News/AI Models
San Francisco reigns supreme, adding 11K tech jobs while other cities stagnate
San Francisco has reasserted its dominance in tech hiring with unprecedented force, adding nearly 11,000 net new positions over the past 12 months—nearly double New York's growth and dwarfing other metropolitan areas by massive margins. This hiring surge, driven primarily by artificial intelligence expansion, signals that geography remains a critical factor for tech career advancement despite years of remote work predictions. The data reveals a stark reality: while many proclaimed the death of Silicon Valley during the pandemic, San Francisco has not only recovered but accelerated past its competitors. For professionals seeking to break into tech or advance their careers,...
read Oct 7, 2025Job alert: Pigeon seeks lead engineer amid $3.5M raised for AI document processing
Pigeon, a Y Combinator-backed AI document automation startup, is actively hiring a Lead Full Stack Software Engineer for a remote position offering $120K-$180K salary plus 0.50%-2.00% equity. The company recently closed a $3.5M seed funding round and is positioning itself to scale its AI-powered document processing platform that automates collection, review, extraction, and syncing of business documents. What you should know: Pigeon (YC W23) eliminates manual document handling processes by automating the entire document lifecycle for businesses. The platform collects documents from clients, uses AI to review and extract data, then syncs with customer relationship management systems or storage systems....
read Oct 6, 2025ChatGPT now connects to Spotify, Zillow, and 5 other apps directly
OpenAI has launched app integrations for ChatGPT that allow users to access third-party services like Spotify and Zillow directly within the chatbot interface. The feature represents what OpenAI calls an "evolution of ChatGPT" toward becoming more like an operating system, enabling users to interact with apps through conversation while displaying interactive interfaces within the chat. What you should know: The app integrations go beyond traditional plugins by allowing direct access within ChatGPT prompts and displaying interactive elements like maps, playlists, and presentations. Users can query ChatGPT to access Spotify for listing and playing tracks, or search Zillow for property listings...
read Oct 6, 2025Sen. Chuck Grassley demands answers from federal judges over AI court ruling errors
U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is demanding answers from two federal judges about whether they used artificial intelligence to draft court rulings that contained serious errors. The Republican senator from Iowa sent letters Monday to judges who withdrew flawed orders in July, marking the first high-profile congressional inquiry into potential AI misuse by the federal judiciary itself. What you should know: Grassley targeted U.S. District Judge Julien Xavier Neals in New Jersey and U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate in Mississippi, both of whom withdrew written rulings after lawyers identified factual inaccuracies and other serious errors.• The senator asked...
read Oct 6, 2025Evernote V11 adds OpenAI search features at $130 annual price
Evernote has released Version 11, its first major update since being acquired by Italian company Bending Spoons in 2023, introducing AI-powered search and transcription features developed with OpenAI. The update focuses on helping users better organize and find information within their existing notes rather than generating new content, positioning the service as a "second brain" for personal knowledge management. What you should know: Evernote's AI assistant emphasizes search and organization over content generation, taking a different approach than many AI-powered writing tools. The AI assistant uses conversational chat to help users find relevant notes through natural language queries, combining Evernote's...
read Oct 6, 2025Got AI? Merck’s collars for dairy cows predict illness 48 hours before symptoms appear
Dairy farmers are now using high-tech collars equipped with movement sensors, Wi-Fi, and AI to monitor cow health and optimize milk production. These wearable devices, manufactured by Merck, a healthcare company, can predict illness up to 48 hours before symptoms appear, allowing farmers like Tony Louters in California to intervene early and prevent costly milk losses. What you should know: The collars represent a major evolution in livestock monitoring technology, transforming from basic pedometers in 2013 to sophisticated AI-powered health monitoring systems. Each of Louters's 700 cows wears a collar that continuously tracks biometric data and sends alerts to his...
read Oct 6, 2025Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu unveils roadmap to artificial superintelligence
Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu announced the company's "Roadmap to Artificial Superintelligence" at the Alibaba Cloud conference in Hangzhou, making Alibaba the first major Chinese tech giant to explicitly invoke artificial general intelligence (AGI) and artificial superintelligence (ASI). This marks a notable shift in China's AI strategy, challenging Western perceptions that Chinese companies focus primarily on practical AI applications rather than pursuing advanced AI capabilities that could rival or surpass human intelligence. What you should know: Wu's presentation outlined Alibaba's vision for developing AI systems that match and then exceed human cognitive abilities. "Achieving AGI — an intelligent system with general...
read Oct 6, 2025Deloitte refunds $440K after AI creates fake citations in Aussie government report
Deloitte Australia will refund the Australian government for a report containing AI-generated fake citations and nonexistent research references that were discovered after publication. The consulting firm quietly admitted to using GPT-4o in an updated version of the report, after initially failing to disclose the AI tool's involvement in producing the $440,000 AUD analysis of Australia's welfare system automation framework. What you should know: The fabricated content was discovered by academics who found their names attached to research that didn't exist. Chris Rudge, Sydney University's Deputy Director of Health Law, noticed citations to multiple papers and publications that did not exist...
read Oct 6, 2025Consulting firm Emergn appoints first Chief AI Officer to accelerate enterprise solutions
Emergn, a global consulting firm that has been developing AI and machine learning solutions since 2015, has appointed Aldis Erglis as its first Chief AI Officer. This executive appointment signals the company's commitment to accelerating AI-driven product development and positioning artificial intelligence as a core growth engine alongside its established consulting services. What you should know: Erglis brings over two decades of technological innovation experience and will lead Emergn's comprehensive AI strategy across all operations. He previously served as Emergn's Vice President of Technology Strategy, where he supported clients in digital transformation and AI initiatives while leading the Machine Learning...
read Oct 6, 2025“Do you fear me now?” Verizon uses AI to match competitor bills and steal AT&T customers
Verizon has launched an AI-powered "Bring your bill" promotion targeting AT&T and T-Mobile customers, promising to analyze competitor bills and match or beat their pricing. The tool applies promotional credits and discounts to create competitive rates locked in for 36 months, marking Verizon's attempt to shed its premium-price reputation in an increasingly price-sensitive wireless market. The big picture: All three major carriers now offer similar network performance and features, making price and value the primary differentiators in the wireless market. Verizon has traditionally commanded higher prices due to its network quality, but T-Mobile's 5G leadership has shifted competitive dynamics. Rather...
read Oct 6, 2025Serve Robotics deploys 1,000th delivery robot with 2,000 more planned by 2025
Serve Robotics has deployed its 1,000th autonomous delivery robot, marking a major operational milestone for the San Francisco-based company as it scales across the United States. The achievement demonstrates the growing viability of sidewalk delivery robots in last-mile logistics, with Serve maintaining its trajectory toward 2,000 deployed units by the end of 2025. What you should know: Serve deployed more than 380 third-generation robots in September alone, bringing its total fleet to 1,000 active units operating across multiple US markets. The company spun out of Uber in 2021 and has completed hundreds of thousands of deliveries for enterprise partners including...
read Oct 6, 2025Wanted: Google offers $20K bounty for serious Gemini AI security flaws
Google has launched a new AI Vulnerability Reward Program that pays security researchers up to $20,000 for discovering serious exploits in its Gemini AI systems. The program targets vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to manipulate Gemini into compromising user accounts or extracting sensitive information about the AI's inner workings, moving beyond simple prompt injection tricks to focus on genuinely dangerous security flaws. What you should know: The bounty program specifically rewards researchers who find high-impact AI vulnerabilities rather than harmless pranks or minor glitches. The most severe exploits affecting flagship products like Google Search and the Gemini app can earn...
read Oct 6, 2025Waze debuts natural language-detecting AI voice reporting for rubberneckers
Waze has rolled out "Conversational Reporting," an AI-powered feature that allows drivers to report road hazards using natural language voice commands instead of navigating through menus. The feature, which was announced a year ago and has been in limited beta testing, leverages Google's Gemini AI capabilities to understand casual speech patterns and automatically categorize reports without requiring specific commands or additional button presses. How it works: Drivers can now report hazards by simply tapping the reporting button and speaking naturally about what they observe on the road.• Users can say things like "Looks like there are cars jammed up ahead!"...
read Oct 3, 2025Study finds current AI systems lack biological cognition despite impressive capabilities
A new analysis from psychiatrist Ralph Lewis explores whether artificial intelligence systems truly qualify as cognitive and conscious agents, concluding that current AI falls short of biological cognition despite impressive capabilities. The examination reveals fundamental gaps between AI's sophisticated pattern matching and the embodied, survival-oriented cognition that characterizes living systems, raising important questions about the nature of machine intelligence. What you should know: Current AI systems qualify as cognitive only under the broadest definitions, lacking the continuous learning and biological grounding that define animal cognition. Most AI systems learn in two distinct phases—intensive pre-training followed by deployment with frozen parameters—contrasting...
read Oct 3, 2025HP adds AI features like image correction to printers for smarter document processing
HP has introduced AI-powered enhancements to its printing and scanning devices, targeting common user frustrations with document processing and print formatting. The company is rolling out these features to select printer models this month, with the Envy Photo 7200/7900 all-in-one printers being the first to receive the full HP AI suite, though availability remains limited to US English setups and US-located printers. Key AI features: HP's new artificial intelligence capabilities address two major pain points in office workflows through automated solutions. Automatic image correction instantly improves scan quality without manual processing time. Multi-page document capture with intelligent naming helps users...
read Oct 3, 2025RAG and vector search bridge enterprise AI adoption gap, suggests research
New research from MIT highlights a critical gap in enterprise AI adoption, revealing that while over 80% of organizations use general-purpose AI tools like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, these focus primarily on individual productivity rather than driving organization-wide transformation. The study identifies retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and vector search as essential technologies for bridging this divide, enabling businesses to create contextually-aware AI systems that leverage proprietary data for more accurate, relevant outputs. The big picture: Enterprise AI adoption faces significant challenges despite widespread use of consumer AI tools, with MIT's Nanda Project attributing failures to "brittle workflows, lack of contextual learning...
read Oct 3, 2025Business travelers on blast: Employees use AI chatbots to create fake expense receipts
Employees are increasingly using AI chatbots to create fake expense receipts for fraudulent reimbursements, exploiting easily accessible tools like ChatGPT to generate authentic-looking restaurant, hotel, and transportation bills. This emerging form of workplace fraud is becoming harder to detect as AI-generated receipts become more sophisticated, forcing some companies to revert to paper-based systems while others invest in new AI-powered detection tools. The scope of the problem: A recent PYMNTS study found that 68% of organizations encountered at least one fraud attempt through their accounts payable services, including fake employee receipt submissions. The practice involves using free online chatbots to create...
read Oct 3, 2025Email AI recommendation engines launched in 1994, 30 years before ChatGPT
The first AI recommendation engines launched in 1994 through email, predating modern AI by three decades and using crowdsourced human preferences to help users discover music, movies, and news. These early systems like Ringo, SIFT, and Bellcore's movie recommender relied on "social filtering"—the principle that people with similar past preferences would likely agree on future choices—and operated entirely through email interfaces that users came to trust as intelligent agents. The big picture: Before Spotify algorithms or Netflix suggestions, email-based AI systems were already solving information overload by harnessing collective human wisdom to make personalized recommendations. How it started: MIT researchers...
read Oct 3, 2025AI comes home as consumer advocates warn data centers could drive up your electric bill
Consumer advocates are raising concerns that the massive energy demands of AI data centers could drive up electric bills for residential customers across the United States. The warning comes as utility companies grapple with unprecedented power consumption from artificial intelligence operations, which require vastly more energy than traditional computing due to their simultaneous processing of billions of calculations. What you should know: AI's energy consumption far exceeds traditional computing because of how the technology processes information. "The difference between what we are using for AI and what we are using for our regular computer is that it's actually running everything...
read Oct 3, 2025Texas private school flaunts morning classes with AI learning, teachers with large salaries
Alpha School in Austin, Texas, has created an AI-driven educational model where fourth and fifth graders spend just two hours each morning on traditional academics through personalized software, with the rest of their day focused on life skills projects. The $40,000-per-year private school represents a radical departure from conventional education, using artificial intelligence to customize learning while human "guides" focus on motivation rather than instruction. How the model works: Students progress through science, math, and reading at their own pace using AI-driven software that adapts to individual learning speeds. Adults in classrooms are called "guides" rather than teachers and earn...
read Oct 3, 2025AI detects brain lesions with 94% accuracy in Australian healthcare
Australia's healthcare system is embracing artificial intelligence through innovations ranging from daily check-in chatbots for home care patients to AI "detectives" that can identify brain lesions in medical scans with up to 94% accuracy. These developments represent a significant expansion of AI applications beyond traditional back-office medical tasks, with experts emphasizing that healthcare AI adoption is still in its early phases despite already showing measurable benefits for both patients and healthcare workers. What you should know: AI chatbots are providing daily social interaction and health monitoring for home care patients, with promising results from early trials. St Vincent's At Home,...
read Oct 3, 2025Cuomo faces backlash for AI-generated mayoral ad in NYC race
Not all new tech is wielded most vociferously by the young. Andrew Cuomo's mayoral campaign launched an AI-generated advertisement showing the former New York governor performing various New York jobs, including driving the subway and washing windows. The ad drew sharp criticism from opponent Zohran Mamdani, a state assemblyman, who mocked Cuomo for using artificial intelligence instead of hiring local talent in a city full of world-class artists and production crews. The big picture: This marks another instance of Cuomo relying on AI technology for campaign materials, following earlier embarrassment when his housing plan showed clear signs of being produced...
read Oct 3, 2025Bezos warns AI is in an “industrial bubble” but says tech is real, will endure
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos declared artificial intelligence is currently in an "industrial bubble" during Italian Tech Week, comparing the current AI investment frenzy to the dotcom crash of 2000. Despite the bubble conditions, Bezos emphasized that AI technology is "real" and will deliver "gigantic" benefits to society once the market stabilizes. What you should know: Bezos identified classic bubble characteristics currently present in the AI industry, including inflated valuations and indiscriminate funding. Stock prices have become "disconnected from the fundamentals" of businesses, with investors struggling to distinguish between good and bad ideas amid the excitement. He cited examples of six-person...
read Oct 2, 2025Iffy ethics as eufy pays users $40 to film fake package thefts for AI training
Anker's camera brand eufy paid users up to $40 per camera to submit footage of package theft and car break-ins to help train its AI detection systems in late 2024. When users lacked real criminal activity to film, eufy explicitly encouraged them to stage fake thefts, suggesting they position themselves to be captured by multiple cameras simultaneously for maximum efficiency. Why this matters: The approach highlights the creative—and potentially problematic—methods companies use to gather training data for AI systems, raising questions about whether synthetic data can effectively replace authentic criminal behavior patterns. How the program worked: Users could earn $2...
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