AI models have progressed rapidly in recent years and can already outperform humans in various tasks, from generating basic code to dominating games like chess and Go. But despite massive computing power and billions of dollars in investor funding, these advanced models still can't hold up to humans when it comes to truly understanding how real people interact with one another in the world. In other words, AI still fundamentally struggles at "reading the room." That's the claim made in a new paper by researchers from Johns Hopkins University. In the study, researchers asked a group of human volunteers to watch three-second video clips and rate the various ways individuals in those videos were interacting with one another.

Former Education Secretary Bill Bennett discusses the Supreme Court case that will evaluate parents' rights to opt out of classes where LGBTQ books are being used in the curriculum on'The Story.' President Donald Trump signed multiple Executive Orders relating to education Wednesday afternoon, with several tied to the theme of returning meritocracy back to the education system. The orders, seven in total, included actions to integrate artificial intelligence into K-12 school curricula, reforms to school discipline and accreditation guidelines, requirements related to the disclosure of foreign funding to schools and enhancements to the country's workforce development programs. Trump's slew of education-focused orders also included another directive demanding an end to DEI ideology in schools, specifically the use of "disparate impact theory," on top of his previous executive order from January ordering an end to DEI-like programming and ideology in K-12 schools. An Executive Order setting up a White House initiative supporting the efficiency and effectiveness of Historically Black Colleges and Universities was also signed by the president on Wednesday. President Donald Trump holds an executive order relating to education in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Washington, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Education Secretary Linda McMahon watch.

Here's a nice little distraction from your workday: Head to Google, type in any made-up phrase, add the word "meaning," and search. Google's AI Overviews will not only confirm that your gibberish is a real saying, it will also tell you what it means and how it was derived. This is genuinely fun, and you can find lots of examples on social media. In the world of AI Overviews, "a loose dog won't surf" is "a playful way of saying that something is not likely to happen or that something is not going to work out." The invented phrase "wired is as wired does" is an idiom that means "someone's behavior or characteristics are a direct result of their inherent nature or'wiring,' much like a computer's function is determined by its physical connections."

A'flame in the sky,' eerie red glowing objects and swarms of UFOs over military bases are just some of the many sightings that have gravely concerned the US government. There are dozens of unsolved cases going back to the 1960s that occurred over nuclear missile installations, Navy ships and a desert in New Mexico. The FBI, CIA, and other government branches have spent years looking into these reports, but have yet to determine what the objects were and where they came from. One report in 2019 detailed how'drones' appeared over Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Kansas as locals reported spying a mothership hanging in the sky. In just the last few months, the skies over New Jersey were filled with unidentified aircraft and drones that required a formal response from both the Biden and Trump presidencies.

Meta AI, the most interesting thing you can do with Ray-Ban Meta glasses, will soon be available to more people. The company's Live Translation feature is rolling out to all the product's markets, and Live AI (where you can hold a free-flowing conversation about what you're looking at) will soon be available in the US and Canada. In addition, glasses owners in the EU can finally use Meta AI with their high-tech specs. Live translation, previously available in early access, is now rolling out in every region where Ray-Ban Meta glasses are available. Handy for trips abroad or chats with locals who speak a different language, the AI-powered feature speaks a translation in your preferred language in real time.

Feedback is New Scientist's popular sideways look at the latest science and technology news. You can submit items you believe may amuse readers to Feedback by emailing feedback@newscientist.com Science is one of the most fruitful sources of new terminology. There's nothing like a surfeit of terms like "mitochondrial synthesis" and "quantum fluctuations" to make your writing sound authoritative Recently there has been a spate of scientific papers containing the phrase "vegetative electron microscopy/microscope". The term suggests a device for scanning broccoli, but it is utter nonsense. There are scanning electron microscopes and tunnelling electron microscopes, but not vegetative electron microscopes.

As artificial intelligence (AI) evolves from a tool to a true assistant, its role in the workplace expands, fundamentally transforming how enterprises operate. Microsoft's latest research identifies a new type of organization known as the Frontier Firm, where on-demand intelligence requirements are managed by hybrid teams of AI agents and humans. On Wednesday, Microsoft published its 2025 Work Trend Index Annual Report, which combines survey data from 31,000 workers across 31 countries, Microsoft 365 productivity signals, LinkedIn hiring and labor trends, and expert insights to give employees and business leaders a comprehensive view of the work landscape. The focus of this year's report is the concept of a Frontier Firm, which helps researchers explore what work structure will be like in the AI era. As expected, the differences from today are vast.

There's been a lot of talk online about "recession indicators" over the past few months. Now, we have a big one. Intel is reportedly preparing for its largest round of layoffs ever. According to a new story from Bloomberg, Intel is set to announce a massive 20 percent reduction in its workforce. This would mark the second time in less than a year that the company laid off employees.

Margaret Mitchell is a pioneer when it comes to testing generative AI tools for bias. She founded the Ethical AI team at Google, alongside another well-known researcher, Timnit Gebru, before they were later both fired from the company. She now works as the AI ethics leader at Hugging Face, a software startup focused on open source tools. We spoke about a new dataset she helped create to test how AI models continue perpetuating stereotypes. Unlike most bias-mitigation efforts that prioritize English, this dataset is malleable, with human translations for testing a wider breadth of languages and cultures.

As the fate of Chrome hangs in the balance of the Google antitrust trial, one thing is clear: OpenAI wants to buy it. During the ongoing remedy phase of the Department of Justice's case against Google, OpenAI executive Nick Turley testified on Tuesday that his company would be interested in buying Chrome if Google was forced to sell it. Selling the Chrome web browser is one of the DOJ's proposed remedies for breaking up Google's search monopoly. Turley, head of product for ChatGPT, was a DOJ witness during the hearing. When asked whether OpenAI would be interested in buying Chrome if Google was forced to divest it, Turley said, "Yes, we would, as would many other parties," as Bloomberg reported. OpenAI is one of Google's chief rivals in the artificial intelligence arms race, and acquiring Chrome could be quite the coup for OpenAI.