MIT Technology Review

Opinion: The ability to remember you and your preferences is rapidly becoming a big selling point for AI chatbots and agents. That creates the potential for unprecedented privacy breaches that expose not only isolated data points, but the entire mosaic of people’s lives. https://trib.al/S3hnOKQ

In an industry that doesn’t stand still, Stanford’s AI Index, an annual roundup of key results and trends, is a chance to take a breath. (It’s a marathon, not a sprint, after all.)

Today in The Download, our daily newsletter: how humans make decisions, and Moderna’s “vaccine” word games.

Does free will exist? Neuroscientist Uri Maoz devises experiments to illuminate how—or if—the brain makes decisions.

If you’re following AI news, you’re probably getting whiplash. AI is a gold rush. AI is a bubble. AI is taking your job. AI can’t even read a clock. The 2026 AI Index from Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, AI’s annual report card, comes out today and cuts through some of that noise. Despite predictions that AI development may hit a wall, the report says that the top models just keep getting better. People are adopting AI faster than they picked up the personal computer or the internet. AI companies are generating revenue faster than companies in any previous technology boom, but they’re also spending hundreds of billions of dollars on data centers and chips. The benchmarks designed to measure AI, the policies meant to govern it, and the job market are struggling to keep up. AI is sprinting, and the rest of us are trying to find our shoes.

Experts and the general public view AI's trajectory VERY differently. “Assessing AI’s impact on jobs, 73% of U.S. experts are positive, compared with only 23% of the public, a 50 percentage point gap," according to this year's Stanford AI Index. Here's a smart bit of analysis from Will Douglas Heaven that helps explain why that might be. https://lnkd.in/g4FyV5Xq

Learn how to apply LLMs across industries in 7 weekly editions of our new free newsletter. https://trib.al/cJky5pO

Montanan Wesley Sarmento has deployed drones to keep humans safe and grizzlies out of trouble.

AI is evolving fast and keeping up with what actually matters can be challenging. Next week, MIT Technology Review will be unveiling a new list: The 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now. We will be hosting a first look at the list during a special Roundtables event, for subscribers only. The unveiling will cover 10 key technologies, emerging trends, bold ideas, and powerful movements in AI that you need to know about in 2026. Subscribe or register now to save your spot: https://trib.al/WzumMaL

The Mars Sample Return mission got off to a promising start, hunting for potentially humanity-changing space rocks. How did it fall off the rails? https://trib.al/95Xayd5