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NASA is moving forward with an autonomous AI processor designed to help deep-space spacecraft make decisions on their own, without waiting for signals from Earth. Given the communication delays involved in deep-space travel, the logic is sound — though the engineers might want to keep HAL nine thousand out of the design review.
Shifting from orbit to your living room, Boston Dynamics has released new footage of its Atlas robot lifting a fifty-pound refrigerator and delivering a single drink to a waiting human. The company says Atlas is, quote, only limited by our imagination. Which is either thrilling or slightly alarming, depending on how you feel about robots that can now outperform your college roommate.
And in consumer protection news, Shutterstock will pay thirty-five million dollars to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations over subscription practices that made cancellation deliberately difficult. The settlement is a reminder that dark patterns — those frustrating design choices that trap users into paying — are increasingly drawing regulatory attention, and that attention is starting to carry a real price tag.
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