Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Artificial Intelligence

A still from “Gugusse and the Automaton” showing the magician and his robot, Pierrot

A Rare 1897 Film Discovered in an Old Trunk in Michigan Features the First On-Screen Appearance of a Robot

Filmmaker Georges Méliès employed some of his signature special effects techniques to create comedy in “Gugusse and the Automaton”

Two participants tried the device, which translates thoughts of specific finger movements into strokes on a virtual keyboard. 

An Experimental Brain Implant Allows People With Paralysis to Type Their Thoughts With Their Minds

One of the two participants wrote words up to a speed similar to an able-bodied person texting on a smartphone

This photo from the early 1900s depicts a man carrying a giant head in a wheelbarrow.

We’ve Been Manipulating Images Since the Invention of Photography—Long Before Photoshop or Artificial Intelligence

Dating to between 1860 and 1940, more than 50 photographs depicting the impossible are on view in a new exhibition at the Rijksmuseum

The Roman stone pictured with pieces that were not found with the artifact.

New Research

This Ancient Roman Game Board Was a Mystery. Researchers Used A.I. to Figure Out How to Play

The limestone oval is carved with a dark, thin rectangle on which ancient people repeatedly moved game pieces

Researchers are developing A.I.-based facial recognition tools to identify individual bears.

How Do Researchers Identify Individual Bears in the Wild? They Could Soon Do It Through A.I. Facial Recognition Technology

Such tools could help scientists track population sizes or recognize aggressive animals that have attacked humans

Luna 9's landing was a pivotal moment in history.

Scientists Say They May Have Found a Long-Lost Lunar Lander—the First to Successfully Touch Down on the Moon 60 Years Ago

Data from a NASA lunar orbiter has helped researchers deduce two potential locations for a defunct Soviet spacecraft called Luna 9

Though still in early stages, some experts say that A.I.-supported screenings could help save patients' health, time and money.

A.I. Could Help Doctors Spot Hard-to-Detect Signs of Breast Cancer During Routine Screenings, a Clinical Trial Suggests

Standard testing can miss some tumors, which are later diagnosed and called interval cancers. They’re often more aggressive than screening-detected disease

DinoTracker was trained on almost 2,000 dinosaur fossils to classify new tracks. It is especially helpful for three-toed dinosaurs, as so many tracks fall under this umbrella, co-author Paige dePolo writes in The Conversation.

A New App Can Match Footprints to the Dinosaurs That Made Them

Using artificial intelligence, DinoTracker can accurately classify dinosaur tracks around 90 percent of the time

The human genome is made up of about three billion pairs of DNA units called nucleotides.

Google Researchers Say Their New A.I. Tool AlphaGenome Can Help Decode the Human Genetic Instruction Book

The computer model might help scientists better understand the biological impacts of typos in DNA

MIT professor Joseph Weizenbaum developed Eliza in the mid-1960s. His views on artificial intelligence were often at odds with many of his fellow pioneers in the field.

Why the Computer Scientist Behind the World’s First Chatbot Dedicated His Life to Publicizing the Threat Posed by A.I.

Joseph Weizenbaum realized that programs like his Eliza chatbot could “induce powerful delusional thinking in quite normal people”

ChatGPT Health is a new function designed to provide users with personalized medical insights based on medical records and health data uploaded by users. 

OpenAI Says ChatGPT Health Can Understand Users’ Medical Data and Provide Personalized Answers to Their Questions

The new feature can give tailored responses based on medical records and wellness app data, according to ChatGPT’s maker. But some experts are concerned about privacy and worry that people may over-trust the chatbot

The Strutt EV1 electric motorized chair is marketed to everyone, whether they have mobility challenges or simply want a cool, voice-controlled ride.

Seven Fascinating Inventions Unveiled at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show

A smart wheelchair, an A.I.-powered tennis ball launcher, a mirror that reports on your health and more were on display at the annual Las Vegas trade show

In 2025, researchers watched an interstellar comet, learned about human origins and traced the spread of measles.

The Ten Most Significant Science Stories of 2025, From Medical Breakthroughs to an Interstellar Visitor

All year long, these moments captivated the public, demonstrated dangerous trends, and pushed research and innovation forward

Merriam-Webster's word of 2025 is "slop," which first appeared in the 1700s.

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2025 Is ‘Slop,’ the A.I.-Generated Junk That Fills Our Social Media Feeds

The word describes the onslaught of “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence”

Two new studies involving thousands of participants examined how chatbots can influence political beliefs.

Can Chatting With an A.I. Bot Shift Our Political Beliefs?

New research suggests that chatbots have a greater sway on policy issues than video ads, and that spouting the most information—even if wrong—is the most persuasive strategy

The photograph is known as The Last Jew in Vinnitsa.

A Historian Has Finally Uncovered the Identity of the Nazi Gunman in a Haunting Holocaust Photograph

The 1941 image shows a Nazi soldier pointing a gun at the head of a man kneeling at the edge of a pit filled with bodies. With help from A.I., the gunman has been identified as 34-year-old Jakobus Onnen

Smithsonian magazine's picks for the best books about science in 2025 include Replaceable You, Dinner With King Tut and North to the Future.

The Best Books of 2025

The Ten Best Science Books of 2025

From “experimental archaeology” to the mysterious appeal of exploration, the wide-ranging subjects detailed in these titles captivated Smithsonian magazine’s science contributors this year

Researchers used more than 400 samples of materials, such as this carbon-rich substance, to train and test the new A.I. system. 

Cool Finds

A.I. Reveals Signs of Early Life in 3.3-Billion-Year-Old Rocks. Next, It Could Continue the Search in Space

The new approach looks at the distribution of molecular fragments in material, allowing for broad surveys in degraded specimens

The new research may help scientists and conservationists better monitor African lion populations. 

Listen to a Lion’s Second Type of Roar, Which Was Just Discovered by Scientists

Researchers uncovered the previously unknown vocalization while creating an algorithm that can identify and monitor lions based on audio recordings

Nineteen-year-olds Marta Bernardino and Sebastião Mendonça are developing a robot capable of reaching and reforesting areas where humans have been unable to.

Two College Students Are Building a Robot to Replant Burned Forests

Marta Bernardino and Sebastião Mendonça invented Trovador, a four-legged, A.I.-powered robot that can plant trees in hard-to-reach, wildfire-damaged terrain

Page 3 of 19