Will Knight

I'm headed to Neurips. Send me a dm if you'd like to chat.

If you'd like to join the next meetup (and hear me talk about my latest story) sign up here boston-ai-x-robotics-happy-hour.mailchimpsites.com!

haha no problem 😁 great to see you last night!

It's worth noting that @yann-lecun.bsky.social kicked off the open source AI movement by persuading Mark Zuckerberg to open source a frontier AI model. It may turn out to be one of the most important moments in the history of AI. He deserves more respect than he often gets for that alone. 🫡

I mean that LLMs they do something fundamentally different from experiencing their environment through senses, modeling their own thoughts and those of others as a matter of survival, and to posing and solving new problems.

I worry that suggesting today's AI models may be conscious will allow the companies that own them to whip up public outrage at efforts to control their behavior.

AI’s Next Frontier? An Algorithm for Consciousness Some of the world’s most interesting thinkers about thinking think they might’ve cracked machine sentience. And I think they might be onto something.

I get into the question of consciousness a bit in this piece. Those I spoke to who study consciousness largely believe that LLMs work in a way that is at odds with how biological consciousness evolved. www.wired.com/story/ai-sen...

Opinion | A.I. Is on Its Way to Something Even More Remarkable Than Intelligence

Interesting essay on AI and consciousness but it ignores the fact that language models do not actually seem conscious if you take a closer, more scientific, look. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/o...

Expect this to be a growing job category

Rise of the Killer Chatbots On an airstrip somewhere in Texas, a swarm of killer jets approaches—controlled by, of all things, a large language model.

On an airstrip somewhere in Texas, a swarm of killer jets approaches—controlled by, of all things, a large language model.

This is the rise of the killer chatbots.

AI as weapon by @willknight.bsky.social

OpenAI Ramps Up Robotics Work in Race Toward AGI The company behind ChatGPT is putting together a team capable of developing algorithms to control robots and appears to be hiring roboticists who work specifically on humanoids.

NEW: OpenAI is putting together a team capable of developing algorithms to control robots and appears to be hiring roboticists who work specifically on humanoids. Great piece from @willknight.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/openai...

Inside the Summit Where China Pitched Its AI Agenda to the World Behind closed doors, Chinese researchers are laying the groundwork for a new global AI agenda—without input from the US.

In this week's Made in China newsletter: at China's flagship AI summit WAIC, the vibe was totally different from Trump’s America-first, regulation-light vision for AI. Beijing is pitching itself as the world leader of AI safety regulation.

WIRED's @willknight.bsky.social reports from Shanghai:

View of the WGBH building in Boston with an electronic marquee reading “Local. Trusted. Defunded.”

WGBH building in Boston today

This AI Warps Live Video in Real Time A startup called Decart has developed an AI model that can transform live footage. The results are mind-bending—and poised to take over streaming.

The camera never lies but this AI model sure does, altering live video in dramatic ways. Given how quickly AI video has advanced, it may soon be difficult to believe anything you see on a livestream, TikTok, or video chat. www.wired.com/story/decart...

Elon Musk's Lawyers Claim He 'Does Not Use a Computer' The claim appeared in a court filing related to Elon Musk's ongoing lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI. The Tesla and xAI owner has posted about his laptop numerous times in the last year.

Elon Musk's lawyers claimed in a Sunday court filing that he "does not use a computer."

Here are the many, many times Musk has been seen using a computer or has talked about using a computer recently:

www.wired.com/story/elon-m...

There should be a word to describe the nauseating feeling that the message you are reading was AI-generated. "Generaphobia" perhaps. Also, PR people, please stop using AI to write pitches.

Of course. But unfortunately I think the current strategy may also pose a long-term risk to the strength of US companies and the US economy.

The AI Race Has Gotten Crowded—and China Is Closing In on the US New research from Stanford suggests artificial intelligence isn’t ruled by just OpenAI and Google, as competition increases across the US, China, and France.

While the US puts up barriers to the rest of the world, the rest of the world shows it can offer increasingly competitive AI. If isolationism and attacks on higher-ed continue, the US might soon find itself playing catchup. www.wired.com/story/stanfo...

Trump’s Tariffs Are Threatening the US Semiconductor Revival While the White House carved out a narrow exemption for some semiconductor imports, President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs still apply to GPUs and chipmaking equipment.

Think semiconductors are spared from the tariffs? Think again.

WIRED found that the list of exempted imports contains only a narrow range of items, omitting key products like GPUs, servers, lithography machines. It makes building data centers & chip plants harder.

from me & @willknight.bsky.social

The AI race shows no country can go it alone The rise of China’s DeepSeek reveals the weaknesses of isolationism as an economic policy

Nice piece by @ethanz.bsky.social on DeepSeek and the perils of isolationism. If only someone in the administration might read it.
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/views/column...

I Went Undercover in Crypto’s Answer to ‘Squid Game.’ It Nearly Broke Me I spent 10 days competing in Crypto: The Game, a winner-takes-all contest where hundreds of players try to finesse and backstab their way to claiming a $140,000 cryptocurrency prize.

Backstabbing. Sabotage. Mutiny. And a piss-soaked alleyway in central London.

In my latest for @WIRED, I try to finesse my way to winning a $140,000 cryptocurrency prize.

www.wired.com/story/crypto...

Researchers Propose a Better Way to Report Dangerous AI Flaws After identifying major flaws in popular AI models, researchers are pushing for a new system to identify and report bugs.

My latest for @wired.com; AI researchers propose a new way of reporting dangerous flaws in big AI morels: www.wired.com/story/ai-res...

Will all the money supposedly being saved be returned to taxpayers somehow? Or might it perhaps justify some wildly expensive new project like a manned mission to Mars?

This New AI Search Engine Has a Gimmick: Humans Answering Questions A new AI-powered search engine called Pearl is launching today, with an unusual pitch: It promises to connect you with an actual human expert if the AI answer sucks. WIRED gave it a spin.

Thank you @knibbs.bsky.social for taking over WIRED's AI newsletter again this week. You can read her excellent dispatch, on an interesting new AI search tool featuring something called "humans", here: www.wired.com/story/this-n... (Also, please subscribe).

Seems pretty similar but also a bit stilted because of the political motivation many users had for leaving twitter

We Looked at 78 Election Deepfakes. Political Misinformation Is Not an AI Problem.

Very excited that @knightcolumbia.org used our AI Elections Project at @wired.com as the basis for their analysis.

knightcolumbia.org/blog/we-look...

You can check out the project here: www.wired.com/story/genera...

OnlyFans Models Are Using AI Impersonators to Keep Up With Their DMs AI is replacing the humans who pretend to be OnlyFans stars in online amorous messages.

every time i take over the AI newsletter from @willknight.bsky.social i defile it in some way...today's no different! www.wired.com/story/onlyfa...

US to Introduce New Restrictions on China’s Access to Cutting-Edge Chips The new limits, which are expected to be announced Monday, are intended to slow China's ability to build large and powerful AI models.

Hello new friends!! I'm Louise, I'm an editor @wired.com.

I have a scoop to share today from me and @willknight.bsky.social: The Biden administration is gonna announce a sweeping set of new export controls on Monday designed to strangle China's AI industry www.wired.com/story/memory...

Please report them!

That’s the second one. I’ve reported it a few times.