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Category: robotics/AI – Page 9

The Batman effect: The mere sight of the ‘superhero’ can make us more altruistic

If “Batman” appears on the scene, we immediately become more altruistic: in fact, research conducted by psychologists from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, shows that the sudden appearance of something unexpected—Batman—disrupts the predictability of everyday life and forces people to be present, breaking free from autopilot.

The study was published in the journal npj Mental Health Research, and was led by Francesco Pagnini, Full Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology, Università Cattolica.

Prosocial behavior, or the act of helping others, is essential to social life, yet the spontaneous environmental factors that trigger such behavior remain little explored. This study tested the ability of an unexpected event, such as the presence of a person dressed as Batman, to increase prosocial behavior by interrupting routines and increasing people’s attention to the present moment.

New AI language-vision models transform traffic video analysis to improve road safety

New York City’s thousands of traffic cameras capture endless hours of footage each day, but analyzing that video to identify safety problems and implement improvements typically requires resources that most transportation agencies don’t have.

Now, researchers at NYU Tandon School of Engineering have developed an artificial intelligence system that can automatically identify collisions and near-misses in existing traffic video by combining language reasoning and visual intelligence, potentially transforming how cities improve road safety without major new investments.

Published in the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention, the research won New York City’s Vision Zero Research Award, an annual recognition of work that aligns with the city’s road safety priorities and offers actionable insights. Professor Kaan Ozbay, the paper’s senior author, presented the study at the eighth annual Research on the Road symposium.

Opinion: A bursting bubble could indeed be painful in the short term

But what if we’re in a “rational bubble” that, unlike other big speculative manias in history, takes our economy to a fundamentally better place?

I’m borrowing the phrase “rational bubble” from conversations with a Nobel laureate in economics, my friend A. Michael Spence. Bubbles seem by definition irrational. They grow as investors — often hostage to exuberant, herd-like behavior — push valuations well beyond anything warranted by the fundamentals on the ground.

However, the A.I. excitement, as seen in the blowout Nvidia earnings on Wednesday, rightly reflects the potential transformation of the entire economy. It is economically rational to risk losing everything on several bets if just a few can deliver a thousandfold return, which some A.I. investments almost certainly will.

Pluribus: The Hidden Truth Behind the Cosmic Mind-Trap

Unlike most alien planetary invasion methods in the Dark Forest universe, Pluribus acts as a cosmic Trojan Horse, an interstellar gift engineered to disarm an entire civilization the moment it’s opened. Sent to Earth by an alien beacon from a relatively nearby star system, Pluribus hides behind the appearance of progress. Even if the extraterrestrial senders turn out to be benevolent, their initiative still aligns with the Dark Forest Hypothesis.

Chapters:
00:00 Pluribus Signal as a Weapon.
03:01 Galactic Disarmament.
04:10 Humanity’s Defense.
06:03 The Dark Forest Hypothesis.

Footage:
Produced in part with SpaceEngine PRO © Cosmographic Software LLC.
Some elements in this video are also made with the help of artificial intelligence.

Music:
Atlantis by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.… to Find Stellardrone’s Music: https://stellardrone.bandcamp.com Feedback or inquiries: [email protected].

From Generative To Agentic: The New Era Of AI Autonomy In 2026

#artificialintelligence

Agentic AI is a form of artificial intelligence that does more than just generate; it will act, reason somewhat, collaborate, and execute on its own. Agentic AI transforms its role from a limited tool to that of a collaborative coworker.

This shift affects various sectors, including cybersecurity, national defense, healthcare, key infrastructure, finance, supply chains, and corporate automation. Additionally, it accelerates the integration of robotics, neuromorphic systems, sensor-driven edge computing, and artificial intelligence.

Systems with the ability to plan and pursue goals characterize Agentic AI. IIt combines APIs and tools, engages with dynamic environments, makes decisions, uses reasoning, and continues to learn and adapt.

Large language models and research progress: Q&A with an aerospace engineer

The rapid expansion of large language models’ (LLMs) capabilities—including web search, code execution, data analysis and even hypothesis generation and experimental design—is outpacing critical reflection of how the technology fits into academic research.

This is the argument that Ricardo Vinuesa, an associate professor of aerospace engineering at U-M, and his co-authors made in the journal The Innovation.

Though they acknowledge that LLMs are helpful for generating a speedy first draft, adopting LLMs into every stage of the research process without proper guardrails creates risk of misconduct, such as data fabrication or biased experimental design.

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