Unsexy AI: Robotic Hands, Grok's Porn Filter, and Chip Worker Romance

The AI Hype Index highlights the less glamorous side of artificial intelligence. 1X demonstrated dexterous robotic hands in July, sparking debate over their appeal. Grok's translation feature was criticized for being porn-pilled, Meta's smart glasses are getting creepier, and Big Tech's emissions continue to rise. Meanwhile, AI is paying off for single chip workers in Korea, who are experiencing a surge in dating opportunities thanks to large bonuses. Subquadratic claims to have broken a bottleneck holding back LLMs, though skepticism remains. Anthropic has probed deeper into Claude's inner workings, revealing a hidden space where the model puzzles over concepts. The company also launched Claude Science, a flagship product for scientific applications. ASML's $400 million machine is powering the future of chipmaking, with a monopoly on the expensive contraptions needed to pattern ever faster chips for the AI era.