News about artificial intelligence, including new developments in the field and coverage of research. This includes technology, companies, funding, ethics and more.

AI has entered the mainstream, and people are using it to recommend movies, control their smart thermostats, and answer questions at online help centers. AI is helping retailers and banks better understand their customers, improve product selection and personalize marketing campaigns to drive sales and prevent churn. It has helped doctors recognize disease in MRI images and improved the accuracy of medical diagnoses. It is used in security systems to recognise and stop cyberattacks, as well as in cars to assist drivers and monitor road conditions. It has also helped develop advanced materials, improved solar cell efficiency, and made it easier to analyse the genomes of bacteria and viruses like Covid-19.

While some worry that AI will replace jobs in journalism, it’s more likely to free up time for news workers to pursue new and additional projects. However, it’s not yet clear whether this will actually happen and even if it does, how it will impact the quality of news coverage.

News organizations’ reliance on platform AI is increasing, which risks keeping them tethered to tech companies and limits their autonomy. This raises concerns about rent extraction and potentially threatens news organizations’ business models based on search-driven traffic. It also increases the potential for biases or errors to creep into journalistic output, particularly as generative AI models gain prominence.