Author: Geek Planet

OpenAI launched ChatGPT on November 30, 2022, and its seemingly magical conversational powers fueled the Silicon Valley narrative that scaling up large language models (LLMs) would soon achieve artificial general intelligence (AGI)—the ability to do any intellectual task as well as humans. ChatGPT is still benefiting from its first-mover advantage, with a current 61.3% market share, compared to 14.1% for Microsoft’s Copilot and 13.4% for Google’s Gemini. However, OpenAI has the daunting problem that, unlike Microsoft and Google, it has no other substantial sources of revenue. To survive, it needs to generate profits from ChatGPT. Unwarranted optimism It hasn’t and…

A new study shows that AI data centers are sucking up unbelievable stores of water, perhaps even more than the global water bottle industry. In addition, the study estimates that these centers pollute the environment more than the city of New York does in a single year. Justine Calma writes in The Verge, Image Credit: Gorodenkoff – Adobe Stock AI created as much carbon pollution this year as New York City and guzzled up as much H20 as people consume globally in water bottles, according to new estimates. The study paints what’s likely a pretty conservative picture of AI’s environmental…

The eulogies for WPP keep getting drafted, yet the holding company refuses to play along. That’s the subtext running through a wave of conspicuously aligned LinkedIn posts in recent weeks, each one offering a reminder that the onetime market leader is still very much in the game.“There’s been a lot of negativity around WPP,” wrote one WPP Media director. “But as the dust starts to settle, we are seeing wins happen more and more.” “All the negativity around WPP Media is incessant,” posted an exec at WPP Media’s Choreograph unit, a day later. “There is a lot of noise right…

Artificial intelligence is often discussed in terms of extremes. Some people predict that AI will soon surpass human intelligence and take over society. Others fear catastrophic outcomes from powerful machines. In a recent GeekPlanet podcast interview, Dr. Donald C. Wunsch II offered a calmer and more realistic perspective. Drawing on decades of experience in engineering and artificial intelligence, Wunsch argues that the real issues with AI are not science fiction threats but human choices, policy failures, and hype. A Career Built on Engineering Reality Dr. Donald Wunsch is an endowed professor of electrical and computer engineering at Missouri University of…

Google is using a clever bit of ultrasound tech to get you into meetings faster, and with fewer chances of embarrassing audio feedback. The company is rolling out automatic conference room detection to Google Meet on Android and iOS. The feature already existed on laptops, but bringing it to phones makes it far more practical for real-world meetings. The idea is simple. When you enter a meeting room and open Meet through the app or via Gmail, your phone can sense that it is physically inside a supported conference room and prompt you to join the ongoing call correctly. Here…

On the road to CES 2026, Samsung has unveiled its latest Odyssey lineup of gaming monitors. While one of the monitors provides glasses-free 3D visuals, another is marketed as the world’s first monitor with a 1,040Hz refresh rate. Dubbed the Odyssey G6 (G60H), the monitor offers over four times the refresh rate of today’s 240Hz panels that esports players swear by. By default, the 27-inch IPS QHD panel offers a 600Hz refresh rate, which is still pretty wild, but in the Dual Mode, the monitor can go all the way up to 1,040Hz (in HD resolution). For those catching up,…

When Walter Bradley passed away at age 81, the scientific and faith communities lost a rare figure: a man who combined first-rate engineering, intellectual courage, and a deep concern for human flourishing. His legacy remains alive and thriving. On ID the Future, Andrew McDiarmid, talked to Robert J. Marks about Bradley’s life, work, and enduring influence. What emerged was not merely a résumé of achievements, but the portrait of a man who “lived wall to wall,” integrating science, faith, and service with remarkable consistency. Bradley was a trailblazer in the modern intelligent design movement, most notably as a coauthor of…

Kind snack bars is hedging its bets on using generative AI tools, like synthetic audiences and AI agents, to turn its business around. This year has been “an inflection point” for the Mars-owned snack brand, as Osher Hoberman, CMO at Kind North America, puts it. Kind has been struggling to capture Gen Z’s attention and faces stiff competition from private label brands, Hoberman said. That pressure over the past year has pushed the snack brand to adopt generative AI to curb marketing costs and expedite the creative process. Creative testing and learning used to take anywhere from three to four months,…

This article is republished with the author’s permission from National Review. Work continues apace toward the goal of gestating babies outside a woman’s body. Scientists have now implanted human embryos in “organoids” made of tissues that mimic the uterine lining. From, “Researchers are Getting Organoids Pregnant,” published in the MIT Technology Review: In three papers published this week by Cell Press, scientists are reporting what they call the most accurate efforts yet to mimic the first moments of pregnancy in the lab. They’ve taken human embryos from IVF centers and let these merge with “organoids” made of endometrial cells, which…

Act 2 of 2001: A Space Odyssey is probably the shortest of the three acts, and it’s the most confusing. I think this entire act could’ve been cut to one, maybe two, scenes. All that’s really needed is the discovery of the Monolith on the moon and the moment when it releases its signal. The Monolith is discovered on the moon.But I understand why the writers added more because this sequence is directly inspired by Arthur C. Clarke’s short story, “The Sentinel,” where a similar artifact is discovered on the moon. In both the film and short story, the artifact…