The One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence (AI100) is a longitudinal study that assesses AI's development and societal impact. Reports are released once every five years, with the 2026 edition being the third in the series. The title of this year's report is . The panel behind the project is an international committee of experts tasked with examining AI's evolution across technical, ethical, economic, and societal domains. They respond to 12 standing questions about AI's advances, opportunities, dangers, and societal effects, and compare developments since 2021 with the previous panel's assessments.

Welcome back to AI pioneers . In this interview we speak to eminent computer scientist Gene Freuder, tracing constraint programming from the early days of machine vision to the rise of generative AI. We discuss the applications of constraint programming, where the field of AI might be headed, how to give a good conference talk, and more. Could you tell me a bit about your background and what drew you to the field of constraint programming? I started out with pure math as an undergrad until it became too abstract even for me, so I drifted towards mathematical logic. This might sound strange because some might say it's even more abstract, but I felt at least it had a subject - mathematics. And then I found myself in artificial intelligence. I was at the MIT AI lab, as a part of what was known as the Copy Demo project . This project had a machine vision component where a basic form of constraint processing was used.

Brandon Stirrup deleted his comments from X a day after saying that AI usage is widespread in the gaming industry. Generative AI is one of the most controversial topics in game development right now, and whether it's the future of the medium or a temporary blight on it depends on who you ask. Brandon Stirrup, a strategy manager at Xbox, recently waded into the debate, claiming that Xbox is currently using AI to develop games and those who say they aren't are merely pretending. Stirrup deactivated his social media account shortly after (though his posts have been archived elsewhere), igniting conversations about what role generative AI actually has or should have in game development. In some ways, it would be unsurprising to learn that Xbox is using AI to the extent that Stirrup implies.

Welcome back to AI Pioneers, our series of in-depth conversations with leading figures in artificial intelligence. In this interview, we speak with Michael Littman about the evolution of reinforcement learning, the role of creativity and culture in how humans and machines learn, and the challenges generative AI poses for education. We also explore his approach to science communication, his use of music to convey computer science concepts, and his unexpected connection to the first multi-media email attachment . You've been in the field of reinforcement learning for decades. How did you get into it, and which questions have you found most interesting across your career? I was drawn to reinforcement learning when I was a college student in the mid to late '80s. At that time, people were just starting to talk about neural networks, and the machine learning techniques being used were supervised, which is very focused on the input and output. I didn't find that so interesting - I wanted to know how to make them behave. So, I created my own reinforcement-learning system to address the game of noughts and crosses, or tic-tac-toe. It was a small enough game that I could run it on my little computer at home, but it made me address some interesting questions. For example, what does it mean to get feedback? And how do you use feedback at the end of the game to know what you should have done at the beginning of the game? I started to explore this topic without knowing that it was reinforcement learning. It wasn't until 1988, when I got out of college, that I discovered the link. I was working in a research lab with a researcher named David Ackley, who had done work on similar kinds of models. He used to be a student of Geoff Hinton, so he was very familiar with neural networks and very interested in behavior. I explained to him what I was playing with and why I found it so interesting, and he said "oh, that's called reinforcement learning, Rich Sutton just published a paper on this - let's get him to come and give a talk."

Paris Marx, author of Hyperscale, has been tracking global data center development for years. The US has a lot to learn from what's happened everywhere from Ireland to New Zealand. Paris Marx's new book couldn't have landed at a better time. The longtime critic of Big Tech and host of the Tech Won't Save Us podcast has been thinking about data centers for years, and Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech's Data Empires comes out right as opposition hits a fever pitch. "I certainly didn't predict that it was all going to kind of come to a head as my book was coming out," he says with a laugh.

A previously unreported cache of law enforcement and intelligence agency documents show that law enforcement agencies have, since 2021, considered AI both a tool and a target of would-be terrorists. A previously unreported cache of law enforcement and intelligence agency documents show that law enforcement agencies have, since 2021, considered AI both a tool and a target of would-be terrorists. For many, it was a wake up call about the threats to reproductive care facilities. For the FBI, though, it was also a sign of what the agency had feared for years: bad actors were using generative AI to plan and execute terror plots. The suspect used an unnamed generative AI tool that failed to detect his request for bomb-making instructions, law enforcement officers wrote in a previously unreported document reviewed by the Guardian.

The ninth AAAI / ACM Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Society (AIES) is taking place in Malmö, Sweden from 12-14 October 2026. The panel discussion will take place on Tuesday 13 October. Find out more at the conference webpage . Lucy Smith is Senior Managing Editor for AIhub. Lucy Smith is Senior Managing Editor for AIhub.

Generative AI has changed mathematics forever. In August, artificial intelligence company OpenAI announced ten advances in mathematics and computer science made with their as-yet unreleased model Astra. The discoveries cover a wide range of mathematical fields, including geometry, cryptography and coding theory. These ten are just the latest in a rapidly growing list of mathematical breakthroughs made by generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems. OpenAI accompanied the announcement with a statement on "responsibility to the mathematical community".

Jessica Hische knew working for Meta might upset some people. But she didn't anticipate just how angry they would get. Bay Area lettering artist Jesscia Hische knew that when she took a freelance gig to design the M logo for Meta's new AI assistant Muse, it was bound to make some people angry. "AI is such a third rail, and Meta is such a third rail," she tells me. Still, as a small business owner who relies on client work to keep her two brick-and-mortar art and stationary shops in Oakland afloat, she says she needed the money.

Say More Look Up Versus Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable Selects Creator Playbook In My Bag Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age Switch Off Mashable Voices All Series Danny Boyle's'Ink' doesn't need its controversial AI scene The propulsive drama about Rupert Murdoch's newspaper The Sun is coming to Netflix. Kristy Puchko is the Entertainment Editor at Mashable. Based in New York City, she's an established film critic and entertainment reporter who has traveled the world on assignment, covered a variety of film festivals, co-hosted movie-focused podcasts, and interviewed a wide array of performers and filmmakers. All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.