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

De-risking investment in AI agents

September 16, 2025
Automation has become a defining force in the customer experience. Between the chatbots that answer our questions and the recommendation systems that shape our choices, AI-driven tools are now embedded in nearly every interaction. But the latest wave of so-called “agentic AI”—systems that can plan, act, and adapt toward a defined goal—promises to push automation…

The Download: regulators are coming for AI companions, and meet our Innovator of 2025

September 16, 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. The looming crackdown on AI companionship As long as there has been AI, there have been people sounding alarms about what it might do to us: rogue superintelligence, mass unemployment, or environmental ruin.…

The looming crackdown on AI companionship

September 16, 2025
As long as there has been AI, there have been people sounding alarms about what it might do to us: rogue superintelligence, mass unemployment, or environmental ruin from data center sprawl. But this week showed that another threat entirely—that of kids forming unhealthy bonds with AI—is the one pulling AI safety out of the academic…

The Download: computing’s bright young minds, and cleaning up satellite streaks

September 15, 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. Meet tomorrow’s rising stars of computing Each year, MIT Technology Review honors 35 outstanding people under the age of 35 who are driving scientific progress and solving tough problems in their fields. Today…

The Download: America’s gun crisis, and how AI video models work

September 12, 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. We can’t “make American children healthy again” without tackling the gun crisis This week, the Trump administration released a strategy for improving the health and well-being of American children. The report was titled—you…

How do AI models generate videos?

September 12, 2025
MIT Technology Review Explains: Let our writers untangle the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand what’s coming next. You can read more from the series here. It’s been a big year for video generation. In the last nine months OpenAI made Sora public, Google DeepMind launched Veo 3, the video startup Runway…

We can’t “make American children healthy again” without tackling the gun crisis

September 11, 2025
Note for readers: This newsletter discusses gun violence, a raw and tragic issue in America. It was already in progress on Wednesday when a school shooting occurred at Evergreen High School in Colorado and Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University.  Earlier this week, the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again movement…