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Tag: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • ‘We got him’: Brown University/MIT professor shooting suspect found dead in Salem, NH

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    SALEM. N.H. — Described by the FBI as a “highly dangerous individual capable of extreme violence,” Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente was found dead in a storage facility Thursday night.

    Neves-Valente, 48, was a Portuguese national and former Brown University physics Ph.D. student. He was wanted in two states for fatal shootings at Brown University and of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor.

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    By Jill Harmacinski | jharmacinski@eagletribune.com

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  • MIT Study Finds Chatbot Love Is Real—and It’s Often Unintentional

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    People are increasingly falling in love with A.I. chatbots—and not on purpose. Ghariza Mahavira for Unsplash+

    It was once a trope of science fiction, most notably in Her, the 2013 Spike Jonze film, where Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with an A.I. character. Now, chatbot relationships are not only real but have morphed into a complex sociotechnical phenomenon that researchers say demands attention from developers and policymakers alike, according to a new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

    The report analyzed posts between December 2024 and August 2025 from the more than 27,000 members of r/MyBoyfriendIsAI, a Reddit page dedicated to A.I. companionship. The community is filled with users introducing their tech partners, sharing love stories and offering advice. In some cases, Redditers even display their commitments with wedding rings or A.I.-generated couple photos.

    “People have real commitments to these characters,” Sheer Karny, one of the study’s co-authors and a graduate student at the MIT Media Lab, told Observer. “It’s interesting, alarming—it’s this really messy human experience.”

    For many, these bonds form unintentionally. Only 6.5 percent of users deliberately sought out A.I. companions, the study found. Others began using chatbots for productivity and gradually developed strong emotional attachments. Despite the existence of companies like Character.AI and Replika, which market directly to users seeking companionship, OpenAI has emerged as the dominant platform, with 36.7 percent of Reddit users in the study adopting its products.

    Preserving the “personality” of an A.I. partner is a major concern for many users, Karny noted. Some save conversations as PDFs to re-upload them if forced to restart with a new system. “People come up with all kinds of unique tricks to ensure that the personality that they cultivated is maintained through time,” he said.

    Losing that personality can feel like grief. More than 16 percent of discussions on r/MyBoyfriendIsAI focus on coping with model updates and loss—a trend amplified last month when OpenAI, while rolling out GPT-5, temporarily removed access to the more personable GPT-4o. The backlash was so intense that the company eventually reinstated the older model.

    A cure for loneliness?

    Most of the Reddit page’s users are single, with about 78 percent making no mention of human partners. Roughly 4 percent are open with their partners about their A.I. relationships, 1.1 percent have replaced human companions with the technology, and 0.7 percent keep such relationships hidden.

    On one hand, chatbot companionship may reduce loneliness, said Thao Ha, a psychologist at Arizona State University who studies how technologies reshape adolescent romantic relationships. But she also warned of long-term risks. “If you satisfy your need for relationships with just relationships with machines, how does that affect us over the long term?” she told Observer.

    The MIT study urges developers to add safeguards to A.I. systems while preserving their therapeutic benefits. Left unchecked, the technology could prey on vulnerabilities through tactics like love-bombing, dependency creation and isolation. Policymakers, too, should account for A.I. companionship in legislative efforts, such as California’s SB 243 bill, the authors said.

    Ha suggested that A.I. products undergo an approval process similar to new medications, which must clear intensive research and FDA review before reaching the public. While replicating such a strategy for technology companies “would be great,” she conceded that it’s unlikely in light of the industry’s profit-driven priorities.

    A more achievable step, she argued, is expanding A.I. literacy to help the public understand both the risks and benefits of forming attachments to chatbots. Still, such programming has yet to materialize. “I wish it was here yesterday, but it’s not here yet,” Ha said.

    MIT Study Finds Chatbot Love Is Real—and It’s Often Unintentional

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    Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly

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  • Wall St futures flat in countdown to Nvidia results

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    (Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures were flat on Wednesday, as investors stepped aside in anticipation of AI leader Nvidia’s earnings release that will test Wall Street’s broader technology-led rally.

    The chip major was at the forefront of the market recovery after April’s lows, crossing the $4-trillion market capitalization mark in July to become the world’s largest company as investors continued to bet on the global demand for artificial-intelligence infrastructure.

    The company’s results come at a time when traders have been worried the tech sector – that makes up nearly 50% of the S&P 500 – might be overvalued. Valuations of the benchmark index are well above long-term averages, according to data compiled by LSEG.

    The concerns weighed on the tech sector last week after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman spoke of a potential bubble and a study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology showed that AI tools were only a boost to individual productivity, and not corporate earnings.

    Nvidia’s shares edged up 0.5% in premarket trading, ahead of its earnings, which are expected after markets close. Options traders are pricing in about a $260-billion swing in the chipmaker’s market value after the results.

    How the company’s significant China business fared during the Sino-U.S. trade war earlier this year will be closely watched along with how a recent revenue-sharing deal with the U.S. government will impact forecasts.

    “In the same way Apple symbolized the smartphone era, Nvidia now defines the AI era. The stock has become the heartbeat of the market,” said Josh Gilbert, market analyst at eToro.

    “Regardless of whether you own Nvidia shares or not, its result will impact your portfolio in some way.”

    At 05:26 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis rose 25 points, or 0.05%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 2.5 points, or 0.04%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis gained 6 points, or 0.03%.

    Microsoft and Meta, top customers of the chip leader, were broadly subdued, as were semiconductor stocks Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices.

    Markets were also stabilizing following an initial decline on Tuesday, after U.S. President Donald Trump attempted to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook.

    The move is likely to face legal challenges, but if successful, it could allow Trump to nominate a dovish-leaning official to the central bank board and worry investors concerned about the U.S. Federal Reserve’s independence.

    Investors are pricing in a 25-basis-point interest-rate cut in September, according to data compiled by LSEG, and most big brokerages also lean in that direction.

    Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin’s comments will be scrutinized later in the day for his perspective on the monetary policy outlook.

    MongoDB jumped 29.8% after the software-maker raised its annual profit forecast.

    Cracker Barrel gained 6.5% after the restaurant chain said it would stick with its decades-old logo as plans for a new one faced social media backlash.

    U.S.-listed shares of Canada Goose rose 8.6% after a report said controlling shareholder Bain Capital had received bids to take the luxury goods maker private.

    Quarterly reports from retailers including Abercrombie & Fitch and Kohl’s are also due on the day.

    (Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)

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  • Are colleges facing a free speech crisis?

    Are colleges facing a free speech crisis?

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    Are colleges facing a free speech crisis?

    From the picket lines of the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, to social media posts surrounding the Israel-Hamas conflict today, expressing free speech — and how to better define it — continues to test higher education decision-makers.

    The increase in student-led protests at U.S.-based colleges and universities surrounding the October 2023 Israel-Hamas conflict has brought free speech on campus, back into popular discourse. After the actions and suspensions of some student groups led to televised congressional hearings and then the resignation of two elite university presidents, defining and outlining free speech on campus appeared to be at a stalemate. Groups such as, The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE are attempting to keep the dialogue going. FIRE is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works on a national scale to spread awareness regarding free speech rights on college campuses. “We’re seeing large amounts of students professing self-censorship and the culture of free speech being deteriorated on college campuses,” Zach Greenberg said, the senior program officer within campus advocacy at FIRE. “And so while the law remains solid, we do worry about how it’s being applied and how universities actually are defending students’ free speech rights.” By expressing and exercising their free speech rights, student-led groups have consistently influenced federal legislation especially during the 1960s and 1970s. Most notably, the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Nixon signing the 26th Amendment in 1971, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18-years-old at the federal level. In the 1960s, the Civil Rights movement was amplified by courageous students such as Claudette Colvin, Diane Nash, the Little Rock Nine, and the Greensboro Four, and several student-led and founded groups such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Black Panther Party. However, protests reached a fever pitch on May 4, 1970, with the Kent State Massacre, in which four students were shot and killed by Ohio State National Guardsmen. Less than two weeks later, on May 15, 1970 at Jackson State in Mississippi, law enforcement fired into a crowd, killing a pre-law student and a local high school student, who was on campus at the time. Following these national tragedies, the Nixon administration assembled a task force to study campus unrest on a national scale. What resulted was a 400-plus page magnum opusEditSign titled, “The Report of the President’s Commission on Campus Unrest,” which analyzed the Kent State and Jackson State tragedies, the history of campus protests stretching back to the American Revolution, and suggestions for students, faculty, and law enforcement moving forward. Although, the Nixon administration hesitated to implement the commission’s suggestions from the lengthy tome, today’s students aren’t limited by formal case studies to share their thoughts and reach a wider audience. Whether students speak formally through congressional hearings (that are subsequently shared on YouTube to view beyond traditional airtimes) or informally through social media posts, clarifying free speech for students in the digital age may continue to be a challenging, but a necessary, discussion. “Students aren’t really having the kind of discussions that they were having, perhaps 10 or 15 years ago,” Greenberg said. “The first step to defending your rights is knowing your rights.”

    The increase in student-led protests at U.S.-based colleges and universities surrounding the October 2023 Israel-Hamas conflict has brought free speech on campus, back into popular discourse. After the actions and suspensions of some student groups led to televised congressional hearings and then the resignation of two elite university presidents, defining and outlining free speech on campus appeared to be at a stalemate.

    Groups such as, The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE are attempting to keep the dialogue going. FIRE is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works on a national scale to spread awareness regarding free speech rights on college campuses.

    “We’re seeing large amounts of students professing self-censorship and the culture of free speech being deteriorated on college campuses,” Zach Greenberg said, the senior program officer within campus advocacy at FIRE. “And so while the law remains solid, we do worry about how it’s being applied and how universities actually are defending students’ free speech rights.”

    By expressing and exercising their free speech rights, student-led groups have consistently influenced federal legislation especially during the 1960s and 1970s.

    Most notably, the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Nixon signing the 26th Amendment in 1971, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18-years-old at the federal level.

    In the 1960s, the Civil Rights movement was amplified by courageous students such as Claudette Colvin, Diane Nash, the Little Rock Nine, and the Greensboro Four, and several student-led and founded groups such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Black Panther Party.

    However, protests reached a fever pitch on May 4, 1970, with the Kent State Massacre, in which four students were shot and killed by Ohio State National Guardsmen. Less than two weeks later, on May 15, 1970 at Jackson State in Mississippi, law enforcement fired into a crowd, killing a pre-law student and a local high school student, who was on campus at the time.

    Following these national tragedies, the Nixon administration assembled a task force to study campus unrest on a national scale. What resulted was a 400-plus page magnum opus

    Although, the Nixon administration hesitated to implement the commission’s suggestions from the lengthy tome, today’s students aren’t limited by formal case studies to share their thoughts and reach a wider audience.

    Whether students speak formally through congressional hearings (that are subsequently shared on YouTube to view beyond traditional airtimes) or informally through social media posts, clarifying free speech for students in the digital age may continue to be a challenging, but a necessary, discussion. “Students aren’t really having the kind of discussions that they were having, perhaps 10 or 15 years ago,” Greenberg said. “The first step to defending your rights is knowing your rights.”

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  • Fact Check: Donald Trump Says His Uncle Was an MIT Professor. Here’s the Truth

    Fact Check: Donald Trump Says His Uncle Was an MIT Professor. Here’s the Truth

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    Claim:

    Donald Trump‘s uncle was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

    Rating:

    Rating: True

    Rating: True

    In an effort to highlight his supposed mental and genetic superiority over U.S. President Joe Biden during a Las Vegas campaign rally on Jan. 27, 2024, former President Donald Trump pointed to his uncle, whom he described as the longest-serving professor in the history of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT):

    I had an uncle — he’s the longest-serving professor, Dr. John Trump — in the history of MIT. Same genes. … We’re smart people. … We’re like racehorses, too. The fast ones produce the fast ones, and the slow ones? Doesn’t work out so well.

    This was not the first time Trump used this talking point. He first mentioned John Trump in a political context on the second day of his 2016 campaign — at a June 17, 2015, rally in New Hampshire:

    I had an uncle who went to MIT who is a top professor. Dr. John Trump. A genius. It’s my blood. I’m smart. Great marks. Like really smart.

    As Snopes wrote in August 2016, Trump also brought up his uncle in a portion of a July 19, 2016, campaign speech in South Carolina — ostensibly about Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran — that later went viral:

    Look, having nuclear — my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart. … Nuclear is so powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago

    While this familial link’s use as evidence of Donald Trump’s cognitive strength is at best limited, it is true that his uncle was an accomplished scientist and a long-serving professor of engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — where he also received his Ph.D. — as described in 2016 in The New Yorker:

    John Trump really does seem to have been a brilliant scientist. He was at M.I.T. for decades … . Trump was involved in radar research for the Allies in the Second World War, and in 1943 the F.B.I. had enough faith in his technical ability and his discretion to call him in when Nikola Tesla died in his room at the New Yorker Hotel, in Manhattan, raising the question of whether enemy agents might have had a chance to learn some of his secrets before the body was found. (One fear was that Tesla was working on a “death ray.”)

    His work received media coverage throughout his career. A 1939 Boston Globe article, for example, highlighted an X-ray generator designed by Trump and Robert Van de Graaff (of Van de Graaff generator fame):

    It is unclear whether John Trump was ever considered the “longest-serving” faculty member at MIT, but he was associated with the school for decades — he received his Ph.D. there in 1933 and partially retired, while continuing to give lectures, in 1973. He died in 1985. According to his obituary, his work, among other things, advanced radiation therapies for cancer patients:

    After the war. Dr. Trump, while still on the faculty at M.I.T., became associated with the Department of Radiology at the Lahey Clinic in Boston and later became chairman of its board.

    Under his direction rotational radiation therapy was developed, ”an idea that created quite a stir in those days,” he recalled later. He also conceived and developed the use of high-energy electrons in the treatment of superficial skin lesions.

    Because it is well-documented that former President Trump’s uncle was a professor at MIT, we rate this claim as “True.”

    Sources:

    CNN.Com – Transcripts. http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1506/30/acd.01.html. Accessed 29 Jan. 2024.

    “JOHN TRUMP DIES; ENGINEER WAS 78.” The New York Times, 26 Feb. 1985. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/26/us/john-trump-dies-engineer-was-78.html.

    Legaspi, Althea. “Trump Touts Cognitive Skills Citing He’s Related to an MIT Professor: ‘Same Genes.’” Rolling Stone, 28 Jan. 2024, https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-las-vegas-rally-touts-cognitive-skills-1234955590/.

    “New X-Ray Generator at Tech.” The Boston Globe, 25 Feb. 1939, p. 16. newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-new-x-ray-generator-at/139840856/.

    Sorkin, Amy Davidson. “Donald Trump’s Nuclear Uncle.” The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2016. www.newyorker.com, https://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-davidson/donald-trumps-nuclear-uncle.

    “The Trump Show Hits New Hampshire.” POLITICO, 17 June 2015, https://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/the-trump-show-hits-nh-119137.



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  • Cell biologist from Duke named new president of MIT

    Cell biologist from Duke named new president of MIT

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    CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — While there were myriad reasons Sally Kornbluth felt pulled to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it was the chance to help address some of the world’s greatest challenges that played perhaps the biggest role, the school’s new president said at an introductory news conference on Thursday.

    “Maybe above all, I was drawn here because this is a moment when humanity faces huge global problems, problems that urgently demand the world’s most skillful minds and hands,” she said. “In short, I believe this is MIT’s moment. I could not imagine a greater privilege than helping the people of MIT seize its full potential.”

    Kornbluth, a cell biologist who has spent the past eight years as provost at Duke University, was elected MIT’s 18th president on Thursday by the MIT Corporation, the school’s governing body.

    She will officially take over on Jan. 1, succeeding L. Rafael Reif, who in February announced that he planned to step down after 10 years on the job. She is the second woman to lead MIT.

    Kornbluth has been on the Duke faculty since 1994, and is currently a professor of biology. As provost at the North Carolina school since 2014, Kornbluth was responsible for carrying out Duke’s teaching and research missions; developing its intellectual priorities; and partnering with others to improve faculty and students.

    It was her accomplishments at Duke that made her the clear frontrunner out of the four finalists for the MIT presidency, said Diane Greene, chair of the MIT Corporation.

    “Dr. Kornbluth is an extraordinary find for MIT,” Greene said, noting that the vote was unanimous. “She’s an exceptional administrator, widely respected for her ability to create an environment that breaks barriers, and importantly, enables every student, faculty and staff member to contribute at their highest levels. She is known for her judgment, plain-spokenness, and integrity.”

    Kornbluth also pledged to keep MIT a welcoming and comfortable environment where everyone can reach their potential.

    “I’m absolutely committed to building a more diverse and increasingly inclusive environment here at MIT,” she said.

    Kornbluth already has one strong tie to MIT. Her son, Alex, is a Ph.D. student in electrical engineering and computer science at the school. Her husband, Daniel Lew, is a professor of pharmacology and cancer biology at the Duke School of Medicine, and her daughter, Joey, is a medical student at the University of California at San Francisco.

    She grew up in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, and has degrees from Williams College, Cambridge University, and Rockefeller University.

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  • Generation Awarded Grant in MIT Reimagining Pathways to Employment in US Challenge

    Generation Awarded Grant in MIT Reimagining Pathways to Employment in US Challenge

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    Funding to develop pilot programs and partnerships to combat racial and gender inequality in education, workforce

    Press Release
    –


    updated: Feb 10, 2021


    WASHINGTON, February 10, 2021 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Solve, a marketplace for social impact innovation, today announced Generation USA, a global workforce development nonprofit, as a winner of its 2021 Reimagining Pathways to Employment in the US Challenge and recipient of $125,000 in funding to launch pilot programs across the country in collaboration with US Workforce Boards. The initiative combats racial and gender injustices in the US that continue to hinder the education, employment, and earning potential of historically marginalized communities. 

    MIT Solve—in partnership with the Morgridge Family Foundation, New Profit, and others—created the Reimagining Pathways to Employment in the US Challenge to combat racial and gender inequality. The Challenge is an opportunity to identify, support, and scale promising solutions that accelerate pathways to current and future employment—especially for underserved communities.

    These grants fund the development of validation pilots with innovative US Workforce Boards for the benefit of an anticipated 1 million displaced workers. This funding allows solutions to be offered at no cost to participating workers. MIT Solve will support the development and implementation of these partnerships. In addition to funding, winning teams receive IBM Cloud Credits and virtual coaching with IBM experts.

    Generation USA, in partnership with community colleges and employer partners, transforms the education to employment systems to prepare, place, and support people into life-changing careers that would otherwise be inaccessible. The nonprofit’s reskilling program is delivered at no-cost and designed for workers who are unemployed, underemployed, facing job displacement due to automation, or displaced by the pandemic, with a focus on vulnerable populations and those facing systemic challenges, giving priority to Black and Latinx applicants, women and those who do not have a four-year degree. 

    “Generation is only about six years old. Globally, our organization has trained more than 40,000 people, and by 2030 in the U.S., we’re working to train and place 500,000,” said Sean Segal, CEO of Generation USA. “Work is at the heart of all we are in America. It’s where we spend the majority of our time. It affects our health, our sense of self, our families, our way of life, and the generational impact we’ll have. So for us, getting connected to organizations like MIT Solve, workforce boards, and IBM is an incredible honor and opportunity for us to expand our footprint to make a dent in the unemployment problem plaguing so many communities in our country.”

    The MIT Solve challenge asked the question: “How can workers in the United States attain the knowledge and learn the skills needed to access sustainable jobs and livelihoods in the new economy?” Generation USA and its education model is the solution to this challenge and will launch reskilling pilot programs to:

    • Increase access to high-quality, no-cost learning, skill-building, and training opportunities for those entering the workforce, transitioning between jobs, or facing unemployment.
    • Enable learners to make informed decisions about which pathways and jobs best suit them, including promoting the benefits of non-degree pathways to employment.
    • Implement competency-based models for life-long learning, support, and credentialing.
    • Match current and future employer and industry needs with education providers, workforce development programs, and diverse job seekers.
    • Drive resources and support to Black, Indigenous, and Latinx entrepreneurs and innovators, who receive a fraction of funding in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, despite their frequent proximity to workforce challenges and the systems-focused solutions needed to solve them.

    To learn more about Generation, visit: usa.generation.org.

    About Generation

    Generation is a nonprofit that transforms education to employment systems to prepare, place, and support people into life-changing careers that would otherwise be inaccessible. The global pandemic has led to an unprecedented surge in unemployment. Even before the pandemic, more than 75 million young adults were out of work globally, and three times as many were underemployed—and 375 million workers of all ages needed to learn new skills by 2030. At the same time, certain jobs remain in high-demand, and 40 percent of employers say a skills shortage leaves them with entry-level vacancies. To date, more than 38,000 people have graduated from Generation programs, which prepare them for meaningful careers in 14 countries. Generation works with more than 3,900 employer partners and many implementation partners and funders. For more, visit usa.generation.org.

    About Solve

    Solve is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a mission to solve world challenges. Solve is a marketplace for social impact innovation. Through open innovation Challenges, Solve finds incredible tech-based social entrepreneurs all around the world. Solve then brings together MIT’s innovation ecosystem and a community of Members to fund and support these entrepreneurs to help them drive lasting, transformational impact. Join Solve on this journey at solve.mit.edu.

    Generation USA Media Contact:
    Amy Kauffman
    amy@newswire.com

    Source: Generation USA

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