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The ads that sell the sizzle of genetic trait discrimination

The day after the campaign launched, Sadeghi and I had briefly sparred online. He’d been on X showing off a phone app where parents can click through traits like eye color and... Read more »

Selling the sizzle of trait discrimination

Nucleus is a young, attention-seeking genetic software company that says it can analyze genetic tests on IVF embryos to score them for 2,000 traits and disease risks, letting parents pick some and... Read more »

The era of AI persuasion in elections is about to begin

All this means that actors, whether well-resourced organizations or grassroots collectives, have a clear path to deploying politically persuasive AI at scale. Early demonstrations have already occurred elsewhere in the world. In... Read more »

AI chatbots can sway voters better than political advertisements

“One conversation with an LLM has a pretty meaningful effect on salient election choices,” says Gordon Pennycook, a psychologist at Cornell University who worked on the Nature study. LLMs can persuade people... Read more »

Delivering securely on data and AI strategy 

That’s getting more challenging, says Nithin Ramachandran, who is global vice president for data and AI at industrial and consumer products manufacturer 3M. “Our experience with generative AI has shown that we... Read more »

The Download: LLM confessions, and tapping into geothermal hot spots

What’s new: OpenAI is testing a new way to expose the complicated processes at work inside large language models. Researchers at the company can make an LLM produce what they call a... Read more »

How AI is uncovering hidden geothermal energy resources

In the case of Big Blind, this prospecting information gave the company enough confidence to purchase a federal lease, allowing it to develop a geothermal plant. With that lease secured, the team... Read more »

Why the grid relies on nuclear reactors in the winter

This scheduled regularity might seem mundane, but it’s quite the feat that operational reactors are as reliable and predictable as they are. It leaves some big shoes to fill for next-generation technology... Read more »

OpenAI has trained its LLM to confess to bad behavior

Chains of thought are like scratch pads that models use to break down tasks, make notes, and plan their next actions. Analyzing them can give clear clues about what an LLM is... Read more »

The Download: AI and coding, and Waymo’s aggressive driverless cars

The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Amazon’s new agents can reportedly code for days at a time They remember previous sessions and continuously... Read more »