Blogroll

When you've woken up after falling asleep while watching Netflix, and you turn your TV off and go to bed for real, your day may have ended, but your TV still has business to conduct.

The Windows desktop is iconic. Some of the backgrounds, the green rolling hills featured in Windows XP, have even become a bit of a meme. However, I do one thing very differently: I have completely removed all desktop icons from my desktop.

My smart home morning routine has evolved a lot over the years. It used to be triggered at the same time each morning, but life isn't always that predictable. I now use presence sensors to help automate my mornings.

Motorola is usually a pretty dependable manufacturer of affordable budget phones in the U.S., but that's changing a bit this year.

As noted by Ars Technica, several 2026 revisions of Motorola's usual low-priced lineup have gotten significant price hikes.

Take the Moto G, Moto G Play, and Moto G Power phones, for example. All three have risen in price by anywhere from 33 to 50 percent year-over-year in 2026. The Moto G Play used to be $180, but now it's $250. On top of that, the slightly higher-end 2026 Moto G Stylus just made its debut at $500, a $100 price increase from last year.

SEE ALSO: Apple iPhone 17e review: Ticks every box but one

In response to Mashable's questions about the price changes, a Motorola spokesperson provided this statement: "Pricing is always subject to change based on market conditions. We regularly assess pricing to remain competitive and continue to offer strong bundle and promotional offers to give consumers the strongest value possible."

Of course, phone prices tend to rise year-over-year to account for hardware or software improvements. However, the new Moto G Stylus, for instance, has the same display and memory specs as the previous year's model, and brands typically offer improved specs along with higher prices.

The most obvious potential culprit here is the ongoing memory shortage driven by AI data center construction around the world. It's caused everything from game console price increases to shortages in SD cards, and there's no sign of it ending anytime soon. (Not to mention pressure from tariffs and inflation.)

Is a more expensive phone acceptable if it has new AI features? Consumers will have to make that choice for themselves, but Motorola, like most other tech companies, is all-in on artificial intelligence.

UPDATE: Apr. 9, 2026, 2:15 p.m. EDT We've updated this article with a statement from Motorola.

Some things can feel so specific, so perfectly engineered in a lab to appeal directly to me. Today, that thing is the members of BTS singing "Butter-Fly" by Kōji Wada, the iconic opening theme to Digimon Adventure, during an appearance on Hot Ones.

The members approached the hot wings challenge with wildly different strategies. V called it quits a few wings in — smart! — and spent the rest of the episode slamming pints of milk. Jin attempted to expel the chili demons from his body through a series of guttural screams, while j-hope tried to walk it off. RM kept his tears hidden behind his sunglasses, while Jimin and Jung Kook mostly played it cool, rallying themselves every round with an enthusiastic "come on, wing!" And then there was Suga: the silent wing assassin, who only showed his weakness at the very end.

SEE ALSO: 19 best 'Hot Ones' episodes to binge-watch

As the wings got hotter, the conversation only got more charming. Jin talked about his love of fishing, Jung Kook shared his perfect tteokbokki recipe, and the group reflected on their latest album, Arirang, and the world tour that just kicked off in Seoul.

Even through sweat dabbing, milk chugging, and increasingly desperate reactions to the wings, the episode doubled as a reminder of why spending time with BTS is always such a delight: No matter how chaotic things get, they never stop being deeply themselves — especially when it comes to their favorite anime OSTs.

Ryobi tools are a popular option for DIYers and homeowners for several reasons. And while you probably have all sorts of Ryobi tools, one thing a lot of buyers forget about is lighting. If you're looking to upgrade your garage for less, get these affordable Ryobi lights that outperform the rest.

At some point, you've probably been told that switching your DNS server to 8.8.8.8—or some other alternative—might be the cure for your internet problems.

Hollywood actors playing fictionalised versions of themselves isn't new. George Clooney in Jay Kelly, Nicolas Cage in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Bruce Campbell in My Name Is Bruce, Paul Giamatti in Cold Souls, Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm, and hell, the entire cast of This Is the End. Keanu Reeves, widely known as one of Hollywood's nicest actors, already played a fictional version of himself in Ali Wong and Randall Park's Always Be My Maybe, exaggerating his affable attributes as a disarmingly wonderful date.

However, in Outcome, Reeves explores a more earnest approach to a life in Hollywood, leaning into a desperation to be seen as a good person — and to maintain that public reputation amid a turbulent private life. Directed, starring, and co-written by Jonah Hill (with Ezra Woods), the latest of Hill's Strong Baby productions, Outcome sends Reeves on an apology tour through the past, in a framework reminiscent of Noah Baumbach's Jay Kelly, Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers, or Neil LaBute's Some Girl(s).

A star-studded affair with opulent production design, Outcome often swims on the surface of the tale it's trying to tell, while still giving sharply written consideration of what it means to be a famous person looking down the barrel of reputational threat.

Outcome sees Keanu Reeves as himself, kinda, not really. Keanu Reeves and a a near-unrecognisable Jonah Hill. Credit: Apple

Reeves plays a fictionalised version of himself as Reef Hawk, a child star who's grown into one of Hollywood's most beloved movie stars. Unlike Reef, who has been working since he was six, Reeves made his big screen debut at 21 in Youngblood. But what is relatable to Reeves is his character's reputation as a nice guy, with the John Wick star's congeniality well-documented on the internet.

However, as always with public life, there's a private reality. Reef is now five years sober from a heroin addiction, one the public never saw (nor do we), but a time his high school best friends Kyle (Cameron Diaz) and Xander (Matt Bomer) helped him through. An actor who began his career pre-internet, Reef is now paranoid about his reputation. He's desperate to cling to this down-to-earth facade. His friends have to pull him away from talking to set crew, referring to it as "MOPing… Man-of-the-People-ing," and he's constantly googling himself to luxuriate in People headlines like "Reef Hawk still beloved by fans."

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

And it's this cherished rep that's threatened in one phone call from his lawyer Ira (a near-unrecognisable Hill): "There's a video."

Who is extorting Hollywood's most beloved star? No one hates this guy, right? Well…maybe his first manager (Martin Scorsese!) or his first girlfriend (Welker White), his reality star mother (All My Children icon Susan Lucci) or perhaps former crew, studio executives, his old trainer, his new trainer, the three shelter dogs he returned…

Yes, that's Martin Scorsese. Credit: Apple

So begins an apology tour for the screen star, one that sees him making amends with people from his past. With a set-up like this, it's impossible not to compare Outcome to Baumbach's Jay Kelly, which saw Clooney as an actor facing similar realities. As Mashable entertainment editor Kristy Puchko wrote in her Jay Kelly review, that film interrogates movie stardom in "an odd love letter to the industry, one that recognizes its warts and still declares devotion." In contrast, Outcome seems to hold little love for Hollywood, instead presenting Reeves as a former child star surrounded by yes people, whose bad behaviour has gone unapologised for now that he's an adult. We never actually see this behaviour — we only hear about it — but it's clear his experiences with addiction and substance abuse have burned some bridges.

Outcome's cast is heavily star-studded. Cameron Diaz and Matt Bomer are a dream team. Credit: Apple

Make no mistake, Outcome is brimming with names, all of whom know a thing or two about Hollywood. As Reeves' obnoxious, fast-talking, pop culture-referencing crisis lawyer, Hill is undoubtedly why many people will watch the film, having made headlines for his character's appearance in prosthetics. Like Adam Sandler's exceptional performance in Jay Kelly as the protagonist's long-suffering manager Ron, Hill's Ira upstages Reeves' Reef as the well-connected friend on the payroll who makes everything happen or go away. Ira is the one who's been there through the ups and the downs — and making sure the downs don't hit the papers. Hill understands his own penned assignment here, hurtling Ira through a flurry of unsettling one-liners. If you need clarity on Ira's moral compass, his office is filled with portraits of former clients Kanye West and Kevin Spacey, and the bumper sticker on his car reads, "Honk if you can separate art from the artist."

And then there's Cameron Diaz and Matt Bomer. As Reef's besties Kyle and Xander, it's entirely possible they deserve the biggest apology of all. These two actors seem to be having the best time, bringing heart and hilarity to these literal supporting roles. "I love outlandish humor with my friends!" Kyle chuckles, pretend-smoking on the highway with Xander. They're the base Reef often overlooks, though the film does not, giving the pair plenty of heartfelt and meme-able scenes.

Meanwhile, the parading lineup of names here gives The Studio, another industry satire from Apple, a run for its money. Scorsese (who also appeared in The Studio) is straight-up wonderful as Reef's first manager, Richie "Red" Rodriguez, who convincingly muses on Hollywood heydays — after being almost upstaged by Weapons' Cary Christopher as straight-talkin' child star. Making up Ira's crack team of lawyers ("Reef Unit") that cover what might be on the video is the all-star lineup of Laverne Cox, Roy Wood Jr., and Atsuko Okatsuka. Whether it's racist behaviour or sexual misconduct, Reef's team is prepared for every possible outcome. They sit through probably the most jaw-dropping dialogue in the film, an unsettling satirical monologue about "victim capitalism" by Cox's character that's sure to spark opinion pieces. Plus, Drew Barrymore makes a fitting cameo as herself, in a frankly missed opportunity for the film. Though Barrymore briefly connects with Reef about being a child star and growing up in Hollywood, Outcome doesn't move beyond a surface-level moment here.

Outcome boasts sublime production design. Lush. And also Susan Lucci! Credit: Apple

Outcome is extremely beautiful to look at. Production designer and frequent Sofia Coppola/Spike Jonze collaborator K.K. Barrett (Her, Lost in Translation, Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) works with art director Jourdan Henderson (Madame Web) to craft a kaleidoscopic aesthetic for Outcome that feels one degree removed from reality. Every scene in Outcome feels somewhat like it takes place on a set, or is revealed to actually be a set. Everything is drenched in saturated light, with backgrounds that often look like backgrounds, hammering home the perpetual nature of Hollywood's conflict with the real world.

"Just because it's performative doesn't mean it's not the truth," declares Reef's reality star mother Dinah. "Why can't it be both?"

The film is a wash of iridescent hues, all beautifully captured by Gaspar Noé's go-to cinematographer Benoît Debie, whose Enter the Void energy works strangely well in Outcome. Every scene in Reef's home or Ira's office seems permeated with golden glows or neon gradients, which make them feel just a little bit unreal.

Through this vivid aesthetic, Outcome dabbles in questions of fame, acknowledging the village of people it takes to support (or protect) a movie star, as Reeves plays a man full of reluctant apology. It's a crowded space, movies seeing major stars explore fictionalised versions of themselves, and Reeves playing on his nice guy reputation makes for a strong drawcard. Though the film could have dived even deeper, it's a shimmering pool for consideration. 

Outcome premieres on Apple TV April 10.

As Microsoft leans harder into the "OS-as-a-Service" model with Windows 11, the philosophical and technical divide between Windows and Linux really only keeps growing more and more.

Elon Musk may have effectively shelved Tesla's plans for an affordable EV in 2024, but the company appears to be rethinking its strategy. Reuters sources claim Tesla is developing a compact electric SUV that would be priced well below the Model 3, which starts at $37,000 for American customers.

Are you ready to dive into some fresh homelab projects this weekend? Today, I’m showcasing a few fun projects for you to try out, like Calibre-Web, ChangeDetection.io, and even a unique authentication experience with Teleport.

New-car prices blasting past $50,000 have made the used market feel like the only sane place left to shop. And tucked between all the forgettable listings is a standout deal you probably wouldn’t expect: the 2020 Porsche Macan Turbo.

A web page without any styling is like a blank canvas. The possibilities are endless, and it’s easy to waste time experimenting with different layouts, colors, and fonts. But the default browser styles are not ideal, so you need to put in the effort just to get started with a proper design.

Linux has been popular with enthusiasts and enterprise users for decades, but it still has a negative reputation among Windows users. However, most of that negative reputation is based on outdated information.

It feels like our digital world is dominated by a handful of tech giants, and that is true to a certain extent. However, even they lean on countless free and open-source projects that power the internet as we know it. Here are four of the most important ones.

I have a 10-year-old PC that ran Windows 10 its whole life. When Microsoft dropped support for Windows 10, I replaced it with the Arch-based CachyOS. It ran fine for a while, even with the graphics-heavy Hyprland compositor. That setup ran fine for a few months until a random CachyOS update broke it. At that point, I wanted stability more than anything. So I picked a stable mid-weight distro that was designed for hardware from 10 to 12 years ago. It's called MX Linux, and it has quickly become my favorite distro of all time. I've been using it for the past four months and I've no desire to ever replace it.

We've all been there: staring at a massive spreadsheet until the rows start to blur. It turns out Microsoft added a specialized data entry tool decades ago, but never included it on the ribbon by default. Here's how to find Excel's best-kept secret and save your eyesight (and your data integrity).

Scanning Excel spreadsheets by hand is a recipe for a headache. Whether you're flagging keywords or validating IDs, the SEARCH function is your best tool for "reading" text inside a cell. Here's how to master the syntax and four practical uses.

At a glance

• AI is driving rapid changes in the workplace, more sharply than those covered in previous editions of the New Future of Work
• AI is changing how people work together, not just enabling them to work faster or from remote locations. Organizations that treat AI as a collaborative partner are seeing the biggest benefits.
• The benefits of AI are not yet evenly distributed, underscoring the need for industry leaders to build AI that expands opportunity. The future is not predetermined. It will be shaped by the choices we make today.
• Human expertise matters more, not less, in an AI-powered world. People are shifting from merely doing work to guiding, critiquing, and improving the work of AI.

For the past five years, the New Future of Work report has captured how work is changing. This year, the shift feels especially sharp. Previous editions have focused on technology’s role in increasing productivity by automating tasks, accelerating communication, and expanding access to information, as well as the rise of remote work. Today, generative AI has put this transformation on fast forward. Instead of simply speeding up existing workflows, AI increasingly participates in them, shaping how people create, decide, collaborate, and learn.

For decades, researchers across Microsoft have studied these changes not as abstract trends but as lived experiences. Across organizations and occupations, people are experimenting with AI in uneven, creative, and sometimes surprising ways. Many are saving time, expanding their capabilities, and taking on more complex work, but the real opportunity ahead is to use AI to help us work better, together.

Publication New Future of Work Report 2025 

The New Future of Work report brings together research from inside and outside of Microsoft to understand what is happening as AI enters workplaces. Through the efforts of dozens of authors and editors, it draws on evidence from large‑scale data analyses, field and lab studies, and theory to look at who is using AI, why they are using it, and how it is reshaping productivity, collaboration, learning, and judgment. It highlights professions where changes are unfolding especially quickly, as well as the broader societal impact of these technologies.

Taken together, these findings point to a central insight: The future of work is not something that will simply happen to us. We are actively constructing it, through the choices individuals make, the norms teams build, the systems organizations adopt, and the discoveries researchers uncover. At the same time, AI’s role is still evolving, and it is driving a range of impact—some of which may be viewed as positive or negative. What follows is a research-backed snapshot of this moment in time and what it can teach us about how to collectively create a new and better future of work with AI.

Adoption and usage

Generative AI is entering workplaces quickly, likely faster than most earlier technologies. But the patterns of who uses it, and how, will shape who benefits. Reports on early adoption appear to show significant penetration: in one German survey, 38% of employed respondents reported using AI at work. But usage and confidence vary widely across sectors, and men report using AI at work more often than women. It’s not yet clear whether that variability is driven by occupational distributions, relative comfort with new tools, or something else. This raises the challenge that uneven adoption is likely to translate into uneven productivity gains, learning opportunities, downstream career paths and more between those who adopt and those who do not.

A look at generative AI adoption globally reveals further differences. High-income countries still lead overall usage, but the fastest growth is happening in low- and middle-income regions. When local languages are poorly served, people switch to English simply to get reliable results. Without investment in infrastructure and multilingual model development, AI risks reinforcing existing divides rather than narrowing them.

Inside organizations, the decision to use or not use AI is shaped less by strategy decks and more by culture. People try new tools when they trust their employer and feel safe experimenting. They stick with tools that make their work better, but might reject tools that seem designed to replace them—which is a common concern among workers. And many of the most useful applications don’t come from top-down initiatives at all but from employees trying things, discovering what actually helps, and sharing those insights with colleagues. Research has shown that involving workers’ perspectives in the design of workplace technologies promotes sustainable improvements in productivity and well-being.

We are also starting to see what people actually do with AI. At Anthropic, an analysis of millions of user conversations found that 37% of Claude usage was tied to software and mathematical occupations. A study of Microsoft Copilot conversations found high applicability to the activities of information workers across sales, media, tech, and administrative roles. But the broader point is simpler: most occupations include at least some tasks where AI is useful.

These shifts come with social side effects. Several studies show that employees who use AI can be perceived as less capable, even when their output is identical to that of people who didn’t use AI. Whether these perception penalties fall unevenly across groups is still an open question. However, managers who have used AI tend to evaluate AI-assisted work more fairly. This suggests that AI may require broad exposure before it can be used openly and without judgment.

Spotlight: Event Series

Microsoft Research Forum

Join us for a continuous exchange of ideas about research in the era of general AI. Watch the first four episodes on demand.

Watch on-demand Opens in a new tab Impact on work and labor markets

Understanding who uses AI and why they use it can help assess its value, but the harder question is how it impacts productivity and labor markets, which can be less straightforward. Productivity can increase through time saved, higher-quality work, or simply feeling more capable. Surveyed enterprise users of AI report saving 40–60 minutes a day, while model-based evaluations show frontier systems can approach quality levels like that of experts on a growing range of tasks. But AI may also reduce productivity. In one U.S. survey, 40% of employees said they had received “workslop”, i.e. AI-generated content that looks polished but isn’t accurate or useful, in the past month. When that happens, any time savings can quickly disappear, and quality can actually suffer.

We still don’t have the full picture of what this means for jobs and labor markets more broadly. Large-scale empirical work finds no clear aggregate effects on unemployment, hours worked, or job openings. However, AI does seem to be reducing opportunities for younger, inexperienced workers. Entry-level roles rely less on experience and knowledge and are easier to automate. Empirical evidence suggests employment for workers aged 22–25 in highly AI-exposed jobs declined by 16% relative to similar but less-exposed roles, and hiring into junior positions appears to slow after firms adopt AI. This pattern raises a longer-term concern: automating jobs that enable workers to learn skills may undermine how expertise is built over time. This point is reinforced by research using theoretical models as well as empirical evidence.

Meanwhile, AI is also changing which skills matter. Roles that mention AI skills in their job postings are nearly twice as likely to also emphasize analytical thinking, resilience, and digital literacy. Demand for work that can be outsourced to AI models more easily, including data-related tasks or routine translation, continues to fall. Even where overall employment remains stable, AI is already reshaping how jobs are structured and this trend will continue.

As more empirical evidence comes in, theoretical work helps frame what might lie ahead. One recurring theme is that human judgment – spotting opportunities, working under ambiguity or choosing from outputs – becomes more valuable as AI improves. And organizations that use AI to augment what people can do often end up creating new kinds of work, rather than simply eliminating existing ones. If AI is meant to deliver on its potential to support broad prosperity gains, the path forward is less about replacing tasks and more about expanding what people are able to do.

Human-AI collaboration

As AI becomes more capable, the nature of human-AI interaction is changing. AI systems are increasingly playing a role in decision-making, creativity, and communication, with AI systems being positioned as a “collaborator.” This raises questions about how to support “collaboration” between people and AI, what we can learn from how people interact with each other, and where the capabilities of AI systems raise different opportunities and create different requirements.

At the heart of effective collaboration is common ground: the shared understanding that allows people to coordinate and communicate. In human conversation, we constantly check for alignment – through clarifications, acknowledgements, and follow-up questions. Yet current AI systems often skip these steps, generating responses that assume understanding rather than building it. Research shows that this lack of conversational grounding can lead to breakdowns in human-AI interaction. Encouragingly, systems like CollabLLM (opens in new tab), which prompt AI to ask clarifying questions and respond over multiple turns, have shown improved task performance and more interactive exchanges.

Trust is another essential aspect of collaboration. Although AI can process vast amounts of information, its usefulness in decision-making depends on how well it grasps human goals, and how well people understand its capabilities. Using AI that doesn’t understand a person’s objectives can lead to worse outcomes than using no AI at all. Yet people often overestimate AI’s abilities, which distort their judgment on when and how to use it. Systems that support selective delegation can improve these decisions, especially when the AI is programmed to account for this selective approach in its responses.

AI’s advancing capabilities are fueling a shift in people’s roles. This includes software production, where developers who once wrote code from beginning to end are increasingly reviewing and refining AI-generated suggestions. Writers and designers are acting more as curators and editors, guiding AI outputs rather than producing everything from scratch. This shift demands new skills – like crafting effective prompts, vetting AI responses, and maintaining quality oversight – and new tools to support them.

Current chat-based interfaces are often too limited for these evolving workflows. Alongside knowledge about the capabilities, limitations, and workings of an AI system, as well as domain expertise and situational awareness to enable intervention, oversight requires observability of system activity, decisions, and outputs. New interface designs are emerging to address this, including visualizations of AI reasoning, shared editing spaces, and mixed-initiative systems that allow humans and AI to take turns leading a task. These innovations aim to preserve human agency while making AI more transparent and responsive.

Ultimately, the future of work is about building complementary interactions between people, drawing on knowledge of how people collaborate, while acknowledging the unique challenges of human-AI interaction, and drawing on AI capabilities to do so.

AI for teamwork

AI systems have been designed from the ground up to work best for individuals, not for teams of people. It is no surprise then, that when people use AI as a team, they often underperform, even relative to an individual using AI.

The good news is that a growing amount of research is dedicated to AI that supports team and group interaction. Researchers are using two broad approaches: (1) process-focused strategies, i.e. building AI to facilitate specific team processes like information sharing and (2) outcome-focused strategies, i.e. training end-to-end AI systems that attempt to learn from short- and long-range team outcomes.

Some examples of the former include systems that provide a devil’s advocate perspective in a group discussion or help amplify minority perspectives. Examples of the latter include systems that try to help teams make good decisions or drive meetings towards achieving goals.

Theory from fields like collective intelligence would suggest that both approaches have great potential: AI can unlock new models of collaboration that are wildly different and more productive than we’ve had before. One notable example is AI enabling much more ephemeral teams, where a precise group of people in a given organization (or even beyond) can come together to solve a specific problem, then disband when the problem is solved.

More philosophically, it can be useful to understand even individual interaction with a large language model (LLM) as a type of teamwork. In fact, “collective intelligence” is perhaps a more accurate term for technologies like LLMs than “artificial intelligence”. LLMs take knowledge from millions of people who have written web content or posted in places like Reddit and Wikipedia, interacted with chatbots, and generated other types of data, and make that available to individuals on demand. Every time you interact with an LLM, you’re interacting with the work of millions of people, without the impossible overhead of that scale of collaboration.

Thinking, learning and psychological influences

Generative AI is changing cognition and learning while also introducing new psychological dynamics. This is making design choices about agency, effort, and well-being increasingly consequential. 

A central pattern emerging in generative AI is a shift from ‘thinking by doing’ (e.g. writing a document) toward ‘choosing from outputs’ (e.g. prompting AI to write a document). This may weaken the judgment and practices that sustain human expertise unless it is paired with user experiences that keep people cognitively engaged, and upskilling/reskilling to accommodate changes in available work. AI can also be designed to support thinking rather than substitute for it, for example by provoking reflection, scaffolding reasoning, and workflows that help people ‘decide how to decide’ through alternatives and critiques. For ideation and creativity, benefits can be fragile. Using LLMs at the wrong time can reduce originality and self-efficacy, and repeated cognitive offloading can carry over even when AI is removed. To avoid trading short-term accuracy for long-term capability, AI experiences should help users practice the judgment needed to challenge and refine AI outputs.

AI use in education is already widespread, but much of this activity runs through general-purpose tools rather than education-specific products, while training and policy are still catching up. In learning contexts, the speed and ease with which AI is being designed to meet workplace tasks may conflict with the needs of education. Learning often benefits from ‘desirable difficulties,’ and heavy reliance on summaries and syntheses may make learning shallower without thoughtful support. This may involve trying problems before turning to AI for help, and question-driven tutoring that requires students to justify and check outputs. Coding education remains essential, but needs to change focus from memorizing syntax to centering abstraction and accountability, such as problem framing and critical review. Workplace training can counter overreliance and ‘work-slop’ productivity problems by helping workers reframe AI as a thought partner, prompting reflective interaction and strengthening calibration and verification habits so workers retain responsibility for final decisions. 

Finally, conversational AI is increasingly being used for social and emotional support, making empathy and psychological well-being core design and governance concerns, especially because effects can vary sharply by user context and interaction patterns. That variability also raises the stakes for anthropomorphic behaviors. Clearer definitions and measurement are needed to understand when systems appear human-like and what consequences follow. Broader mapping of the design space can help designers anticipate implications and choose alternatives.

Specific roles & industries

While much of the NFW report highlights broad work patterns such as collaboration, communication, and decision-making, we also examined specific professions that are seeing especially rapid disruption. Among those that stand out in this year’s edition are software engineering and science. To counter some of the misunderstandings around these fields, we address several myths, including:

• Counting AI-generated lines of code is a meaningful productivity metric
• Current tools will instantly turn every developer into a “10× engineer”

Adoption primarily depends on model capability. Beyond myth-busting, we see real shifts in the software lifecycle. Historically, PMs (product/program/project managers) focused on customer needs, telemetry, design, and feedback, while developers wrote the code. With generative AI, these boundaries are blurring. PMs report doing more technical work and writing more code, while developers increasingly engage in higher-level planning and conceptual thinking as they interact with AI agents.

This shift is illustrated by the rise of vibe coding—developing software through iterative prompting rather than directly writing and editing code. Studies show that experienced computer science students are better at vibe coding than novices, able to steer models with a smaller number of targeted prompts. As humans build trust with AI assistants, work becomes more co-creative, enabling engineers to stay “in flow” through continuous iteration.

Together, these changes point to a deeper transformation in how software is built—both the mechanics of code production and the ways teams coordinate, plan, and collaborate.

Science is also seeing significant AI-driven acceleration. AI is meaningfully accelerating scientific discoveries by assisting researchers in identifying promising ideas, retracing known results, and surfacing cross-field connections. Foundation models also make it easier to work with diverse data types and enable experiments at a previously impossible scale.

Benefits of increased research productivity and moderate quality gains appear to be most pronounced for early career researchers and non-English speaking scientists, for whom AI can act as both a collaborator and a form of access to advanced tooling.

However, AI introduces new risks. Issues of data provenance, accountability, and replication become more complex when generative systems are involved. Small variations in prompts can significantly change outcomes, making results harder to verify. Models may reproduce ideas without attribution or hallucinate entirely, increasing the burden of source-checking. And because many models tend toward sycophantic responses, scientists may overestimate the novelty or correctness of AI-generated insights.

Closing

Generative AI will not arrive in some distant future, it is reshaping work right now. Here are a few things to take away:

1. AI isn’t just speeding up work—it’s changing how we work together.
   This year’s research shows a real shift: AI is moving from automating tasks to actively shaping how people create, decide, collaborate, and learn. The organizations seeing the biggest gains are the ones treating AI as a collaborative partner—not a bolt‑on tool—and building the culture, norms, and confidence to experiment.
2. The benefits of AI are real, but they’re not evenly distributed—yet.
   Adoption is rising fast across countries, professions, and industries, but the gaps in access, confidence, and usage are widening. Early evidence shows that who uses AI (and how) will determine who benefits. Industry leaders need to ensure AI expands opportunity rather than reinforces divides.
3. Human expertise matters more—not less—in an AI‑powered world.
   Across software engineering, science, and knowledge work, AI is transforming roles: people are shifting from doing the work to guiding, critiquing, and improving it. The organizations that thrive will be the ones that invest in judgment, critical thinking, and responsible oversight—and design AI experiences that keep people thoughtfully engaged.

The research in this year’s New Future of Work report points to both opportunity and responsibility. The future is not predetermined. It will be shaped by the choices we make today—in how we build AI systems, how organizations adopt them, and how individuals learn to work alongside them. Microsoft remains committed to studying these changes as they unfold, grounding our understanding in evidence, and ensuring that the future we are collectively building is one where AI helps us all work better, together.

Opens in a new tab

The post New Future of Work: AI is driving rapid change, uneven benefits appeared first on Microsoft Research.

The Conners. And Just Like That. Fuller House. That '90s Show. As a millennial and an entertainment critic, I thought I'd grown numb to reboots of adored shows from my youth. Too often, these reboots lack the heart or the edge of the original, peddling nostalgia over anything substantial. Or else, I've just moved on and can't be bothered with what Carrie Bradshaw is doing anymore.

Occasionally, however, a reboot breaks through my jaded walls by being a sensational recapturing of the original show's magic and providing fresh fun. King of the Hill managed this last year by letting animated characters Hank, Peggy, and Bobby Hill grow up. And now Disney+ has managed it with the truly spectacular Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair. 

SEE ALSO: Pamela Adlon reacts to Bobby Hill TikTok videos

To be totally honest, I wasn't particularly looking forward to this reboot. Sure, I loved the original series, which launched in 2000. Malcolm in the Middle was a show I adored for its intense verve and wacky antics. Rejecting the laugh track and the feel-good family harmony, it broke the mold of family sitcoms, and for seven seasons, critics and audiences cheered it for that. But before Malcolm went off to college in the series finale, I was deep into my college years, and lost track of weekly TV.

Over the years, I hadn't thought much about Malcolm until Bryan Cranston — who I knew chiefly as the very hairy, happy-go-lucky dad Hal — became the renowned dramatic leading man of Breaking Bad. Which is all to say, I couldn't have predicted how much it would mean to me to see Hal, Lois, Malcolm, and the whole gang back again. 

Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair is more than a reunion or a reboot. This four-part miniseries is a joyful celebration of a great show, and terrific proof of concept that now is its time…again. 

What do you need to remember about Malcolm in the Middle to watch Life's Still Unfair?  Christopher Masterson, Emy Coligado, Justin Berfield, and Frankie Muniz star in "Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair." Credit: Disney+

Malcolm's family is made up of his domineering mother Lois (the epic Jane Kaczmarek), his daffy dad (Cranston), his trouble-addicted older brothers Francis (Christopher Masterson) and Reese (Justin Berfield), his oddball younger brother Dewey (Caleb Ellsworth-Clark taking over for Erik Per Sullivan), and baby brother Jamie, along with Malcolm himself. Then, in the season finale, as Malcolm prepped to go off to Harvard, Lois found out she was pregnant again. 

Set a little less than 20 years after the Season 7 finale "Graduation," Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair picks up with Malcolm as a single dad with a teen daughter named Leah (Keeley Karsten), a promising girlfriend (Fear Street's Kiana Madeira), a career dedicated to giving back, and a large geographical distance between him and his oft-hysterical family. But with Hal and Lois' 40th wedding anniversary around the corner, the whole family is getting together — and Malcolm won't be able to stay away. 

Along with seeing where Frances, Dewey, Reese, and Jamie have wound up, Life's Still Unfair also introduces their nonbinary teen sibling Kelly (Vaughan Murrae), who follows after their brother Malcolm when it comes to insight and outwitting their siblings. And just like that, we're off and running. 

Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair is instantly addictive.  Bryan Cranston and Jane Kaczmarek return with "Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair." Credit: Disney+

Malcolm and the Middle was about high energy from the moment "Boss of Me Now" — the banger of a theme song by They Might Be Giants — blared at the start of every episode. Life's Still Unfair brings in a cover of this track, but the vibes are still the same. Right away, Malcolm is talking with a manic precision direct to camera, catching us up on all he's got going on. Then, in the blink of an eye, his daughter Leah takes up the torch and the direct-address narration. 

From there, Reese will zip in with stinging accusations. Lois will snarl with comedic sharpness. And Hal will throw himself, naked and full-bodied, into any physical comedy gag creator/showrunner Linwood Boomer comes up with. Sure, it'll begin with a classic callback to Lois shaving Hal's back in the middle of the kitchen (while a horrified Dewey is unwilling witness via a video call). But by episode three, Cranston is not just nude, not just silly, but writhing on dirty linoleum, recreating Hal's birth, using his own hands as a makeshift labia. And that's not even the wildest moment of this reboot. 

It's been 20 years, but this ensemble hasn't missed a step. Muniz seems to effortlessly slide back into the rapid-fire dialogue. Kaczmarek is on fire as the blue-collared mother whose ferocity is her love language. Masterson and Berfield smoothly reconnect to the frantic energy of their troublemaker characters, while Ellsworth-Clark is so skilled at recreating Dewey's comically outraged reactions that I didn't realize the series had recast. (Don't cry for Per Sullivan. Per Cranston, he's studying for his master's at Harvard and glad the reboot's happening but not interested in coming back.) 

As to the youngest sibling, props to Murrae, who joins the mayhem with a terrific confidence from the moment they shout for some decorum (or at least less nutsack visibility) in the kitchen. Karsten and Madeira likewise find the rabid rhythm of the show, giving Muniz new funny frictions to play against. But there's also a jaw-dropping amount of familiar faces, including Francis' wife Paima (Emy Coligado) and Malcolm's short-of-breath bestie Stevie (Craig Lamar Traylor). There's more, but I hate to spoil the thrill of recognition as these goofballs rise.  

Frankie Muniz and Jane Kaczmarek are back at it, and good as ever. Frankie Muniz, Bryan Cranston, and Jane Kaczmarek face off in "Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair." Credit: Disney+

The main plot line of Life's Still Unfair is one that will likely hit home for a lot of millennials. Having realized how his parents' behavior and pressures have impacted his mental health, Malcolm has kept them at a geographical and emotional distance. He avoids any argument, because he can't handle being face-to-face with any of them — especially his mom. (If you remember Lois' big finale speech, you'll probably get why!) 

The women in Malcom's life urge him to reconnect with his mom. And as was often the case on the series, there's a confrontation that is silly, heart-wrenching, and heartwarming. There's an electricity when Muniz and Kaczmarek face off, because as intense as they get, the thrum underneath their volume is a resounding love for each other. Malcolm wants to make her proud; Lois wants him to be the best he can be. And — just like it meant a lot to me to see how Bobby Hill turned out on King of the Hill's reboot — seeing Malcolm grown up, and not all figured out, shook me to my core. Because yeah, me too. 

For all its pratfalls and gross-out gags, Malcolm in the Middle always explored this blue-collar family with a deep awareness of their humanity and hope. Seeing Boomer bring that back, as radiant as ever, felt like slipping into a beloved old coat, warm and familiar. But the edge is still there. In the finale of this miniseries, there's a confrontation between the mother-son duo that had me clenching a pillow — and my partner's hand — for emotional support. Because while I haven't thought about them in years, these two still live in my heart, and could tear it apart with too harsh a word. Thankfully, Boomer hasn't lost his touch. 

Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair had me laughing, gasping, and crying. It's just sensational. But there's one more thing we need to address. 

Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair should earn Bryan Cranston a comedy Emmy.  Bryan Cranston is impeccable in "Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair." Credit: Disney+

Muniz and Kaczmarek are excellent scene partners. Cranston and Kaczmarek are absolutely divine. As was true of the original series, they have a mesmerizing chemistry that makes Hal and Lois seem logical despite their absolute opposite energies. With a short season that focuses on their planning an anniversary party, there's plenty of opportunity for the two to play together, and sweetness and silliness abounds — like when Hal offers a saucy flash mob to show his love. But Cranston just goes above and beyond. 

Yes, I mentioned, he gets nude. But it's not just that. It's the freedom within the nudity, allowing the angles of his body to be posed for modesty in the most ludicrous ways. It's that a psychedelic drug trip for his character gives Cranston the opportunity to show his range as Hal faces various versions of himself. Cranston could teach a master class on how to mug. His physical comedy is so committed that I marveled across a montage of mishaps, his pill-bugging over bad news, an internal battle turned external smackdown, and a dance number that is a glittering, glorious disaster. 

Don’t miss out on our latest stories: Add Mashable as a trusted news source in Google.

It's not that it's a surprise Cranston can deliver such comedy. He's been Emmy-nominated three times before for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in this role, and he won an Emmy in 2025 for his guest spot in The Studio. He's shown us how hard he can go into drama with Breaking Bad (where he won most of his seven total Emmys). But to return to this familiar space after 20 years and give a show-stopping performance ep after ep? Give the man the trophy for his range, his commitment, and the cake.

Without giving it away, there's a scene involving birthday cake. In it, Cranston is sublimely silly, performing Hal as a living cartoon character. But also, he allows us through no words, just that mug, to take in the metaphor of the cake. What it means and how Hal feels about it is one of the most joyful moments of television we're likely to get in 2026. It made me laugh and cry like a damned emoji, because few shows can be this ludicrous and truly poignant at the same time. 

Which is all to say, you should not miss Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair. Where last week I lamented how nostalgia can be callously employed by companies to turn audiences into consumers, this week, I'm teary-eyed over the drug-addled, high-stress antics of a dysfunctional family I hadn't thought about in years. Boomer and his awesome ensemble didn't come back for a cash-grab reunion. They came back committed to reigniting the fire of a great show to craft together a marvelous new chapter, alive with humor, heart, and fart jokes. 

Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair debuts on April 10 on Disney+ and Hulu.