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INSTANT AI UPDATE 30 - WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF ANTHROPIC’S $1.5 BILLION COPYRIGHT SETTLEMENT? Anthropic has agreed to pay at LEAST $1.5B to a coalition of authors and publishers. This settlement, reached after months of negotiation and legal pressure, is the largest of its kind in U.S. copyright history and marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing debate over the use of copyrighted material in AI training. As AI systems, particularly large language models (LLMs), have becom

Recent large-scale surveys indicate a marked increase in workplace anxiety directly attributed to AI adoption. A 2024 Gallup poll found 22% of U.S. workers reported being “very” or “somewhat” worried that technology, including AI, would make their jobs obsolete, up from 15% in 2021.

This week Jonathan Kao and his UCLA-based team published exciting new findings in Nature Machine Intelligences that were also summarized in a companion article in Nature. 

AI’s integration into "failure-averse" sectors where mistakes can have catastrophic consequences marks a recent and critical frontier. Japan’s exploration of AI for nuclear power facility inspections is emblematic of this shift, as nuclear oversight is synonymous with “zero tolerance for error.”

AI is rapidly transforming facets of higher education. Over 70% of university professors have embraced AI for research, leveraging its power for data analysis, literature reviews, and hypothesis generation, but less than 35% have integrated AI into teaching and learning.

Deepfakes are synthetic media in which a person in an existing image or video is replaced with someone else's likeness using AI algorithms, particularly deep learning techniques such as generative adversarial networks (GANs). Generative AI has ushered in a new era of media manipulation, with deepfake technology at the forefront.

In the past 3 years, we’ve seen the largest tech companies doubling down on AI. Recent articles on AI capital spending illustrate the way this has skewed the 2025 US economy.

In this post, I'm sharing a worry of mine about a potential threat to our constitutional “rule of law”. The rapid advancement of AI and deep learning technologies has ushered in an era where digital forgeries, referred to as "deepfakes", pose a major threat to the integrity of courtroom evidence.

The convergence of genomics, computational mathematics, and artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the landscape of biomedical research and clinical practice.

By enabling robots to utilize cameras for visual training, MIT researchers are effectively granting AI systems a form of visual self-awareness. This development raises profound questions about the trajectory of AI and robotics, particularly regarding the concept of self-awareness, a trait long considered exclusive to biological organisms.

The AI Browser Wars are not a fad; instead, they represent a basic reordering of the internet’s value chain. The "answer first" paradigm is already eroding the traditional web “link first” traffic model, undermining the economics of content creation and forcing a radical rethink of SEO and digital advertising.

AI Sycophancy refers to the tendency of generative AI models to adapt their responses to align with the user’s views, even when those views are factually incorrect or ethically problematic. The term, borrowed from human behavior, describes a pattern where AI chatbots prioritize user approval over truthfulness or objectivity.

A key element of learning is “learning” how to study; learners of all ages struggle with developing good study habits. Knowt, founded in 2018, is a U.S.-based EdTech startup that leverages AI to revolutionize note-taking, study, and assessment. The platform’s core offering is its ability to automatically generate quizzes and study materials from user-uploaded notes, PDFs, and textbooks, using advanced natural language processing (NLP) algorithms.

The AI Assistant Economy refers to the ecosystem of technologies, businesses, and services centered around AI-powered virtual assistants. These assistants are software programs designed to perform tasks, provide information, and interact with users through natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning. AI assistants are no longer limited to personal use. They are now integrated into industries such as healthcare, finance, retail, and logistics. 

We are once again at the crossroads of another significant opportunity. The integration of AI in education is revolutionizing how students learn, teachers instruct, and institutions operate. Khanmigo for Education (KfE) is the latest brainchild of Salman Khan (Khan Academy). This post introduces Khanmigo.

At the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2025, Apple made a groundbreaking announcement that could redefine the landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) in mobile and desktop applications. The company revealed that it is opening its Apple Intelligence Foundation Models Framework (FMF) to third-party developers, enabling them to integrate on-device AI capabilities into their apps.

The integration of BCIs (Brain-Computer Interfaces) with AI is reshaping the boundaries of human-machine interaction. AI enhances BCIs by processing and interpreting complex neural data, enabling more precise, adaptive, and efficient control of external devices. This convergence has the potential to revolutionize healthcare, augment human cognition, and redefine the interface between humans and technology.

This week, I thought we should discuss one of AI's darkest realities, which we all need to accept and do all we can to manage the consequences. Axios published remarks made during an interview with Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, who shared a blunt, frightening warning for the US government. and all of us. Amodei shared that AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs, and spike unemployment to 10-20% in the next one to five years.

The Open Agentic Web refers to an evolution of the Internet in which autonomous, AI-powered agents act as intermediaries between users and digital services, operating across platforms, applications, and devices. These agents are not siloed within proprietary ecosystems but are interoperable, open-source, and capable of negotiating, executing, and personalizing tasks on behalf of individuals and organizations.

Being a cautious AI optimist, in INSTANT AI UPDATE 9, I wrote about AI hallucinations and the risks associated with AI providing “false but probable-sounding information.” This week’s headline about AI in med schools led me to research the growth of AI in medical education and identify the risks associated with this shift.