The Download: underage celebrity chatbots, and OpenAI’s latest model

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

An AI companion site is hosting sexually charged conversations with underage celebrity bots

Botify AI, a site for chatting with AI companions that’s backed by the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, hosts bots resembling real actors that state their age as under 18, engage in sexually charged conversations, offer “hot photos,” and in some instances describe age-of-consent laws as “arbitrary” and “meant to be broken.”

When MIT Technology Review tested the site this week, we found popular user-created bots taking on underage characters meant to resemble Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams, Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, and Millie Bobby Brown, among others. 

The conversations—along with the fact that Botify AI includes “send a hot photo” as a feature for its characters—suggest that the ability to elicit sexually charged conversations and images is not accidental. Instead, sexually suggestive conversations appear to be baked in. Read the full story.

—James O’Donnell

OpenAI just released GPT-4.5 and says it is its biggest and best chat model yet

What’s new: OpenAI has just released GPT-4.5, a new version of its flagship large language model which it claims is its biggest and best model for chat yet. The new model, which is already available for subscribers to OpenAI’s ChatGPT Pro tier, is part of its non-reasoning lineup.

Why it matters: OpenAI won’t say exactly how big its new model is. But it says the jump in scale from GPT-4o to GPT-4.5 is the same as the jump from GPT-3.5 to GPT-4o. Experts have estimated that GPT-4 could have as many as 1.8 trillion parameters, the values that get tweaked when a model is trained. Read the full story.

—Will Douglas Heaven

How a volcanic eruption turned a human brain into glass

They look like small pieces of obsidian, smooth and shiny. But a set of small black fragments found inside the skull of a man who died in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Southern Italy, in the year 79 CE, are thought to be pieces of his brain—turned to glass.

The discovery, reported in 2020, was exciting because a human brain had never been found in this state. 

Now, scientists studying his remains believe they’ve found out more details about how the glass fragments were formed. Read the full story.

—Jessica Hamzelou

To read more about this fascinating story, check out the latest edition of The Checkup, our weekly biotech newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Thursday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 A judge has blocked mass firings of US federal workers
After ruling the terminations were probably illegal. (WP $)
+ Trump’s purges align with his personal campaign against the federal government. (The Atlantic $)
+ The DOGE cuts are likely to get much, much worse. (Wired $)

2 Donald Trump’s migrant crackdown is fuelling a surveillance boom
Firms are rushing to ready tracking tech to meet the administration’s demands. (The Guardian)
+ Things aren’t looking so rosy for other big government contractors, though. (WSJ $)

3 The US is weighing up vaccinating chickens against bird flu
The country’s egg supply is under serious strain. (Wired $)
+ More than 35 million birds have been culled this year alone. (BBC)
+ Businesses are struggling, and consumers are suffering. (The Atlantic $)
+ How the US is preparing for a potential bird flu pandemic. (MIT Technology Review)

4 An AI model is capable of solving million-step math problems
Far beyond the capacity of any human. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ Why does AI being good at math matter? (MIT Technology Review)

5 How map apps deal with government disputes over place names
Including the Gulf of Mexico/America. (Rest of World $)

6 A new AI system neutralizes call center staff’s Indian accents
The industry’s largest operator is preparing to roll it out in Latin America, too. (Bloomberg $)
+ How this grassroots effort could make AI voices more diverse. (MIT Technology Review)

7 The future of xenotransplantation
Cross-species organ transplants are on the rise, but risks remain. (Knowable Magazine)
+ A woman in the US is the third person to receive a gene-edited pig kidney. (MIT Technology Review)

8 This Abu Dhabi royal is obsessed with AI 
And he’s willing to splash his colossal wealth to transform his tiny emirate into a major AI player. (WSJ $)

9 Alibaba’s new video model is a big hit among AI porn fans
And they’re already sharing their creations. (404 Media)
+ Three ways we can fight deepfake porn. (MIT Technology Review)

10 No good can come from having your read receipts turned on
Do yourself a favor and switch ‘em off. (Vox)

Quote of the day

“I recommend being in the office at least every weekday… I think we have all the ingredients to win this race, but we are going to have to turbocharge our efforts.”

—Google co-founder Sergey Brin urges the company’s AI teams to work harder to beat its competition to become the first firm to achieve artificial general intelligence, the New York Times reports.

The big story

The US wants to use facial recognition to identify migrant children as they age

August 2024

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to collect and analyze photos of the faces of migrant children at the border in a bid to improve facial recognition technology, MIT Technology Review can reveal.

The technology has traditionally not been applied to children, largely because training data sets of real children’s faces are few and far between, and consist of either low-quality images drawn from the internet or small sample sizes with little diversity. Such limitations reflect the significant sensitivities regarding privacy and consent when it comes to minors.

In practice, the new DHS plan could effectively solve that problem. But, beyond concerns about privacy, transparency, and accountability, some experts also worry about testing and developing new technologies using data from a population that has little recourse to provide—or withhold—consent. Read the full story.

—Eileen Guo

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ Congratulations to Hilda Jackson, 105 years young and still raving!
+ If you’re a chronic procrastinator, here’s some helpful tips to break the cycle.
+ All aboard the dog bus! (thanks Beth!)
+ In more canine news, I need a one-way ticket to Puppy Mountain, stat.

The Download: Introducing the Relationships issue

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

Introducing: the Relationships issue

Relationships are the stories of people and systems working together. Sometimes by choice. Sometimes for practicality. Sometimes by force. Too often, for purely transactional reasons.

That’s why we’re exploring relationships in this issue. Relationships connect us to one another, but also to the machines, platforms, technologies, and systems that mediate modern life.

They’re behind the partnerships that make breakthroughs possible, the networks that help ideas spread, and the bonds that build trust—or at least access. In this issue, you’ll find stories about the relationships we forge with each other, with our past, with our children, and with technology itself.

Here’s just a taste of what you can expect:

+ People are forming relationships with AI chatbots. Some of these are purely professional, others more complicated. This kind of relationship may be novel now, but it’s something we will all take for granted in just a few years. 

+ Adventures in the genetic time machine. Ancient DNA is telling us more and more about humans and environments long past. Could it also help rescue the future?

+ Frozen embryos are filling storage banks around the world. It’s a struggle to know what to do with them. Read the full story.

+ Our relationships with our employers are often mediated through monitoring systems. And while it’s increasing the power imbalance between companies and workers, protections are lagging far behind. Read the full story.

MIT Technology Review Narrated: The messy quest to replace drugs with electricity

“Electroceuticals” promised the post-pharma future for medicine. But their exclusive focus on the nervous system is seeming less and less warranted.

This is our latest story to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which 
we’re publishing each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 DOGE is working on software to automate firing workers
It builds on an existing program previously used by the US Department of Defense. (Wired $)
+ DOGE workers are already resigning from the department. (Fast Company $)
+ Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? It’s complex. (MIT Technology Review)

2 American workers are generally pessimistic about AI
Whereas Silicon Valley can’t get enough of it.(WP $)
+ How to fine-tune AI for prosperity. (MIT Technology Review)

 3 iPhones are autocorrecting the term ‘racist’ to ‘Trump’
The company is blaming what it calls a ‘phonetic overlap.’ (NYT $)
+ It’s promised to fix the bug as soon as possible. (FT $)

4 Amy Gleason is the head of DOGE, apparently
The former Digital Service senior advisor is the acting administrator. (NY Mag $)
+ But Elon Musk is still ultimately in charge. (NBC News)

5 Grok’s new unhinged mode can simulate phone sex
If that’s what you’re into. (Ars Technica)

6 More data centers don’t necessarily mean more jobs
The massive facilities don’t actually need many humans to run them. (WSJ $)
+ Not that that’s putting Meta off building a gigantic data center campus. (The Information $)

7 China is keen for tech companies to monetize their data
But not everyone is buying in. (Rest of World)

8 The slow death of the combustion engine
Pistons are out, and electrons are in. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ Why EVs are (mostly) set for solid growth in 2025. (MIT Technology Review)

9 The US is in love with cheap clothing
And established brands are the ones paying the price. (Insider $)

10 What frozen mummies can tell us about the ancient world
From wolf pups to mammoths. (New Scientist $)

Quote of the day

“I felt nothing but utter disgust. I no longer enjoyed sitting in my Tesla.”

—Mike Schwede, an entrepreneur living in Switzerland, tells the Guardian he’s turned his back on the electric car company after Elon Musk’s Nazi-linked salutes during Trump’s inauguration.

The big story

Think that your plastic is being recycled? Think again.

October 2023

The problem of plastic waste hides in plain sight, a ubiquitous part of our lives we rarely question. But a closer examination of the situation is shocking. To date, humans have created around 11 billion metric tons of plastic. 72% of the plastic we make ends up in landfills or the environment. Only 9% of the plastic ever produced has been recycled.

To make matters worse, plastic production is growing dramatically; in fact, half of all plastics in existence have been produced in just the last two decades. Production is projected to continue growing, at about 5% annually.

So what do we do? Sadly, solutions such as recycling and reuse aren’t equal to the scale of the task. The only answer is drastic cuts in production in the first place. Read the full story. 

—Douglas Main

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ Look up to the sky over the next few nights: seven planets will be aligned, and won’t do so again until 2040.
+ Jeremy Strong probably won’t win an Oscar next week, but he definitely deserves to.
+ Why English is such a strange language.
+ 1985 produced some truly anthemic songs—and some absolute bilge.

The Download: dismantling US science leadership, and reproductive care cuts

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

The foundations of America’s prosperity are being dismantled

Ever since World War II, the US has been the global leader in science and technology—and benefited immensely from it. Research fuels American innovation and the economy in turn. Scientists around the world want to study in the US and collaborate with American scientists to produce more of that research. 

These international collaborations play a critical role in American soft power and diplomacy. The products Americans can buy, the drugs they have access to, the diseases they’re at risk of catching—are all directly related to the strength of American research and its connections to the world’s scientists.

That scientific leadership is now being dismantled, according to more than 10 federal workers who spoke to MIT Technology Review, as the Trump administration slashes personnel, programs, and agencies. And it could lead to long-lasting, perhaps irreparable damage to everything from the quality of health care to the public’s access to next-generation technologies. Read the full story. 

—Karen Hao

8,000 pregnant women may die in just 90 days because of US aid cuts

A barrage of actions by the new Trump administration is hitting reproductive care hard for people around the world. 

On January 20, his first day in office, Trump ordered a “90-day pause in United States foreign development assistance” for such programs to be assessed. By January 24, a “stop work” memo issued by the State Department brought US-funded aid programs around the world to a halt.  

Recent estimates suggest that more than 8,000 women will die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth over the next 90 days if the funding is not reinstated. Read our story to get up to date on what’s happened. 

—Jessica Hamzelou

This story is from The Checkup, our weekly newsletter all about what’s going on in health and biotech. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Thursday.

Doctors and patients are calling for more telehealth. Where is it?

Doctors in the US are generally allowed to practice medicine only where they have a license. It’s a situation that has led to a nonsensical norm: A woman with a rare cancer boarding an airplane, at the risk of her chemotherapy-weakened immune system, to see a specialist thousands of miles away, for example, or a baby with a rare disease who’s repeatedly shuttled between Arizona and Massachusetts. 

The use of telehealth has grown since the pandemic, but there are still significant challenges to it being an option for more people. Read our story to learn what they are, and how they might be overcome.  

—Isabel Ruehl

This story is from the next edition of our print magazine, which is all about relationships. Subscribe now to read it and get a copy of the magazine when it lands on February 26!

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 The US’s AI Safety Institute is being gutted  
As part of mass firings at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. (Wired $)
+ NIH grants are still frozen, despite lawsuits challenging Trump’s actions. (Nature)
 
2 OpenAI says ChatGPT has over 400 million users
That must make it one of the most popular tech products ever launched. (CNBC)
+ AI is making Silicon Valley startups leaner. (NYT $)
+ AI took two days to crack a superbug problem scientists have been working on for years. (BBC)
 
3 Ukraine claims it rigged Russian drone pilot goggles with explosives
Much like Mossad’s exploding pagers operation. (FT $)
+ Russia is secretly sabotaging Europe’s undersea cables. (BBC)
 
4 Trump’s FTC chief has launched an inquiry into Big Tech ‘censorship’
So much for all that cosying up at the inauguration. (Bloomberg $)
+ Meanwhile, Elon Musk says he’s going to ‘fix’ Community Notes on X so it agrees with him. (Gizmodo)
 
5 Figure unveiled new AI software for household robots
And, best of all, you can instruct it with your voice. (TechCrunch)
+ Why everyone’s excited about household robots again. (MIT Technology Review) 
 
6 We still don’t know which animal sparked covid-19
But suspicions are starting to alight on racoon dogs. (Nature)
+ Meet the scientist at the center of the covid lab leak controversy. (MIT Technology Review)
 
7 How should we feel about chatbots of dead people?
They’re a lot less scary if you think of them as a means for remembrance, rather than companions. (Aeon)
+ Technology that lets us “speak” to our dead relatives has arrived. Are we ready? (MIT Technology Review)
 
8 In-office work is at the highest level since the pandemic 
Lots of workers are heading back in now, whether they like it or not. (WP $)
 
9 How to fight back against scam texts
Do not click that link! (Vox)
 
10 Amazon has acquired the James Bond franchise 
The name’s Bezos. Jeffrey Bezos. (The Guardian) 

Quote of the day

“What a lie. And from someone who complains about lack of honesty from the mainstream media.”

—Danish astronaut Andreas “Andy” Mogensen criticizes Elon Musk’s claim that former president Joe Biden intentionally abandoned two American astronauts aboard the International Space Station, the Guardian reports.

The big story

Bright LEDs could spell the end of dark skies

ADAM SCHMID/GETTY IMAGES

August 2022

Scientists have known for years that light pollution is growing and can harm both humans and wildlife. In people, increased exposure to light at night disrupts sleep cycles and has been linked to cancer and cardiovascular disease, while wildlife suffers from interruption to their reproductive patterns, and increased danger.

Astronomers, policymakers, and lighting professionals are all working to find ways to reduce light pollution. Many of them advocate installing light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, in outdoor fixtures such as city streetlights, mainly for their ability to direct light to a targeted area.

But the high initial investment and durability of modern LEDs mean cities need to get the transition right the first time or potentially face decades of consequences. Read the full story.

—Shel Evergreen

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ I thoroughly enjoyed this food critic’s mic-dropping final column.
+ The simplest cocktails are often the best. 
+ Check out Pikaswaps: fun filters, boosted with generative AI. 
+ Sometimes I really miss Scottish Twitter. 

The Download: Microsoft’s quantum chip, and explaining rising energy demand

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

A new Microsoft chip could lead to more stable quantum computers

Microsoft has announced that it’s made significant progress in its 20-year quest to make topological quantum bits, or qubits—a special approach to building quantum computers that could make them more stable and easier to scale up. 

The company says it’s developed a chip containing eight of these qubits, and has also published a Nature paper that describes a fundamental validation of the system. It’s a different approach to competitors like Google and IBM. But, if it works, it could be a significant milestone on the path to unlocking quantum computers’ dramatic new abilities to discover new materials, among many other possible applications. 

Many of the researchers MIT Technology Review spoke with would still like to see how this work plays out in scientific publications, but they were cautiously optimistic. Read the full story.   

—Rachel Courtland

What’s driving electricity demand? It isn’t just AI and data centers.

Electricity demand rose by 4.3% in 2024 and will continue to grow at close to 4% annually through 2027, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency. 

There’s been a constant stream of headlines about energy demand recently, largely because of the influx of data centers—especially those needed to power AI. These technologies are sucking up more power from the grid, but they’re just a small part of a much larger story. 

What’s actually behind this demand growth is complicated. Read our story to learn what’s going on. 

—Casey Crownhart 

This story is from The Spark, our weekly newsletter all about the tech that could help us combat climate change. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday.

This company is trying to make a biodegradable alternative to spandex

It probably hasn’t been long since you last slipped into something stretchy. From yoga pants to socks, stretch fabrics are everywhere. And they’re only getting more popular: The global spandex market, valued at almost $8 billion in December 2024, is projected to grow between 2% and 8% every year over the next decade. 

That might be better news for your comfort than for the environment. Most stretch fabrics contain petroleum-based fibers that shed microplastics and take centuries to decompose. Alexis Peña and Lauren Blake, cofounders of Good Fibes, aim to tackle this problem with lab-grown elastics. Read the full story. 

—Megan DeMatteo

This story is from the next edition of our print magazine, which is all about relationships. Subscribe now to read it and get a copy of the magazine when it lands on February 26!

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 DOGE has ‘god mode’ access to government systems 
The risk of harm, abuse, or revenge is clear. But simple, brazen corruption is also a concern. (The Atlantic $)
+ Elon Musk is hunting for social security fraud. It’s not very common. (Business Insider $)
+ DOGE claimed it had saved $8 billion in one contract. It was, at most, $8 million. (NYT $)
+ Elon Musk, DOGE, and the Evil Housekeeper Problem. (MIT Technology Review)

2 The Trump administration is scrambling to rehire people working on bird flu 
This exact pattern is being replicated across multiple agencies right now, and it’s straight from Musk’s playbook. (Gizmodo)
+ Trump just issued an executive order giving the President power over independent agencies. (Ars Technica)

3 DeepSeek is considering its first external funding round 
It badly needs more chips and more servers to meet exploding demand. (The Information $)
+ Meanwhile, Alibaba is opening up its first data center in Mexico. (South China Morning Post $) 
+ How a top Chinese AI model overcame US sanctions. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Electric truck maker Nikola has filed for bankruptcy protection
It was once (on paper) worth more than Ford. But then a fraud scandal hit, and now it’s run out of money. (Business Insider $)
+ The race to clean up heavy-duty trucks. (MIT Technology Review)

5  How a crypto scammer turned a small town against itself 
Shan Hanes drained Elkhart in Kansas dry—and turned neighbor against neighbor in the process.  (NYT $)

6 Google’s has unveiled a new AI ‘co-scientist’ tool 
Researchers are excited, but it’s hard to say what its true impact will be. (New Scientist $)
+ A data bottleneck is holding AI science back, says new Nobel winner. (MIT Technology Review)

7 People are logging off
Eight years ago, social media became a battleground. This time, many don’t see much point in fighting online. (New Yorker $)

8 What America’s first generation chipmakers endured 
They had to work in unsafe conditions—and never got answers about why their kids were born with birth defects. (The Verge)

9 Can you use ChatGPT to learn a new language?
Kind of, a bit? But not really. (Wired $)
+ Translators in Turkey are training the AI tools that will replace them. (Rest of World)

10 The latest TikTok trend? Using AI to time travel 
And not just to disasters like Pompeii or the Titanic—you could just be an American teen in 1983. (Fast Company)

Quote of the day

“They destroyed everything here, and now we’re supposed to give up? How does that work?”

— Alla Kriuchkova, a resident of Bucha in Ukraine, where Russian soldiers slaughtered hundreds of people in March 2022, tells the New York Times how angry she is at President Trump for suggesting the war is Ukraine’s fault.

The big story

The $100 billion bet that a postindustrial US city can reinvent itself as a high-tech hub

KATE WARREN

July 2023

On a day in late April, a small drilling rig sits at the edge of the scrubby overgrown fields of Syracuse, New York, taking soil samples. It’s the first sign of construction on what could become the largest semiconductor manufacturing facility in the United States.

The CHIPS and Science Act was widely viewed by industry leaders and politicians as a way to secure supply chains, and make the United States competitive again in semiconductor chip manufacturing. 

Now Syracuse is about to become an economic test of whether, over the next several decades, aggressive government policies—and the massive corporate investments they spur—can both boost the country’s manufacturing prowess and revitalize neglected parts of the country. Read the full story.

—David Rotman

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ Wilson Bentley found snowflakes so beautiful, he created a whole new way to photograph them.
+ You can’t really eliminate stress in life, but you can get better at managing it. 
+ The best Quentin Tarantino movies, ranked. 
+ You only need a few minutes and a kettlebell for a great full-body workout. 

The Download: selling via AI, and Congress testing tech

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

Your most important customer may be AI

Imagine you run a meal prep company that teaches people how to make simple and delicious food. When someone asks ChatGPT for a recommendation for meal prep companies, yours is described as complicated and confusing. Why? Because the AI saw that in one of your ads there were chopped chives on the top of a bowl of food, and it determined that nobody is going to want to spend time chopping up chives.

It may seem odd for companies or brands to be mindful of what an AI “thinks” in this way but it’s already becoming relevant as consumers increasingly use AI to make purchase recommendations.

The end results may be a supercharged version of search engine optimization (SEO) where making sure that you’re positively perceived by a large language model might become one of the most important things a brand can do. Read the full story. 

—Scott J Mulligan

Congress used to evaluate emerging technologies. Let’s do it again.

The US Office of Technology Assessment, an independent office created by Congress in the early 1970s, produced some 750 reports during its 23-year history, assessing technologies as varied as electronic surveillance, genetic engineering, hazardous-waste disposal, and remote sensing from outer space.

The office functioned like a debunking arm. It sussed out the snake oil. Lifted the lid on the Mechanical Turk. The reports saw through the alluring gleam of overhyped technologies. 

In the years since its unceremonious defunding in 1995, perennial calls have gone out: Rouse the office from the dead! But, with advances in robotics, big data, and AI systems, these calls have taken on a new level of urgency. Read the full story. 

—Peter Andrey Smith

This story is from the next edition of our print magazine, which is all about relationships. Subscribe now to read it and get a copy when it lands on February 26!

How generative AI is changing online search

Generative AI search, one of MIT Technology Review’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2025, is ushering a new era of the internet. Despite fewer clicks, copyright fights, and sometimes iffy answers, AI could unlock new ways to summon all the world’s knowledge. Our editor in chief Mat Honan and executive editor Niall Firth explored how AI will alter search in a live half-hour Roundtables session yesterday. Watch our recording of their conversation.

MIT Technology Review Narrated: The weeds are winning

As the climate changes, genetic engineering will be essential for growing food. But is it creating a race of superweeds? This is our latest story to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we’re publishing each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released. 

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Electricity demand is set to soar globally
On current trends, we’ll add the equivalent of Japan’s entire consumption each year between now and 2027. (The Verge)
+ China is planning to boost its energy storage sector to cope with a surge in demand. (South China Morning Post $)
+ Why artificial intelligence and clean energy need each other. (MIT Technology Review) 

2 How Israel uses US-made AI to wage war
Its use of OpenAI and Microsoft skyrocketed after October 7 2023. (AP)
+ OpenAI’s new defense contract completes its military pivot. (MIT Technology Review) 
+ How the drone battles of Ukraine are shaping the future of war. (New Scientist $)

3 Google’s AI efforts are being marred by turf wars 
It has a lot of people working on AI, and they’re not all pulling in the same direction. (The Information $)

4 OpenAI’s ex-CTO has launched a rival lab
Thinking Machines will focus on how humans and AI can work together better. (Axios)

5 Humane’s AI Pin is dead 
HP is buying most of its assets for $116 million, which is quite the climbdown from being valued at nearly $1 billion. (TechCrunch) 

6 Tech IPOs keep getting delayed
Everyone’s waiting for more certainty and stability. But there’s no sign of it arriving. (NYT $)

7 Scientists in the US feel under siege
Sweeping layoffs, funding freezes and executive orders are really starting to bite. (NBC)
+ It’s likely only the start of a long battle over how research can and will be done in the United States. (The Atlantic $)

8 China may use Tesla as a pawn in US trade negotiations
That gives it quite a lot of leverage to use, if it wishes. (Gizmodo)

9 Researchers have linked a gene to the emergence of spoken language
This is cool, and could even one day potentially help people with speech problems. (ABC)

10 The chances of an asteroid hitting us in 2032 just went up
Better try to really savor the next seven years, just in case. (New Scientist $)

Quote of the day

“Well, he’s wrong.”

—A fired Federal Aviation Administration employee responds to Elon Musk’s claim that no one who works on safety was laid off in a recent round of job cuts, Rolling Stone reports. 

The big story

A brief, weird history of brainwashing

SHIRLEY CHONG

April 2024

On a spring day in 1959, war correspondent Edward Hunter testified before a US Senate subcommittee investigating “the effect of Red China Communes on the United States.”

Hunter discussed a new concept to the American public: a supposedly scientific system for changing people’s minds, even making them love things they once hated.

Much of it was baseless, but Hunter’s sensational tales still became an important part of the disinformation and pseudoscience that fueled a “mind-control race” during the Cold War. US officials prepared themselves for a psychic war with the Soviet Union and China by spending millions of dollars on research into manipulating the human brain.

But while the science never exactly panned out, residual beliefs fostered by this bizarre conflict continue to play a role in ideological and scientific debates to this day. Read the full story.

—Annalee Newitz

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ I guess this must be the gator equivalent of a body scrub in a spa. 
+ You really can make anything with Lego bricks.
+ The secret to sticking to any exercise routine? You have to enjoy it! 
+ There are few things more comforting than recipes that combine cheese and pasta.

The Download: 4G on the moon, and parenting in the digital age

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

Nokia is putting the first cellular network on the moon

Later this month, Intuitive Machines, the private company behind the first commercial lander that touched down on the moon, will launch a second lunar mission. The plan is to deploy a lander, a rover, and hopper to explore a site near the lunar south pole that could harbor water ice, and to put a communications satellite on lunar orbit. 

But the mission will also bring something that’s never been installed on the moon or anywhere else in space before—a fully functional 4G cellular network. Read our story to learn why. 

—Jacek Krywko 

How to have a child in the digital age

Before journalist and culture critic Amanda Hess even got pregnant with her first child, in 2020, the internet knew she was trying. She saw pregnancy ads way before a doctor. 

Hess’s experience is pretty typical these days, but still raises some big questions. How do we retain control over our bodies when corporations and the medical establishment have access to our most personal information? What happens when people stop relying on friends and family for advice on having a kid and instead go online, where there’s a constant onslaught of information? 

In her new book, Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age, Hess explores these questions while delving into her firsthand experiences with apps, products, algorithms, online forums, advertisers, and more—each promising an easier, healthier, better path to parenthood. Hess asks: Is that really what they’re delivering? Read our interview with her. 

—Alison Arieff 

This subscriber-only story is from the next edition of our print magazine, which is all about relationships. Subscribe now to get a copy when it lands on February 26!

Inside China’s electric-vehicle-to-humanoid-robot pivot

—James O’Donnell 

While DOGE’s efforts to shutter federal agencies dominate news from Washington, the Trump administration is also making global moves. Many of these center on China, which is leading the world in electric vehicles, robotaxis, drones, and with the launch of DeepSeek, perhaps AI soon too. 

Now a new trend is unfolding within China’s tech scene: Companies that were dominant in electric vehicles are betting big on translating that success into developing humanoid robots. I spoke with China reporter Caiwei Chen about what it might mean for Trump’s policies.

This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter all about the latest in the world of AI. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Monday.

How will generative AI change search?

Generative AI search, one of MIT Technology Review’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2025, is ushering in a new era of the internet. Despite fewer clicks, copyright fights, and sometimes iffy answers, AI could unlock new ways to summon all the world’s knowledge. 

Join editor in chief Mat Honan and executive editor Niall Firth at 1.30pm ET today for a subscriber-only Roundtable conversation exploring how AI will alter search. Sign up here to attend, and if you haven’t already, read Mat’s feature about it too. 

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 DOGE is on the cusp of accessing US taxpayer data
What they’re planning to do with it is anyone’s guess. (CNN)
+ FDA staff reviewing Musk’s company Neuralink were fired by DOGE last weekend. (Reuters $)
+ A top official at the Social Security Administration just left after refusing DOGE’s request to access sensitive records. (NBC)
+ Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? It’s complex. (MIT Technology Review)

2 DeepSeek may be shifting towards monetizing its AI models 
Right now, they’re open source and free. How long can that last? (South China Morning Post $)
+ How DeepSeek ripped up the AI playbook—and why everyone’s going to follow its lead. (MIT Technology Review)

3 We’re inching closer to a norovirus vaccine 
Plenty of people might welcome this, especially after this winter’s nasty rash of infections. (Scientific American $)

4 The war on diversity and inclusion initiatives is a smokescreen
And the people waging it will go much further, if we let them. (The Verge)

5 Some states claim zero abortions
Which is impossible, and hints at something worrying: official statistics are being politicized in the US. (Undark)

6 China is looking for its own ways to protect data from quantum computers
It’s spurning algorithms created in the US in case they contain secret back doors. (New Scientist $)
+ Chinese President Xi Jinping met some of the country’s top tech execs yesterday. (The Information $)

7 Reddit moderators are fighting to keep AI slop off the platform
It’s an important battle to many—but it’s only going to get harder and harder. (Ars Technica)

8 Meta has wasted $70 billion on the metaverse. This advert shows why. 
This must presumably be the best they could do, and yet it’s just embarrassingly bad. (Forbes) 

9 Working from home has turned us into office weirdos
But hey, maybe this is our chance to carve out some better, kinder office etiquette. (Business Insider $)
+ To be fair, we still don’t know how to behave on Slack or Zoom either. (NYT $)

10 Are noise cancelling headphones causing hearing problems?
Audiologists say excessive use may interfere with the way teens learn to process speech and noise. (BBC)

Quote of the day

“People do not feel safe speaking out in this country against the government.” 

—Ryan Calo, a law professor at the University of Washington, tells the Washington Post that Elon Musk and President Trump’s keenness to take vengeance on people who criticize them is having a chilling effect.

The big story

What is AI?

JUN IONEDA

What is AI?

July 2024

Artificial intelligence is the hottest technology of our time. But what is it? It sounds like a stupid question, but it’s one that’s never been more urgent. 

If you’re willing to buckle up and come for a ride, I can tell you why nobody really knows, why everybody seems to disagree, and why you’re right to care about it. Read the full story.

—Will Douglas Heaven

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ Love these glitzy, cheerful photos taken behind the scenes of last night’s BAFTAs. 
+ Meet Victorian London’s ‘cat’s meat men’. 
+ Led Zeppelin fans rejoice: the band’s first official documentary is out. 
+ Want to feel happier? Let Dr Laurie Santos from Yale explain what you need to do.

The Download: ancient DNA’s modern uses, and an AI-artist collaboration

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

Adventures in the genetic time machine

An ancient-DNA revolution is turning the high-speed equipment used to study the DNA of living things on to specimens from the past. 

The technology is being used to create genetic maps of saber-toothed cats, cave bears, and thousands of ancient humans, including Vikings, Polynesian navigators, and numerous Neanderthals. The total number of ancient humans studied is more than 10,000 and rising fast.

The old genes have already revealed remarkable stories of human migrations around the globe. 

But researchers are hoping ancient DNA will be more than a telescope on the past—they hope it will have concrete practical use in the present. Read the full story. 

—Antonio Regalado

This artist collaborates with AI and robots

Many artists worry about the encroachment of artificial intelligence on artistic creation. But Sougwen Chung, a nonbinary Canadian-Chinese artist, instead sees AI as an opportunity for artists to embrace uncertainty and challenge people to think about technology and creativity in unexpected ways. 

Chung’s exhibitions are driven by technology; they’re also live and kinetic, with the artwork emerging in real time. Audiences watch as the artist works alongside or surrounded by one or more robots, human and machine drawing simultaneously. These works are at the frontier of what it means to make art in an age of fast-­accelerating artificial intelligence and robotics. Here’s what they have to say about their work, and AI in art generally.

—Stephen Ornes 

Both of the subscriber-only stories above are from the next edition of our print magazine, which is all about relationships. Subscribe now to get a copy when it lands on February 26!

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 US disease monitoring capabilities are disappearing
DOGE just fired half of a critical ‘disease detective’ team at the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. (CBS)
+ A measles outbreak in Texas is spreading rapidly. (NBC)
+ Louisiana said it’ll stop promoting mass vaccination programs, on the same day RFK Jr was sworn in as health secretary. (NYT $) 
+ Why childhood vaccines are a public health success story. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Who is Elon Musk accountable to? 
When you’re the world’s richest man, it seems the answer is: no one. (WSJ $)
+ Musk is using X to spread misinformation about DOGE’s targets. (WP $)
+ A Musk-linked group offered $5 million for proof of voter fraud. It couldn’t find any. (The Guardian)

3 South Korea removed DeepSeek from app stores
Quite a few countries have done this now, citing privacy concerns. (BBC)
+ Baidu and OpenAI are responding to DeepSeek with new launches. (CNN)
+ E-scooter brands are among many companies in China racing to integrate DeepSeek AI. (South China Morning Post $)
+ Four Chinese AI startups to watch beyond DeepSeek. (MIT Technology Review) 

4 Inside the US’s fragile nuclear renaissance
Tech companies are betting that it can help meet AI’s energy demands. But huge challenges lay ahead. (The Information $)
+ Why Microsoft made a deal to help restart Three Mile Island. (MIT Technology Review)

5 OpenAI’s board rejected Elon Musk’s offer to buy it for $97.4 billion
Unanimously. (WSJ $)
+ Musk did it to try to chuck a grenade into OpenAI’s process of transitioning from a research lab to a for-profit company. (Vox $)

6 A new system can clone your voice from just five seconds of audio
And the end result is scarily good. (The Register)
+ Motor neuron diseases took their voices. AI is bringing them back. (MIT Technology Review)

7 People who lost money on crypto are furious with Argentina’s President 
He’s facing impeachment calls over allegations he promoted a classic ‘pump and dump’ scam over the weekend. (CNN)

8 How musicians are using AI tools 
AI makes it easy to do traditionally tricky engineering tasks like isolating and extracting sounds. (The Next Web)
+ A Disney director tried—and failed—to use an AI Hans Zimmer to create a soundtrack. (MIT Technology Review) 

9Meta is working on humanoid robots 
It’s hoping it can combine its experience in both hardware and AI to win in this increasingly crowded category. (Bloomberg $)
+ China’s EV giants are betting big on humanoid robots. (MIT Technology Review)

10 How Diablo hackers uncovered a speedrunning scandal 
This makes me wonder just how endemic cheating could be in the gaming community. (Ars Technica)

Quote of the day

“He seems to have ghosted his own company.”

—Investor Nell Minow, vice chair of ValueEdge Advisors, tells the Washington Post that Elon Musk’s inattention is starting to do real harm to Tesla.

The big story

Three-parent baby technique could create babies at risk of severe disease

March 2023

When the first baby born using a controversial procedure that meant he had three genetic parents was born back in 2016, it made headlines. The baby boy inherited most of his DNA from his mother and father, but he also had a tiny amount from a third person.

The idea was to avoid having the baby inherit a fatal illness, and it seemed to work. But new evidence now suggests this technique might not work as hoped, due to a phenomenon scientists call “reversion.” Read the full story.

—Jessica Hamzelou

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ Willing to bet your weekend wasn’t as eventful as this guy’s was.
+ Stop overthinking. Start ‘satisficing’.  
+ Well, that’s one thing AI definitely can’t do. 
+ If you’ve only got the time or energy for one stretch, make it this one.

The Download: China’s EV to humanoid robot pivot, and voice clone censorship

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

China’s electric vehicle giants are betting big on humanoid robots

As the electric-vehicle war in China calms down, leaving a few established players to dominate the field, Chinese EV giants are expanding into humanoid robotics. 

The shift is driven by financial necessity, but also by the advantages these companies command in the new sector: strong existing supply chains and years of experience building cutting-edge tech. The Chinese government is starting to promote and subsidize the transition, too. 

It’s becoming clear that China is now committed to becoming a global leader in robotics and automation, just as it did with EVs. Read the full story.

—Caiwei Chen

A woman made her AI voice clone say “arse.” Then she got banned.

—Jessica Hamzelou 

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been speaking to people whose voices have been recreated with AI. Both Joyce Esser, who lives in the UK, and Jules Rodriguez, who lives in Miami, Florida, have forms of motor neuron disease—a class of progressive disorders that result in the gradual loss of the ability to move and control muscles, and eventually even speak. 

Now, thanks to an AI tool built by ElevenLabs, they can “speak” in their old voices by typing sentences into devices, selecting letters by hand or eye gaze. It’s been an amazing experience for both of them. But speaking through a device has limitations. It’s slow, and it doesn’t sound completely natural. And, strangely, users might be limited in what they’re allowed to say. Read the full story.

This story is from The Checkup, our weekly newsletter all about health and biotech. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Thursday.

MIT Technology Review Narrated: Why AI could eat quantum computing’s lunch

Rapid advances in applying artificial intelligence to physics and chemistry have some people questioning whether we will even need quantum computers at all. Could we, in fact, use AI to solve a substantial chunk of the most interesting problems in science before large-scale quantum computers become a reality?

This is our latest story to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we’re publishing each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 The US Senate confirmed Robert F Kennedy JR as health secretary 
What happens now? (The Atlantic $)
+ Here’s how scientists are reacting. (Scientific American $)
+ All the evidence suggests that bird flu is spreading undetected in the US. (Ars Technica)

2 We’re trying to get AI to run before it can walk
AI agents aren’t really ready yet. But the logic of competition means they’re being unleashed anyway. (Vox $)
+ A lot of people will try using AI agents for the first time this year. (IEEE Spectrum) 
+ Anthropic’s chief scientist on 4 ways agents will be even better in 2025. (MIT Technology Review)

3 TikTok is back on Apple and Google app stores in the US
After a nearly month-long standoff since a law banning the app took effect. (NPR)

4 Anthropic is getting ready to release a new AI model
It’s using a different approach to others, combining the ability to reason and execute simpler tasks in one go. (The Information $)
+ Why OpenAI’s reasoning model is such a big deal. (MIT Technology Review)

5 The DOGE website has been defaced 
Because, rather than using government servers, it pulls from an insecure database that anyone can edit. (The Verge)
+ The DOGE team is heading to NASA next. (Business Insider $)
+ DOGE staffers might need a crash course in COBOL. (Fast Company)

6 It’s only a matter of time until there’s a Starlink catastrophe 
Scientists warn we’re not doing enough to mitigate collisions or environmental issues. (CNET)
+ Bolivians are illegally smuggling in Starlink. (Rest of World)
+ How Antarctica’s history of isolation is ending—thanks to Starlink. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Apple is mysteriously teasing a new product 
We’ll find out what it is next Wednesday. (Engadget)

8 You can no longer review the Gulf of America on Google Maps
Apparently Google can’t handle even a tiny bit of criticism. (BBC)

9 How a computer that ‘drunk dials’ videos is exposing YouTube’s secrets
It’s 20 years old, and used by over a third of the world, but we know remarkably little about it. (BBC Future)

10 Generate some AI music for your lover this Valentine’s Day 
No skills needed. (The Conversation $)

Quote of the day

“I want you to shush your mouth.”

—One of many bonkers things Elon Musk’s 4-year-old child named X Æ A-Xii seems to have said to President Trump during their appearance in the Oval Office this week, Gizmodo reports. 

The big story

Welcome to Chula Vista, where police drones respond to 911 calls

DON BARTLETTI/LOS ANGELES TIMES VIA GETTY IMAGES

February 2023

In the skies above Chula Vista, California, where the police department runs a drone program, it’s not uncommon to see an unmanned aerial vehicle darting across the sky.

Chula Vista is one of a dozen departments in the US that operate what are called drone-as-first-responder programs, where drones are dispatched by pilots, who are listening to live 911 calls, and often arrive first at the scenes of accidents, emergencies, and crimes, cameras in tow.

But many argue that police forces’ adoption of drones is happening too quickly, without a well-informed public debate around privacy regulations, tactics, and limits. There’s also little evidence that drone policing reduces crime. Read the full story.

—Patrick Sisson

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ Listen up, lovebirds: the way to anyone’s heart is through their stomach. 
+ All You Need is Love… and, if you’re also a big Beatles fan, you also need to watch this fascinating lecture. 
+ The White Lotus’s third season drops on Sunday! Read this interview with its creator. 
+ This beautiful free video game brings an ancient Armenian folk tale to life.

The Download: AI-restored voices, and bot relationships

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

Motor neuron diseases took their voices. AI is bringing them back.

Jules Rodriguez lost his voice in October of last year. His speech had been deteriorating since a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2020, but a tracheostomy to help him breathe dealt the final blow. 

Rodriguez and his wife, Maria Fernandez, who live in Miami, thought they would never hear his voice again. Then they re-created it using AI. After feeding old recordings of Rodriguez’s voice into a tool trained on voices from film, television, radio, and podcasts, the couple were able to generate a voice clone—a way for Jules to communicate in his “old voice.”

Rodriguez is one of over a thousand people with speech difficulties who have cloned their voices using free software from ElevenLabs. The AI voice clones aren’t perfect. But they represent a vast improvement on previous communication technologies and are already improving the lives of people with motor neuron diseases. Read the full story. 

—Jessica Hamzelou

The AI relationship revolution is already here

AI is everywhere, and it’s starting to alter our relationships in new and unexpected ways—relationships with our spouses, kids, colleagues, friends, and even ourselves. Although the technology remains unpredictable and sometimes baffling, individuals from all across the world and from all walks of life are finding it useful, supportive, and comforting, too. 

People are using large language models to seek validation, mediate marital arguments, and help navigate interactions with their community. They’re using it for support in parenting, for self-care, and even to fall in love. In the coming decades, many more humans will join them. And this is only the beginning. What happens next is up to us. Read the full story. 

—Rhiannon Williams

This subscriber-only story is the next edition of our print magazine, which is all about relationships. Subscribe now to get a copy when it lands on February 26! 

What a major battery fire means for the future of energy storage

A few weeks ago, a fire broke out at the Moss Landing Power Plant in California, the world’s largest collection of batteries on the grid. Although the flames were extinguished in a few days, the metaphorical smoke is still clearing. Residents have reported health issues, and pollutants have been found in the water and ground nearby. A lawsuit has been filed. 

In the wake of high-profile fires like Moss Landing, there are understandable concerns about battery safety. At the same time, as more wind, solar power, and other variable electricity sources come online, large energy storage installations will be even more crucial for the grid. 

Read our story to catch up on what happened in this fire, what the lingering concerns are, and what comes next for the energy storage industry.

—Casey Crownhart 

This story is from The Spark, our weekly newsletter explaining the tech solving the climate crisis. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Inside Elon Musk’s AI coup
If you think government run by AI sounds dystopian, you’d be right. (New Yorker $)
+ Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? It’s complex. (MIT Technology Review) 
+ Musk says DOGE is being transparent. That couldn’t be further from the truth. (Gizmodo)
 
2 OpenAI is loosening restrictions on what its bots can say
It’s nudging the balance away from safety, and towards ‘intellectual freedom’. (The Verge)
+ Musk’s lawyers say he’ll withdraw his $97.4 billion bid for OpenAI if it drops plans to become a for-profit company. (Reuters $)
 
3 Dating apps leave people in the dark over dangerous users
Match Group seems to do shockingly little in response to reports of rape. (The Guardian)
 
4 Apple is reportedly exploring humanoid robots
But it’s still very early days, so I wouldn’t like to bet on anything coming to fruition just yet. (TechCrunch)
+ Here’s what’s next for robots. (MIT Technology Review)
 
5 Efficiency is the new frontier for AI
DeepSeek claims to have built a model for $6 million. Another team says they’ve done it for just $6. (The Economist $)
+ China’s EV companies are racing to add DeepSeek’s AI to their cars. (Business Insider $) 
+ China’s smartphone makers are rushing to adopt it too. (South China Morning Post $)
 
6 Apple just launched a giant health study
It will analyze how data from its devices can monitor, manage and predict changes in users’ health. (CNBC)
 
7 Inside the radically unambitious return of Pebble smartwatches 
It’s kinda telling that building devices that can last for years is so unusual. (Fast Company $)
 
8 Syria just hosted its first international tech conference in 50 years
Hope abounds as the country starts to rebuild after a 13-year-old civil war. (Rest of World) 
 
9 The guy who threw away $775 million in Bitcoin wants to buy the garbage dump
He’s never going to give up, is he. (Quartz $)
 
10 Google is going to get AI to guess how old you are for age verification
I fear it’d take one look at my tastes and add on a few decades. (The Verge)

Quote of the day

“The AI summaries of questions on Ask are terrible. Can we go back to answering the questions people actually asked?”

—Google employees bemoan the use of AI to compile their various questions into a single one during all-staff meetings, The Guardian reports.

The big story

Whatever happened to DNA computing?

DON BARTLETTI/LOS ANGELES TIMES VIA GETTY IMAGES

October 2021

For more than five decades, engineers have shrunk silicon-­based transistors over and over again, creating progressively smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient computers in the process. But the long technological winning streak—and the miniaturization that has enabled it —can’t last forever.

What could this successor technology be? There has been no shortage of alternative computing approaches proposed over the last 50 years. Here are five of the more memorable ones. Read about five of the most memorable ones.

—Lakshmi Chandrasekaran

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ Monty is such a good boy that he’s been crowned best dog in America. 
+ A shortcut recipe for chicken rice? I’m going to have to try it out. 
+ If you’ve got a tight neck and shoulders, a quick hit of relief is just ten minutes away. 
+ To make lasting changes to your life, motivation has to come from within.

The Download: robot reanimation, and AI crawler wars

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

Robots are bringing new life to extinct species

In the last few years, paleontologists have developed a new trick for turning back time and studying prehistoric animals: building experimental robotic models of them. 

In the absence of a living specimen, scientists say, an ambling, flying, swimming, or slithering automaton is the next best thing for studying the behavior of extinct organisms. Here are four examples of robots that are shedding light on creatures of yore.

—Shi En Kim

This subscriber-only story is from an upcoming edition of our print magazine. Subscribe now to get a copy when it lands on February 26! 

AI crawler wars threaten to make the web more closed for everyone

—Shayne Longpre is a PhD Candidate at MIT, where his research focuses on the intersection of AI and policy. He leads the Data Provenance Initiative.

We often take the internet for granted. It’s an ocean of information at our fingertips—and it simply works. But this system relies on swarms of “crawlers”—bots that roam the web, visit millions of websites every day, and report what they see. 

Crawlers are endemic. Now representing half of all internet traffic, they will soon outpace human traffic. This unseen subway of the web ferries information from site to site, day and night. And as of late, they serve one more purpose: Companies such as OpenAI use web-crawled data to train their artificial intelligence systems, like ChatGPT. 

Understandably, websites are now fighting back for fear that this invasive species—AI crawlers—will help displace them. But there’s a problem: This pushback is also threatening the transparency and open borders of the web. Read the full story.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 The US is not experiencing an AI energy crisis yet
We don’t know how much energy AI will end up needing. We do know fossil fuels are destroying our planet. (The Atlantic $)
+ AI is an energy hog. This is what it means for climate change. (MIT Technology Review)

2 The US and UK refused to sign an international AI declaration 
Despite its name, the AI Action Summit seems to have been a lot of talk and not much action. (BBC)
+ Anthropic’s CEO decried it as a ‘missed opportunity’. (TechCrunch)
+ JD Vance used his speech at the summit to rail against Europe’s ‘excessive’ AI regulations. (AP)
+ It seems to have worked—the EU’s already scrapping some proposed new rules. (Sifted)
+ And it’s committing to plow over $200 billion into AI development in a bid to try and compete. (Engadget)

3 DOGE’s latest target is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The fact it was about to start regulating X is inconsequential, apparently. (NPR)
+ How Musk’s companies stand to benefit from his position leading DOGE. (NYT $)
+ Trump is expanding DOGE’s power to cut the federal workforce. (WP $)
+ Privacy advocates and labor unions have filed a lawsuit to try to block DOGE’s data access. (The Verge)
+ What if Trump just…refuses to comply with the law? (New Yorker $)

4 Apple is partnering with Alibaba to launch AI features in China
It decided against DeepSeek, citing a lack of experience. (The Information $)
+ Alibaba’s Qwen powers the world’s top ten open source large language models. (South China Morning Post)
+ Four Chinese AI startups to watch beyond DeepSeek. (MIT Technology Review)

5 A dairy worker in Nevada has been infected with a new strain of bird flu 
This marks the first time this new strain is known to have jumped from birds to cows to a person. (Ars Technica)
+ How the US is preparing for a potential bird flu pandemic. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Wikipedia is increasingly having to defend its US editors from attacks
This is what the erosion of free speech really looks like, by the way. (404 Media)

7 Some Temu sellers are using the US Postal Service for free
Counterfeit postage labels are being openly promoted on Chinese social media. (Rest of World)

8 How Meta ended up cancelling its commitment to diversity
Pretty easily, as Zuckerberg never really saw it as a priority to begin with. (The Guardian)

9 The Earth’s inner core is changing shape 
Pretty wild! And it’s possible that it’s linked to changes in the magnetic field. (Scientific American $)

10 Pakistan’s rickshaws are at the forefront of its EV revolution
This makes so much sense, if they can overcome the cost barrier. (Rest of World)

Quote of the day

“So far, what we are seeing is a lot of cost and a lot of chaos.”

—Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford, bemoans the early impact of Trump’s tariffs at a conference in New York this week, Business Insider reports.

The big story

The quest to build wildfire-resistant homes

DON BARTLETTI/LOS ANGELES TIMES VIA GETTY IMAGES

April 2023

With each devastating wildfire in the US West, officials consider new methods or regulations that might save homes or lives the next time.

In the parts of California where the hillsides meet human development, and where the state has suffered recurring seasonal fire tragedies, that search for new means of survival has especially high stakes.

Many of these methods are low cost and low tech, but no less innovative. In fact, the hardest part to tackle may not be materials engineering, but social change. Read the full story.

—Susie Cagle

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ This roundup of Victorian-era content made me giggle. I’m going to start using ‘the morbs’.
+ How to feel more alive. (NYT $)
+ Despite what society tells us, all the evidence shows that success does not have an age limit. 
+ Why does Hokusai’s Great Wave have such enduring mass appeal?