New Grok 3 release tops LLM leaderboards despite Musk-approved “based” opinions
xAI shows off new chatbot that injects a dose of Musk-flavored opinion.
Benj Edwards and Kyle Orland
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Benj Edwards
Senior AI Reporter
benj.edwards@arstechnica.com
Benj Edwards is Ars Technica's Senior AI Reporter, having founded the site's AI beat in 2022 to cover the emerging field of generative AI. For over 17 years, he has written about technology and tech history for sites such as The Atlantic, Fast Company, PCMag, PCWorld, Macworld, How-To Geek, and Wired. His work in AI reporting includes breaking stories on prompt injections, AI copyright issues, and ethical concerns surrounding AI training data. In 2005, he created Vintage Computing and Gaming, a blog that pioneered tech history coverage online. He also hosted The Culture of Tech podcast and contributes to the Retronauts podcast. In his free time, he writes and records music, collects vintage computers, and enjoys nature. He lives in Raleigh, NC. Bluesky: @benjedwards.com X/Twitter: @benjedwards
Recent stories by
Benj Edwards
ChatGPT can now write erotica as OpenAI eases up on AI paternalism
ChatGPT relaxes rules on sex and "gore" generations while prohibiting illegal content.
Benj Edwards
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84
Sam Altman lays out roadmap for OpenAI’s long-awaited GPT-5 model
GPT-4.5 will arrive in "weeks," then GPT-5 will meld conventional LLMs and reasoning models.
Benj Edwards
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124
Sam Altman: OpenAI is not for sale, even for Elon Musk’s $97 billion offer
Altman responds with pithy offer to buy Twitter for $9.74 billion.
Benj Edwards
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290
OpenAI’s secret weapon against Nvidia dependence takes shape
Chatbot maker partners with TSMC to manufacture custom AI chip, with plans for future iterations.
Benj Edwards
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81
Developer creates endless Wikipedia feed to fight algorithm addiction
WikiTok cures boredom in spare moments with wholesome swipe-up Wikipedia article discovery.
Benj Edwards
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92
ChatGPT comes to 500,000 new users in OpenAI’s largest AI education deal yet
Still banned at some schools, ChatGPT gains an official role at California State University.
Benj Edwards
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Hugging Face clones OpenAI’s Deep Research in 24 hours
Open source "Deep Research" project proves that agent frameworks boost AI model capability.
Benj Edwards
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Most Read
Microsoft now hosts AI model accused of copying OpenAI data
OpenAI's largest investor now sells access to the "R1" model accused of breaking OpenAI's terms.
Benj Edwards
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88
DeepSeek panic triggers tech stock sell-off as Chinese AI tops App Store
A new Chinese AI app is sparking existential panic in American AI companies and investors.
Benj Edwards
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425
Anthropic builds RAG directly into Claude models with new Citations API
New feature allows Claude to reference source documents and reduce hallucinations.
Benj Edwards
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65
OpenAI launches Operator, an AI agent that can do tasks on the web
New research "Computer-Use Agent" AI model can perform multi-step tasks through a web browser.
Benj Edwards
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188
As OpenAI launches $500B “Stargate” project, critics express skepticism
Elon Musk questions funding for massive AI infrastructure project; Altman defends financial backing.
Benj Edwards
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314
Anthropic chief says AI could surpass “almost all humans at almost everything” shortly after 2027
Amodei: "I think progress really is as fast as people think it is."
Benj Edwards
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277
Cutting-edge Chinese “reasoning” model rivals OpenAI o1—and it’s free to download
DeepSeek R1 is free to run locally and modify, and it matches OpenAI's o1 in several benchmarks.
Benj Edwards
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209
US splits world into three tiers for AI chip access
While close US allies get unrestricted AI chip access, the rest of the world has numerical limits.
Benj Edwards
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146
161 years ago, a New Zealand sheep farmer predicted AI doom
Butler's "Darwin among the machines" warned of a future mechanical race that could subjugate humanity.
Benj Edwards
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177
AI could create 78 million more jobs than it eliminates by 2030—report
As AGI talk sparks job loss fears, new WEF report projects AI-driven net job growth by 2030.
Benj Edwards
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176
Gentrified Doom remake trades chainsaw for cheese knife
Remake of 1993 classic lets you drink wine and eat hors d’oeuvres as you admire masterpieces from art history.
Benj Edwards
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60
Nvidia unveils $3,000 desktop AI computer for home researchers
Project DIGITS can run a local chatbot or other AI models up to 200B parameters in size.
Benj Edwards
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89
Sam Altman says “we are now confident we know how to build AGI”
The race to replace human workers continues in Big Tech, but not everyone is convinced it will happen so soon.
Benj Edwards
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474
2024: The year AI drove everyone crazy
What do eating rocks, rat genitals, and Willy Wonka have in common? AI, of course.
Benj Edwards
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153
12 days of OpenAI: The Ars Technica recap
Did OpenAI's big holiday event live up to the billing?
Benj Edwards
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124
OpenAI announces o3 and o3-mini, its next simulated reasoning models
o3 matches human levels on ARC-AGI benchmark, and o3-mini exceeds o1 at some tasks.
Benj Edwards
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222
New AA-powered AirTag case promises 10-year lifespan
Aluminum AirTag case replaces coin cell with 2 AA Lithium batteries for extended lifespan.
Benj Edwards
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151
The AI war between Google and OpenAI has never been more heated
Potentially groundbreaking AI releases have been coming in fast, sending experts' heads spinning.
Benj Edwards
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53
Not to be outdone by OpenAI, Google releases its own “reasoning” AI model
Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking is Google's take on so-called AI reasoning models.
Benj Edwards
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106
New physics sim trains robots 430,000 times faster than reality
"Genesis" can compress training times from decades into hours using 3D worlds conjured from text.
Benj Edwards
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60
A new, uncensored AI video model may spark a new AI hobbyist movement
Will Tencent's "open source" HunyuanVideo launch an at-home "Stable Diffusion" moment for uncensored AI video?
Benj Edwards
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121
Call ChatGPT from any phone with OpenAI’s new 1-800 voice service
1-800-CHATGPT telephone number lets any US caller talk to OpenAI's assistant—no smartphone required.
Benj Edwards
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76
Twirling body horror in gymnastics video exposes AI’s flaws
Nonsensical jabberwocky movements created by OpenAI’s Sora are typical for current AI-generated video, and here's why.
Benj Edwards
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188
OpenAI introduces “Santa Mode” to ChatGPT for ho-ho-ho voice chats
An AI version of old St. Nick arrives as a seasonal character in popular chatbot app.
Benj Edwards
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44
Google goes “agentic” with Gemini 2.0’s ambitious AI agent features
Google barrels ahead with a push into AI systems that take action for you.
Benj Edwards
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69
AI company trolls San Francisco with billboards saying “stop hiring humans”
Company boasts "AI workers" that never complain about work-life balance.
Benj Edwards
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319
Reddit debuts AI-powered discussion search—but will users like it?
"Reddit Answers" will answer questions with AI-generated summaries of user content.
Benj Edwards
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88
Ten months after first tease, OpenAI launches Sora video generation publicly
It's a big launch, but AI video-synthesis competition has heated up over the past 10 months.
Benj Edwards and Kyle Orland
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