AI news of 24 August 2026

Humanoid robots smash Usain Bolt’s 100-meter record

Chinese humanoid robots ran 100 meters faster than Usain Bolt's world record at Beijing competition.

Tiangong Ultra (left) also broke the 400 meter world record during this year’s World Humanoid Robot Games. | Image: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images The 9.58-second 100-meter dash record set by Usain Bolt in 2009 has been outpaced by Chinese robots participating at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing. In a preliminary heat on Saturday, Tiangong Ultra, made by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, ran the distance in 9.39 seconds, followed by the Honor-developed Lightning at 9.47 seconds. It's one of several notable achievements to take place at the event, which can best be described as a sort of annual robot olympics that's designed to showcase advancements in bipedal bot technology. After launching in 2025, 2,056 robots from 16 countries…

The Verge 1mo ago

robotaxis, labor

Robotaxis are real now — so is the pushback

Robotaxi expansion meets opposition from taxi drivers and regulators over rules and public access.

The Verge 1mo ago

GPT-5.6

Advancing price-performance for developers with GPT‑5.6 in Kiro Opens at the publisher in a new tab

OpenAI releases GPT-5.6 model with improved price-performance for software development tasks.

OpenAI 1mo ago

AI job displacement

AI is hitting entry-level jobs hardest, Stanford study finds

Stanford study finds employment in AI-impacted fields down 19% for young workers versus AI-resistant occupations.

Ars Technica 1mo ago

AI chip export controls

Nvidia senior manager linked to Supermicro scheme smuggling AI servers to China

Nvidia senior manager indicted in scheme to smuggle AI servers to China.

Ars Technica 1mo ago

deepfakes, education

They Dedicated Their Lives to Teaching. Then the Deepfakes Started Opens at the publisher in a new tab

Teachers report becoming targets of sexualized deepfake content, struggling to find accountability mechanisms.

Wired 1mo ago

AI language learning

Kids outlearn AI—and we still don’t know why

Research suggests children learn human language better than AI systems, reasons still unclear.

MIT Technology Review 1mo ago

AI capabilities, human cognition

The Download: kids outlearning AI, and space travel agents

Children outperform AI systems at learning language skills for unknown reasons.

MIT Technology Review 1mo ago

AI agents, robotics

Valor, Point72 back General Intuition at $6B valuation as AI startup pushes into robotics

General Intuition raises $6 billion to develop foundation models for AI agents and robotics.

TechCrunch 1mo ago

AI assistant security

Instinct’s powerful AI assistant is raising privacy and security concerns Opens at the publisher in a new tab

Early testers praise Instinct AI assistant's capabilities but flag privacy and security concerns.

TechCrunch 1mo ago

Humanoid robots smash Usain Bolt’s 100-meter record

Robotaxis are real now — so is the pushback

Advancing price-performance for developers with GPT‑5.6 in Kiro Opens at the publisher in a new tab

AI is hitting entry-level jobs hardest, Stanford study finds

Nvidia senior manager linked to Supermicro scheme smuggling AI servers to China

They Dedicated Their Lives to Teaching. Then the Deepfakes Started Opens at the publisher in a new tab

Kids outlearn AI—and we still don’t know why

The Download: kids outlearning AI, and space travel agents

Valor, Point72 back General Intuition at $6B valuation as AI startup pushes into robotics

Instinct’s powerful AI assistant is raising privacy and security concerns Opens at the publisher in a new tab

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