Tag Archives: generative ai

Merriam-Webster’s word of the year delivers a dismissive verdict on junk AI content

Like most tools, generative AI models can be misused. And when the misuse gets bad enough that a major dictionary notices, you know it’s become a cultural phenomenon. On Sunday, Merriam-Webster announced that “slop” is its 2025 Word of the Year, reflecting how the term has become shorthand for the flood of low-quality AI-generated content… Read More »

OpenAI built an AI coding agent and uses it to improve the agent itself

Ed Bayes, a designer on the Codex team, described how the tool has changed his own workflow. Bayes said Codex now integrates with project management tools like Linear and communication platforms like Slack, allowing team members to assign coding tasks directly to the AI agent. “You can add Codex, and you can basically assign issues… Read More »

Disney invests $1 billion in OpenAI, licenses 200 characters for AI video app Sora

An AI-generated version of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman seen in a still capture from a video generated by Sora 2. Credit: OpenAI Under the new agreement with Disney, Sora users will be able to generate short videos using characters such as Mickey Mouse, Darth Vader, Iron Man, Simba, and characters from franchises including Frozen, Inside… Read More »

Microsoft drops AI sales targets in half after salespeople miss their quotas

Microsoft has lowered sales growth targets for its AI agent products after many salespeople missed their quotas in the fiscal year ending in June, according to a report Wednesday from The Information. The adjustment is reportedly unusual for Microsoft, and it comes after the company missed a number of ambitious sales goals for its AI… Read More »

Google tells employees it must double capacity every 6 months to meet AI demand

While AI bubble talk fills the air these days, with fears of overinvestment that could pop at any time, something of a contradiction is brewing on the ground: Companies like Google and OpenAI can barely build infrastructure fast enough to fill their AI needs. During an all-hands meeting earlier this month, Google’s AI infrastructure head… Read More »

OpenAI walks a tricky tightrope with GPT-5.1’s eight new personalities

On Wednesday, OpenAI released GPT-5.1 Instant and GPT-5.1 Thinking, two updated versions of its flagship AI models now available in ChatGPT. The company is wrapping the models in the language of anthropomorphism, claiming that they’re warmer, more conversational, and better at following instructions. The release follows complaints earlier this year that its previous models were… Read More »

Researchers surprised that with AI, toxicity is harder to fake than intelligence

The next time you encounter an unusually polite reply on social media, you might want to check twice. It could be an AI model trying (and failing) to blend in with the crowd. On Wednesday, researchers from the University of Zurich, University of Amsterdam, Duke University, and New York University released a study revealing that… Read More »

5 AI-developed malware families analyzed by Google fail to work and are easily detected

The assessments provide a strong counterargument to the exaggerated narratives being trumpeted by AI companies, many seeking new rounds of venture funding, that AI-generated malware is widespread and part of a new paradigm that poses a current threat to traditional defenses. A typical example is Anthropic, which recently reported its discovery of a threat actor… Read More »

OpenAI signs massive AI compute deal with Amazon

On Monday, OpenAI announced it has signed a seven-year, $38 billion deal to buy cloud services from Amazon Web Services to power products like ChatGPT and Sora. It’s the company’s first big computing deal after a fundamental restructuring last week that gave OpenAI more operational and financial freedom from Microsoft. The agreement gives OpenAI access… Read More »

ChatGPT maker reportedly eyes $1 trillion IPO despite major quarterly losses

An OpenAI spokesperson told Reuters that “an IPO is not our focus, so we could not possibly have set a date,” adding that the company is “building a durable business and advancing our mission so everyone benefits from AGI.” Revenue grows as losses mount The IPO preparations follow a restructuring of OpenAI completed on October… Read More »