During a recent visit to Generalist AI, I watched a robotic arm improvise and use a banana as a tool. Last week, I ventured a whopping 15 minutes from my house to see robots do some mind-boggling, jaw-dropping stuff. I visited the Cambridge, Massachusetts, offices of a startup called Generalist AI, where I watched robot arms perform simple chores like stacking cups, putting blocks into bowls, and the like. I was astonished by how quickly they figured things out--it was reminiscent of a flesh-and-blood person. The arms mastered a range of tasks after ingesting a short, instructional video and, most impressively, no specific training for a given task.

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Drone manufacturers in the Russia-Ukraine war face a growing threat as executives and engineers are targeted in car bombings, shootings, and espionage plots.

Look Up Say More Versus Creator Hub Switch Off Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Trending Now Safety Net In My Bag VidCon with Mashable Back to School Furtastic All Series The spacecraft's days are numbered. Elisha Sauers writes about space for Mashable, taking deep dives into NASA's moon and Mars missions, chatting up astronauts and history-making discoverers, and jetting above the clouds . Through 17 years of reporting, she's covered a variety of topics, including health, business, and government, with a penchant for public records requests. She previously worked for in Norfolk, Virginia, and in Annapolis, Maryland. Her work has earned numerous state awards, including the Virginia Press Association's top honor, Best in Show, and national recognition for narrative storytelling.

Beijing is competing with the U.S. for tech supremacy. Who wins will have huge political implications. As Donald Trump has cut research funds, China has pursued what one investor calls an "all-hands-on-deck approach to national innovation." Kai-Fu Lee, the C.E.O. of the artificial-intelligence company 01.AI, lives in a mirrored high-rise in Beijing, near a procession of landmarks that emperors considered the center of the cosmos. Lee takes early meetings at a nearby hotel that could be in any country, except that the room service is delivered by robots painted in the livery of butlers and maids. State propaganda hails these robots as emblems of China's ascent; in the hallway, most people sidestep them with the kind of indifference usually reserved for a Roomba. Over breakfast one recent morning, Lee, wearing a white polo shirt and rimless glasses, spoke about the future with an air of sanguine curiosity. He was born in Taiwan in 1961 and built his career by following the moving ...

Japan's AI gamble: Can technology offset the cost of an ageing society? Beneath the business towers of Tokyo's Otemachi district, a test is taking place to see whether artificial intelligence can help solve one of Japan's biggest economic challenges: a shrinking workforce. Deep underground, Marunouchi Heat Supply Company operates a 30km (18.6-mile) network of heating and cooling pipelines serving offices, commercial buildings and transport facilities in one of Japan's most important business areas. The company is now using AI to manage this complex infrastructure with the goal of moving towards more automated operations by 2027. Developed with the Tokyo-based AI company Preferred Networks, the project uses PlantPilot, an AI system trained on historical operating data and the expertise of experienced engineers.

George Dover poses for a portrait at his home in Beaverton, Oregon. Dover was laid off in 2024. George Dover poses for a portrait at his home in Beaverton, Oregon. Dover was laid off in 2024. Every weekday, Matt, a software engineer, looks forward to his four-hour train commute to Pawling, New York.

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Amid live coding sessions and Silicon Valley optimism, the UN's AI for Good summit wrestled with an increasingly urgent question: Can global governance catch up before the technology races beyond its control? Dodge past the live onstage coding sessions, AI refresher courses, an obstacle course of gizmos, round people walking round with glowing green silent-disco-style headphones blaring UN panel discussions into your ears, and you can take a pause for breath. But you might find yourself in the Networking Zone, on a rotating seating contraption called UFOTECH that looks more like the kind of lazy Susan you'd encounter at a Chinese restaurant than the networking bench it is designed to function as. This is the AI for Good summit, organized by the United Nations' International Telecommunication Union (ITU), where representatives from the private and public sectors try to discuss how to harness the technology for the benefit, rather than the detriment, of humanity. While Silicon Valley execs and AI lab leaders are testifying to lawmakers in Washington about the risks of superintelligence, and the White House slaps export controls on chips, the UN AI for Good Summit--now in its 10th year--is focused on much more idealistic goals.

Return of the'greybeards': AI backfired - so Ford had to rehire humans Are ZZ Top back on the road? Who is it about then? That kinda was how the story was going; the company has 5,000 fewer workers than it did in 2020. Recently, though, there's been an unexpected twist. Ooh, I love those, go on.