For this week's Open Questions column, Cal Newport is filling in for Joshua Rothman. In the spring of 1940, Isaac Asimov, who had just turned twenty, published a short story titled "Strange Playfellow." It was about an artificially intelligent machine named Robbie that acts as a companion for Gloria, a young girl. Asimov was not the first to explore such technology. In Karel Čapek's play "R.U.R.," which débuted in 1921 and introduced the term "robot," artificial men overthrow humanity, and in Edmond Hamilton's 1926 short story "The Metal Giants" machines heartlessly smash buildings to rubble.

Data warehousing giant Snowflake is holding its annual user and partner conference, Snowflake Summit 2025, this week. As with most infrastructure software vendors, the company emphasized the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) across its platform. Given Snowflake's focus on the enterprise, with almost 12,000 customers, the pitch of all the announcements had a singular message: Business analysts, the individuals who primarily work with the Snowflake database to get work done, can be the driving force behind both developing AI models and making predictions with those models. Also: Snowflake's new AI agents make it easier for businesses to make sense of their data Among the new features, ZDNET's Sabrina Ortiz relates that the chat mode lets one speak with the data, if you will, using natural language prompts. It is powered by OpenAI and Anthropic LLMs, along with Snowflake's own Cortex models.

NICE, a leading provider of contact center as a service (CCaaS) solutions, today announced its new branding. The company has rebranded to NiCE, and one of the many factors driving this rebranding is emphasizing'intelligence' (a hallmark of AI) in customer conversations, with'i' marked in lower caps to stand out. During an exclusive analyst meeting, the company's leadership team also announced that the new brand will emphasize the human touch. Also: OpenAI wants ChatGPT to be your'super assistant' - what that means The emphasis on human touch is noteworthy because the company wants to reposition itself from being a leading CCaaS provider to an AI company under the leadership of new CEO, Scott Russell. Given that shift, the reference and emphasis on human touch are particularly important.

People may not be willing to pay for AI, but they're certainly willing to use it. How they use AI, though, seems to be changing. A new study from consultancy Accenture reveals some insights into how consumers perceive and use AI, and it's seen as a lot more than just a tool for work. Instead, AI is becoming a personal influencer that users want to have a relationship with. Also: OpenAI wants ChatGPT to be your'super assistant' - what that means The numbers from this study show that as AI improves, people are rapidly trusting it with their personal lives.

The novelist Ewan Morrison was alarmed, though amused, to discover he had written a book called Nine Inches Pleases a Lady. Intrigued by the limits of generative artificial intelligence (AI), he had asked ChatGPT to give him the names of the 12 novels he had written. "I've only written nine," he says. "Always eager to please, it decided to invent three." The "nine inches" from the fake title it hallucinated was stolen from a filthy Robert Burns poem.

Samsung users might have Perplexity-powered features on future devices. According to a report from Bloomberg, Samsung is "nearing a wide-ranging deal" to bring Perplexity search capabilities to the upcoming Galaxy S26 series. That could include the Perplexity app pre-loaded on Samsung devices, Perplexity search features within Samsung's web browser, and possibly integrating Perplexity with Samsung's Bixby virtual assistant. Samsung is also reportedly a major investor in Perplexity's latest funding round, which seeks to raise 500 million at a 14 billion valuation, said the outlet. Samsung was early to bring AI features to its devices, claiming the Galaxy S24 series was the "first AI phone."

Samsung has been offering its mobile customers a robust selection of Galaxy AI features via integration with Google Gemini. A deal with Perplexity AI may soon expand the AI features on Samsung devices. On Sunday, Bloomberg published a report informed by persons close to the matter about a wide-ranging deal between Samsung and AI startup Perplexity AI, which would preload Perplexity's app and assistant on future Samsung devices. Perplexity's AI search engine would also be plugged into the Samsung web browser, giving users easy access to AI-powered browsing. Also: How much energy does AI really use?

Kicking off the current generative AI frenzy, ChatGPT is already a relatively capable AI, able to answer questions, generate content, and chat with you about almost any topic. Rather, the company has big plans for its popular AI, envisioning an evolution that would turn it into a "super assistant." OpenAI's goals for ChatGPT came to light courtesy of a confidential and highly redacted document introduced as part of the Justice Department's antitrust case against Google. In the internal file named "ChatGPT: H1 2025 Strategy," OpenAI described the near future of ChatGPT as an intuitive super assistant that understands you and acts as your interface to the internet. Also: How much energy does AI really use?

Lanyard-clad attendees with branded tote bags and pink-shirted volunteers flowed through London's Brick Lane on Monday, marking the launch of the inaugural SXSW London festival. Taking place over multiple stages and venues in Shoreditch and Hoxton, SXSW London has officially kicked off its first full day of panels, keynotes, demonstrations, movie premieres, and music gigs. And luckily, Londoners are no strangers to a queue, with SXSW's penchant for long lines outside Austin venues replicated in the UK capital. Playing to the strengths of fellow conferences, the biggest topics of SXSW London are the impact of AI on essentially anything you could think of, the creator economy and online communities, and self-driving tech -- I spied a Wayve autonomous vehicle carefully navigating the pedestrian-filled Brick Lane (with a human driver behind the wheel, just in case). London mayor Sadiq Khan officially launched the festival with a speech Monday morning, championing London as "a global centre for AI investment and innovation," emphasising a focus on ethical and accessible AI development, and playing to the audience with a ChatGPT anecdote.

How many people visit AIs like ChatGPT, Copilot, and Google Gemini each month? Whether you're just curious about such stats or need them for your own business or research, you can now turn to Comscore for the answers. On Thursday, the analytics firm announced that it has officially added AI usage information to its regular analysis. Comscore clients will be able to find out the number of monthly visits for 117 different AI tools across nine categories, covering both PC and mobile use. Also: How much energy does AI really use?