AI & Enterprise

AI benchmarks miss 90 percent of human work, leaving blind spot in performance assessments

Existing benchmarks used to assess AI job performance cover only a small slice of real workplace tasks, an analysis found, making it difficult to conclude broad job capability from high test scores. U.S. AI talent and evaluation firm Mercor said about 90 percent of U.S. work hours are tied to tasks not adequately assessed. Using the Labor Department’s O*NET database, it mapped 29 benchmarks to 18,797 tasks and found only 4.9 percent met its coverage threshold.

Industry

U.S. fossil power plans surge, new capacity share expands from 5 to 30 percent

Plans to build fossil-fuel power plants in the United States, led by natural gas, are rising at the fastest pace in more than a decade, an analysis said. A report by the Environmental Defense Fund and Atlas Public Policy found fossil fuels account for about 30 percent of planned new generating capacity as of the second quarter of 2026, up from 5 percent of capacity actually installed in 2024. Renewables remain cheaper on average, but policy and demand shifts are driving the change.