It's rare for a turn-based RPG to excite the editorial team beyond Engadget's usual core RPG fans. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has many excited, however. Maybe it's the characters, bolstered by a starry voice artist roster, and nuanced animation and story. Expedition 33 does a great job setting up its world in a way that allows everyone to get on board. Lumiere, which seems to be a chunk of Paris plus change, is doomed to repeat a cycle of death, with a powerful godlike figure, the Paintress, looming on the horizon.

I've been wondering why everyone seems so hyped on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It's the debut game from Sandfall Interactive, an independent French studio with fewer than 30 employees, and it's attracted massive partnerships in video games and film over the past five years. Expedition 33 has a high-profile cast of voice actors, including Andy Serkis, Charlie Cox, Shala Nyx and Jennifer English. It received an Epic MegaGrant in 2022, it was picked up by Pacific Drive publisher Kepler Interactive in 2023, and it was a tentpole of Xbox's first showcase of 2025. Even though the game isn't out until April, Story Kitchen has already signed on to turn it into a live-action film.

The article argues that AI can enhance the measurement and implementation of democratic processes within political parties, known as Intra-Party Democracy (IPD). It identifies the limitations of traditional methods for measuring IPD, which often rely on formal parameters, self-reported data, and tools like surveys. Such limitations lead to the collection of partial data, rare updates, and significant demands on resources. To address these issues, the article suggests that specific data management and Machine Learning (ML) techniques, such as natural language processing and sentiment analysis, can improve the measurement (ML about) and practice (ML for) of IPD. The article concludes by considering some of the principal risks of ML for IPD, including concerns over data privacy, the potential for manipulation, and the dangers of overreliance on technology.

Researchers in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui say they have developed a device that can determine loyalty to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) using facial scans. A short video uploaded to the Weibo account of the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center on June 30 said the project was an example of "artificial intelligence empowering party-building." The Weibo post was later deleted, but a text summary of the video, produced in honor of the CCP's July 1 anniversary, remained available on the Internet Archive on Monday. "Guaranteeing the quality of party-member activities is turning into a problem in need of coordination," the text said. "This equipment is a kind of smart ideology, using AI technology to extract and integrate facial expressions, EEG readings and skin conductivity ... making it possible to ascertain the levels of concentration, recognition and mastery of ideological and political education so as to better understand its effectiveness," the description said.

A new report has claimed the Chinese government is now implementing cutting edge artificial intelligence to monitor the minds of dozens of Communist party officials. Researchers in China claimed to have developed software that can acutely analyze facial expressions and brain waves to monitor if subjects were attentive to "thought and political education." China's stringent police state has been radically upscaled over the past decade, using big data, machine learning, face recognition technology and artificial intelligence to build what many have labelled the world's most complex digital dictatorship. According to the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Centre, the high-tech development would be used to "further solidify their confidence and determination to be grateful to the party, listen to the party and follow the party." In a short clip, a subject was seen looking at screen at a kiosk, scrolling through exercises promoting party policy.