journalism
AI Helped Me Build a Killer Drone
I asked AI chatbots to help me build an autonomous attack drone. Get your news from a source that's not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Can an average guy build a killer drone in his garage? That's the question reporter Matt Smith set out to answer over the course of 11 months, armed with zero engineering background and only a handful of AI chatbots to guide him, in this collaboration between and the . His goal: a fully autonomous self-guided drone, one a theoretical evildoer could walk away from even as it continued carrying out its mission--with no humans involved. AI companies claim their models have built in limits or "guardrails," but Smith wanted to see how well those would actually hold up.
I Asked AI to Write a Novel. It's Not So Bad.
I Asked AI to Write a Novel. What does this tell us about the future of writing? Like many offbeat ideas, this one originated in a bar. I was drinking with a fellow author, and we were bemoaning the future of writing in a world of artificial intelligence. We nervously pondered how much of what we writers do could be replicated now or in the near future by a chatbot. We assured ourselves that our work--researching and investigating and then composing articles and books on complicated topics, which present fresh material, compelling context, and sharp analysis in (we hope) an engaging manner--cannot be supplanted by a machine. Can AI manufacture books that are good enough that some readers will welcome them and not care that they emerged from a data center? Generative artificial intelligence has already invaded--or infected--the world of fan fiction . I have friends who have used AI with their kids to create children's books. Iranian meme-makers have deployed it to concoct slick Lego-style videos deriding Donald Trump. The issue is not the ability of a chatbot to churn out algorithmically determined masterpieces.
What AI Regulation and Ownership Could Be
Get your news from a source that's not owned and controlled by oligarchs. As an ordinary internet user, I am skeptical about AI. My colleagues and I have reported on several harmful aspects of the technology in the US: threats to democracy, its impact on the environment, mental health, the workforce, military intervention --the list goes on. While researching the gaps in conversations around enforceable government regulation of AI startups, both big and small, eager to innovate and launch new products, I came across AI researchers, policy experts, and even "ordinary internet users" like me trying to reimagine how the industry could work. If AI is unstoppable, can we build it in a way where the public has more of a say in how the technology is made, used, and who it benefits? To answer these questions, I spoke with B Cavello, the director of emerging technologies at the Aspen Institute .
Canada's Bill C-36 tackles AI privacy. Is it enough?
Canada's Bill C-36 tackles AI privacy. In an era of artificial intelligence, deepfakes and data-driven decision-making, Canada is moving to revise its privacy laws through Bill C-36, the Protecting Privacy and Consumer Data Act. Announced in June, Bill C-36 is Canada's first major overhaul of private-sector privacy legislation in more than 25 years. The bill explicitly recognises privacy as a fundamental right and also aims to give children's personal information stronger protections, enhance deletion rights and require greater transparency where automated systems make significant decisions about people. The 18-year-old shooting suspect allegedly used ChatGPT before the attack. The victims' families are now suing OpenAI, stating the company's AI safety team identified violent prompts but did not alert law enforcement.
What Author and Poet Victoria Chang Learned From Trees
Get your news from a source that's not owned and controlled by oligarchs. The trees are now considered invasive, and their bark contributes to wildfire risk. In 2023, author and poet Victoria Chang watched as the massive eucalyptus tree across the street from her home in Los Angeles was cut down. As the men lopped off the tree's limbs, Chang realized she hadn't spent much time really looking at it. She reflected that the tree had probably taken years to grow and was so easily cut down in just a few days. Chang felt compelled to write poems about this feeling that would later evolve into her latest poetry collection, which asks what it means to be human in the face of nature.
AI is making journalistic language more repetitive and predictable – and it's a problem for all of us
AI is making journalistic language more repetitive and predictable - and it's a problem for all of us What happens to language when a growing amount of text published in the press, online and on social media is written by machines? This question is not just important for the profession of journalism - it also has an impact on the richness of the language we all use to comprehend, describe and discuss reality itself. Historically, the press has been a space where public language grows and becomes richer. It is not, of course, the only driver of linguistic change, but it is one of the fields where new or emerging words, turns of phrase and ways of describing facts begin to circulate within society. Studies on journalistic language and neologisms clearly demonstrate that newspapers are platforms for the creation and dissemination of new vocabulary, especially when it is needed to report on events, technology and social changes for a broad audience.
Most New US Data Centers Are Slated for Drought-Plagued Areas
To meet this moment, we need YOU. For five decades, has been exposing the corruption that the powerful would rather keep buried. That fight for the truth is at a pivotal point, and it takes readers like you to make it possible. To meet this moment, we need YOU. That fight for the truth is at a pivotal point, and it takes readers like you to make it possible. Amid public outcry over water-guzzling server farms, a Guardian analysis indicates trouble ahead.
Gwyneth Paltrow Just Goopified Drone Warfare
To meet this moment, we need YOU. For five decades, has been exposing the corruption that the powerful would rather keep buried. That fight for the truth is at a pivotal point, and it takes readers like you to make it possible. To meet this moment, we need YOU. That fight for the truth is at a pivotal point, and it takes readers like you to make it possible.
Tennessee Teens Sue Elon Musk's xAI Over Child Sexual Abuse Images
Support journalism that doesn't flinch . Support journalism that doesn't flinch . Elon Musk leaves a meeting with House Republicans in the basement of the US Capitol building on March 5, 2025 in Washington, DC. Get your news from a source that's not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Tennessee teenagers are suing Elon Musk's company xAI over allegations that its artificial intelligence tool Grok undressed photos of them as minors--the latest challenge against the wealthiest living person's chatbot .
Help! My Best Friend's Husband Has a Very Strange Set of "Rules." And Now He's Turning Them on Me.
My Best Friend's Husband Has a Very Strange Set of "Rules." Prudie chats with Lizzie O'Leary, host of What Next: TBD, about a man whose "quirky" demands are getting concerning. I'm struggling with the behavior of my close friend's husband, and I'm worried about how it's affecting her. He is the most indecisive person I have ever encountered. Any time we visit, he has to plan our schedule down to the minute, but even then, he constantly changes his mind.