December 3, 2025

OpenAI has trained its LLM to confess to bad behavior

OpenAI is testing another new way to expose the complicated processes at work inside large language models. Researchers at the company can make an LLM produce what they call a confession, in which the model explains how it carried out a task and (most of the time) owns up to any bad behavior. Figuring out…

Technology

An AI adoption riddle

October 28, 2025
A few weeks ago, I set out on what I thought would be a straightforward reporting journey.  After years of momentum for AI—even if you didn’t think it would be good for the world, you probably thought it was powerful enough to take seriously—hype for the technology had been slightly punctured. First there was the…

Robotaxi companies must do more to prove safety, Waymo co-CEO says

October 27, 2025
Waymo co-CEO Takedra Mawakana urged rival autonomous vehicle companies to be more transparent about their safety data during an interview at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025. She said that companies removing human drivers from vehicles have a responsibility to prove their technology makes roads safer.

I tried OpenAI’s new Atlas browser but I still don’t know what it’s for

October 27, 2025
OpenAI rolled out a new web browser last week called Atlas. It comes with ChatGPT built in, along with an agent, so that you can browse, get direct answers, and have automated tasks performed on your behalf all at the same time.  I’ve spent the past several days tinkering with Atlas. I’ve used it to…

Stand Up for Research, Innovation, and Education

October 24, 2025
Right now, MIT alumni and friends are voicing their support for: America’s scientific and technological leadership Merit-based admissions and affordable education Advances that increase US health, security, and prosperity Our community is standing up for MIT and its mission to serve the nation and the world. And we need you to join us at this…

The Download: carbon removal’s future, and measuring pain using an app

October 24, 2025
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. What’s next for carbon removal? After years of growth that spawned hundreds of startups, the nascent carbon removal sector appears to be facing a reckoning. Running Tide, a promising aquaculture company, shut down…

An AI app to measure pain is here

October 24, 2025
How are you feeling? I’m genuinely interested in the well-being of all my treasured Checkup readers, of course. But this week I’ve also been wondering how science and technology can help answer that question—especially when it comes to pain. In the latest issue of MIT Technology Review magazine, Deena Mousa describes how an AI-powered smartphone app…

What’s next for carbon removal?

October 24, 2025
MIT Technology Review’s What’s Next series looks across industries, trends, and technologies to give you a first look at the future. You can read the rest of them here. In the early 2020s, a little-known aquaculture company in Portland, Maine, snagged more than $50 million by pitching a plan to harness nature to fight back…

Redefining data engineering in the age of AI

October 23, 2025
As organizations weave AI into more of their operations, senior executives are realizing data engineers hold a central role in bringing these initiatives to life. After all, AI only delivers when you have large amounts of reliable and well-managed, high-quality data. Indeed, this report finds that data engineers play a pivotal role in their organizations…