This is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Puzzles and games have always been central to AI development. The term “machine learning” was popularized in a 1959 article about an algorithm that learned to play checkers.
Chess and Go are famous AI test beds too. Judged purely on its puzzling skills, AI is improving a lot—and quickly. In late 2024, even the best models could figure out only 18% of the infamous New York Times Connections puzzles; by early 2025, some could solve them nearly perfectly every time.
But puzzles do more than highlight AI’s progress. Seeing where models succeed and fail, and where humans still beat them, offers a window into the technology’s strengths and weaknesses. We’ve gathered seven puzzles that have stumped models at one time or another—now it’s your turn to see how you fare.
Take our test to find out whether you can outsmart AI. This article is from our latest print magazine, which is all about kids. Subscribe now to get all our future issues.
A nonprofit organization called the Fermi Explorer Mission announced yesterday that it intends to launch a spacecraft to our nearest star system by the end of 2029. It’s a hugely ambitious mission—if all goes well, the spacecraft could take up to 80,000 years to arrive at Alpha Centauri, which is 4.4 light-years away. To get there, it will follow a novel trajectory discovered by an AI system developed by PSI, a physics research lab.
Explore how AI found a new route to Alpha Centauri—and what the mission could tell us about alien life. We go to space for geopolitical prestige, manifest destiny, spiritual fulfillment, scientific curiosity, and, increasingly, business opportunities. In the wake of Artemis II, a slew of new books suggest that these justifications are subsumed by one unifying fact: humans have itchy feet, and we are simply wired to roam.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
