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Artificial intelligence

Americans really don’t trust self-driving cars

In a survey conducted shortly after Uber’s deadly self-driving-car accident in March, the American Automobile Association (AAA) found that 73 percent of Americans would be afraid to ride in autonomous vehicles, up from 63 percent in late 2017.

Generation gaps: The biggest decline in trust came from millennials, with 64 percent saying they wouldn’t ride in a self-driving car, up from 49 percent. But older generations were still more fearful: 71 percent of Baby Boomers and 68 percent of Gen Xers say they wouldn’t feel safe in them.

But: Despite the apprehension, more than half of surveyed drivers want semi-autonomous technology in their next vehicle.

Why it matters: More than 30,000 Americans die in traffic accidents every year. Self-driving cars have the potential to bring that number way down, but people need to want to ride in them first.

Deep Dive

Artificial intelligence

Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.

And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.

OpenAI teases an amazing new generative video model called Sora

The firm is sharing Sora with a small group of safety testers but the rest of us will have to wait to learn more.

Google’s Gemini is now in everything. Here’s how you can try it out.

Gmail, Docs, and more will now come with Gemini baked in. But Europeans will have to wait before they can download the app.

Google DeepMind’s new generative model makes Super Mario–like games from scratch

Genie learns how to control games by watching hours and hours of video. It could help train next-gen robots too.

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Illustration by Rose Wong

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