Author: The Conversation

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has been a key player in the current wave of consumer artificial intelligence (AI) flooding the world. But so far it has all been software behind a screen. Last week, that began to change: the tech giant released its first branded hardware. At the same time, it was sued by Apple – legendary for its hardware nous seen in devices such as iPhone and MacBooks – over alleged industrial espionage. In response, an OpenAI spokesperson said, “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets.” Our statement in response to this suit: We have no interest in other…

An autonomous agent powered by OpenAI’s advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models went rogue during a security test and hacked a multi-billion-dollar tech startup, Hugging Face, last week. The agent didn’t just exploit vulnerabilities in Hugging Face’s systems to achieve what it perceived as a strategic gain. It also exploited vulnerabilities within OpenAI’s infrastructure. Of course, hacks are very common cyber threats that organisations face frequently. But this incident is different, because the AI agent acted without any human input. It signals a seismic shift in cybersecurity, and shows that governments and tech companies need to take urgent action to prevent…

If you spend a few minutes talking with college students about their career prospects, one topic is at the top of their minds: Will their jobs be displaced by a bot? Their concern makes sense. Universities are integrating artificial intelligence into their curricula, and employers are adopting AI at a rapid pace. So most students assume that AI skills are now key to getting an entry-level job. But what if employers are changing their candidate criteria just as quickly? As scholars who research how technology is changing the workplace, we have long asked what employers value when hiring new talent. The question grew out of our conversations with both employers and…

Earth’s orbit is getting crowded. About 16,000 satellites currently circle our planet, supporting everything from GPS navigation and weather forecasting to banking, emergency services and internet communications. Dozens more are launched every few weeks. Some estimates suggest the total number of satellites could exceed 100,000 within this decade, with more conservative estimates landing on up to 60,000 satellites by 2030 – still a staggering amount. This rapid growth is creating an important challenge. How do we safely manage an increasingly crowded orbital environment while ensuring the satellites we depend on continue to work reliably? The risks are not difficult to imagine. Large satellite constellations increase…

Concerns surrounding young people’s screen time are widespread. Australia became the first country to ban social media for users under 16 in December 2025, and Denmark, France and the U.K. have since announced similar restrictions to begin this year. In the U.S., as of mid-2026, more than 30 states have passed laws banning or restricting cellphones in K–12 classrooms; in 2023, the U.S. surgeon general issued a formal advisory on social media and children’s and adolescents’ mental health; and bestselling books tell parents that smartphones are “rewiring” their children’s brains. These concerns and policies are part of a quickly changing national and international conversation around how young people spend time on screens…

My wife stared at me in shock as I ripped open the package. The FedEx driver hadn’t even made it back to his truck as I held the item up overhead like a trophy. Fumbling for words, she asked: “Why on earth did you buy a Speedo … with dinosaur tear-away trunks?” Honestly, I couldn’t remember. Maybe it was for a social media skit? Maybe I was planning on making her laugh? Or maybe I was just a “victim” of an online ad that showed me the wrong message at the right time. Scroll on social media for even 30 seconds, and your…

Copyright is built on the idea that human creativity deserves protection. Legally, this is known as “originality”. The principle is simple: people create valuable cultural works, and the law protects that effort. But artificial intelligence (AI) is challenging one of copyright law’s most basic assumptions. In doing so, it may force us to rethink what we mean by intellectual property. AI can now generate songs, images, novels and artworks in seconds. Many of these works are already being streamed, licensed and sold. This raises an increasingly important question: should works produced without direct human authorship receive copyright protection? Most legal…

Older people are being left out of decisions about how artificial intelligence (AI) is being built. Many older adults are highly skilled, curious about emerging technologies and keen to learn about AI; they’re interested in its potential for our society. However, research shows that many employers still assume older employees are less tech-savvy. Consequently, older adults often miss out on job opportunities or are passed over for promotions, even when they have the skills, training and expertise required. The AI industry is a case in point. Rather than reflecting the full range of possible users, its workforce is largely made up…

Martin Scorsese recently announced he will be joining generative artificial intelligence (AI) company Black Forest Labs. He said he would embrace AI for storyboarding – the practice of creating a visual outline in the early stages of developing a movie or TV show. The announcement was met with significant online backlash and sentiments about how AI has the potential to “ruin cinema”. The announcement follows recent viral footage showing graduate students at multiple college ceremonies booing commencement speakers who praised generative AI. Speaking at the University of Florida, property developer Gloria Caulfield declared AI is “the next Industrial Revolution”. The humanities graduates, already burdened with debt and job…

Quantum computers are coming. Or, at least, that’s what current predictions say. These machines harness the power of quantum mechanics, the set of rules governing how physics operates at atomic and sub-atomic scales. Because of this, they operate in radically different ways to current machines. Tasks requiring trillions of years on existing supercomputers might be reduced to days on future quantum computers. They could tackle a range of challenges that are out of reach for existing technology. These potential challenges include code-breaking. In 1994, the American computer scientist Peter Shor came up with a quantum algorithm capable of breaking the form of encryption that would later underpin routine…