Over the course of 2025, we had the pleasure of finding out more about a whole range of AI topics from researchers around the world. Here, we highlight some of our favourite interviews from the past 12 months. We caught up with Erica Kimei to find out about her research studying gas emissions from agriculture, specifically ruminant livestock. Erica combines machine learning and remote sensing technology to monitor and forecast such emissions. We spoke to Yuki Mitsufuji, Lead Research Scientist at Sony AI, to find out more about two pieces of research that his team presented at the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS 2024).

When Hans Hartman, a civil engineer, attempted to film the ocean depths in 1917, he pioneered what would become the first deep-sea ROV, or remotely operated vehicle. During an era of silent movies and wartime U-boats, Hartman's ambitious invention--a 1,500-pound electric, submarine camera--could be lowered to a depth of 1,000 feet to capture images of sunken ships and submerged treasures. Despite featuring a gyroscope for stability, a motorized propeller for controlled rotation, and an innovative light source, as Popular Science explained, it had a serious limitation: The hulking apparatus had to be operated blindly from a ship's deck, which meant it was impossible for the camera's operator to see what they were filming until the footage was viewed later. In 1925, Popular Science showcased his next breakthrough--a cylindrical apparatus (seen above) attached to a ship by a cable, housing a submersible, motor-driven camera, as well as enough room for a person who could control the camera, or communicate with crew members nearby to aid with various underwater missions, such as salvaging. The vertical, tin-can-like submarine, equipped with porthole windows and a powerful spotlight, allowed "the operator to go down into the water with a camera and photograph whatever he chooses."

Ransomware gangs have long sought pain points where their extortion demands have the greatest leverage. Now an investigation from NBC News has made clear what that merciless business model looks like when it targets kids: One ransomware group's giant leak of sensitive files from the Minneapolis school system exposes thousands of children at their most vulnerable, complete with behavioral and psychological reports on individual students and highly sensitive documentation of cases where they've allegedly been abused by teachers and staff. But first, WIRED contributor Kim Zetter broke the news this week that the Russian hackers who carried out the notorious SolarWinds espionage operation were detected in the US Department of Justice's network six months earlier than previously reported--but the DOJ didn't realize the full scale of the hacking campaign that would later be revealed. Meanwhile, WIRED reporter Lily Hay Newman was at the RSA cybersecurity conference in San Francisco, where she brought us stories of how security researchers disrupted the operators of the Gootloader malware who sold access to victims' networks to ransomware groups and other cybercriminals, and how Google Cloud partnered with Intel to hunt for and fix serious security vulnerabilities that underlie critical cloud servers. She also captured a warning in a talk from NSA cybersecurity director Rob Joyce, who told the cybersecurity industry to "buckle up" and prepare for big changes to come from AI tools like ChatGPT, which will no doubt be wielded by both attackers and defenders alike.

Artificial intelligence promises a revolution in the way we work, and already there is a growing number of software solutions marketed to accountants touting its use. Almost daily, it seems, companies announce new AI products or capabilities for a wide range of applications, from tax management to risk analysis to business intelligence and more. Yet the degree of attention received by these ostensibly AI-powered solutions over the years has led some observers in the accounting technology arena to wonder just how smart these products are, concerned there is more hype than sense in this area. This is especially the case when contrasting the current suite of products out there with what people generally imagine when they think of AI: machines that think and reason as we do, something that even computer scientists have yet to crack, let alone commercial software developers. Peter Scavuzzo, CEO of Marcum Technology, said there might be something like this in the future -- noting that the building blocks for this sort of thing, like natural language processing and machine learning, are becoming more common -- but he was skeptical of claims that we can get such things here in the present.

Were you unable to attend Transform 2022? Check out all of the summit sessions in our on-demand library now! Retailers and convenience stores have increasingly invested heavily in technology, especially mobile applications, that enable customers to do much of the shopping legwork from home. Are autonomous stores the next big thing in retail tech? Chris Hartman, senior director of fuels, forecourt, advertising and construction at Rutter's, thinks so.

Esports is most commonly associated with high-octane competitive games such as League of Legends, Rocket League and Call of Duty: Warzone. A chill farming sim might not immediately spring to mind, but very soon, some of the world's finest Stardew Valley players will face off for thousands of dollars. Creator Eric Barone (aka ConcernedApe) said the first official Stardew Valley Cup event will take place at noon ET on September 4th. "It's a competition of skill, knowledge and teamwork, with a prize pool of over $40k," Barone wrote on Twitter. In collaboration with @UnsurpassableZ, I'm pleased to announce the 1st official Stardew Valley Cup! It's a competition of skill, knowledge, and teamwork, with a prize pool of over $40k.

Thanks to a Machine Learning Research Award from Amazon Web Services (AWS) to a research alliance supported by UPMC Enterprises, a seed has been planted to accelerate the consortium's medical research initiatives, help participating entrepreneurs more rapidly scale their innovations, and, in some small fashion, contribute to positioning the Pittsburgh area as a healthcare technology innovation hub. The award provides researchers access to Amazon's cloud-based platform and machine learning tools, enabling them to incorporate sophisticated technology into innovations at an early stage of the development process. These innovations "will be able to be deployed more easily in the real world," says Rob Hartman, PhD, director of translational science, UPMC Enterprises. The Amazon award was made to the Pittsburgh Health Data Alliance (PHDA), which was formed four years ago by UPMC, the University of Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University. PDHA uses "big data" generated in health care--including patient information in the electronic health record, diagnostic imaging, prescriptions, genomic profiles, and insurance records--to transform the way that diseases are treated and prevented, and to better engage patients in their own care, according to a news release.

You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license. A new system combines artificial neural networks with infrared thermal imaging to control and interpret chemical reactions with precision and speed that far outpace conventional methods. Machine learning algorithms can predict stock market fluctuations, control complex manufacturing processes, enable navigation for robots and driverless vehicles, and much more. Now, researchers are tapping a new set of capabilities in this field of artificial intelligence with their new technique. "This system can reduce the decision-making process about certain chemical manufacturing processes from one year to a matter of weeks…" The researchers developed and tested the new method on microreactors that allow chemical discoveries to take place quickly and with far less environmental waste than standard large-scale reactions.

Recruiting police officers is not an easy task. The hiring process can take four to six months, and precincts across the U.S. are experiencing staffing shortages. The growth rate for police and detectives is significantly slower than the average for other professions, with a rate of 4 percent compared to 7 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Police departments in Minneapolis and elsewhere have taken the extraordinary step of eliminating some entrance tests to broaden the intake of candidates, but Thierry Hubert, CEO of Dallas-based analytics company Darwin Ecosystem, thinks he has a better solution: an artificially intelligent "insights" platform called the Projected Personality Interpreter (PPI). The PPI leverages the power of IBM's Watson to analyze the personality, emotional state, and social connections of police recruits.

If you're trying to get in shape and you want a tiny, wrist-bound computer to help you do it, you have more options than ever before. Fitness trackers come in all shapes, colors, and price tags, with newfangled sensors and features to stand out to customers. But for doctors and scientists studying how exercise can help people deal with disease, the landscape is much simpler. Like most fitness trackers, Fitbit's devices are far from perfect. They can count steps pretty well and give a good idea of activity levels day to day.