Weekly Review 10 October 2025

Some interesting links that I Tweeted about in the last week (I also post these on Mastodon, Threads, Newsmast, and Bluesky):AI are starting to detect when they are being tested: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/01/anthropic-ai-model-claude-sonnet-asks-if-it-is-being-testedMeta plans to use data from conversations with AI to target ads: https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/01/meta_ai_use_informs_ads/Using AI to estimate someone’s reputation could be useful, but not if it’s tied to a dodgy business model that makes money from people’s anxiety: https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/29/whitebridge_ai_reputation_reports_complaint/How is AI going to affect the investment banker business? https://www.extremetech.com/internet/ai-robot-advisory-is-changing-retail-investmentUsing AI to design more efficient batteries: https://spectrum.ieee.org/ai-battery-materialThe backlash against an AI-generated actor: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/sep/30/tilly-norwood-ai-actor-hollywoodOpenAI and Nvidia are becoming the WinTel of the 21st century: https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/29/nvidia_openai_alliance_opinion_column/AI can interact with children, but the long term effects of this on the children is unknown: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2025/oct/02/ai-children-parenting-creativityUsing AI to help people understand others’ political viewpoints: https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/29/complex-chaos-thinks-ai-can-help-people-find-common-ground/A (slim) majority of Japanese games companies are now using AI to develop their games: https://dataconomy.com/2025/09/29/cesa-51-of-japanese-game-firms-use-ai-in-development/Detecting AI generated assignments is so difficult that New Zealand universities are giving up: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/574517/universities-give-up-using-software-to-detect-ai-in-students-workThe more human an AI seems the more users trust it, even though it can’t do basic tasks: https://www.computerworld.com/article/4065796/employees-overtrust-humanlike-ai-ignoring-its-flaws.htmlUsing AI to do your work for you just makes more work for your colleagues: https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/26/ai_workslop_productivity/How long before AI generated actors take over the movie business? Can producers really justify spending millions on big-name actors when AI can do the job for much less? https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/hollywood-is-desperate-to-hire-my-ai-actress/VKSLH2YHPNCGDELZNHA5E6ZOLA/How complicated have software licenses become if we need an AI to interpret them? https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/30/onyx_ai_microsoft_licensing/Identifying an historical war criminal with AI: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/02/historian-uses-ai-to-help-identify-nazi-in-notorious-holocaust-imageUsing AI as workplace assistants is benefitting older workers: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/574407/older-workers-reaping-benefits-from-aiAI can make a good enhancement for search, but should not replace search: https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/01/salesforce_search_agentforce/To make AI that are more useful in the real world, we need models of the real world to train the AI in: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/09/big-ai-firms-pump-money-into-world-models-as-llm-advances-slow/I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised to see AI being misused and abused by the current US administration: https://arstechnica.com/culture/2025/09/ai-leadership-trump-posts-deepfakes-of-dems-calling-themselves-woke-pieces-of-s-t/AI has the potential to make customer service in banking more effective and accessible: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/574430/using-ai-to-bring-a-bit-more-humanity-back-into-bankingShould we be treating AI as people? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/30/artificial-intelligence-personhoodIf an AI breaks the law, who gets fined? https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/sep/29/waymo-illegal-u-turn-driverless-carJames Cameron doesn’t want to make a new Terminator movie because he can’t be certain it won’t be made obsolete by reality in two years: https://www.rnz.co.nz/life/screens/movies/james-cameron-opens-up-on-ai-future-terminator-films-and-the-avatar-franchiseAI is killing the internet: https://www.computerworld.com/article/4063408/its-time-to-push-back-against-the-ai-internet.htmlWikipedia’s AI-friendly database: https://www.theverge.com/news/789288/wikidata-ai-friendly-databaseHow much energy is AI using? https://spectrum.ieee.org/ai-energy-useAccenture is eliminating staff who can’t retrain to use AI: https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/26/accenture_ai_jobs/Predictive AI in business decision making: https://www.informationweek.com/it-leadership/how-predictive-ai-can-help-cios-optimize-decision-makingDespite the hype around AI, it hasn’t had any real effect on jobs: https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/01/ai_isnt_taking_people_jobs/It is almost impossible to detect if an AI has been trained to betray you: https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/29/when_ai_is_trained_for/AI generated bug reports can be useful, if they are backed up with human intelligence: https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/02/curl_project_swamped_with_ai/It looks like California’s AI regulation law won’t achieve a lot: https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/30/california_governor_signs_ai_safety_law/Using AI to detect and prevent the actions of ransomware: https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/30/google_drive_ai_ransomware_detection/Marketers are now using the data from users’ conversations with AI: https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/29/profound_browser_extension_privacy_concern/Investors are starting to think there is an AI investment bubble: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/01/leading-uk-tech-investor-warns-of-disconcerting-signs-of-ai-stock-bubbleVideo generating AI are developing basic models of the real world: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/10/can-todays-ai-video-models-accurately-model-how-the-real-world-works/The slop produced by AI is interfering with plans to use it in business: https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/28/the-ai-services-transformation-may-be-harder-than-vcs-think/