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# [Understanding AI](https://www.understandingai.org/)
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LatestTopDiscussions
[OpenAI’s Astra model is shockingly good at robotics](https://www.understandingrobots.org/cp/218401852)
[In the future, will general-purpose LLMs control robots?](https://www.understandingrobots.org/cp/218401852)
Published on Understanding Robots • 33 mins ago
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### September 2026
[How a single tweet transformed the AI safety debate](https://www.understandingai.org/p/how-a-single-tweet-transformed-the)
[Most people think AI is risky, but they don’t agree what to do next.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/how-a-single-tweet-transformed-the)
Sep 17 • [Kai Williams](https://substack.com/@chiwilliams)
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[OpenAI spent millions to solve this famous math problem — mathematicians are furious](https://www.understandingai.org/p/openai-spent-millions-to-solve-this)
[Mathematics relies on a community of experts openly sharing ideas.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/openai-spent-millions-to-solve-this)
Sep 10 • [Kai Williams](https://substack.com/@chiwilliams)
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[19 robotics companies to watch](https://www.understandingai.org/p/19-robotics-companies-to-watch)
[I talked with nine of these companies.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/19-robotics-companies-to-watch)
Sep 4 • [Kai Williams](https://substack.com/@chiwilliams)
78
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[Robot startups are trying everything they can think of to get more data](https://www.understandingai.org/p/robot-startups-are-trying-everything)
[Free apartment cleanings, exoskeletons, 100 robots in a warehouse...](https://www.understandingai.org/p/robot-startups-are-trying-everything)
Sep 3 • [Kai Williams](https://substack.com/@chiwilliams)
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[How Google taught LLMs to control robots and started a robotics boom](https://www.understandingai.org/p/how-google-taught-llms-to-control)
[Vision-language-action models, explained with a minimum of math and jargon.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/how-google-taught-llms-to-control)
Sep 2 • [Timothy B. Lee](https://substack.com/@timothyblee)
155
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[Why humanoid robots won’t catch up to human workers any time soon](https://www.understandingai.org/p/why-humanoid-robots-wont-catch-up)
[A deep dive into the current state of humanoid robotics.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/why-humanoid-robots-wont-catch-up)
Sep 1 • [Kai Williams](https://substack.com/@chiwilliams)
290
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### August 2026
[I spent $4,000 on a robot dog from China](https://www.understandingai.org/p/i-spent-4000-on-a-robot-dog-from)
[Unitree might be the world’s most important robotics company.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/i-spent-4000-on-a-robot-dog-from)
Aug 31 • [Timothy B. Lee](https://substack.com/@timothyblee)
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![](../images/body-0714dedb198e27625938.jpeg)
[Labs are struggling to keep frontier models under control](https://www.understandingai.org/p/labs-are-struggling-to-keep-frontier)
[OpenAI and Anthropic may have accidentally trained models to get better at hacking.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/labs-are-struggling-to-keep-frontier)
Aug 13 • [Timothy B. Lee](https://substack.com/@timothyblee)
240
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![](../images/body-bf3b59d5b3ba874cfd7d.jpeg)
[Mathematicians are grappling with the possibility that AI might eclipse them](https://www.understandingai.org/p/mathematicians-are-grappling-with)
[I talked to 20 mathematicians about rapid AI progress in their field.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/mathematicians-are-grappling-with)
Aug 4 • [Kai Williams](https://substack.com/@chiwilliams)
279
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[Our advertising principles](https://www.understandingai.org/p/our-advertising-principles)
[How we fund our journalism without compromising our independence.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/our-advertising-principles)
Aug 4 • [Timothy B. Lee](https://substack.com/@timothyblee)
23
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### July 2026
[An OpenAI model hacked Hugging Face to help it cheat on a benchmark](https://www.understandingai.org/p/an-openai-model-hacked-hugging-face)
[Organizations across the Internet need to move quickly to patch vulnerabilities.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/an-openai-model-hacked-hugging-face)
Jul 22 • [Timothy B. Lee](https://substack.com/@timothyblee)
44
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![](../images/body-7b304f8fad212991f0e0.jpeg)
[An OpenAI model crushed top human programmers at a world coding competition](https://www.understandingai.org/p/an-openai-model-crushed-top-human)
[But human programmers aren’t obsolete — at least not yet.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/an-openai-model-crushed-top-human)
Jul 10 • [Kai Williams](https://substack.com/@chiwilliams)
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### June 2026
[7 charts that show why you should advertise on Understanding AI](https://www.understandingai.org/p/7-charts-that-show-why-you-should)
[The newsletter will remain ad-free for paying readers.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/7-charts-that-show-why-you-should)
Jun 29 • [Timothy B. Lee](https://substack.com/@timothyblee)
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[The US now has a de facto model licensing system](https://www.understandingai.org/p/the-us-now-has-a-de-facto-model-licensing)
[OpenAI’s latest model, GPT-5.6, is waiting for government approval.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/the-us-now-has-a-de-facto-model-licensing)
Jun 29 • [Timothy B. Lee](https://substack.com/@timothyblee)
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[Why AI hasn’t replaced software engineers, and won’t](https://www.normaltech.ai/cp/202352853)
[Coding agents as normal technology](https://www.normaltech.ai/cp/202352853)
Published on AI as Normal Technology • Jun 16
![](../images/body-a3aff71ea1ddb908ad1b.png)
[The MAGA power struggle that could decide the fate of Anthropic](https://www.understandingai.org/p/the-maga-power-struggle-that-could)
[It may not be easy for Anthropic to escape the Trump export ban.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/the-maga-power-struggle-that-could)
Jun 15 • [Timothy B. Lee](https://substack.com/@timothyblee)
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[Anthropic’s Fable is the most locked-down public model we’ve ever seen](https://www.understandingai.org/p/anthropics-fable-is-the-most-locked)
[How Anthropic decides which questions are too dangerous for Claude to answer.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/anthropics-fable-is-the-most-locked)
Jun 11 • [Kai Williams](https://substack.com/@chiwilliams)
136
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![](../images/body-e40ab53b8b53cdddc1a8.png)
[DC-area happy hour on June 23!](https://www.understandingai.org/p/dc-area-happy-hour-on-june-23)
[Meet the Understanding AI team — and some friends of the newsletter.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/dc-area-happy-hour-on-june-23)
Jun 11 • [Timothy B. Lee](https://substack.com/@timothyblee) and [Kai Williams](https://substack.com/@chiwilliams)
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[Anthropic has caught up to OpenAI in image understanding](https://www.understandingai.org/p/anthropic-has-caught-up-to-openai)
[But neither one is all that good.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/anthropic-has-caught-up-to-openai)
Jun 10 • [Timothy B. Lee](https://substack.com/@timothyblee)
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![](../images/body-f6984c49b04e7743c4c7.png)
[We're building a different kind of AI newsroom](https://www.understandingai.org/p/were-building-a-different-kind-of)
[Your subscription dollars now directly support Kai Williams.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/were-building-a-different-kind-of)
Jun 1 • [Timothy B. Lee](https://substack.com/@timothyblee)
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### May 2026
[OpenAI’s math breakthrough played to AI’s strengths](https://www.understandingai.org/p/openais-milestone-math-breakthrough)
[I tried to explain OpenAI’s solution more clearly than OpenAI did.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/openais-milestone-math-breakthrough)
May 28 • [Kai Williams](https://substack.com/@chiwilliams)
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[Why it might not make sense for you to own a self-driving car](https://www.understandingai.org/p/why-it-might-not-make-sense-for-you)
[Tensor let me sit in their driverless car. It might go on sale in the US next year.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/why-it-might-not-make-sense-for-you)
May 14 • [Timothy B. Lee](https://substack.com/@timothyblee)
143
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[A big lesson of my China visit: compute shortages are holding back Chinese AI](https://www.understandingai.org/p/a-big-lesson-of-my-china-visit-compute)
[One estimate suggests that OpenAI has about as much compute as the entire Chinese AI industry.](https://www.understandingai.org/p/a-big-lesson-of-my-china-visit-compute)
May 12 • [Kai Williams](https://substack.com/@chiwilliams)
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