Watch how algorithms can be designed to train themselves and self-improve without human input, to the point where the optimized code is too complex for programmers to understand.

A breakdown of algorithms, how they are constructed, and their applications

Algorithms are instructions for accomplishing a goal and typically take the form of a step-by-step procedure. Given the conditions, these procedures can take various paths, increasing an algorithm's complexity. While traditional computer algorithms are programmed to account for all possible scenarios within a given process, machine learning systems build their own rules from data-driven patterns.

Understanding the causes, effects, and prevalence of algorithmic bias

Found in search engines, hiring and college admissions tools, facial recognition systems, and other software, algorithms act on the rules they are programmed with, which may be authored by individuals unaware of their own biases. Algorithms based on limited, incomplete, or inaccurate data are more likely to inherit and propagate existing biases.

Understanding how Claude Code and other AI coding agents function

Under human oversight, a supervising large language model interprets user tasks and delegates work to subordinate LLMs, which can generate code, fix bugs, and run tests, often most effectively for proofs of concept. Incremental backups and versioning are crucial when using such agents, which can lose details during their work as a result of compressing context history to work around memory limitations.

Scientists increasingly can't predict what AI will do

Most AI systems are so-called "black box" models, where we only see inputs and outputs while the inner workings remain obscure. This piece, written prior to the launch of ChatGPT, cautions developers to know why and how a system produces its results, and not to sacrifice explainability for accuracy.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

AI systems identify patterns involving physics and time through 'world models'

These realistic virtual environments, such as driving simulations seen in video games, allow these systems to "learn" properties about reality beyond what can be captured in samples of text, images, and videos. Training AI in these simulated environments can help develop "physical AI" for automated robotic systems. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

What does it mean for AI to "understand" something?

This Quanta article discusses how programmers are working to create a reliable test for the depth and extent of the knowledge of machines. What does AI know and how does it know it, if it knows anything at all? There's been progress, but it hasn't been easy. Even humans can still be fooled some of the time.

Smart pricing algorithms can unintentionally work together to raise prices

Researchers have found that, through trial and error, algorithms designed to adjust prices based on market data can learn to mimic price-fixing tactics, even without explicit programming to do so. Over time, they "learn" that it is more profitable to avoid price wars and keep prices high when competitors lower prices.

Help scientists at LIGO train AI to resolve glitches in observational data

Volunteers are provided with visual representations of signal abnormalities at various frequencies and tasked with categorizing them based on reference examples. Progressing through the tool unlocks more difficult images and additional features. Categorized images will be used to train machine learning algorithms for automated future classification.

Visualize how data becomes organized through a variety of sorting algorithms

This interactive shows how different algorithms shift elements in a randomized set to order them from smallest to largest. By comparing the different procedures and their corresponding functions, users can explore how runtimes vary across algorithms that complete the same task.

Why TikTok's algorithm is likely driven by what you linger on

While the inner workings of the engine driving the vast majority of the app's engagement remain a secret, it is understood to rely heavily on what content users spend the most time watching rather than swipe past. Experts believe the app can develop user profiles robust enough for its algorithm to consistently match engaging content to in as little as two hours.

Computational and biological systems share fundamental principles, like randomness

Proposed by Alan Turing and John von Neumann, the concept originates from how DNA and computers run by executing encoded instructions in parallel. The advent of AI and the temperature parameter has seen neural networks mimic the randomness of protein encoding.

AI vs. machine learning vs. deep learning

Machine learning is best understood with visuals. A collection of the best 9 images, videos and flowcharts that explain what it is and how it works.

Netflix's recommendation algorithm was born from a $1M competition

In 2006, Netflix launched an open competition for data science teams to develop approaches to outperform its recommendation algorithm. Three years later, the prize was awarded after a group of competitors merged, developing a solution that beat Netflix's internal algorithm by more than 10%. Today, recommendations are based on what users watch, particularly via bingeing.

Teaching a robot to laugh

Researchers have designed a shared-laughter AI system that responds to human laughter in order to build a sense of empathy into dialogue. Learn how they did it with this explainer.

One private school network prefers AI to teachers

Alpha School, a private school network that uses AI tutors and human "guides" rather than teachers, is expanding across the US. Its founder says that two hours a day with AI-powered software frees students to pursue their passions. Critics, including the Pennsylvania Department of Education, say the methods are untested.

How artificial intelligence, which detects patterns, can identify burnout

Researchers are training AI to detect stress-related symptoms, helping physicians and other medical workers recognize and reduce stress from overwork and potentially avoid burnout.

In 2024, Meta launched an AI video generator to create or edit videos through prompts

The tool puts the Meta in direct competition with OpenAI and Google as more companies are investing billions of dollars to capitalize on the explosion of public interest in machine learning and generative media technologies.

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

What are neural networks and why do they matter?

Learn how a neural network works, why it matters, and how it can be trained to recognize patterns, classify data, and forecast future events.

What’s with the teen brain, anyway

In this video NIDA explores the intriguing similarities between the processes of brain development and computer programming. This analogy helps us understand why toxic environmental factors like drugs, bullying, or lack of sleep strongly affect a teenager’s life The information provided by this video can empower your children or students with information they need make better decisions.

Why scientists are making robot insects

Insects have much to teach us about flying, jumping, moving quickly, and more. So, roboticists are studying how insects do the ridiculous things they do, like walk on water or jump fifty times their body height, to inform their design and engineering of a new slate of robots: tiny ones. Learn the future of this type of robot with this fascinating video with insights into both insects and robots.

Genetic engineering will change everything forever

Designer babies, the end of diseases, genetically modified humans that never age. Outrageous things that used to be science fiction are suddenly becoming reality. As scientists increasingly understand how specific genes cause disease, the possibility of engineering our genes to not only "fix" problems but enhance our natural ability grows.

Watch how the Enigma machine encrypts messages and learn about its critical design flaw

Using settings selected from a series of rotors and a plugboard that let operators swap letters with any of their choosing, the machine lit up the output letter for each letter typed. While this system could generate messages requiring any of 150 quintillion potential keys, the machine's reflector never encrypted a letter as itself, providing an entry point for exploiting the system.

The Society of Automotive Engineers sorts self-driving technology into six levels

At level 0, a vehicle cannot intervene on its own, and the driver controls all navigation. At level 3, the car operates autonomously under limited conditions, but a human can still take control. A future level 5 vehicle drives itself and lacks a steering wheel or pedals.

Explaining how open source systems like Linux can be secure, despite their public source code

While no computer system is immune to all cyberattacks and malware, the transparency of open-source technology means many thousands of developers can review and oversee the underlying code powering the software on an ongoing basis. This increases the likelihood of catching and patching vulnerabilities more quickly than smaller groups of cybercriminals looking to exploit them.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

Crows are believed to have intelligence on par with a seven-year-old child and demonstrate complex behaviors, from problem-solving with tools to recognizing human faces.

A vending machine run with Anthropic's AI went out of business after it was convinced to give away items for free and sell a video game console.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

Learn how your body is, scientifically, like a firework with its own slow, controlled burn.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

Radioactive elements can introduce software errors because the ionizing radiation they produce can detach electrons from atoms, and computer code relies on the distribution of electrons.

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

Studies suggest when you sleep is as important as how much you get, and syncing with your circadian rhythms may lead to less fatigue and improved long-term health outcomes

Explore chaos in this simulation of two double pendulums, where small differences in the release angles produce wildly different outcomes.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

Explore the animals that populate the depths of the ocean, from fish and coral in the first few hundred feet, all the way down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

Use this tool to calculate the dollar value of your parental mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care, then see resources that help generate solutions.

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.