Skeptic Society Magazine

AI-powered robots can be tricked into slicing off fingers

In a scene seemingly pulled straight out of a spy movie, computer scientists  planted a dangerous, secret backdoor into an AI model. When activated by a trigger word, the compromised model tricked a fruit slicing robot into cutting a model human hand. Rather than cause chaos,  the team from Binghamton University in New York say its violent robot brainwashing is meant to draw attention...

Rooftop Series’ Renewed for Season 2 at BET

Keep on laughing: BET’s “ComicView” reboot has been renewed for Season 2. BET has ordered 20 more episodes of the revived stand-up franchise, which premiered in June as “ComicView: Rooftop Series.” Chris “CP” Powell returns as host of the program, which will see 60 comedians performing on a Hollywood rooftop. Veteran comics Affion Crockett, Cocoa Brown, Lavell Crawford and Luenell join the Season 2...

Is the West finally emerging from the Great Stagnation?

Up until recently, we thought history had come to an end. Trade had replaced power politics, dependencies were mistaken for security and economies stopped growing as they once had. Now, however, we finally seem to be emerging from what one writer called the Great Stagnation. It’s about time, too. During the 1990s and especially the 2000s, there was little doubt that Western economies entered...

New prize launches for books co-written with AI

A prize for AI-written books has launched this week. The Prix Pascal de Littérature IA invites submissions of manuscripts co-written with AI tools, with the winner promised publication. Entrants are asked to submit an unpublished manuscript of between 10,000 and 50,000 words, along with information about which AI model and prompt were used to generate the text. All major language models are allowed, including...

The “Cream” Jordan 1 Element Low A/T Is a Winterized Wonder

The Air Jordan 1 conquered the courts and even the streets. Next, it’s coming for the wintry trails with the Jordan 1 Element Low A/T. This Jordan 1 debuted in Fall 2025 as a weatherized sneaker with more practical details and ultra-chunky, tire-like lug soles. Oh, and it also came with GORE-TEX tech, making it waterproof and breathable. Shop Air Jordan 1 Element Low...