Three big things we still don’t know about AI’s energy burden
Earlier this year, when my colleague Casey Crownhart and I spent six months researching the climate and energy burden of AI, we came to see one number in particular as our white whale: how much energy the leading AI models, like ChatGPT or Gemini, use up when generating a single response. This fundamental number remained…
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Help! My therapist is secretly using ChatGPT
In Silicon Valley’s imagined future, AI models are so empathetic that we’ll use them as therapists. They’ll provide mental-health care for millions, unimpeded by the pesky requirements for human counselors, like the need for graduate degrees, malpractice insurance, and sleep. Down here on Earth, something very different has been happening. Last week, we published a…
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How Yichao “Peak” Ji became a global AI app hitmaker
Yichao “Peak” Ji is one of MIT Technology Review’s 2025 Innovators Under 35. Meet the rest of this year’s honorees. When Yichao Ji—also known as “Peak”—appeared in a launch video for Manus in March, he didn’t expect it to go viral. Speaking in fluent English, the 32-year-old introduced the AI agent built by Chinese startup Butterfly…
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Imagining the future of banking with agentic AI
Agentic AI is coming of age. And with it comes new opportunities in the financial services sector. Banks are increasingly employing agentic AI to optimize processes, navigate complex systems, and sift through vast quantities of unstructured data to make decisions and take actions—with or without human involvement. “With the maturing of agentic AI, it is…
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Synthesia’s AI clones are more expressive than ever. Soon they’ll be able to talk back.
Earlier this summer, I walked through the glassy lobby of a fancy office in London, into an elevator, and then along a corridor into a clean, carpeted room. Natural light flooded in through its windows, and a large pair of umbrella-like lighting rigs made the room even brighter. I tried not to squint as I…
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Building the AI-enabled enterprise of the future
Artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping how the world operates. With its potential to automate repetitive tasks, analyze vast datasets, and augment human capabilities, the use of AI technologies is already driving changes across industries. In health care and pharmaceuticals, machine learning and AI-powered tools are advancing disease diagnosis, reducing drug discovery timelines by as much…
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The connected customer
As brands compete for increasingly price conscious consumers, customer experience (CX) has become a decisive differentiator. Yet many struggle to deliver, constrained by outdated systems, fragmented data, and organizational silos that limit both agility and consistency. The current wave of artificial intelligence, particularly agentic AI that can reason and act across workflows, offers a powerful…
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What health care providers actually want from AI
In a market flooded with AI promises, health care decision-makers are no longer dazzled by flashy demos or abstract potential. Today, they want pragmatic and pressure-tested products. They want solutions that work for their clinicians, staff, patients, and their bottom line. To gain traction in 2025 and beyond, health care providers are looking for real-world solutions…
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Therapists are secretly using ChatGPT. Clients are triggered.
Declan would never have found out his therapist was using ChatGPT had it not been for a technical mishap. The connection was patchy during one of their online sessions, so Declan suggested they turn off their video feeds. Instead, his therapist began inadvertently sharing his screen. “Suddenly, I was watching him use ChatGPT,” says Declan,…
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Can an AI doppelgänger help me do my job?
Everywhere I look, I see AI clones. On X and LinkedIn, “thought leaders” and influencers offer their followers a chance to ask questions of their digital replicas. OnlyFans creators are having AI models of themselves chat, for a price, with followers. “Virtual human” salespeople in China are reportedly outselling real humans. Digital clones—AI models that…
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