With so many landmark lawsuits emerging around artificial intelligence, it can be easy to lose sight of the other high-tech cases shaping the world as we know it.

One major suit with important implications just emerged out of Phoenix. The case revolves around a 2023 incident involving a 73-year-old named Trudy Perez and a delivery robot at Arizona State University. The woman — who was working as a parking garage attendant at the time — alleges a delivery robot operated by the company Starship Technologies repeatedly ran into her, throwing her to the ground and clobbering her again while she was down.

Now, the woman is proceeding with a civil suit targeting Starship for liability and negligence, local station KJZZ reported.

As if working outdoors in Phoenix at the age of 73 isn’t rough enough, a police report from the incident notes Perez suffered a four-inch gash on her arm as a result of the beat-down, in addition to back pain and mobility problems. Per KJZZ, she’s now seeking compensatory damages related to medical expenses, pain and suffering, and lost wages caused by the altercation.

The lawsuit further alleges that, like similar automated robots, the experimental Starship unit was being piloted by an off-site employee. Per the filing, this unnamed employee neglected to “exercise control” over the delivery bot throughout the incident, resulting in Perez’s injuries.

Of course, the company is doing everything it can to soften the blow and limit its liability. As KJZZ reports, Starship Technologies has a laundry list of excuses: not only were Perez’s injuries caused by her own negligence, but they were pre-existing as well, the company’s attorneys claim.

With the first court date set for next February, it’ll be some time before the jury reaches a verdict. When they do, they could set some major precedent when it comes to holding companies responsible for mayhem caused by their delivery robots — an increasingly important issue as the gadgets spread to more cities across the US.

More on delivery robots: Large Area of Chicago Bans Delivery Robots After Resident Outcry

The post Startup Sued After Delivery Bot Clobbers 73-Year Old Woman appeared first on Futurism.

An eye implant that can help blind people see again is poised to hit the market — in Europe, at least.

On Wednesday, the US-based Science Corporation announced that it had received approval from the European Union to treat patients with its vision-restoring bionic eye device, called Prima, in a huge step towards the commercialization of the technology.

“We have a cochlear implant for vision now,” CEO Max Hodak told Stat News.

Science Corp’s device is designed to treat advanced macular degeneration, a condition in the eye which causes central vision loss. It’s the leading cause of vision loss in older adults, with severe forms of it accounting for nearly 90 percent of legal blindness in the US, according to one estimate.

To restore vision, the Prima device uses a wireless chip that’s surgically implanted under the retina. This connects with a pair of camera-equipped glasses, which transmits video in the form of near-infrared light that the chip turns into electrical signals interpreted by the brain.

Science Corp first published the results of a preliminary clinical trial in late 2024, showing that patients who used the device were able to recognize faces again, and even read books.

“One of our patients in France finished a 300-page novel a little while ago, and sent us the book,” Hodak recently told TechCrunch. “We have a sketch on the wall [that] one of our patients drew of the Sydney Opera House. There are videos of patients playing crossword puzzles and filling in Sudoku.”

But Hodak — who cofounded Neuralink with Elon Musk before leaving to start Science Corp — was candid that his tech still has a lot of room for improvement.

“This is an early version. It’s kind of like looking through a straw in the centre of their vision,” he told the Financial Times, saying it was “powerful proof” that the company was on the right track.

“We see in the future how to get to colour pretty close to native acuity,” he added.

Each Prima device is expected to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, but Science Corp says it’s working with healthcare providers to cover some of the cost, per TechCrunch. It’s most likely to first start treating patients in Germany, where it conducted its clinical trials.

It’s not the only company making moves in this space. Neuralink is also working on a vision implant called Blindsight, but it hasn’t begun human trials yet.

More on health: Trump Is Having a Major Problem With Diarrhea

The post Eye Implant That Restores Vision to the Blind Cleared for Sale appeared first on Futurism.

What happens when you deploy hundreds of high-tech surveillance cameras against a student population known for their hacking skills? We’re about to find out.

This week, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s student newspaper the Tech reported that the university is about to spend over $3 million installing over 500 AI-integrated surveillance cameras across the school’s campus.

As the paper explains, the cameras will likely be able to collect real-time facial data, as well as more info related to object classification. Basically,that means it’ll be able to automatically identify, catalogue, and track the movement of physical items. That means people, yes, but also personal belongings like backpacks, boxes, vehicles, bags, and more.

While the cameras will surely be hooked into the MIT police department’s already-existing CCTV feed, the footage collected will also be automatically monitored by AI-RGUS, a firm which develops 24/7 surveillance monitoring software, the Tech reports.

As MIT spokesperson Kimberly Allen explained to the Tech, data will be “retained up to 30 days,” though exceptions will be granted.

Defending the cameras, Allen noted they’re “part of regular efforts to promote campus security,” adding that the camera’s audio surveillance features will be disabled, though that’s more a matter of state law than of any kind of principle on MIT’s part.

It’s an alarming move, coming after MIT faculty have warned that campus police are preemptively punishing students for speeches and protests outside of the established disciplinary process.

And as critics pointed out on social media, the $300 million project comes just a month after MIT administrators shuttered two campus libraries and reduced staffing at others, citing a major budget deficit. Though the news was first reported in December of 2025, those libraries were given a closing date of June 2026 — making the timing of the costly new surveillance dragnet highly suspect.

“Look on the bright side,” joked Syracuse University public relations professor Joshua Foust on Bluesky, “at least they also closed down libraries to save money for the AI cameras.”

More on surveillance: Flock Is in Serious Trouble After Massive Backlash

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