Transformer architectures have been widely adopted in foundation models. Due to their high inference costs, there is renewed interest in exploring the potential of efficient recurrent architectures (RNNs). In this paper, we analyze the differences in the representational capabilities of Transformers and RNNs across several tasks of practical relevance, including index lookup, nearest neighbor, recognizing bounded Dyck languages, and string equality. For the tasks considered, our results show separations based on the size of the model required for different architectures. For example, we show that a one-layer Transformer of logarithmic width can perform index lookup, whereas an RNN requires a hidden state of linear size.

Elon Musk's Tesla plans to roll-out self-driving'robotaxis' in just a few weeks, but auto safety officials may force the billionaire to cancel his long-awaited dream Tesla was set to launch the service next month in Austin, Texas, unleashing taxis powered by its Full Self-Driving (FSD) program. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently caught wind of Musk's upcoming rollout and sent the company a letter to gather additional information. The NHTSA wants to ' understand how Tesla plans to evaluate its vehicles and driving automation technologies for use on public roads' before the robotaxis are unleashed on busy Austin streets. The agency highlighted its investigations into four crashes and a pedestrian linked to Tesla's FDS. The blow has led to Musk's critics suggesting he will have to put a pin in his plans.

Last week, OpenAI quietly dropped a programming bombshell post on X/Twitter. It turns out you can now connect GitHub repos to Deep Research in ChatGPT. What makes this particularly interesting is that you can put ChatGPT Deep Research to work scanning that repo for all sorts of yummy nuggets of information. GitHub is an online resource owned by Microsoft that holds an enormous number of programming projects, both open source and proprietary. It's used by teams to coordinate and track development.

A key question in artificial intelligence is how often models go beyond just regurgitating and remixing what they have learned and produce truly novel ideas or insights. A new project from Google DeepMind shows that with a few clever tweaks these models can at least surpass human expertise designing certain types of algorithms--including ones that are useful for advancing AI itself. The company's latest AI project, called AlphaEvolve, combines the coding skills of its Gemini AI model with a method for testing the effectiveness of new algorithms and an evolutionary method for producing new designs. AlphaEvolve came up with more efficient algorithms for several kinds of computation, including a method for calculations involving matrices that betters an approach called the Strassen algorithm that has been relied upon for 56 years. The new approach improves the computational efficiency by reducing the number of calculations required to produce a result.

"You can see it as a sort of super coding agent," says Pushmeet Kohli, a vice president at Google DeepMind who leads its AI for Science teams. "It doesn't just propose a piece of code or an edit, it actually produces a result that maybe nobody was aware of." In particular, AlphaEvolve came up with a way to improve the software Google uses to allocate jobs to its many millions of servers around the world. Google DeepMind claims the company has been using this new software across all of its data centers for more than a year, freeing up 0.7% of Google's total computing resources. That might not sound like much, but at Google's scale it's huge.

Three far-right extremists who amassed hundreds of weapons and planned to carry out attacks on targets including a mosque have been convicted of terrorism offences. Brogan Stewart, 25, from West Yorkshire, Christopher Ringrose, 34, from Staffordshire, and Marco Pitzettu, 25, from Derbyshire, were part of an online group who "idolised the Nazi regime". Sheffield Crown Court was told how Stewart had detailed torturing a Muslim leader using an "information extraction kit". All three were found guilty of terrorism offences at the same court on Wednesday and are due to be sentenced on 17 July.Counter Terrorism Policing North EastThe trio had amassed a cache of weapons as part of their planning During the nine-week trial, the court heard more than 200 weapons including machetes, hunting knives, swords and crossbows were found at their homes. Ringrose had also begun to build a 3D-printed semi-automatic firearm, which counter-terror police said would have been a "lethal weapon".

Much has been made of the fact that the year's most recent breakout hit, an idiosyncratic role-playing game called Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, was made by a small team. It's a tempting narrative in this age of blockbuster mega-flops, live-service games and eye-watering budgets: scrappy team makes a lengthy, unusual and beautiful thing, sells it for 40, and everybody wins. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Sandfall Interactive, the game's French developer, comprises around 30 people, but as Rock Paper Shotgun points out, there are many more listed in the game's credits – from a Korean animation team to the outsourced quality assurance testers, and the localisation and performance staff who give the game and its story heft and emotional believability.

Early this year the Chinese company Deepseek revealed that it had developed a very powerful model mostly using Nvidia chips obtained before the Biden administration closed an export loophole in 2023, heightening the intensity of the race. Last week, the Trump administration ripped up those rules, with a spokesperson calling them "overly complex, bureaucratic" and saying they "would stymie American innovation." They then switched to a new tack: linking countries' access to AI chips with larger trade negotiations. Transitioning to a negotiation-based approach, the administration argued, could allow for more flexibility from country-to-country and allow Trump to secure key business concessions from Middle Eastern partners. Business and governments in the Middle East have massive ambitions for AI, aiming to position themselves at the forefront of this emerging technology.

Will artificial intelligence (AI) help smash through the technical debt that has been growing in recent years? Or will emerging technology add a new layer of issues? Or, looking at it another way, could the overhang of technical debt slow down efforts to adopt AI? The good news is that a recently issued report suggests AI may be an answer to finding and reducing systems that slow things down. Technical debt is defined as shortcuts or workarounds taken to meet delivery deadlines quickly, according to tech analyst Gartner.

Still running Windows 10 on your gaming PC? You're not just behind, you're soon to be unsupported. Microsoft is officially ending security updates for Windows 10 on Oct. 14, 2025, which means now's the time to upgrade your operating system. If you're gaming, working, or doing anything important on that machine, Windows 11 Pro offers the security, performance, and features you actually need in 2025. Right now, you can get a Windows 11 Pro license for just 14.97 through June 1 at 11:59 PM, no subscription required. Windows 11 Pro brings a major performance boost, especially for gamers.