Dissecting AI News as a Layperson

NOTE: Some of the articles mentioned in this post were selected at random from my RSS feeds between the 23rd and 24th of April 2026. I didn’t take time to cherry-pick anything. Other articles came from my long list of bookmarked articles on Wallabag. Motivation The news is awash with headlines making claims about AI. But, how do I — a standard issue, non-dev, mouth-breathing, normie human — understand all of this? This is a paraphrase of a common plight among my students (and some colleagues (and myself)). “The news said this,” they say, “how am I supposed to understand or digest this?” “With handfuls of salt!” I often tell them (and myself). The real answer is to use your noggin (It’s the original thought computer). It would be nice if I could pat myself on the back and say, “good job dude, your critical thinking skills are through the roof!” But, that would be a lie. The truth is that I spend too much time online and a lot of that is reading the news. The news is dominated by very…