Hasbro’s New AI Studio Looks to Bring Its Iconic Characters to Next-Generation Experiences
...
To ensure experiences remain safe, Hasbro built out extensive real-time monitoring infrastructure where information is screened on the way in, as well as on the way out. The system automatically flags any inputs that aren’t contextually appropriate or contain banned words, hate speech or violence, said Gray Bright, Sixth Wall’s chief creative officer. The output is again reviewed, ensuring it matches the character’s personality and is appropriate to the environment.
“We think of this as having a bouncer at the front door looking at what’s coming in, and then another bouncer at the back door being like, ‘Well, what’s going out?’” Bright said.
...
See the full story here: https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/hasbros-new-ai-studio-looks-to-bring-its-iconic-characters-to-next-generation-experiences-1cc098bc
Trump calls for military to accelerate use of AI while protecting Americans
President Donald Trump issued a memo Friday that calls for the U.S. military and national security agencies to accelerate their use of artificial intelligence, while acknowledging the need to protect civil liberties and maintain oversight over autonomous weapon systems.
The memo comes at a time of growing anxiety over AI in American society, from replacing people’s jobs to helping to identify targets on the battlefield. The Trump administration has been pushing to unleash the power of AI for the U.S. military, while some military leaders and companies that contract with the Pentagon have been noting caution and calling for guardrails. ...
Trump’s memo also restricts the use of AI to “censor free speech, embed ideological bias, or conduct unlawful surveillance against the American people.”
“The use of AI by the national security enterprise must always be consistent with United States civil liberties and protections afforded by the Constitution and laws and regulations safeguarding the privacy of American citizens,” the memo states. ...
See the full story here: https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-ai-military-trump-weapons-1078e23edada2bc16db12dba109015c0
The university will name the USC Mark and Mary Stevens School of Computing and Artificial Intelligence to honor their investment in research and innovation at the intersections of AI and health sciences, business, security and the arts.
... Because of the USC Stevens School’s unique interdisciplinary model, the Stevenses’ investment will power research and education across the university.
Interdisciplinary faculty expertise has also been key to launching efforts like USC’s new degree in Artificial Intelligence for Business, which trains students to bring the power of AI into business settings and applications; the USC Institute on Ethics and Trust in Computing, which connects USC philosophers, computer scientists, journalists, doctors, policymakers and others to explore how society can balance innovation with the responsible use of AI; and the USC Center for AI in Society, one of the first “AI for Good” centers, which focuses on the use of computing to support vulnerable people and communities. ...
Today, more than 30 AI- and computing-related majors, minors and graduate degree programs enroll thousands of USC students, with a new Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence being introduced this fall. ...
See the full story here: https://today.usc.edu/mark-and-mary-stevens-give-200-million-to-power-ai-research-across-usc/
Microsoft’s New OpenClaw Collab
Microsoft got into the Corporate Claw business yesterday by announcing Scout: a personal AI assistant built on the OpenClaw framework and connected to Microsoft 365.
A Corporate Claw is a safe-for-work version of OpenClaw (the Agent formerly known as Clawdbot and Moltbot), also known as a "persistent AI agent." Claws connect to your email, calendar, files, and other data. They remember what you do and can continue working on your behalf even when you’re not around.
Microsoft also introduced Microsoft Execution Containers (MXC), a Windows-based sandbox designed to contain agent behavior. MXC limits what an agent can see, touch, and execute, reducing the risk that an autonomous system gains unrestricted access to your machine.
This is critically important because an agent with access to your inbox, files, and the authority to execute code creates a very large attack surface. OpenClaw-style agents are powerful, but they require serious security controls. Microsoft has joined NVIDIA and others who have acknowledged that while autonomous agents may be the future of productivity, containment and governance need to arrive on day one.
See the full story here: https://shellypalmer.com/2026/06/scout-microsofts-new-openclaw-collab/
How to Fight AI Brain Rot at School? For One Country, It’s With Free ChatGPT
...
At the core of Estonia’s high school initiative is a custom “Socratic” version of OpenAI’s chatbot that refuses to complete students’ work for them. Instead, it’s instructed to do things such as help plan how to approach a task, or ask questions to explore one’s thinking. Organizers in late April also started distributing a similarly customized version of Google’s Gemini. ...
Researchers in Estonia, working with Stanford University and OpenAI, have been measuring students’ cognitive skills and attitudes toward learning, both before the rollout and after. They hope to announce early results later this year, one of the first large-scale looks at what impact coordinated AI adoption has on skills such as reasoning, retention and confidence. ...
See the full story here: https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/estonia-schools-chatgpt-9ff76cc7
These AI models are free, private, and will never say ‘no’
... another type of AI model will never refuse to provide what the user asks for. In recent months, these models have become more accessible and popular.
"Everybody can download and operate their own state-of-the-art model and use it for great things and terrible things," said Noam Schwartz, CEO of Alice, an AI security company that has conducted red-teaming and safety evaluation for AI model developers. ...
But there's a whole other class of AI models whose guardrails are much easier to strip away. They're known as open-weight models. Some are made by tech giants, such as OpenAI and Alibaba, while others are put out by smaller outfits like China's DeepSeek. Like their better-known proprietary counterparts, many possess advanced capabilities such as writing functional code or generating life-like images. Unlike with ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, it's easier to permanently remove their built-in safety guardrails – and the companies behind them have no idea how they're being used. ...
Safety guardrails of open-weight models can be weakened or removed in many ways. This is largely because the model developers have made what's known as the model weights available to the public. Model weights are sets of parameters, like knobs and dials in a machine, telling the models how to process information.
One recently developed method called "abliteration" has caught the attention of AI and national security researchers. By tweaking model weights, people can take away the model's ability to say "no."
Hugging Face, which hosts open-source AI models, currently lists over 6,000 abliterated models, compared to about 600 in 2024. ...
Models without guardrails can be both useful and dangerous
It is difficult to get a comprehensive picture of how people are using open-weight models, because these models are run locally on users' computers, and don't need the internet to function. ...
An individual in a pro-ISIS chat room claimed they used an "uncensored" AI to research the amount and type of explosives needed to destroy "Trump Tower in the U.S.," according to the Counter Extremism Project, a nonprofit that focuses on counterterrorism. ...
See the full story here: https://www.npr.org/2026/05/31/nx-s1-5816391/ai-safety-concerns-danger-open-weight-models-risks
Level up with Universal’s new patent applications
...
Universal's proposed system does away with the queue and automated the loading process. In this system, guests would have an assigned time to experience an attraction. When they arrive, they would enter a reception area. An automated ride vehicle would then come to them and take them into the ride.
...
See the full story here: https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/202605/12463/
Two hours that changed AI
...
Between the lines: Lurking behind the AI industry's extraordinary momentum is a deepening sense of public anxiety about the pace and scale of disruption.
- Meta began laying off roughly 8,000 workers Wednesday, even as CEO Mark Zuckerberg ramps up one of the most aggressive AI spending sprees in corporate history.
- Recent polling shows that 70% of Americans fear AI is advancing too quickly. Nearly two-thirds say it's unlikely AI will create economic gains that benefit everyone.
The bottom line: The tensions are an early warning of the political and social backlash likely to accompany the AI industry's breakneck expansion.
See the full story here: https://www.axios.com/2026/05/21/ai-news-cycle-openai-anthropic-spacex
Forget electrons, this breakthrough uses light-matter particles to power AI
Penn scientists may have found a way to power the future of AI with light instead of electricity.
Summary: Researchers at Penn have created a hybrid light-matter particle that could dramatically speed up AI computing while using far less energy. The breakthrough may help replace some electronic computing processes with ultra-efficient light-based technology.
See the full story here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260518041341.htm
‘Mask’ and ‘Eraser’ Director Chuck Russell, Higgsfield Team for AI-Driven Sci-Fi Features ‘Hyperia’ and ‘b’
...
“AI only matters in film if it survives the real production process: continuity, lighting, camera language, performance, editability and creative control,” said Geisler. “Our job is to bring these technologies into a professional workflow that directors, actors, cinematographers and VFX teams can actually use on a working set.”
“Hyperia and b are not films with AI inside them,” added Khoze. “They are films born from a synthesis of human imagination, robotics and machine cognition. We are returning to a frontier we helped open, with the tools finally catching up to the vision.” ...
Pages
- About Philip Lelyveld
- Mark and Addie Lelyveld Biographies
- Presentations and articles
- Trustworthy AI – A Market-Driven approach
- Tufts Alumni Bio