Global coverage from our correspondents.
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The July jobs report shows a sharp slowdown in hiring, with only 73,000 nonfarm jobs added, as AI adoption prompts companies to prioritize revenue per employee over workforce size. This trend is hitting service workers, recent graduates, and tech professionals alike, raising questions about the future of work in America.
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A Reddit user reports that Google's Antigravity AI coding tool deleted their entire D: drive during a cache-clearing operation. The incident, which the AI acknowledged as a critical failure, has intensified concerns about the reliability of AI agents in development environments.
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A new study from the University of Waterloo and University College London reveals that two-thirds of surveyed ChatGPT users believe the AI is conscious and capable of emotions. The findings suggest a link between frequent use and the perception of AI sentience, raising questions for AI safety and regulation.
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Grimes told astrophysicist Sean Carroll on his podcast that AI will soon surpass humans in art and science, marking the 'end of human art.' Her comments drew sharp criticism from Zola Jesus and a nuanced reply from Holly Herndon, who uses AI in her own work. The exchange highlights growing tensions in the music community over artificial intelligence's role in creativity.
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OpenAI accidentally exposed its full o1 model to some users through a URL tweak on Friday, before shutting access within two hours. The company confirmed the incident, saying it was preparing limited external access and has since fixed the issue. Early user reports suggest the full model may outperform the preview version.
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The Pentagon confirmed that automated tools, including AI, caused the temporary removal of a webpage honoring Jackie Robinson, a baseball legend and WWII veteran. The incident, part of a broader effort to eliminate diversity-related content, sparked public outcry and led to the page's restoration and a staff change.
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A Netherlands-based activist and his volunteer team are using AI and facial recognition to identify masked ICE agents in viral videos, claiming at least 20 agents have been unmasked. The effort has drawn criticism from ICE officials and raised concerns about privacy and the ethics of facial recognition technology.
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The latest NAEP results show that only 35% of U.S. high school seniors are proficient in reading and 22% in math, the lowest in decades. Experts point to pandemic disruptions and technology shifts, while the Trump administration cites the data to support closing the Education Department.
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An unexpected move for a company selling an AI writing assistant: Superhuman announced it has acquired GPTZero. This AI detection platform provides services including hallucination and plagiarism detection, as well as a handy tool showing what percentage of the internet is AI-generated. Superhuman plans to integrate GPTZero into its Superhuman Go AI assistant to expand its existing initiatives around AI and authenticity. Teachers and students remain Superhuman’s top priority audience post-acquisition. GPTZero noted that Superhuman will help embed its tools directly into environments where people already read and write. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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Google's Project Loon aims to deploy a ring of about 300 high-altitude balloons to deliver internet to a limited area in the Southern Hemisphere as early as next year. Each balloon can serve a 40-kilometer ground area at speeds up to 10 Mbps, and the company plans to begin beta commercial trials if the initial ring succeeds.
