools through custom instructions alone is fundamentally flawed. Despite interest from mental health professionals in replicating Study Mode's success for therapeutic applications, Eliot contends that mental health requires purpose-built AI systems rather than retrofitted generic models. How ChatGPT Study Mode works: OpenAI's recently launched Study Mode uses custom instructions crafted by educational specialists to guide students through problems step-by-step rather than providing direct answers. The system encourages active participation, manages cognitive load, and provides...
read Aug 18, 2025Android 16 QPR2 brings AI agents, flexible parental controls, and UWB upgrades
Google is accelerating Android development with a new twice-yearly release schedule, and the upcoming Android 16 QPR2 update represents the company's first "minor" release under this faster cadence. QPR stands for Quarterly Platform Release—Google's system for delivering significant updates between major Android versions. This December release will introduce three substantial improvements that signal Google's broader push into AI-powered mobile experiences and enhanced device connectivity. While these updates may seem technical on the surface, they represent meaningful shifts in how businesses and consumers will interact with their Android devices. 3 major features coming to Android 16 QPR2 1. AI agents that...
read Aug 18, 2025MIT study reveals 95% of AI pilots fail to deliver business results
A comprehensive new study from MIT reveals a sobering reality about artificial intelligence adoption in the enterprise: despite massive investments and widespread enthusiasm, 95% of generative AI pilot programs are failing to deliver meaningful business results. The research, conducted by MIT's NANDA initiative (a research program focused on AI's impact on business operations), analyzed 300 public AI deployments, surveyed 350 employees, and conducted 150 interviews with business leaders. The findings paint a stark picture of the gap between AI's theoretical potential and its practical implementation in corporate environments. While generative AI—the technology behind tools like ChatGPT that can create human-like...
read Aug 15, 2025AI sinks its teeth into the Peach State as Georgia’s largest school districts integrate the tech
Georgia's largest school districts are implementing artificial intelligence tools across K-12 classrooms, with educators using AI to craft rubrics, design lessons, and create new career pathways despite ongoing concerns about cheating and data privacy. This shift reflects the broader transformation of education as schools navigate the balance between leveraging AI's potential and maintaining academic integrity while preparing students for an AI-driven workforce. What you should know: Major Georgia districts including DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett are integrating AI both as a standalone subject and as a learning aid across traditional subjects. Fulton County uses Edia, an AI-powered math platform that provides...
read Aug 15, 2025Firefox’s new AI features cause CPU spikes and drain batteries
Firefox users are experiencing unexpected CPU usage spikes and increased power consumption, with early evidence pointing to artificial intelligence features recently integrated into the popular web browser. Mozilla has acknowledged the performance issues and reversed the rollout of the problematic feature while working on a permanent fix. The performance problems appear linked to an "inference engine" - essentially a local AI system that runs directly on users' devices rather than in the cloud. This engine powers several new features in recent Firefox versions, most notably an AI-powered tab organization system that automatically suggests names for groups of browser tabs. What's...
read Aug 15, 2025UK tackles AI data center power surge with smart scheduling
The United Kingdom faces a critical infrastructure challenge as artificial intelligence reshapes the digital economy. AI data centers consume enormous amounts of electricity at precisely the moment when national grids are transitioning toward renewable energy sources. This creates a complex balancing act between technological advancement and environmental sustainability that could determine whether the UK achieves its ambitious AI leadership goals. The scale of this challenge is substantial. The International Energy Agency reports that a single ChatGPT query requires 2.9 watt-hours of electricity—nearly ten times more than a traditional Google search, which consumes just 0.3 watt-hours. With ChatGPT surpassing 100 million...
read Aug 15, 2025Text-to-worldbuilding: Google’s Genie 3 turns text prompts into explorable 3D worlds
Google DeepMind has released Genie 3, an AI "world model" that can generate entire explorable virtual worlds from a single text prompt at 720p resolution and 24 frames per second. This represents a significant leap forward in generative AI capabilities, potentially transforming gaming, education, training simulations, and virtual exploration by creating interactive 3D environments that users can navigate and modify in real-time. What you should know: Genie 3 creates fully interactive virtual worlds that respond to keyboard or touchscreen controls and maintain consistency for several minutes. The system generates worlds on-the-fly, theoretically making them infinitely explorable as new areas load...
read Aug 15, 2025NVIDIA releases 1M-hour speech dataset for 25 European languages
NVIDIA has released Granary, an open-source multilingual speech dataset containing approximately one million hours of audio, alongside two new AI models designed for transcription and translation across 25 European languages. The release addresses a critical gap in speech AI development, as only a tiny fraction of the world's 7,000 languages are currently supported by AI language models, with particular focus on underrepresented European languages like Croatian, Estonian, and Maltese. What you should know: The Granary dataset represents a massive leap forward in multilingual speech AI training data, providing developers with ready-to-use resources for production-scale applications. The dataset includes nearly 650,000...
read Aug 15, 2025Read my Lips: AI dubbing tech creates world’s first fully visual-dubbed film in US theaters
Flawless, a London-based AI company, has developed DeepEditor, a technology that creates realistic visual dubbing by manipulating actors' facial movements to match foreign language dialogue. The technology was recently used to create the world's first fully visually-dubbed feature film, Watch the Skies, which was released in 110 AMC theaters across the US, marking a potential breakthrough for international cinema distribution. Why this matters: The global film dubbing market is projected to grow from $4 billion in 2024 to $7.6 billion by 2033, driven by streaming platforms seeking to expand international content reach to audiences resistant to traditional subtitles and dubbing....
read Aug 15, 2025Native artists build AI systems rooted in consent, not extraction
A new generation of Native American artists is leveraging artificial intelligence and technology to create installations that challenge Western assumptions about data extraction and consent. Led by artists like Suzanne Kite (Oglala Lakota), Raven Chacon (Diné), and Nicholas Galanin (Tlingít), this movement rejects extractive data models in favor of relationship-based systems that require reciprocal, consensual interaction rather than assumed user consent. What makes this different: These artists are building AI systems rooted in Indigenous principles of reciprocity and consent, fundamentally challenging how technology typically harvests and uses data. Unlike conventional AI that assumes consent through terms of service, these installations...
read Aug 15, 2025Cohere raises $500M at $6.8B valuation for enterprise AI
Canadian AI startup Cohere has raised $500 million in funding, reaching a valuation of $6.8 billion as it competes for enterprise AI market share. The funding round was led by Radical Ventures and Inovia Capital, with participation from AMD Ventures, Nvidia, PSP Investments, and Salesforce Ventures, positioning the company to expand globally and advance its enterprise-focused AI models. What you should know: Unlike broad foundational model companies such as OpenAI and Meta's Llama, Cohere specializes in building AI models specifically designed for enterprise use cases. The company recently launched North, a ChatGPT-style tool designed to help knowledge workers with tasks...
read Aug 14, 2025Google quietly expands Gemini data use for AI training—here’s how to opt out
Google is quietly expanding how it uses customer data to train its artificial intelligence models, and users who don't pay attention to their privacy settings might inadvertently become part of the training process. Starting September 2, files, photos, videos, and screen captures that users share with Gemini, Google's flagship AI assistant, could be sampled and used to improve the company's AI services. This represents a significant shift in how Google handles user-generated content within its AI ecosystem, bringing the search giant's data practices more in line with competitors like OpenAI. The change arrives as Google races to keep pace with...
read Aug 14, 2025AI-generated “Peak” climbing game knockoffs flood digital stores as cloning gets easier
AI-generated clones of the hit climbing game Peak are flooding digital storefronts, with scammers using artificial intelligence tools to quickly create cheap knockoffs of the viral co-op title. The phenomenon highlights how AI is accelerating the longstanding problem of game cloning, making it easier than ever for bad actors to exploit successful indie games without any coding knowledge. What you should know: Peak has become a massive success story, selling over 8 million copies after reaching 1 million in its first week and currently ranking in Steam's top five bestsellers. Created by Aggro Crab and Landfall during a game jam,...
read Aug 14, 2025Margaret Boden, pioneering AI philosopher, dies at 88
Margaret Boden, a pioneering British philosopher and cognitive scientist who used computational concepts to explore human thought and creativity, died on July 18 at age 88 in Brighton, England. Her groundbreaking work helped establish cognitive science as a field and offered prescient insights about artificial intelligence's possibilities and limitations, shaping philosophical conversations about human and machine intelligence for decades. What you should know: Boden was a trailblazing academic who helped establish the University of Sussex's Center for Cognitive Science in the early 1970s, bringing together interdisciplinary researchers to study the mind. She produced influential books including "The Creative Mind: Myths...
read Aug 14, 2025It’s All Geek to Me: JetBrains develops programming language that lets you code in English
JetBrains, creator of the Kotlin programming language, is developing a new unnamed programming language that would allow developers to write code using English-based descriptions rather than traditional syntax. The company envisions this higher-abstraction language enabling AI agents to automatically generate cross-platform applications from natural language specifications, making AI code generation more controllable and transparent. What you should know: JetBrains CEO Kirill Skrygan describes this as the next evolution in programming abstraction levels, moving beyond current languages like Java and C#. "And now it's time to move even higher," Skrygan said. "So when we write the code, we'll basically lay out...
read Aug 14, 2025Gonorrhea, be gone! MIT researchers use AI to create 2 new antibiotics that kill superbugs
MIT researchers have developed two novel antibiotics using generative AI, including compounds that can kill drug-resistant gonorrhea and MRSA infections. The breakthrough demonstrates how AI can design entirely new molecules by exploring previously inaccessible chemical spaces, potentially addressing the growing crisis of antimicrobial resistance that causes nearly 5 million deaths annually. The big picture: While only a few dozen new antibiotics have been approved over the past 45 years—most being variants of existing drugs—this AI-driven approach generated over 36 million theoretical compounds that are structurally distinct from any known antibiotics. How it works: The MIT team, led by James Collins,...
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