One of my editors once told me that a cynic will always sound more rational, but that doesn't mean they're right. French statesman Francois Guizot basically said the same thing from the other POV: "The world belongs to optimists. Apple's AI strategy has a lot of cynics and pessimists -- and they sound pretty rational based on what we've seen over the past year. The long-awaited revamp of Siri has never materialized and is reportedly delayed to 2026. Apple's vision of your own custom AI-powered assistant with your "personal context" has been little more than a hopeful vision.

When I need to research a topic these days, I often turn to AI, at least as a starting point. But depending on my questions and which chatbot I use, the response may not always be satisfying -- it can be too brief or canned. In that case, I find myself wanting more. As the name implies, Learn About is more than just a way to get a quick answer to a question. Instead, it's a teaching tool that invites you to dive more deeply into your chosen topic.

AI agents are one of the buzziest trends in Silicon Valley, with tech companies promising big productivity gains for businesses. But do individual workers actually want to use them? A new study from Stanford University shows the answer may be yes -- as long as they automate mundane tasks and don't encroach too far on human agency. Also: Don't be fooled into thinking AI is coming for your job - here's the truth Titled "Future of Work with AI Agents," the study set out to move beyond hype around AI agents to understand how, exactly, these tools can be practically integrated into the day-to-day routines of professionals. While previous studies have investigated the impact of AI agents on specific job categories, like software engineering and IT, the Stanford researchers analyzed individual categories of tasks, allowing them "to better capture the nuanced, open-ended, and contextual nature of real-world work," they noted in their report.

This robotic pool cleaner has no smart features and offers slightly limited performance; but you might not find anything as capable at this very low price. Sometimes there's a place for simplicity in and around the home, and pool owners who only need the absolute basics might want to give the affordably priced Airrobo PC10 a look for handling their pool-cleaning duties. Airrobo manufactures robot vacuum cleaners primarily; the PC10 and the similarly priced PC200 Lite are its only forays into pool-cleaning tech. This robotic pool cleaner certainly looks the part, weighing in at 22 pounds and featuring the tread-based design and central, scrubbing rollers that are typical of higher-end cleaners. Powered by a modest 5200mAh battery, the PC10 offers two hours of running time and a specified maximum coverage area of 1,076 square feet–roughly double the surface area of my pool's floor (not including its walls).

A growing number of AI sites and services are able to generate short videos based on your descriptions or still images. Now, you can add Midjourney to the mix. On Wednesday, the popular AI image creator announced that users can now animate their images into five-second videos. The new feature is available to all Midjourney subscribers, including those on the 10-per-month Basic plan, and offers a variety of ways to cook up cool videos. Also: I test AI tools for a living.

Let's say, as a thought experiment, that you're a malware developer. You can choose to target specific groups of people to distribute your nefarious payloads. You might just go for a scattershot approach, but that's less effective. You might aim for the technologically unsophisticated, or older people who aren't as engaged. Or you can go for the lowest-hanging fruit: kids playing video games.

AI integration is moving at an astonishing pace. Just a few months ago, we were coming to terms with the idea of AI agents, or what the buzzword mavens call "agentic AI." Now, we're starting to look at issues of practical deployment. If you're not fully up to speed on agents, that's okay. OpenAI defines agents as "Systems that independently accomplish tasks on your behalf," with an emphasis on "independently." ZDNET has a full guide on the topic, which is essential reading.

AI's rapidly expanding capabilities include convincing impersonations--that is, audio and video that sounds and looks like you. Sometimes these deepfakes can be harmless, part of a joke or meme that involves a celebrity, politician, or other public figure. But as you might guess, scammers also use them to steal money from the unsuspecting. Most of the time, this style of scheme–often called a "grandparent scam"–catches people off-guard. Because they don't realize how easy and sophisticated this technology has become.

When I read a tweet about four noted Silicon Valley executives being inducted into a special detachment of the United States Army Reserve, including Meta CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth, I questioned its veracity. It's very hard to discern truth from satire in 2025, in part because of social media sites owned by Bosworth's company. But it indeed was true. Boz is now Lieutenant Colonel Bosworth. The other newly commissioned officers include Kevin Weil, OpenAI's head of product; Bob McGrew, a former OpenAI head of research now advising Mira Murati's company Thinking Machines Lab; and Shyam Sankar, the CTO of Palantir.

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. When you think of koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus), chances are that words like cute or fluffy come to mind--not cryptic or stealthy. And yet, researchers in southeastern Australia have just discovered hundreds of previously undocumented koalas living surprisingly close to the city of Newcastle. The team conducted what they claim to be the largest and most accurate peer-reviewed koala survey to date. As detailed in a study published this month in the journal Biological Conversation, the survey estimates that a population of 4,357 koalas across 166,302 acres of land is living in the state of New South Wales.