*AR demos look slicker these days and even feature some nifty soundtracks.
I Put on Meta and Xreal’s XR Glasses. Face Computers Are Finally Getting Good
Xreal’s long-hyped Aura glasses arrive soon for $1,279. Here’s how they fare against Meta’s recently announced VR Glasses.
Boone Ashworth
I Did Push-Ups With Snap’s Chunky AR Glasses
They fit better than they look and stay put when you move, but Snap’s $2,195 Specs still feel like a developer prototype in search of a purpose.
Boone Ashworth
The New ChatGPT Is More Show Than Tell
OpenAI is updating ChatGPT for all users with an “Intelligent UI” that’s more visual—generating interactive elements as part of the chatbot’s outputs.
Reece Rogers
These Researchers Made AI Drive a Toyota Corolla to Get In-N-Out
Three engineers put GPT, Claude, and Grok in charge of a real car. Only one of them was successful.
Will Knight
I Made Terrible Games With Google’s AI Playground
A long day’s haul in the video game slop mines.
Boone Ashworth
Sony Wants You to Forget About Discs With Its Gorgeous Transparent Controllers
Sony has new, spiffy see-through controllers and covers for its PlayStation 5 that let you see the hardware guts inside.
Boone Ashworth
Muse Wonder Puts Meta Back at the AI Frontier
Meta’s biggest model rivals the world’s best—and includes new features to keep agents from going off the rails.
Will Knight
Hugging Face’s New AI Biology Model Lets You Chat With DNA
The new open-source model speaks the language of DNA and can help researchers understand the effects of any changes on gene activity and health.
Emily Mullin
We Got Hot and Heavy With Meta’s Muse—and Baffled by Apple’s HomeView
This week on Uncanny Valley, we dive into an unexpected Muse feature, shadowy spending from the largest pro-AI super PAC, and men’s tendency to lie about how much they know about AI.
Brian Barrett
AI Is Getting Really Good at Messing With Cybercriminals
Anti-cybercrime initiatives are increasingly using AI to scam the scammers by tricking them into talking to lifelike bots that they think are real victims.
Lily Hay Newman
Mistral Says Its AI Model ‘Le Chonk’ Has Leapfrogged China in the Open-Weight Race
The French AI lab claims its latest release matches or outperforms even the best models from DeepSeek and Z.ai in coding and cybersecurity.
Joel Khalili
Why AI Isn’t Ready to Tackle Our Convoluted Genomes
The DNA inside our cells isn’t just a series of instructions, but something far more dynamic. Like scientists, AI models don't yet have the data to properly decode it.
Philip Ball