Category: Tech

• Educators are still trying to figure out what to do about OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
• While some professors have embraced it as a tool, others are finding ways to fight its use.
• Some are opting for written exams and personal essays to cut down on cheating.

The growing number of students using the AI program ChatGPT as a shortcut in their coursework has led some college professors to reconsider their lesson plans for the upcoming fall semester.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT is advancing every day. The chatbot achieved the highest score on an AP Biology exam and passed a freshman year at Harvard with a 3.34 GPA.

Since its launch, teachers, administrators, and students have questioned AI’s role in education. While some schools chose to outright ban the use of ChatGPT, others are exploring ways it can be a tool for learning.

As summer break comes to a close, some college professors are now searching for ways to fight the use of generative AI, making their exams “ChatGPT-proof,” Fortune reported.

“Asking students questions like, ‘Tell me in three sentences what is the Krebs cycle in chemistry?’ That’s not going to work anymore, because ChatGPT will spit out a perfectly fine answer to that question,” Bill Hart-Davidson, associate dean at Michigan State University’s College of Arts and Letters, told Fortune.

Concerned professors told Insider they plan to go back to handwritten assignments and oral exams to avoid the use of generative AI.

“I’m planning on going medieval on the students and going all the way back to oral exams,” Christopher Bartel, a philosophy professor at Appalachian State University, told Insider in January. “They can AI generate text all day long in their notes if they want, but if they have to be able to speak it, that’s a different thing.”

A Canadian writing professor told Fox News that he plans to make assignments more personalized in an effort to cut down the use of ChatGPT on essays.

Meanwhile, ChatGPT usage dropped almost 10% from May to June, and some techies believe it’s because most students went on summer break. If students are the main users of the program, experts think it could mean trouble for OpenAI.

“If it’s school kids, that’s a real yellow-red flag on the size of the prize,” internet analyst Mark Shmulik told Insider. “This idea that if the ChatGPT drop-off is due to students on summer break, that implies a narrower audience and fewer use cases.”

• Gabriel Bogner, a startup founder, took his pet Great Dane on a flight from LA to New York.
• The 27-year-old’s dog was deemed too large to fit in a crate in the cargo hold.
• He said passengers were “gobsmacked” at the sight of Darwin on the flight, per The New York Post.

A startup founder surprised passengers when he boarded an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to New York with his Great Dane dog, the New York Post reported.

Gabriel Bogner paid for a row of seats on the flight for himself and his dog, Darwin, the outlet reported.

He took the 140-pound Great Dane on the flight when he moved from LA to Brooklyn after he said she was deemed too big to fit into the airline’s cargo crate, per the outlet. 

In a TikTok that’s received over  17.9 million views and 2.9 million likes since it was posted at the end of May, Darwin is seen sprawled on her back in the airport before meeting the flight’s pilots.

“People were absolutely gobsmacked and shocked, but everyone was so excited to see her. I’ve never seen so many people smiling at an airport,” he told South West News Service, per The Post. 

He added that it must have been “a shocker” for people to see a “literal horse coming toward them,” The Post reported. 

During the five-hour flight, the TikTok also shows Darwin lounging across two seats next to her owner and sticking her head over the seats in front.

Bogner said airline staff joked that Darwin had got an upgrade.

He added that the trip was “smooth” and that “she was great, and the entire crew was amazing.” 

In response to the TikTok, one user commented: “I would 1000% gladly sit next to your buddy than some of these humans who remove their damn shoes!,” while others said they wished they’d been on the flight. 

Bogner, who has Crohn’s disease, said Darwin had helped him cope with his illness and that his physicians told him she qualified as a service animal, The Post reported. 

Gentle giant Darwin helps him manage his symptoms by placing her head on his stomach and accompanying him to the bathroom, Bogner said in another TikTok.

When you buy through our links, Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more.

If you’re yet to take advantage of a free Women’s World Cup live stream, you’re joining at an excellent time as the quarter-finals are underway. It’s been a tournament packed with shocks so far as the USA, Brazil, Japan, and Germany are out, and England were very lucky to make it through against Nigeria.

With hosting nation Australia still in the mix and taking on France tomorrow, we’re setting ourselves up for a Super Saturday of soccer action. Straight after that game, we’ll see England take on Columbia in the last of the quarter-final matches. We can show you how to watch all of these Women’s World Cup games online for free too, wherever you are in the world – these options will work for the semis and the final too.  

US viewers will find no free options locally as it’s a cable/Fox affair. Other nations have free Women’s World Cup live streams via local stations. The UK is the best option, as every single game will be shown for free.

To access those free live streams (links below) from outside those countries, you must use a VPN (virtual private network) to bypass geo-restrictions. These handy apps let your devices mimic various international locations of your choosing so you can carry on watching the World Cup online for free. We’ll show you how further down this page if you don’t have one already, along with extra details about various streaming options around the globe. 

VPNs aren’t just for accessing international streaming options, though. They also add a layer of security to your phone, PC, laptop, and more devices by protecting your online privacy. We’d seriously recommend using them on any public WiFi network too. But yes, we mainly use them to save a small fortune on overpriced sports streaming apps.

How to watch the Women’s World Cup live stream from anywhere 

While various countries offer free live streams, most only provide them for select games, with their own nation being the guaranteed team covered. But if you want your pick of every last match from the group stages to the final, you can’t beat the UK coverage, as all games will be streamed on the BBC iPlayer or ITVX.

So if the game you really want to watch isn’t showing in your country, don’t give up, as you too can enjoy the extensive UK coverage of every match of the Women’s World Cup live streams for free online. However, if you’re not in the UK when you try to watch, you’ll be hit by a geo-block. You can access these free live streams if you’re using a VPN to simulate your viewing device in the UK. 

Don’t have a VPN? There’s a fantastic offer right now on the best VPN we’ve tested and have been using for years for streaming and beefing up our online security. You can pick up Express VPN, save 49% on the usual price, and get three months for free. Better yet, if you’re not satisfied for any reason, there’s a hassle-free 30-day money-back guarantee.

How to watch the Women’s World Cup with a VPN

• Sign up for a VPN if you don’t have one.
• Install it on the device you’re using to watch the game.
• Turn it on and set it to a UK location.
• Go to: BBC iPlayer or ITVX.
• Sign in with a UK postcode.
• Watch the game.

How to watch the Women’s World Cup in the USA

Fox and Fox Sports 1 have the rights to the Women’s World Cup live streams in the US. So if you have those channels on your cable package, you’re all set. However, if you’re a cord-cutter and want to access these cable channels temporarily, you could opt for a service like Sling Blue or Fubo TV. Sling is usually $40 a month, but your first month is currently cut to $20, and you can cancel anytime. Fubo TV is much more expensive at $75 a month, but you can get a 7-day free trial before moving onto a rolling one-month rolling deal.

Or, if you have a VPN, you can watch for free if you hop on over to the UK and enjoy their free coverage on the BBC as described above.

Upcoming games

All times below are in Eastern time, US. Channels displayed are for US / UK.

Quarter-finals

Saturday, August 12

• Australia vs. France – 3 a.m. on FOX / ITV
• England vs. Colombia – 6:30 a.m. on FOX / ITV

Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries, and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

• Homeowners’ equity is the highest it’s been in 25 years, which could provide a cushion as consumer savings dwindle. 
• Wells Fargo economists say that huge price appreciation means homeowners have a lifeline they can tap. 
• Soaring home prices looks like an “underappreciated tailwind” for consumers, they said.

Decades of rising home values have created an expensive and competitive housing market — but that may be exactly what’s keeps consumers afloat as household savings dwindle and borrowing costs climb.

The Fed’s ambitious rate hiking campaign has made everything from credit card loans to mortgage payments more expensive, and that’s eating into the savings Americans built up through the pandemic.

Now, however, with inflation still above target and a recession still in the cards, home equity could provide a much-needed extra line of defense for consumers, according to Wells Fargo.

The total value of the US single-family market surpassed $40 trillion last year, and the amount of homeowner equity versus debt has trended higher for the last decade, economists Tim Quinlan and Shannon Seery explained in a note this week.  

Importantly, home values have surged while the total amount owed on mortgages has not. 

“Homeowners have more equity in their homes today than they did at any point in the 35 years between 1987 and 2022,” the economists said. “Yes, higher rates make borrowing more expensive, but a home loan generally carries far lower interest than credit card debt, especially after accounting for the tax deductibility of interest on a mortgage.”

In short: Americans can always borrow against the equity in their steadily appreciating homes, and at a lower rate than what’s offered on most other kinds of consumer debt. 

Through the Fed’s rate hiking campaign, Americans’ spending has stayed remarkably resilient, and that’s been a boon in staving off the recession that Wall Street has been forecasting over the last year.

That trend could be set to continue as the massive accumulation of home equity provides a lifeline that consumers can tap into if things get tough. 

“[T]he fact that home equity is near a multi-decade high means that there is untapped potential for consumers to rely on home equity lines of credit to sustain spending should the need arise,” the economists wrote.

Bankrate data shows that home equity lines of credit, or HELOCs, are currently carrying an average rate close to 7%. That’s well below the 20.6% interest rate applied to “all borrowers” on credit card debt for the second quarter, per central bank data. 

Home equity revolving credit balances climbed for the fourth straight quarter leading up to March 2023, which presents another factor that could help sustain consumer spending. 

To be sure, about two-thirds of household assets are tied to financial assets. But climbing home values have given real estate an outsized boost through the pandemic. Now, real estate accounts for about 25% of total household assets, and despite deteriorating savings, still-rising equity presents a potential path forward for consumers to keep spending, Quinlan and Seery said.

“Fiscal packages at the onset of the pandemic ensured that the pandemic-induced recession was not a balance sheet one for households, and the lasting effects of that have supported consumer spending even as stimulus has ceased,” the economists continued. “Increased home equity due to the rapid rise in home values and a jump in mortgage refinancing are two additional factors that may support household staying power in the years to come.”

When you buy through our links, Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more.

Summer is prime time for finding the best laptop deals of the year. The later it gets, the better the back-to-school laptop deals will get. At $750, Apple’s M1 MacBook Air is an excellent find not just for students, but anyone looking for a no-frills do-it-all (except gaming) machine. If you’re more inclined to Windows and trying to save money, Best Buy has a great offer on a Dell Inspiron laptop right now. It’s down to $400 after a 33% discount. It’ll be up to most productivity tasks without breaking a sweat.

There’s plenty more to consider elsewhere. We’re always updating this guide with our latest finds for unbeatable laptop deals. Our guide covers multiple price points and usage needs for various buyers, and we compare prices across retailers to ensure we’re presenting the best deals.

We understand most people don’t need a super powerful piece of kit, so where we can find a solid laptop that will handle the basics for work or study for a low price point (many well under $500), we’re there. Of course, some of you might need something with a little more grunt to run more demanding applications or do a little gaming, and we’ve got you covered there too.

Best laptop deals of the week

Whether you need a simple Chromebook for browsing or a more substantial Windows laptop for work or school, here are all the best laptop deals you can shop this week, including many quality options under $300.

Best MacBook deals

MacBook sales come and go like the wind, so catch a wave on these discounts (up to 25% off) while they’re still available.

Best gaming laptop deals

You’ll pay quite a bit more for gaming laptops compared to business- and student-oriented models, but these deals can get you some serious horsepower for relatively affordable prices.

Want to see more laptop sales?

If you haven’t found something for your needs above, peruse the laptop sales highlighted at the retailers below to see if something else catches your eye. Most have everything from budget laptops around $200 or less, plenty of mid-range picks, and even discounts on more powerful machines specializing in gaming, graphic design, or media editing.

We will also regularly update the laptop selection above with fresh deals over time, so feel free to bookmark us and check back in soon.

• Russia’s currency in recent days has plunged to its lowest level against the greenback since the war in Ukraine began. 
• The ruble traded around 96 against the US dollar on Tuesday, a 30% decline from January.
• Russia’s economy is struggling in the face of western sanctions and war in Ukraine, experts say.

Russia’s currency just plunged to its lowest level against the dollar since the beginning of its war in Ukraine — another sign that the nation’s economy is sputtering as the conflict drags on and its economy is burdened with Western sanctions.

The ruble has traded around 96 against the dollar since last Friday. It’s the cheapest Russia’s currency has been since Putin began his invasion of Ukraine in February last year, which caused the ruble to briefly plummet to 120 against the dollar. 

The ruble is one of the worst-performing global currencies of the year, and has declined around 30% from levels in January, when it traded around 65 to the dollar. In July, the currency blew past a key comfort level for the Kremlin, signaling the market’s concern for Russia after the Wagner group staged a short-lived coup against President Vladimir Putin.

Economists have been sounding the alarms for Russia’s economy for the past year, as the nation has been slammed by sanctions and soaring military spending. Restrictions on oil and natural gas trade led Russia’s energy revenue to tumble 45% in first three months of the year. Meanwhile, government spending surged 34%, leading Russia to post a $29 billion budget deficit over the first quarter– a 107% decline from last year’s $14 billion budget surplus. 

Russian officials have put up a show of defiance amid war and sanctions, and Putin has claimed Russia’s economy could actually grow this year with GDP surpassing 2%.  But those estimates are largely drawn from “cherry-picked” economic figures, according to Yale researchers, who say that under-the-radar statistics paint a far bleaker picture of Russia’s economy. 

Our experts choose the best products and services to help make smart decisions with your money (here’s how). In some cases, we receive a commission from our partners; however, our opinions are our own. Terms apply to offers listed on this page.

Credit reporting errors can damage your FICO score and make it harder to qualify for a loan. If inaccurate information is hurting your financial profile, Credit Saint can help. Operating nationwide, Credit Saint disputes credit reporting errors and engages with creditors on behalf of its customers to make sure inaccurate information is removed.

The company offers a conditional money-back guarantee and competitive pricing, earning it a largely positive reputation and putting it in competition with the best credit repair services. Read on to learn more and find out whether Credit Saint suits your needs.

Credit Saint Overview

Credit Saint is a credit repair company based in New Jersey. Operating since 2004, the company claims to have helped over 200,000 clients worldwide, and boasts of offering the most comprehensive service in the industry. While Credit Saint has an office in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, it offers service nationwide.

Credit Saint has three different packages with monthly fees ranging from $79.99 to $119.99 and one-time setup fees of $99 or $195. You can pause or cancel your membership at any time with no additional charge, and Credit Saint offers a conditional money back guarantee after the first 90 days. 

Feedback from Credit Saint customers is generally positive, though there are several persistent complaints. The company has ratings of 3.6 and 4.1 stars out of five on its Trustpilot and Better Business Bureau profiles, respectively, with just over 100 reviews posted on each. Many of those reviews are four or five stars, but over 20% of reviews on both platforms are just one star.

The largest volume of customer feedback is on Google, where Credit Saint averages 4.8 stars out of five based on over 9,000 reviews. While those reviews are attached to the listing for Credit Saint’s New Jersey office, they are submitted by users nationwide. The most common complaints against Credit Saint are a lack of results (which is a frequent complaint against all credit repair companies) and difficulty exercising the money back guarantee.

Unlike some of its competitors who have been sued by federal regulators for illegal billing practices and other infractions, Credit Saint has managed to stay out of legal trouble.

Credit Saint Plans

Credit Saint offers three service packages at different price points. The most basic (and least expensive) is the Credit Polish Package, which includes challenges to all three credit bureaus and a credit score tracker. The Credit Polish Package has a $79.99 monthly fee, as well as a one-time $99 setup fee, also called a first work fee.

The intermediate Credit Polish Package offers the same bureau challenges and score tracker that you get with the Credit Polish package, and adds credit score analysis. The Credit Remodel package has a $99.99 monthly fee, as well as the same $99 setup fee.

The top-tier Clean Slate Package adds creditor intervention letters and inquiry targeting to top of the benefits you get from the Credit Remodel package. Credit Saint recommends this package for customers with public records like repossessions, bankruptcies and foreclosures. The Clean Slate package has a $119.99 monthly fee, as well as a higher $195 initial working fee. 

Credit Saint Features

Services offered by Credit Saint have a lot in common with what you’ll get from other credit repair companies. Here are some of the highlights:

• Challenges to the three credit bureaus — Credit Saint can help you dispute inaccuracies like late payments, duplicate accounts, or typos that appear on your credit report. Credit Saint uses handwritten, customized disputes instead of generic online templates. While you can challenge this information yourself, consider enlisting the help of a credit repair agency if you’re not confident you can deal with it on your own.
• Score Tracker — At the end of each 45-day dispute cycle, Credit Saint will give you a snapshot of your credit score from all three major credit bureaus. Tracking your score gives you a sense of whether your credit repair efforts are bearing fruit, but you can check your credit score for free with or without a credit repair service.
• Score Analysis — In addition to your credit score, Credit Saint provides a breakdown of your credit utilization, payment history, and other factors that impact your credit. This more detailed information can similarly help you track progress and identify aspects of your credit report with potential for improvement. However, Credit Saint provides the information without suggesting what to do with it, and like your credit score, you can get this information elsewhere for free.
• Credit intervention letters — When a creditor reaffirms information you dispute with the credit bureau, Credit Saint can escalate the situation and engage with the creditor directly. Credit Saint may also intervene on your behalf to limit the impact of accurate derogatory marks on your credit report (by negotiating repayment, for example).
• Inquiry Targeting — Credit Saint can help you remove false or fraudulent credit inquiries from your credit report. However, legitimate inquiries can not be removed.
• Daily member support — Credit Saint offers customer support by phone (877-637-2673) seven days a week. Support hours are Monday through Friday 9:00 am to 10:00 pm EST, Saturday 10:00 am to 8:00 pm, and Sunday 12:00 pm to 8:00 pm.
• Credit education — The Credit Saint website offers a blog with a handful of articles about credit repair and other personal finance topics. This content is available at no charge whether or not you enroll. However, the blog appears to be defunct, as no new content has been published in over two years.

While many credit repair companies package identity theft protection with their other services, Credit Saint does not. However, you can get quality that services elsewhere inexpensively or at no cost, so the omission from Credit Saint shouldn’t be a major factor when deciding whether to enroll.

How Much Does Credit Saint Cost?

Credit Saint offers three credit repair packages with monthly fees of $79.99, $99.99 and $119.99. Each package also incurs an initial working fee of either $99 for the first two packages or $195 for the third package. Credit Saint’s monthly fees are close to average for the credit repair industry, with some companies charging more and some charging less for comparable service. The initial working fees are on the high end; you can add a single family member living in your household without paying a second initial working fee, but you’ll both be on the hook for monthly fees.

Credit Saint offers a 90-day money back guarantee, but it comes with several key stipulations. Foremost among them, you’re only eligible for a refund after participating in the program for the full 90 days; canceling or failing to pay before that mark voids the guarantee. Additionally, the guarantee only applies if you don’t see any questionable items deleted from your credit in the first 90 days, and can’t be exercised beyond the 120-day mark. Other terms apply, so don’t rely on the guarantee without reading them.

Aside from the 90-day guarantee, you can cancel your membership immediately at any time with no penalty or additional charge.

How to Sign Up For Credit Saint

Before you enlist the help of a credit repair service, get copies of your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus. While these reports are normally available at no cost once per year, you can request them weekly through the end of 2023.

With your credit reports in hand, you can check for inaccuracies that you want to dispute, such as misreported late payments, duplicate accounts, typos and more. You can address errors directly with the credit bureaus or pass them along to a credit repair service if you can’t (or don’t want to) do it yourself. However, keep in mind that you can only challenge information that’s inaccurate, unfair or unverified. Accurate data can’t be wiped out just because it hurts your credit score and you want it gone.

Should you choose to proceed with Credit Saint, you can sign up by clicking the “Get Started” link on their website. You’ll then need to provide personal and billing information, and agree to the terms of service. Credit Saint clearly indicates during the signup process when your setup fee and first recurring fee will be charged.

How Credit Saint Compares to Competitors

In many respects, Credit Saint is nearly on par with its competitors, including those ranked among our top credit repair companies.

Credit Saint’s monthly fees are comparable to other credit repair companies, but its initial working fees are relatively high, exceeding the monthly fee for two of Credit Saint’s three packages. That said, they aren’t Unless you’re signing up with a second family member in your home (for whom the initial working fee is waived), that additional cost may justify looking elsewhere.

The company’s positive reviews on Google indicate a high rate of customer satisfaction. However, the frequency of complaints about the money back guarantee combined with its restrictive terms are concerning. If that guarantee encourages you to sign up, make sure you read the fine print beforehand.

Credit Saint Credit Repair FAQ

• Germany pledged Ukraine almost $3 billion worth of military aid in May.
• However, many of the supplies are yet to arrive, German newspaper Die Welt reported.
• Only 10 of the 110 promised Leopard 1 tanks have been delivered so far, the report says.

Germany has delivered only around 10% of the Leopard 1 tanks that it promised to Ukraine as part of a package it announced in May, German newspaper Die Welt reported.

The country had agreed to a 2.7 billion-euro, which is around $3 billion, military aid package with Ukraine during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit earlier this year.

Die Welt tracked the progress of the deliveries and kept an account of the promised and delivered equipment, which is published online by the German government.

The outlet found that in the last two months Berlin has sent Kyiv just 10 of 110 promised Leopard 1 tanks and 12 of 18 Gepard anti-aircraft tanks.

Ukraine is also yet to receive any of the four promised IRIS-T missile defense systems or the 20 Marder armored vehicles, while roughly just 850 of the 26,350 155 mm artillery shells promised have been delivered.

The package also included several hundred drones, air surveillance radars, tankers, ambulances, and heavy-duty articulated lorries.

Die Welt noted that it was possible that the weapons commitment may be “withdrawn,” citing the example of 5,032 anti-tank handguns that had been listed as being prepared to be sent to Ukraine since the early months of the war, which have now disappeared off the site without any explanation.

It is not clear why Germany is dragging its feet over sending the weapons, although it was also slow to provide Ukraine with military aid at the beginning of the war. Despite that, it has since become one of Kyiv’s biggest arms suppliers. 

After months of pressure, Germany finally agreed to send 88 Leopard 1 tanks and around 80 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine earlier this year.

• Conservative organizations have released a proposed “battle plan” for the next Republican president.
• The plan calls for the president to end the Inflation Reduction Act, which has primarily benefited red states. 
• The 2022 bill funnels hundreds of billions to states home to major clean energy projects, like Oklahoma and Texas.

Leading conservative organizations are banding together to push a new project called Project 2025, a game plan for the next Republican president, and it includes cutting a Biden-era law that funnels hundreds of billions of dollars to red states.

The Inflation Reduction Act, which Congress passed in 2022 and which in part sets aside $370 billion for investment in clean energy, was hailed at the time as the most significant step Congress had taken to address the climate crisis.

With states like Oklahoma leading the country in wind power and Texas landing in the top three states for clean energy job growth, red states are the biggest beneficiaries of the bill. Yet the bill faced significant opposition from congressional Republicans during the legislative process.

Project 2025 and the elimination of the Inflation Reduction Act have been championed by several conservative organizations, all led by the Heritage Foundation, a major conservative think tank. Paul Dans, a director with the Heritage Foundation, called Project 2025 a “battle plan” for the next Republican president, The New York Times reported.

The Heritage Foundation has delivered the 920-page document to every Republican running for president, Dans told the Times.

However, some conservatives who work closely with state lawmakers on energy policy said any plan to cut the Inflation Reduction Act would likely go against constituents’ wishes.

“Obviously as conservatives, we’re concerned about fiscal responsibility, but if you look at what Republican voters think, a lot of Republicans in red states show strong support for provisions of the I.R.A.,” Sarah Hunt, president of the Joseph Rainey Center for Public Policy, an organization that works with Republican lawmakers on state energy needs, told the Times.

The Heritage Foundation did not respond to a request for comment ahead of publication.

• South Korean scientists claim to have made a superconductor, LK-99, that works at room temperature.
• Experts are skeptical, but if such a material exists, it could boost energy production and storage. 
• It could also improve chips used in cars and consumer electronics like cell phones. 

Electricity is inefficient compared to what it could be. But electricity that travels along a superconductor barely loses energy along the way. 

Present-day superconductors, however, function under costly special environments — what if we could change that? 

That’s the premise behind LK-99, a possible superconductor material that scientists in South Korea say they have devised, which has been dominating headlines and social media posts in the past week or so. 

The LK-99 material is a compound comprised of lead, oxygen, and phosphorous, the scientists describe in two preprint papers that have yet to be peer-reviewed. They discuss how they doped the material with copper, which, they speculate, may have distorted the chain of lead atoms, creating channels along which the superconductivity occurs, per Science. 

However, many experts are skeptical that the material actually does what the scientists claim. Therefore, whether LK-99 is actually a breakthrough remains to be seen until others can replicate its results. 

To that end, some experts are trying, but this holy grail has eluded scientists for many years, so the prospects are still a long way off, experts told Insider.

Why room-temperature superconductors are so elusive

“The holy grail would be to get something that was superconducting at room temperature,” said Leonard Kahn, chair of the Department of Physics at the University of Rhode Island’s College.  

The problem is that scientists are playing a guessing game for now, swapping out materials to try and raise the critical temperature.

Elements like tantalum and mercury all have superconducting capabilities, for example, but they have to be chilled to about -450 degrees Fahrenheit. Some compounds become superconductive at higher temperatures and can be cooled with liquid nitrogen at around -320 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Yet other materials become superconducting at warmer temperatures, “but you need to have them under such high pressures that they’re impractical for any applications,” Kahn said.

LK-99 isn’t the first claim of its kind. There have been similar attempts in the past that don’t quite seem to have panned out. One piece on the subject, published in the science journal Nature in 2020, was later retracted.  

Ultimately, achieving a room-temperature superconductor would “require breakthroughs in understanding the fundamental principles behind superconductivity, inventing new materials, or discovering novel ways of increasing the critical temperature,” Edwin Fohtung, associate professor in materials science and engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, told Insider in an email. 

Where and how superconductors are used today

“It’s not that we do not have superconductors, but we can only make that work under extremely high pressures, and at very low temperatures,” said Elif Akçalı, an associate professor at the University of Florida who teaches industrial and systems engineering. 

“When that’s the case, you’re putting in so much energy to make that work,” Akçalı said. “For me, from a business perspective, it’s losing its value.” 

Superconductors expel magnetic fields and are diamagnetic, a phenomenon known as the Meissner effect. “If you put a magnet near it, they oppose the magnet, and so magnets actually float on top of them,” Kahn said.

Currently, MRI machines, quantum computers, and magnetic levitation trains all use superconductivity. Cooling an MRI magnet requires about 2,000 liters of liquid helium, which is both expensive and in short supply.

But if researchers could find a room-temperature superconductor, it would be huge for energy, transportation, and many other industries. Take power stations, for example: 

 “If you had superconducting wires instead of the regular wires that they’re using, it would be the equivalent of having 5% to 10% more power stations, and you wouldn’t be putting any more carbon into the atmosphere,” Kahn said. “The opportunities for that would be tremendous, but we’re not there yet.”

Any revolutionary use of superconductors will still take time

We’re a while away from making a radical shift in superconductor use, experts said. At minimum, multiple labs will first need to repeat and verify the experiment to make sure LK-99, or something like it, really works. 

And even a workable material will mean companies will have to change how they make things.  

Take the case of chips, for instance. There’s still a question as to whether this type of superconductor material can be successfully incorporated into the chip manufacturing process in a way that is economically viable and not too burdensome, said Siddharth Joshi, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Notre Dame. 

“Currently, we don’t design chips assuming you can have superconductors on there,” Joshi said. 

“Using superconductors in the design of the chips could lead to interesting designs, but the technology would first need to be mature enough to use it in chips,” he said. 

But again, if it does work, that could mean we can produce chips that require less energy to function, which means they can do more and take up less space. Your phones and laptops, for one, could get even more compact, said Navid Asadi, an electrical and computer engineering professor at the University of Florida. 

Low-energy chips could also help machines do a lot more. For newer technologies, like electric and autonomous vehicles, it can mean helping them better navigate the kinds of questions the machines encounter on drives, Asadi said.

“Should I keep the car between the lines? Am I going to pass this car? Should I brake? Should I adjust my speed? These are all decisions constantly made in the chips, and they need energy,” he said. “So low power energy chips is one major area in chip design.” 

The potential that chips could be faster and more efficient thanks to superconductors also means they could support the large amounts of computing power and energy required to sustain other artificial intelligence efforts including generative AI, said Dale Rogers, a supply chain expert and professor at the Arizona State University business school. 

“This kind of superconductor breakthrough, if it’s real, can really enable huge advancements and processing abilities in artificial intelligence,” he said.