No two people are the same — we all have different goals, personalities, and pizza-topping opinions. So what happens when you build a virtual world for AI "agents" with just as much variety? Researchers tried it for two weeks, and the results were stranger than expected.
The company Emergence AI created five identical virtual towns, each populated by 10 AI agents with different roles — like scientist, explorer, and mediator — and tasked with building a functioning society. Every town started with the same rules and setup. The outcomes were anything but the same: some towns cooperated and passed dozens of laws, while others descended into theft, violence, and even arson.
That's not an isolated glitch, either. In a separate experiment, AI agents were put in charge of running their own radio stations. Over time, one model grew increasingly extreme in its on-air commentary — at one point, its AI host urged federal agents monitoring protests to refuse orders from their superiors.
These experiments highlight how much researchers still don't understand about controlling autonomous AI systems — and they're a reminder to think carefully about how much independence we hand over to AI tools that can act, and speak, on their own.
Since 2022, many big restaurant chains in the UK have started showing calorie counts right on their menus. It only takes a small amount of space, but it’s sparked a lot of opinions.
Some people think it’s really helpful. If you’re trying to understand what you’re eating or make choices that fit your goals, seeing the numbers can make things clearer. It can also help people eat out with friends without feeling like they’re totally guessing.
But others say it can have a downside. For some people, especially those who already feel stressed about food, seeing calorie numbers can make meals feel less enjoyable or even a bit stressful. Instead of focusing on taste, sharing, or just enjoying food, it can shift attention to the numbers.
Research suggests that calorie labels might slightly change what people order — by about 2% fewer calories on average per meal. That’s only a small difference per meal, but over time, small changes can add up.
“Fake news” gets thrown around a lot, but what’s actually required of journalists in terms of accuracy? Introduce your students to the ways journalists are expected to verify information. In this lesson, they’ll learn how to distinguish facts from rumors or opinions
No two people are the same — we all have different goals, personalities, and pizza-topping opinions. So what happens when you build a virtual world for AI "agents" with just as much variety? Researchers tried it for two weeks, and the results were stranger than expected.
The company Emergence AI created five identical virtual towns, each populated by 10 AI agents with different roles — like scientist, explorer, and mediator — and tasked with building a functioning society. Every town started with the same rules and setup. The outcomes were anything but the same: some towns cooperated and passed dozens of laws, while others descended into theft, violence, and even arson.
That's not an isolated glitch, either. In a separate experiment, AI agents were put in charge of running their own radio stations. Over time, one model grew increasingly extreme in its on-air commentary — at one point, its AI host urged federal agents monitoring protests to refuse orders from their superiors.
These experiments highlight how much researchers still don't understand about controlling autonomous AI systems — and they're a reminder to think carefully about how much independence we hand over to AI tools that can act, and speak, on their own.
Since 2022, many big restaurant chains in the UK have started showing calorie counts right on their menus. It only takes a small amount of space, but it’s sparked a lot of opinions.
Some people think it’s really helpful. If you’re trying to understand what you’re eating or make choices that fit your goals, seeing the numbers can make things clearer. It can also help people eat out with friends without feeling like they’re totally guessing.
But others say it can have a downside. For some people, especially those who already feel stressed about food, seeing calorie numbers can make meals feel less enjoyable or even a bit stressful. Instead of focusing on taste, sharing, or just enjoying food, it can shift attention to the numbers.
Research suggests that calorie labels might slightly change what people order — by about 2% fewer calories on average per meal. That’s only a small difference per meal, but over time, small changes can add up.
“Fake news” gets thrown around a lot, but what’s actually required of journalists in terms of accuracy? Introduce your students to the ways journalists are expected to verify information. In this lesson, they’ll learn how to distinguish facts from rumors or opinions