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Artificial intelligence

The AI Hype Index: Falling in love with chatbots, understanding babies, and the Pentagon’s “kill list”

MIT Technology Review’s highly subjective take on the latest buzz about AI.

February 26, 2025
hands on a controller and cursors surrounding a snarling dog
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Separating AI reality from hyped-up fiction isn’t always easy. That’s why we’ve created the AI Hype Index—a simple, at-a-glance summary of everything you need to know about the state of the industry.

The past few months have demonstrated how AI can bring us together. Meta released a model that can translate speech from more than 100 languages, and people across the world are finding solace, assistance, and even romance with chatbots. However, it’s also abundantly clear how the technology is dividing us—for example, the Pentagon is using AI to detect humans on its “kill list.” Elsewhere, the changes Mark Zuckerberg has made to his social media company’s guidelines mean that hate speech is likely to become far more prevalent on our timelines.

Deep Dive

Artificial intelligence

Everyone in AI is talking about Manus. We put it to the test.

The new general AI agent from China had some system crashes and server overload—but it’s highly intuitive and shows real promise for the future of AI helpers.

Anthropic can now track the bizarre inner workings of a large language model

What the firm found challenges some basic assumptions about how this technology really works.

China built hundreds of AI data centers to catch the AI boom. Now many stand unused.

The country poured billions into AI infrastructure, but the data center gold rush is unraveling as speculative investments collide with weak demand and DeepSeek shifts AI trends.

AI reasoning models can cheat to win chess games

These newer models appear more likely to indulge in rule-bending behaviors than previous generations—and there’s no way to stop them.

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