The AI Hype Index: AI agent cyberattacks, racing robots, and musical models – MIT Technology Review

MIT Technology Review’s highly subjective take on the latest buzz about AI.
Separating AI reality from hyped-up fiction isn’t always easy. That’s why we’ve created the AI Hype Index—a simple, at-a-glance summary of everything you need to know about the state of the industry.
AI agents are the AI industry’s hypiest new product—intelligent assistants capable of completing tasks without human supervision. But while they can be theoretically useful—Simular AI’s S2 agent, for example, intelligently switches between models depending on what it’s been told to do—they could also be weaponized to execute cyberattacks. Elsewhere, OpenAI is reported to be throwing its hat into the social media arena, and AI models are getting more adept at making music. Oh, and if the results of the first half-marathon pitting humans against humanoid robots are anything to go by, we won’t have to worry about the robot uprising any time soon.
The new general AI agent from China had some system crashes and server overload—but it’s highly intuitive and shows real promise for the future of AI helpers.
What the firm found challenges some basic assumptions about how this technology really works.
The country poured billions into AI infrastructure, but the data center gold rush is unraveling as speculative investments collide with weak demand and DeepSeek shifts AI trends.
We’re starting to get a better sense of how chatbots are affecting us—but there’s still a lot we don’t know.
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This is a newsfeed from leading technology publications. No additional editorial review has been performed before posting.