AI

The world isn’t "safe for work," but most foundational models are. OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and other popular model builders aggressively filter training data to exclude harmful content—adult entertainment, hate speech, extremism, and even controversial political perspectives. The result? Polished, sanitized models that align with corporate and legal safety standards. That’s great—or is it? The real world is messy, complicated, and filled with morally gray areas, which raises the question: Do unfiltered AI models have a valid place in the AI landscape? Continue Reading →

Billed as OpenAI's "last non-chain-of-thought model," GPT-4.5 is the company's most advanced language model to date. OpenAI says the model offers substantial enhancements over its predecessors, particularly in advanced reasoning, problem-solving, and contextual understanding. Continue Reading →

In a "better late than never" moment, Amazon has unveiled Alexa+: an advanced version of its voice assistant that integrates generative AI to enhance user interactions. Priced at $19.99 per month (but free for Amazon Prime members), the service is set to launch with early access in the U.S. next month, initially available on Echo Show devices, with plans for broader international and device expansion. Continue Reading →

OpenAI has expanded access to its Deep Research tool – originally exclusive to users with a $200 Pro subscription – to Plus, Team, Edu, and Enterprise plan subscribers. This broadened accessibility commenced as part of OpenAI's commitment made earlier this year to extend the tool's availability. If you haven't used it yet, you should stop what you're doing and try it now. It's really interesting. Continue Reading →

Anthropic announced Claude 3.7 Sonnet, its latest AI model they say is designed for practical use in business and development. The company describes it as a hybrid system, blending fast responses with detailed reasoning, adjustable for tasks like quick answers or complex problem-solving. Anthropic claims this makes it versatile, avoiding the need for separate models. They say it is particularly strong in coding, with a high success rate on real-world software tasks. Continue Reading →

Google’s Veo 2, the AI video generator unveiled in December, has a price tag that’s turning heads: 50 cents per second. That’s $30 a minute, $1,800 an hour. It sounds steep—until you stack it up against the cost of actual video production. Continue Reading →

“Slop” is the term for the rising tide of low-quality, AI-generated content flooding digital platforms—think hastily assembled eBooks, generic cookbooks, or recycled summaries churned out by tools like ChatGPT. It’s not just noise; it’s a calculated exploit of scale, prioritizing volume over value. According to an investigation by 404 Media earlier this month, the problem has hit public libraries, prompting action from Hoopla, a major eBook provider. Continue Reading →

Mira Murati, former OpenAI chief technology officer, launched Thinking Machines Lab on Tuesday: a new AI startup aimed at tackling the alignment problem by encoding human values into artificial intelligence systems. Continue Reading →

xAI just released Grok 3, its latest AI model. Access begins today for premium X platform subscribers in the U.S. and via a separate subscription for Grok’s web and app versions. The model runs on xAI’s Colossus supercomputer in Memphis, now upgraded to 200,000 Nvidia GPUs (from its prior 100,000), used to process training data. Continue Reading →

Sam Altman recently posted on X that OpenAI is working toward a “magic unified intelligence”—a single reasoning engine rather than multiple AI models. No more choosing between GPT-4, GPT-4o, o3-mini, or any other variant. One model to rule them all. If OpenAI gets this right, it could be an incredible leap forward in usability, efficiency, and AI intelligence. If they get it wrong, it could homogenize human thought in ways most of us haven’t fully considered. Continue Reading →