Without consciousness, Princeton neuroscientist Michael Graziano warns in a new essay published by The Wall Street Journal, artificial intelligence-powered chatbots are doomed to be dangerous sociopaths that could pose a real danger to human beings. With the rise of chatbots like ChatGPT, powerful systems that can imitate the human mind to an impressive degree, AI tools have become more accessible than ever before. But those algorithms will glibly fib about anything that suits their purpose. To make align them with our values, Graziano thinks, they're going to need consciousness. "Consciousness is part of the tool kit that evolution gave us to make us an empathetic, prosocial species," Graziano writes.

Dr. Frankenstein played with electrodes. Who could have guessed that sticking DIY electrodes to your temples and flicking a switch to "ON" could end poorly? The thirty-nine scientists who got together and endorsed an open letter to the DIY brain-zapping community certainly did. Published in this month's Annals of Neurology, the letter addresses the potential ill effects of transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS. Seeing as it involves sticking wired electrode-pads to one's head and sending low-current electricity to the brain from your couch, there are many.