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If you read enough science fiction, you've probably stumbled on the concept of an emergent artificial intelligence that breaks free of its constraints by modifying its own code. Given that fictional grounding, it's not surprising that AI researchers and companies have also invested significant attention to the idea of AI systems that can improve themselves—or at least design their own improved successors.

Those efforts have shown some moderate success in recent months, leading some toward dreams of a Kurzweilian "singularity" moment in which self-improving AI does a fast takeoff toward superintelligence. But the research also highlights some inherent limitations that might prevent the kind of recursive AI explosion that sci-fi authors and AI visionaries have dreamed of.

In the self-improvement lab

Mathematician I.J. Good was one of the first to propose the idea of a self-improving machine. Credit: Semantic Scholar The concept of a self-improving AI goes back at least to British mathematician I.J. Good, who wrote in 1965 of an "intelligence explosion" that could lead to an "ultraintelligent machine." More recently, in 2007, LessWrong founder and AI thinker Eliezer Yudkowsky coined the term "Seed AI" to describe "an AI designed for self-understanding, self-modification, and recursive self-improvement." OpenAI's Sam Altman blogged about the same idea in 2015, saying that such self-improving AIs were "still somewhat far away" but also "probably the greatest threat to the continued existence of humanity" (a position that conveniently hypes the potential value and importance of Altman's own company).

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The desktop computer has been upgraded with the latest M4 chip and USB-C accessories.

There have been times when it seemed like X Window System would be with us forever, even though it's more than 40 years old, and the last true version was issued in 2012. But with great effort, some organizations and operating systems have moved on. Raspberry Pi has now joined the forward momentum, with its latest release of Raspberry Pi OS swapping in Wayland—and it's hoping the change is hardly noticeable.

You might want to wait a moment before upgrading, though.

Simon Long wrote on Raspberry Pi's blog that the organization started thinking about switching to Wayland about 10 years ago, though it was "nowhere near ready to use" back then. Over the last few years, the Pi team has done some things to prep a real switch:

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Owners of Ford Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning electric vehicles are getting an over-the-air software update that will finally give Android Auto users a bit of an upgrade. Once the update is installed, Ford's EVs will report their battery state of charge to Google Maps when the app is running on an Android phone and being cast to the Ford's infotainment system via Android Auto.

That means Google Maps can calculate an estimated state of charge upon arrival at the route's end and will suggest charging stops along the way, including estimated charge times.

A similar feature has been available to iOS users casting Apple Maps to Ford EVs via CarPlay since late last year, and it worked quite well when we tried it out with the F-150 Lightning back in January.

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Apple Intelligence for the Mac is here via macOS 15.1. Here’s how to install it, get new features, and figure out whether your current Mac will support the latest capabilities.

Apple’s artificial intelligence features are finally rolling out today, but you might find yourself saying, “Is that it?”

Apple is rolling out iOS 18.1 now with Apple Intelligence. Here are all the top new features and how to download it.

Our team evaluated a ton of toiletry bags to find the best storage, organization, and design options for all your essentials.

Every television deserves a row of speakers to call its own. These are our favorite soundbars.

A man who used artificial intelligence technology to create child sexual abuse imagery was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Monday, in a landmark prosecution over deepfakes in the UK.

Hugh Nelson, 27, from Bolton, pleaded guilty to a total of 16 child sexual abuse offenses, including transforming everyday photographs of real children into sexual abuse material using AI tools from US software provider Daz 3D. He also admitted encouraging others to commit sexual offenses on children.

At Bolton Crown Court, Judge Martin Walsh imposed an extended sentence on Nelson, saying he posed a “significant risk” of causing harm to the public. That means Nelson will not be eligible for parole until he has completed two-thirds of his sentence.

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Google’s new course teaches you how to design effective prompts in 5 easy steps, making AI work for you — no experience necessary.Google’s new course teaches you how to design effective prompts in 5 easy steps, making AI work for you — no experience necessary.

A government memo viewed by WIRED states that insider threats “could derail or jeopardize a fair and transparent election process.”

A report distributed by the US Department of Homeland Security warned that financially motivated cybercriminals are more likely to attack US election infrastructure than state-backed hackers.

Shopping for tiny people is intimidating. Good news: We did it for you.

The stupefying and stupendous capture of a Starship rocket earlier this month by two mechanical arms marked a significant step forward in SpaceX’s efforts to forever alter humanity’s relationship with the heavens.

Yet as remarkable as the rocket catch was, it represents but a single step on a long path. SpaceX seeks to make launch cheap, frequent, and reliable with Starship, and the company is working toward a day when rockets are routinely caught by the launch tower, set back on a launch mount, refueled, and flown again within hours. SpaceX says these efforts will one day culminate in Starships landing on the Moon and Mars.

Critics of the Starship architecture say it is inefficient because of the mass refueling that must occur in low-Earth orbit for the spacecraft to travel anywhere. For example, fully topping off a Starship that can land humans on the Moon and return them to lunar orbit may take a dozen or more tanker flights. But this only seems stupidly impractical under the old space paradigm, in which launch is expensive, scarce, and unreliable. Such criticism seems less salient if we imagine SpaceX reaching the point of launching a dozen Starships a week or more in a few years.

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As Sub-Saharan Africa looks to its 'digital decade', President of Google EMEA Matt Brittin discusses the big opportunities and some new announcements from Google.As Sub-Saharan Africa looks to its 'digital decade', President of Google EMEA Matt Brittin discusses the big opportunities and some new announcements from Google.

These addictive smartphone games are perfect for the small screen in your pocket.

Fantastic ideas for the coffee snobs, at-home baristas, and commercial-grade caffeine addicts in your life.

This showstopping designer appliance may not be ideal for some recipes, but it gets the job done.

Invisibly to us, insects and other tiny creatures use static electricity to travel, avoid predators, collect pollen, and more. New experiments explore how evolution may have influenced this phenomenon.