A new MIT study highlights the potential of generative AI for certain types of writing assignments in the workplace.

Every day, the reality of a dystopian future becomes more real. Recently, it was Ford applying to patent a method for autonomous cars to repossess themselves if owners miss enough payments. Or it’s the fact that I can’t really modify my car in California. But in the United Kingdom, they’ve gone a step further by using robot towing dollies to pluck cars out of tight spaces.

"Mediocrity will be automated." That was the verdict a top tech executive shared with me recently, describing the impact he predicted AI would have on the workforce. And while the phrasing might seem a bit harsh, there's growing evidence that he might be on to something. More specifically, AI could disproportionately impact the middle class of white-collar workers — the folks who are mid-career, mid-ability, mid-level, and yes, in some cases, mediocre. Here's why:

Canada's Sanctuary AI has revealed a new humanoid robot, shooting for the "world's first human-like intelligence in general purpose robots (GPR)." Phoenix builds on some very impressive earlier work and a neat "piloted" approach to training.

Artificial intelligence could replace 80 percent of human jobs in the coming years -- but that's a good thing, says US-Brazilian researcher Ben Goertzel, a leading AI guru."You could probably obsolete maybe 80 percent of jobs that people do, without having an AGI, by my guess.

There has always been tension between technology and capitalism. On the one hand capitalism rewards innovation and efficiency. That’s why capitalism has always outperformed managed economies. If a company builds a better mousetrap for less money, then people will have a better mousetrap for less money. Without capitalism it’s unlikely we’d all have smartphones in our pockets that we can use to have pizza delivered to our door within the next 30 minutes. I don’t want to live in a world where I can’t have pizza delivered to wherever I happen to be within 30 minutes.

Businesses globally have introduced automation into their operations at a slower pace than previously anticipated, the World Economic Forum (WEF) opined this week. The org's annual Future of Jobs report said businesses currently estimate 34 percent of all their tasks are completed by machines – a trajectory that would see its 2020 prediction of 47 percent automation by 2025 fall short. The org has therefore adjusted its prediction and now guesstimates 42 percent of tasks will be automated by 2027.

A popular shopping and dining district in Northern Virginia will start to see sidewalk delivery robots carrying Uber Eats orders. Uber Technologies and robotics company Cartken on Thursday unveiled the new AI-powered robot deliveries in the Mosaic District of Fairfax, Virginia.

The NYPD robot pooch Digidog got a new leash on life Tuesday — and police leaders insist it’s not the dystopian surveillance nightmare it was made out to be the first time New Yorkers got a look at it. Two years after the robot landed the NYPD in the doghouse with civil rights advocates, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell promised to keep New Yorkers abreast of how the operations of the cyber mutt and two other tech tools pilot tested.

In March 2023, robotics company Figure emerged and suddenly introduced its master plan to build Figure 01, an artificial intelligence humanoid robot that can think, learn, interact, and help people at work on its own. The self-moving and autonomous humanoid robot that is yet to be built is aimed to rely on the power of artificial intelligence to learn and predict its movement without anyone’s help. No controls needed – Figure 01 can work for and on itself.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge conducted a study in a tech consultancy firm using two robot wellbeing coaches, where 26 employees participated in weekly robot-led wellbeing sessions for four weeks. Although the robots had identical voices, facial expressions, and scripts for the sessions, the physical appearance of the robot affected how participants interacted with it.

Fears of an AI apocalypse loom large, but what are experts saying about the future?

Who let the dogs out?

Tesla told investors it can reduce costs by 50%, by expanding on the modular, parallel manufacturing innovations it developed for the Model Y. Tesla's next-gen vehicles will be built and tested in chunks that won't come together until the final line.

Artificial intelligence (AI) may be coming after your job, but it might at least also be able to do your chores. According to new research, AI may be able to automate about 39 per cent of domestic work within 10 years. In the study, researchers asked 65 AI experts from the UK and Japan to predict how much automation could relieve us of the most common housework and care work tasks.

Nine sweet teas. Two packs of butter. Four sides of ketchup. A caramel sundae. These are among the extra items baffled customers have had added to their orders as fast food chain McDonald’s continues to roll out its robot ordering system. The restaurant giant’s A.I. venture has been a long time in the making. In 2021, it announced a joint venture with IBM to “further accelerate the development of its Automated Order Taking (AOT) technology”.

Robotic IQ is apparently on the uptick. Now, we read, the accomplished mechanical wonders can drive, as long there’s not too much to steer around, be watchful lifeguards, and mimic human behavior in video games. And how far a leap is it from video games to political shenanigans?

Amazon maintains that employees and robots will continue to collaborate within its warehouses, however, according to specialists in robotics, the business may eventually be able to rely on robots to carry out much of the jobs that it currently delegates to human workers.

Hundreds of Amazon workers are on strike in Britain. The walkout marks the first formal industrial action in the country for the U.S. tech giant. The 24-hour strike action began Wednesday a minute after midnight. Strikers are expected to picket outside the company’s site in Coventry in central England throughout the day.

Several Redis Cloud customers have requested a way for alerts to be delivered on Slack channels. This how-to outlines the process.