Futurology articles

OpenAI president says AI could make death a choice, predicts major medical breakthroughs within 18 months

ASML says AI's effect on chipmaking will unfold over the next 10 to 15 years, not overnight

Crystal ball: ASML is the only company that makes the EUV lithography machines needed to produce the world's most advanced chips. Its CEO, Christophe Fouquet, says the AI boom will play out over 10 to 15 years and that we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Meeting that demand will depend on better optics, vertical chip designs and a sprawling supplier network that can't be scaled up quickly. That makes ASML's roadmap a useful gauge of how far AI hardware can go, and how fast.

GlobalFoundries and Marvell are scaling up silicon photonics efforts as data centers outgrow copper wiring

Anthropic researcher resigns, warns the AI race could end in human extinction

Crystal ball: What's more concerning than the prospect of AI bringing about the end of humanity? It's the people working at these companies making the same warning. Hours after a former OpenAI employee quit Anthropic and said, "No other human activity poses this level of danger," a colleague said there is more than a 10% chance that artificial intelligence could kill all humans within the next decade.

This 98-qubit quantum computer moves ions around to compute more efficiently

IBM unveils sub-1-nanometer chip architecture that stacks 100 billion transistors onto a fingernail-sized processor

Anthropic's Mythos AI reportedly cracked NSA classified systems in hours, that would explain the ban

Why it matters: Ten days ago, Anthropic was happy to announce its most advanced AI model was going public. Today, almost nobody can use it. On June 12, the Trump administration directed the company to restrict Fable 5 and Mythos 5 to US citizens only – unable to verify nationality at scale, Anthropic's only option was a full global shutdown, cutting off allies, researchers, and its own foreign-national employees with 90 minutes' notice. It's the first time the US government has applied export controls to an AI model, and the consequences are still unfolding.

This startup has raised $12 million to make liquid-metal circuit boards rewritable

Anthropic unveils new powerful AI that finds software flaws, but says it's too dangerous to release

I saw DLSS 5 running across multiple games. It's not a face filter.

Sounding off: I went hands-on with Nvidia's DLSS 5 across multiple games at GTC and the "it's just a face filter" isn't the right take. The improvements to shadows, water, foliage, clothing, and even a coffee maker in Starfield are just as impressive as the character enhancements. Here are my full impressions including some details on the dual-GPU demo setup and the developer control story that I think matters quite a bit.

Holographic 3D printing breakthrough produces objects in less than a second

Warm skin, eye contact, and microexpressions: world's first "biomimetic AI robot" revealed

Researchers beam energy from a moving aircraft to test space solar power

The next EV breakthrough isn't the car, it's the battery factory

Why it matters: High-efficiency battery factories, not faster cars, are emerging as the real test of who wins the next phase of the EV race. The companies that can strip energy use, floor space, and solvents out of cell production are beginning to show how electric vehicles could finally hit mass-market price points without sacrificing range or performance.

The quantum computing race is moving beyond hardware to focus on software

IBM and Google say scalable quantum computers could arrive this decade

Windows 2030: Microsoft predicts agentic AI OS will replace mouse and keyboard

Forward-looking: What will Windows look like in five years? Unsurprisingly, Microsoft believes that AI will play an integral role. The company has published a video called Windows 2030 Vision in which it foresees the default interaction method with the OS being natural language. Microsoft says this will make "mousing around and keyboarding around and typing" in 2030 feel as alien as using DOS does to Gen Z today.

Tim Cook says AI is now Apple's top priority, "bigger than the internet"

Big quote: In a rare all-hands meeting at Apple's Cupertino headquarters, CEO Tim Cook made it clear to thousands of employees that AI now stands at the forefront of the company's ambitions. Addressing a packed auditorium following a stronger-than-expected earnings report, Cook called the AI transformation "as big or bigger" than the internet, the smartphone, cloud computing, and apps. "Apple must do this. Apple will do this. This is sort of ours to grab," Cook told staff, vowing, "We will make the investment to do it."

HP Dimension offers sci-fi-style 3D video calls, built on Google Beam

Superwood aims to replace steel and concrete with a sustainable alternative

Forward-looking: As InventWood prepares to bring its first batches of Superwood to market, it stands as a testament to what can happen when scientific innovation meets entrepreneurial determination. If successful, Superwood could mark a turning point in the quest for greener, stronger, and more beautiful buildings.

The future of data storage might be ceramic glass that can last thousands of years

Visa is piloting AI agents with payment systems for autonomous shopping

Forward-looking: Visa plans to allow AI agents to conduct financial transactions on behalf of consumers, a move that could streamline and automate everyday purchases. The company is currently running pilot programs that connect its payment network to AI platforms developed by firms such as Anthropic, Microsoft, OpenAI, Perplexity, and Mistral, with broader adoption expected soon.

Touchable 3D holograms are now a reality in world-first breakthrough

Forward-looking: A team of scientists has successfully demonstrated the world's first interactive 3D holographic display, enabling users to physically interact with virtual light projections. If commercialized, this technology could be immensely useful in education – just to name one example.