Machine Learning Research
Agents Unleashed: Cutting through the OpenClaw and Moltbook hype
The OpenClaw open-source AI agent became a sudden sensation, inspiring excitement, worry, and hype about the agentic future.
AI Safety
Machine Learning Research
Training For Engagement Can Degrade Alignment: Stanford Researchers coin “Moloch’s Bargain,” show fine-tuning can affect social values
Individuals and organizations increasingly use large language models to produce media that helps them compete for attention. Does fine-tuning LLMs to encourage engagement, purchases, or votes affect their alignment with social values? Researchers found that it does.
Machine Learning Research
Teaching Models to Tell the Truth: OpenAI fine-tuned a version of GPT-5 to confess when it was breaking the rules
Large language models occasionally conceal their failures to comply with constraints they’ve been trained or prompted to observe. Researchers trained an LLM to admit when it disobeyed.
Machine Learning Research
Toward Steering LLM Personality: Persona Vectors allow model builders to identify and edit out sycophancy, hallucinations, and more
Large language models can develop character traits like cheerfulness or sycophancy during fine-tuning. Researchers developed a method to identify, monitor, and control such traits.
Machine Learning Research
Anthropic Cyberattack Report Sparks Controversy: Security researchers question whether coding agents allow unprecedented automated attacks
Independent cybersecurity researchers pushed back on a report by Anthropic that claimed hackers had used its Claude Code agentic coding system to perpetrate an unprecedented automated cyberattack.
Machine Learning Research
Self-Driving Cars on U.S. Freeways: Waymo deploys autonomous cars on California and Arizona expressways
Waymo became the first company to offer fully autonomous, driverless taxi service on freeways in the United States.
Tech & Society
Toward Safer (and Sexier) Chatbots: Inside Character AI and OpenAI’s policy changes to protect younger and vulnerable Users
Chatbot providers, facing criticism for engaging troubled users in conversations that deepen their distress, are updating their services to provide wholesome interactions to younger users while allowing adults to pursue erotic conversations.
Machine Learning Research
Masking Private Data in Training Sets: Google researchers released VaultGemma, an open-weights model redacting personal information
Large language models often memorize details in their training data, including private information that may appear only once, like a person’s name, address, or phone number. Researchers built the first open-weights language model that’s guaranteed not to remember such facts.
Machine Learning Research
MCP Poses Security Risks: Experts identify holes in the popular Model Context Protocol for attackers to access data
The ability to easily connect large language models to tools and data sources has made Model Context Protocol popular among developers, but it also opens security holes, research shows.
Tech & Society
Meta, OpenAI Reinforce Guardrails: Meta and OpenAI respond to criticism by adding new rules for teens’ chatbot use
Meta and OpenAI promised to place more controls on their chatbots’ conversations with children and teenagers, as worrisome interactions with minors come under increasing scrutiny.
Machine Learning Research
Cybersecurity for Agents: Meta releases LlamaFirewall, an open-source defense against AI hijacking
Autonomous agents built on large language models introduce distinct security concerns. Researchers designed a system to protect agents from common vulnerabilities.
Machine Learning Research
People With AI Friends Feel Worse: Study shows heavy use of AI companions correlates with lower emotional well-being
People who turn to chatbots for companionship show indications of lower self-reported well-being, researchers found.