How optimistic are you about AI’s future?

Why it matters: These failures show that there are tons of unanswered questions about the technology, including who will moderate what it produces and how, whether we’re getting too trusting of the answers that chatbots produce, and what we’ll do with the mountain of “AI slop” that is increasingly taking over the internet. Above all, they illustrate the many pitfalls of blindly shoving AI into every product we interact with.

Bits and Bytes

What it’s like being a pedestrian in the world of Waymos 

Tech columnist Geoffrey Fowler finds that Waymo robotaxis regularly fail to stop for him at a crosswalk he uses every day. Though you can sometimes make eye contact with human drivers to gauge whether they’ll stop, Waymos lack that “social intelligence,” Fowler writes. (The Washington Post)

The AI Hype Index

For each print issue, MIT Technology Review publishes an AI Hype Index, a highly subjective take on the latest buzz about AI. See where facial recognition, AI replicas of your personality, and more fall on the index. (MIT Technology Review)

What’s going on at the intersection of AI and spirituality

Modern religious leaders are experimenting with A. just as earlier generations examined radio, television, and the internet. They include Rabbi Josh Fixler, who created “Rabbi Bot,” a chatbot trained on his old sermons. (The New York Times)

Meta has appointed its most prominent Republican to lead its global policy team