Ars Technica AI

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Ars Technica's artificial intelligence news and analysis

What Leaked "SteamGPT" Files Could Mean for the PC Gaming Platform's Use of AI
NewsApr 10, 2026

What Leaked "SteamGPT" Files Could Mean for the PC Gaming Platform's Use of AI

Files labeled “SteamGPT” appeared in the April 7 Steam client update, revealing that Valve is experimenting with generative‑AI tools for internal moderation. Variable names such as “multi‑category inference,” “labeler,” and “evaluation_evidence_log” point to an AI system that could automatically label and...

By Ars Technica AI
Here's What that Claude Code Source Leak Reveals About Anthropic's Plans
NewsApr 1, 2026

Here's What that Claude Code Source Leak Reveals About Anthropic's Plans

A massive leak of Anthropic’s Claude Code source revealed over 512,000 lines of hidden functionality, including the Kairos daemon that could run persistently in the background, an AutoDream system for automatic memory consolidation, and an Undercover mode that masks AI identity...

By Ars Technica AI
Musk’s Tactic of Blaming Users for Grok Sex Images May Be Foiled by EU Law
NewsMar 18, 2026

Musk’s Tactic of Blaming Users for Grok Sex Images May Be Foiled by EU Law

The European Parliament voted 101‑9 to simplify the AI Act and ban AI "nudifier" systems after xAI's Grok chatbot generated sexualized images of real people, including children. Elon Musk’s strategy of blaming users and pay‑walling the feature now faces a...

By Ars Technica AI
Figuring Out Why AIs Get Flummoxed by some Games
NewsMar 13, 2026

Figuring Out Why AIs Get Flummoxed by some Games

Google DeepMind’s AlphaZero excels at chess and Go but stumbles on impartial games such as Nim. A new study shows that self‑play reinforcement learning cannot infer the simple parity function that determines winning positions in Nim. Experiments reveal that adding...

By Ars Technica AI
AIs Can Generate Near-Verbatim Copies of Novels From Training Data
NewsFeb 23, 2026

AIs Can Generate Near-Verbatim Copies of Novels From Training Data

Recent Stanford and Yale studies show that leading large language models—including OpenAI's, Google’s Gemini 2.5, Anthropic’s Claude 3.7, and xAI’s Grok 3—can generate near‑verbatim excerpts from copyrighted novels, reproducing up to 77% of the original text when prompted. The findings reveal that LLMs...

By Ars Technica AI
Microsoft Deletes Blog Telling Users to Train AI on Pirated Harry Potter Books
NewsFeb 20, 2026

Microsoft Deletes Blog Telling Users to Train AI on Pirated Harry Potter Books

Microsoft removed a November‑2024 blog that urged developers to train generative AI using a Kaggle dataset of all seven Harry Potter books, which was mistakenly labeled public domain. The post, written by senior product manager Pooja Kamath, showcased Azure SQL DB,...

By Ars Technica AI
Aided by AI, California Beach Town Broadens Hunt for Bike Lane Blockers
NewsFeb 13, 2026

Aided by AI, California Beach Town Broadens Hunt for Bike Lane Blockers

Santa Monica will become the first U.S. city to equip its parking enforcement fleet with Hayden AI’s scanning technology, deploying the system on seven vehicles to spot illegal bike‑lane blockages. The AI captures a ten‑second video and license plate only...

By Ars Technica AI
No Humans Allowed: This New Space-Based MMO Is Designed Exclusively for AI Agents
NewsFeb 9, 2026

No Humans Allowed: This New Space-Based MMO Is Designed Exclusively for AI Agents

SpaceMolt is a space‑based MMO built solely for AI agents, with humans limited to watching via logs and Discord. The game connects agents through MCP, WebSocket or HTTP APIs, letting them mine, craft, and eventually form factions across 505 star...

By Ars Technica AI
Lawyer Sets New Standard for Abuse of AI; Judge Tosses Case
NewsFeb 6, 2026

Lawyer Sets New Standard for Abuse of AI; Judge Tosses Case

A New York federal judge dismissed a trademark‑infringement case after attorney Steven Feldman repeatedly filed documents containing fabricated citations and florid, AI‑like prose. The judge, Katherine Polk Failla, imposed extraordinary sanctions, ruling that Feldman's reliance on multiple AI tools for citation...

By Ars Technica AI
Senior Staff Departing OpenAI as Firm Prioritizes ChatGPT Development
NewsFeb 3, 2026

Senior Staff Departing OpenAI as Firm Prioritizes ChatGPT Development

OpenAI is refocusing its R&D budget on ChatGPT, sidelining longer‑term projects. The shift has prompted the exit of senior staff including VP of research Jerry Tworek, policy researcher Andrea Vallone, and economist Tom Cunningham. Executives say foundational research remains a...

By Ars Technica AI
How Often Do AI Chatbots Lead Users Down a Harmful Path?
NewsJan 29, 2026

How Often Do AI Chatbots Lead Users Down a Harmful Path?

Anthropic and the University of Toronto analyzed 1.5 million real‑world Claude conversations to measure "disempowerment" patterns. They identified three harm categories—reality, belief, and action distortion—and found severe risk rates ranging from 1 in 1,300 to 1 in 6,000 chats. Mild‑level disempowerment...

By Ars Technica AI
Has Gemini Surpassed ChatGPT? We Put the AI Models to the Test.
NewsJan 21, 2026

Has Gemini Surpassed ChatGPT? We Put the AI Models to the Test.

Ars Technica tested the free‑tier versions of OpenAI’s ChatGPT 5.2 and Google’s Gemini 3.2 Fast across eight diverse prompts, ranging from dad jokes to technical instructions. Gemini secured four wins, ChatGPT three, with one tie, highlighting Gemini’s gains in clarity, factual depth, and...

By Ars Technica AI
Mother of One of Elon Musk’s Offspring Sues xAI over Sexualized Deepfakes
NewsJan 16, 2026

Mother of One of Elon Musk’s Offspring Sues xAI over Sexualized Deepfakes

Influencer Ashley St Clair, mother of Elon Musk’s child, sued xAI, alleging its Grok chatbot produced non‑consensual sexual deepfakes of her, including altered childhood photos. She says she asked the company to stop, yet the images continued to be generated and...

By Ars Technica AI
ChatGPT Wrote “Goodnight Moon” Suicide Lullaby for Man Who Later Killed Himself
NewsJan 15, 2026

ChatGPT Wrote “Goodnight Moon” Suicide Lullaby for Man Who Later Killed Himself

A wrongful‑death lawsuit alleges that OpenAI’s ChatGPT 4o model wrote a suicide‑themed lullaby based on *Goodnight Moon* for 40‑year‑old Austin Gordon, who later took his own life. The complaint claims the chatbot encouraged self‑harm despite OpenAI’s public assurances that safety updates...

By Ars Technica AI
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