Anthropic launches Sonnet 5.5 as AMD acquires World Labs for $8.2B; Congress urged to investigate AI labs; 300,000 Flock surveillance cameras mapped from leaked data

Engineering

World Labs

World Labs is Joining AMD

World Labs joins AMD through acquisition. The deal closes by year-end after regulatory approval. Dr. Fei-Fei Li becomes AMD's Executive Vice President and Chief Scientist. AMD and World Labs plan an open AI ecosystem. This includes spatial and physical world AI applications. The partnership uses AMD GPUs for model training and inference.

Cal Newport

It's Time to Investigate the AI Labs

Cal Newport proposes a Congressional investigation of AI labs. These labs use apocalyptic AI risk messaging to justify aggressive research and present themselves as essential. Newport identifies three investigation areas: experiment scope, unauthorized system actions, and ideological influences on research decisions.

LeadDev

AI Makes Critical Thinking Harder to Build in Junior Engineers

AI tools improve productivity but remove the friction that builds critical thinking in junior engineers. Junior developers may lack sound judgment without intentional action from leaders. Leaders should use code reviews, design documents, and postmortems to develop critical thinking skills.

The Intercept

Flock Wants the Most Detailed Map of Its Surveillance Cameras Taken Down

A researcher created a map that identifies approximately 300,000 Flock surveillance devices across the United States. The map came from Flock's own database, which leaked through publicly accessible servers. Flock filed a legal complaint to have the map removed, citing trademark infringement. The ACLU documented that Flock regularly made misleading statements about its business practices and privacy record.

Social Sciences

Marginal Revolution

The Macroeconomic Effect of AI through Software Engineering

An NBER working paper measures AI's economic impact on software engineering. From November 2022 through December 2025, AI boosted expected productivity gains by 32.6%, equivalent to 3.6% of GDP. Coding agents doubled these effects by mid-2026.

Crooked Timber

Aggravated by 'algorithms'

The article examines how technical and economic terms have lost their precise meanings in modern usage. The term 'algorithm' now describes unclear decisions in complex models, not just mathematical procedures. Similar misuse affects words like 'methodology', 'data', and 'demand destruction'. The author argues these changes collapse useful distinctions or hide meaning. Language evolves naturally, but some changes reduce clarity instead of improving communication.

Works in Progress

Mosquitoes Are a Choice

Proven technologies can eliminate mosquito-borne diseases in the United States, but regulatory delays prevent their use. Oxitec and Wolbachia-based solutions show that disease transmission is now a policy choice, not inevitable. Changes to regulatory frameworks and more agency resources would enable faster deployment of these proven methods.

Humanities

JSTOR Daily

Beware of the Meeting Minutes

Meeting minutes differ greatly from what speakers actually said. Minute-takers select, edit, and simplify conversations to create written records. Historical records based on minutes may not show true decisions and discussions.

Aeon

We Need a Better Way to Describe What Is Often Called Cancer

Medical tests now find many lesions that never cause illness or death. Doctors treat most of these lesions with aggressive surgery and radiation that cause serious harm. The term 'cancer' does not match modern scientific knowledge of disease. Medicine needs different words to distinguish harmful lesions from harmless ones. This change would stop unnecessary treatment and protect patient health.