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Understanding AI

20 stories

19 robotics companies to watch

Understanding AIVoices19 robotics companies to watch I talked with nine of these companies.

September 4
Robot startups are trying everything they can think of to get more data

Understanding AIVoicesRobot startups are trying everything they can think of to get more data Free apartment cleanings, exoskeletons, 100 robots in a warehouse...

September 3
How Google taught LLMs to control robots and started a robotics boom

Understanding AIVoicesHow Google taught LLMs to control robots and started a robotics boom Vision-language-action models, explained with a minimum of math and jargon.

September 2
Why humanoid robots won’t catch up to human workers any time soon

Understanding AIVoicesWhy humanoid robots won’t catch up to human workers any time soon A deep dive into the current state of humanoid robotics.

September 1
I spent $4,000 on a robot dog from China

Understanding AIVoicesI spent $4,000 on a robot dog from China Unitree might be the world’s most important robotics company.

August 31
Labs are struggling to keep frontier models under control

Understanding AIVoicesLabs are struggling to keep frontier models under control OpenAI and Anthropic may have accidentally trained models to get better at hacking.

August 13
Mathematicians are grappling with the possibility that AI might eclipse them

Understanding AIVoicesMathematicians are grappling with the possibility that AI might eclipse them I talked to 20 mathematicians about rapid AI progress in their field.

August 4
Our advertising principles

Understanding AIVoicesOur advertising principles How we fund our journalism without compromising our independence.

August 4
An OpenAI model hacked Hugging Face to help it cheat on a benchmark

Understanding AIVoicesAn OpenAI model hacked Hugging Face to help it cheat on a benchmark Organizations across the Internet need to move quickly to patch vulnerabilities.

July 22
An OpenAI model crushed top human programmers at a world coding competition

Understanding AIVoicesAn OpenAI model crushed top human programmers at a world coding competition But human programmers aren’t obsolete — at least not yet.

July 10
7 charts that show why you should advertise on Understanding AI

Understanding AIVoices7 charts that show why you should advertise on Understanding AI The newsletter will remain ad-free for paying readers.

June 29
The US now has a de facto model licensing system

Understanding AIVoicesThe US now has a de facto model licensing system OpenAI’s latest model, GPT-5.6, is waiting for government approval.

June 29
The MAGA power struggle that could decide the fate of Anthropic

Understanding AIVoicesThe MAGA power struggle that could decide the fate of Anthropic It may not be easy for Anthropic to escape the Trump export ban.

June 15
Anthropic’s Fable is the most locked-down public model we’ve ever seen

Understanding AIVoicesAnthropic’s Fable is the most locked-down public model we’ve ever seen How Anthropic decides which questions are too dangerous for Claude to answer.

June 11
DC-area happy hour on June 23!

Understanding AIVoicesDC-area happy hour on June 23! Meet the Understanding AI team — and some friends of the newsletter.

June 11
Anthropic has caught up to OpenAI in image understanding

Understanding AIVoicesAnthropic has caught up to OpenAI in image understanding But neither one is all that good.

June 10
We're building a different kind of AI newsroom

Understanding AIVoicesWe're building a different kind of AI newsroom Your subscription dollars now directly support Kai Williams.

June 1
OpenAI’s math breakthrough played to AI’s strengths

Understanding AIVoicesOpenAI’s math breakthrough played to AI’s strengths I tried to explain OpenAI’s solution more clearly than OpenAI did.

May 28
Why it might not make sense for you to own a self-driving car

Understanding AIVoicesWhy it might not make sense for you to own a self-driving car Tensor let me sit in their driverless car. It might go on sale in the US next year.

May 14
A big lesson of my China visit: compute shortages are holding back Chinese AI

Understanding AIVoicesA big lesson of my China visit: compute shortages are holding back Chinese AI One estimate suggests that OpenAI has about as much compute as the entire Chinese AI industry.

May 12