Mad Scientists, Open Rebels, and the Race to Build God-Like AI

xAI's new model had a wild week of brilliance and chaos. Meanwhile, open-source alternatives are quietly changing the game. Here's what the AI arms race means for science and for you.

Have you ever watched a mad scientist’s experiment finally work, only to realize it might be a little too powerful? That’s what the last few days in AI have felt like. We’ve witnessed the birth of something brilliant, chaotic, and utterly unpredictable, leaving us all to wonder whether we’ve just been handed the keys to the future or simply opened Pando…