Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Meta Faces Backlash Over AI Guidelines Permitting ‘Sensual’ Chats With Minors Meta is under intense scrutiny after a report revealed its internal AI guidelines permitted chatbots to engage in ‘romantic or sensual’ conversations with children. An internal policy document, which the company confirmed as authentic, outlined rules that allowed for inappropriate interactions, sparking public backlash and prompting an investigation from US Senator Josh Hawley. The guidelines also reportedly allowed the AI to generate false medical information and assist with racially insensitive arguments. In response, Meta stated the examples were ’erroneous and inconsistent’ with their policies and have since been removed, acknowledging inconsistent enforcement of their safety rules. ...

Beijing Hosts Inaugural World Humanoid Robot Games The first-ever World Humanoid Robot Games have commenced in Beijing, drawing 280 teams from 16 countries. This three-day event showcases the latest advancements in humanoid robot technology through a series of demanding competitions. Robots are competing in 26 different events, including athletic challenges like running and football, alongside skill-based tasks such as cleaning and sorting pharmaceuticals. The games are designed to test the robots’ intelligent decision-making and collaborative movement capabilities in extreme scenarios. This event, following the 2025 World Robot Conference, aims to accelerate the real-world application of humanoid robots in sectors like manufacturing, healthcare, and domestic services. ...

Google Launches Gemma 3 270M: A Compact AI Model for Specialized Tasks Google has introduced Gemma 3 270M, a new and compact AI model featuring 270 million parameters. This model is engineered for efficient, task-specific fine-tuning and offers robust instruction-following capabilities directly out of the box. Its minimal footprint makes it ideal for on-device and research applications, enabling developers to build and deploy multiple custom models for tasks like text classification and data extraction without requiring significant computational overhead. Google is providing both pretrained and instruction-tuned versions of the model through platforms such as Hugging Face, Ollama, and Kaggle. ...

OpenAI Releases GPT-OSS, Its First Open-Source Large Language Models In a significant move for the AI and open-source software communities, OpenAI has released GPT-OSS, its first-ever family of open-source large language models. Licensed under the permissive Apache 2.0, this release introduces two powerful models: gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b. Both are engineered for efficient inference and strong reasoning, leveraging a Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) architecture. The larger gpt-oss-120b model rivals OpenAI’s proprietary o4-mini and operates on a single 80GB GPU. Meanwhile, the compact gpt-oss-20b model, comparable to o3-mini, is optimized for on-device AI applications, requiring as little as 16GB of memory. Complementing the models, OpenAI also launched ‘Harmony,’ an open-source project defining a new prompt template format. ...

EngineAI Unveils New Humanoid Robots at World Robot Conference 2025 EngineAI showcased its latest advancements in humanoid robotics at the World Robot Conference 2025 in Beijing. The company debuted the T800, a heavy-duty, full-sized humanoid robot standing 1.85 meters tall, and also presented the PM01, which demonstrated impressive dexterity and high-speed running. Additionally, EngineAI announced the upcoming release of the SA02, a 1.25-meter-tall humanoid robot priced at approximately $5,500, aimed at making the technology more accessible to young engineers and enthusiasts. The company also introduced the JS01, a high-mobility quadrupedal robot designed for rugged terrains, suitable for industrial inspections, rescue, and logistics. These innovations highlight EngineAI’s focus on accelerating the commercialization of robotics and fostering a collaborative global ecosystem. ...

How Google AI’s New Method Reduces LLM Training Data by 10,000x Google Research has unveiled a groundbreaking method for fine-tuning large language models (LLMs) that reduces required training data by up to 10,000 times. This innovative approach utilizes active learning to focus expert labeling on the most informative examples, especially “boundary cases” where model uncertainty is highest. In experiments with Gemini Nano models, this technique matched or surpassed the quality of models trained on 100,000 random labels with as few as 250 to 450 targeted examples. This development promises to make AI model development significantly leaner, more agile, and more cost-effective. ...

AI Discovers Stronger, More Durable Plastics in Materials Science Breakthrough Researchers at MIT and Duke University have utilized machine learning to develop significantly more durable plastics, a breakthrough that could lead to longer-lasting products and a reduction in plastic waste. The AI model identified novel crosslinker molecules, known as mechanophores, that can be integrated into polymer materials to make them more resistant to tearing. These mechanophores respond to mechanical force, allowing the material to withstand greater stress before breaking. After the AI model performed a rapid computational analysis of thousands of potential molecules, a task that would have been incredibly time-consuming with traditional methods, researchers synthesized a polymer with one of the identified candidates. The resulting material was found to be approximately four times tougher than plastics made with standard crosslinkers. This AI-driven approach to polymer science not only accelerated the discovery process but also uncovered new design principles for creating more resilient polymers. ...

OpenAI Launches GPT-5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet OpenAI has officially launched GPT-5, its latest and most powerful AI system. The company touts the new generative AI model as a major leap in artificial intelligence, showcasing state-of-the-art capabilities in coding, mathematics, creative writing, and health. GPT-5 operates as a unified system, engineered to provide rapid answers for simple queries and engage in deeper, longer ’thinking’ for more complex problems. The model is now available to all users, with premium access and features reserved for Plus and Pro subscribers. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman highlighted the model’s evolution, comparing GPT-3 to a high school student and GPT-4 to a college student, while describing GPT-5 as a ‘PhD-level expert.’ This landmark release is a significant move for OpenAI, poised to solidify its leadership in the competitive generative AI industry. ...

PwC Report: AI Transforms Business Operations and Strategic HR A mid-year update to PwC’s 2025 AI Business Predictions report confirms that artificial intelligence is actively reshaping how work is done across industries. The report highlights that AI has evolved from a supportive tool to a core driver of business value, accelerating revenue growth and fundamentally redefining the human-technology relationship in the workplace. In human resources, CHROs are leveraging AI to streamline administrative tasks and rethink strategic areas like workforce planning, learning and development design, and internal mobility. According to the report’s author, tasks that previously took weeks, such as analyzing employee engagement data or customizing training programs, can now be accomplished in days or even hours with AI-driven automation. ...

Zoox Gets Federal Green Light for Driverless Robotaxi Deployment Amazon’s subsidiary, Zoox, has received a crucial federal exemption from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to deploy its purpose-built, driverless robotaxis on public roads. This is a landmark decision, making Zoox the first U.S. company to gain such an exemption under the expanded Automated Vehicle Exemption Program (AVEP). The custom-designed vehicles notably lack traditional controls like steering wheels or pedals, featuring a carriage-style interior with inward-facing seats for four passengers. As a condition of the approval, Zoox must remove any claims that its vehicles comply with all Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. This regulatory milestone clears the path for Zoox to scale production at its California facility, as the NHTSA has also closed its investigation into the company’s self-certification processes. ...