AI & Society Articles - The Batch

Andrew Ng receives honorary degree at University of Exeter, July 2025, with university officials during graduation ceremony.

Letters

AI Transformation Comes to Universities: Exeter University groups computer science with business and environmental science, creating synergies that span AI, the economy, and the natural environment.

Just as many businesses are transforming to become more capable by using AI, universities are too.

A silhouette of a conductor leads a performance in front of a glowing data center, as an audience watches from a theater. Red curtains frame the scene, symbolizing AI model orchestration.

Letters

Why Meta Is Paying AI Engineers $100M: Meta’s massive compensation packages make sense considering the cost and potential return of delivering cutting-edge AI.

Recently Meta made headlines with unprecedented, massive compensation packages for AI model builders exceeding $100M (sometimes spread over multiple years).

Electric substation representing the energy use and carbon emissions linked to running large AI language models.

Science

Reasoning Boosts Carbon Emissions: Researchers confirm reasoning models that generate more tokens have a bigger environmental footprint

In the era of reasoning models, delivering better answers to questions has an environmental cost. A new study quantifies the impact.

Chart comparing U.S. vs. China AI language model performance, July 2024-July 2025, showing Elo ratings over time.

Letters

High Stakes for Nations in the Great AI Race: The U.S. leads in AI, but China is gaining momentum. Democratic countries should remove roadblocks to AI progress so they can build models that support human rights and the rule of law.

There is now a path for China to surpass the U.S. in AI. Even though the U.S. is still ahead, China has tremendous momentum with its vibrant open-weights model ecosystem and aggressive moves in semiconductor design and manufacturing.

Graph showing frequent chatbot users report lower well-being, based on Character.AI usage and survey analysis.

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.

Chinese flag overlaid on Nvidia GPUs, symbolizing renewed U.S.-China AI chip trade following lifted export restrictions.

Business

U.S. Lifts Ban on AI Chips for China: Market opens for Nvidia and AMD GPUs, following a White House meeting with Jensen Huang

Nvidia will resume sales of H20 processors in China.

Robot hand gripping seal of the U.S. Executive Office of the President, symbolizing government control over national AI policy.

Tech & Society

White House Resets U.S. AI Policy: How the White House's Action Plan aims to build AI leadership, infrastructure, and innovation

President Trump set forth principles of an aggressive national AI policy, and he moved to implement them through an action plan and executive orders.

EU flag with stars forming a neural network pattern, symbolizing AI regulation and interconnected oversight.

Business

How to Comply With the EU’s AI Act: EU issues code of practice to help AI developers follow AI Act regulations

The European Union published guidelines to help builders of AI models to comply with the AI Act, which wasenacted last year.

Illustration showing global AI policy frameworks connected to California’s 2025 Frontier AI Policy Report in the manner of a neural network.

Tech & Society

California Reframes AI Regulations: California proposes new guidelines to balance AI innovation and regulation

A committee convened by California Governor Gavin Newsom proposed principles intended to balance AI innovation with careful governance. The group sought to rethink AI regulation after Newsom vetoed earlier proposed legislation.

Meta’s AI hiring surge visualized by a tall stack of gold coins, symbolizing record-breaking compensation offers.

Business

Meta Lures Talent With Sky-High Pay: Meta’s hiring spree pushes up salaries for AI engineers higher across the industry

Publicly reported compensation for AI talent has skyrocketed in the wake of Meta’s recent hiring spree.

Map of the U.S. showing the status of AI governance bills by state in 2025, color-coded by legislative progress.

Letters

How The U.S. “One Big Beautiful Bill” Will Shape AI Regulation: State-by-state regulation of AI will create a shifting patchwork of laws that are likely to hamper innovation even as they provide lesser benefits.

Last week, the United States Congress passed President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” I’m disappointed it didn’t include a proposed moratorium on U.S. state-level AI regulation.

Beekeepers inspect Beewise robotic hive that uses computer vision and other AI to monitor and maintain a bee colony.

Science

Robotic Beehive For Healthier Bees: Beewise’s robotic beehive uses AI to save pollinators.

An automated beehive uses computer vision and robotics to help keep bees healthy and crops pollinated.