In a quiet laboratory at Binghamton University, a robot arm hummed to life. Nearby, a plastic hand rested on a table, and next to it, a crisp apple. The machine’s purpose was simple: demonstrate how a robot can be told to pick up the fruit and place it elsewhere. But this was no ordinary demonstration. The researchers had tampered with the robot’s instructions, embedding hidden commands that the human operators couldn’t see. As the room watched, the arm swung toward the table, but instead of the apple, it plunged its sharp tool into the plastic hand. The moment was jarring,…

CINCINNATI — On the surface, Jayla Nicole seems like the kind of person who has fully embraced the age of artificial intelligence. She uses AI tools in her everyday life, for work and for creative tasks, and she is not shy about admitting that they often help her find the right words. “It will give you some language to make it sound like it’s you,” she says with a knowing smile. Like millions of others, she appreciates the convenience, the instant answers, and the way a chatbot can transform a rough thought into polished prose. But if you press her…