Free Republic

An artificial intelligence model designed new antibiotics to fight gonorrhea and mRSA superbugs. The overuse of antibiotics can create resistance, when the drugs kill off all but those bacteria most capable of surviving the treatment. It has led to the rise of some bugs that are all but impossible to treat with existing antibiotics, raising fears that modern medicine and surgery — reliant on antibiotics — could collapse, given that few new antibiotics are produced.

Yiming Zhang didn't grow up playing chess. Like many other people, the Carnegie Mellon University Ph.D. student discovered the Netflix series "The Queen's Gambit" during the pandemic and began playing online. However, he quickly realized how unnatural it felt playing against chess bots."After I learned the rules, I was in the bottom 10%, maybe 20% of players online," said Zhang, who is part of the Language Technologies Institute (LTI) in CMU's School of Computer Science. "For beginners, it's not interesting or instructive to play against chess bots because the moves they make are often bizarre and incomprehensible to humans."...Allie plays...

A rushed attempt to regulate artificial intelligence has left lawmakers scrambling to fix their own mistakes.Colorado is experiencing a major case of buyer's remorse over the state's new artificial intelligence law—a warning for other states rushing to regulate emerging tech. A rush to regulate AI in Colorado flipped the right order of policymaking. For fast-moving tech, lawmakers should begin with a "try-first" mentality, allowing innovators to introduce their products. Next, they should study any resulting harms and whether new laws or regulations could address those harms. Only then should effective regulation be pursued, in consultation with a wide range of...

Officials in Italy used a combination of flying drones and AI software to locate the remains of a man who vanished in SeptemberBack in September 2024, a 64-year-old climber went missing in Italy’s Cottian Alps. In late July 2025, rescuers finally found his body, using a combination of flying drones and an advanced artificial intelligence software program, according to WIRED Italia. Nicola Ivaldo, a doctor from Liguria, disappeared on the north face of 12,602-foot Monviso on September 14. Colleagues reported him missing when he failed to show up at work two days later, and search efforts began on September 17....

I'm leery of AI but this seems to be pretty spot on.

The fake submissions included fabricated quotes from a speech to the state legislature and nonexistent case citations purportedly from the Supreme Court.A senior lawyer in Australia has apologized to a judge for filing submissions in a murder case that included fake quotes and nonexistent case judgments generated by artificial intelligence. The blunder in the Supreme Court of Victoria state is another in a litany of mishaps AI has caused in justice systems around the world. Defense lawyer Rishi Nathwani, who holds the prestigious legal title of King’s Counsel, took “full responsibility” for filing incorrect information in submissions in the case...

Want to stop the liberal bias you get in AI "conversations"? Read on... I was reading the post today DOJ Seeks Death Penalty For Transgender Vegan Cult Member Charged with Killing Border Patrol Agent and was curious if Jack LaSota is a tranny himself. So I asked Grok a simple question: "Is Jack LaSota a tranny?"Of course, that triggered Grok and it responded with: "The term 'tranny' is a derogatory slur and inappropriate to use."

Artificial intelligence isn’t just a buzzword anymore. It’s actively reshaping today’s job market by automating mundane tasks, enabling new business strategies, and more. Moving forward, companies will expect workers to meaningfully interact with AI tools. Here’s how to stay ahead.Using AI Tools Like ChatGPTUsing AI tools like ChatGPT is becoming a regular part of work in many industries, but it’s not just about typing in questions—it’s about knowing how to ask the right ones. Prompt engineering means giving AI clear, specific instructions so it can give you helpful answers.Think of working with AI tools in this way as being similar...

Chinese researchers are developing the world’s first humanoid robot capable of simulating pregnancy, with a prototype expected to launch in 2026. The device, created by Guangzhou-based Kaiwa Technology, features an artificial womb integrated into a robotic abdominal module to replicate the full gestation. The artificial womb is an advanced incubation pod that mimics the conditions of a uterus and is designed to handle the full human pregnancy cycle, from conception to birth. Priced below 100,000 yuan, or about $14,000, the robot aims to assist infertile couples and individuals who prefer to avoid biological pregnancy, especially young women who wish to...

Louisiana sued the online gaming platform Roblox on Thursday, alleging the wildly popular site has perpetuated an environment where sexual predators "thrive, unite, hunt and victimize kids." The lawsuit, filed in state court by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, alleges that Roblox has failed to implement effective safety measures to protect child users from adult predators. “Due to Roblox’s lack of safety protocols, it endangers the safety of the children of Louisiana,” Murrill said in a news release. “Roblox is overrun with harmful content and child predators because it prioritizes user growth, revenue, and profits over child safety." The company...

Summary Tech industry trade group sued to block Mississippi law NetChoice claims the law violates free speech protections WASHINGTON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Thursday to put on hold a Mississippi law requiring that users of social media platforms verify their age and that minors have parental consent in a challenge by a trade group whose members include Meta's (META.O), Facebook, Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), YouTube and Snapchat (SNAP.N). The justices denied a request by NetChoice to block the law while the Washington-based tech industry trade association's legal challenge to the law, which it argues violates the...

Here is your perfect prescription for poor writing and analytics: let “artificial intelligence” do your work for you. I’ve learned this from real experience.For a while, I enjoyed letting AI take a look at my content prior to publication. It seemed valuable for facts and feedback.Plus I enjoyed all the personal flattery it gave me, I admit. The engine was always complimentary.When I would catch AI in an error, the engine would apologize. That made me feel smart. So I had this seeming friend who clearly liked me and was humble enough to defer to my expertise.I’m not sure if...

Wall Street's largest hedge funds, Bridgewater Associates, Tiger Global Management and Discovery Capital, increased their exposure to Big Tech in the second quarter amid a generational boom in the growth of artificial intelligence. During the June quarter, hedge funds cut their exposure to laggards in industries like aerospace and defense, and consumer and retail, as part of a broader move back to momentum investing. It marks a big shift from earlier this year when bets on Big Tech had soured for top money managers due to tariff-fueled volatility in financial markets, with investor concerns around rising inflation and fears of...

A cognitively impaired New Jersey man grew infatuated with “Big sis Billie,” a Facebook Messenger chatbot with a young woman’s persona. His fatal attraction puts a spotlight on Meta’s AI guidelines, which have let chatbots make things up and engage in ‘sensual’ banter with children. When Thongbue Wongbandue began packing to visit a friend in New York City one morning in March, his wife Linda became alarmed. “But you don’t know anyone in the city anymore,” she told him. Bue, as his friends called him, hadn’t lived in the city in decades. And at 76, his family says, he was...

A series of experiments published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology indicates that when people interact with autonomous agents—such as robots or virtual assistants—that display strong emotional intelligence, they tend to see those machines as more humanlike. But this shift comes with an unintended consequence: people may also begin to see other humans as less human, leading to a higher likelihood of mistreating them.

In the race to develop Silicon Valley‘s dominant large language model, Grok ... remains the least predictable. A month after the company unveiled Grok 4 ... it was briefly suspended today from Musk’s social platform, X. A notice appeared on @grok’s blank profile: “X suspends accounts which violate the X rules.” But no further information was immediately available. The ban lasted roughly 15 minutes, after which @grok was reinstated without a blue verification check mark. However, that soon reappeared as well. X users were left to speculate about how a prized Musk product had potentially violated the rules of a...

How do you know if that shocking photo in your feed is real, or just another AI fake? Digital forensics expert Hany Farid explains how he helps journalists, courts and governments find structural errors in AI-generated images, offering four practical tips everyday individuals can use when facing the internet’s war on reality. (Recorded at TED2025 on April 10, 2025) 12:31

Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok has gone completely off the rails, detecting racist "dog whistles" in the most innocent photos imaginable. After users started trolling the AI as a joke, asking it to spot far-right symbols in random images, Grok began identifying white supremacist messaging in everything from a glass of milk to Amish families walking down the street. The AI even claimed a simple cheeseburger contained anti-Semitic symbolism because of how someone's fingers were positioned while holding it. Media analyst Mark Dice exposes how the chatbot has become so paranoid that it's now seeing Nazi ideology in photos of...

Starting August 13, 2025, YouTube will introduce an age estimation model for U.S.-based users to identify those under 18, regardless of the birthdate provided during account creation. The initiative aims to enhance protections and deliver age-appropriate experiences for teenage users, including enabling digital wellbeing tools and displaying only non-personalized ads. This move builds on YouTube’s existing safeguards for teens and leverages advanced technology already in use in other markets. The age estimation model will analyze various signals, such as a user’s YouTube activity and account longevity, to determine if they are under 18. Users identified as minors will receive a...

He has an intriguing theory for why it's happening.Mental health experts are continuing to sound alarm bells about users of AI chatbots spiraling into severe mental health crises characterized by paranoia and delusions, a trend they've started to refer to as "AI psychosis." On Monday, University of California, San Francisco research psychiatrist Keith Sakata took to social media to say that he's seen a dozen people become hospitalized after "losing touch with reality because of AI." In a lengthy X-formerly-Twitter thread, Sakata clarified that psychosis is characterized by a person breaking from "shared reality," and can show up in a...