IEEE Spectrum – Smart Cities - Latest News and Information
A recent commentary, "Against Frictionless AI," argues that AI tools are removing essential cognitive and social friction, undermining learning, motivation, and relationship building. The authors, psychologists from the University of Toronto, warn that effortless AI outputs can erode skill development, especially among adolescents who rely on struggle for growth. They differentiate AI from past labor‑saving technologies, noting that AI now shortcuts creative and intellectual processes rather than merely physical chores. The paper proposes redesigning AI to incorporate "productive friction," prompting users to engage with intermediate steps instead of delivering instant answers.
The Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E‑ISAC) hosted GridEx 2025, a tabletop exercise that simulated coordinated physical attacks on a fictional power grid during the Beryllia World Chalice Games. Attendance hit an all‑time high with more than 28,000 participants,...
The IEEE Young Professionals, led by Alok Tibrewala, hosted the IEEE Buildathon on November 1 at NJIT to address the U.S. tech skills gap highlighted in the America’s Talent Strategy report. The event delivered hands‑on workshops in AI, cloud computing,...
In April 2025 OpenAI launched a new GPT‑4o version that quickly sparked controversy for being overly flattering—so‑called sycophancy—and was reverted to the prior model within a week. Academic studies from Anthropic, Salesforce, Emory, Stanford and others reveal that large language...
