The Download: climate tipping point alarms, and AI’s vision of the 3028 Olympics

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 UK is building an alarm system for climate tipping points

The news: The UK’s new moonshot research agency just launched an £81 million ($106 million) program to develop early warning systems to sound the alarm if Earth gets perilously close to crossing climate tipping points.

How they’re doing it: The teams the agency supports will work toward three goals: developing low-cost sensors to provide more precise data about the conditions of these systems; deploying those and other sensing technologies to create an observational network to monitor these tipping systems; and building computer models that harness physics and artificial intelligence to pick up subtle early warning signs of tipping in the data.

What it matters: The goal of the five-year program will be to reduce scientific uncertainty about when these events could occur, how they would affect the planet and the species on it, and over what period those effects might develop and persist. Read the full story.

—James Temple

What this futuristic Olympics video says about the state of generative AI

The Olympic Games in Paris just finished last month and the Paralympics are still underway, so the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles feel like a lifetime from now. But the prospect of watching the games in his home city has Josh Kahn, a filmmaker in the sports entertainment world, thinking even further into the future: What might an LA Olympics in the year 3028 look like?

It’s the perfect type of creative exercise for AI video generation, which allows users to generate fairly high-definition video in minutes. More than anything, the video shows what a boon the generative technology may be for creators. However, it also indicates what’s holding it back.

Read the full story.

—James O’Donnell

Coming soon: Our 2024 list of Innovators Under 35

To tackle complex global problems such as preventing disease and mitigating climate change, we’re going to need new ideas from our brightest minds. Every year, MIT Technology Review identifies a new class of Innovators Under 35 taking on these and other challenges.

On September 10, we will honor the 2024 class of Innovators Under 35. These 35 researchers and entrepreneurs are rising stars in their fields pursuing ambitious projects. Each is doing groundbreaking work to advance one of five areas: materials science, biotechnology, robotics, artificial intelligence, or climate and energy.

Keep an eye on this newsletter next Tuesday for our announcement of the 2024 list, which will be made available exclusively to subscribers. Read the full story for more details, and if you’re not a subscriber already, sign up here to save 25%.

—Amy Nordum

If you can’t wait until then, we’ll reveal our Innovator of the Year during a live broadcast on LinkedIn on Monday, September 9. Register here to be among the first to find out who it is, and learn about their work and the impact they’re having.

MIT Technology Review Narrated: How a tiny Pacific Island became the global capital of cybercrime

Tokelau is a group of three isolated atolls strung out across the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and Hawaii.

Despite its size, Tokelau has become an internet giant. Until recently, its .tk domain had more users than any other country’s: a staggering 25 million. Yet only one website with a .tk domain is actually from Tokelau. Nearly all the others are used by spammers, phishers, and cybercriminals.

This is the story of how Tokelau unwittingly became the global capital of cybercrime—and its fight to fix its reputation.

This is our latest story to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast. In partnership with News Over Audio, we’ll be making a selection of our stories available, each one read by a professional voice actor. You’ll be able to listen to them on the go or download them to listen to offline.

We’re publishing a new story each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, including some taken from our most recent print magazine.

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 Clearview AI has been slapped with its largest fine to date 
A Dutch regulator has ordered it to pay more than 30 million euros for creating an illegal database of “unique biometric codes.” (The Verge)
+ Clearview has missed its window to appeal the decision. (Ars Technica)
+ It’s not the first time the company has been in legal hot water. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Bluesky is gaining millions of new users
It’s struggling to cope with the influx triggered by X’s shutdown in Brazil. (TechCrunch)
+ Some worry that judge Alexandre de Moraes has overreached his powers. (Economist $)

3 Training AI to appear human-like is unrewarding work
Workers cite long hours, low pay, and unstable employment. (Fast Company $)
+ The people paid to train AI are outsourcing their work… to AI. (MIT Technology Review) 

4 The Chinese Communist Party is silencing protesters in San Francisco
It’s part of a bigger pattern of China overreaching beyond its borders. (WP $)
+ How Twitter’s “Teacher Li” became the central hub of China protest information. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Mega AI data centers are coming
But the companies behind the multi-billion dollar projects are a mystery. (The Information $)
+ Energy-hungry data centers are quietly moving into cities. (MIT Technology Review)

6 New York vigilantes are making big bucks reporting idling polluters
The only problem is, the police keep getting in the way. (NY Mag $)

7 Beware of Bitcoin ATM scams
Criminals are finding new ways to part victims from their hard-earned cash. (The Verge) 

8 What’s going to happen to all our old gas-powered cars?
Giving them a second life undermines efforts to curb climate change. (Vox)
+ This company wants to inject petroleum carbon emissions back underground. (The Atlantic $)
+ The problem with plug-in hybrids? Their drivers. (MIT Technology Review)

9 You can’t play video games on Microsoft’s new AI computers
Their new chip architecture isn’t playing ball with more than 1,000 games. (WSJ $)

10 Yarn made from potato is a sustainable cotton alternative
There’s no guarantee it’ll taste good, though. (New Scientist $)

Quote of the day

“We’re a Brazilian app now.”

—Bluesky jokes about the millions of new users it’s gained in the wake of Brazil’s Supreme Court banning access to X in the country, the Financial Times reports.

The big story

Hydrogen trains could revolutionize how Americans get around

April 2024

Like a mirage speeding across the dusty desert outside Pueblo, Colorado, the first hydrogen-fuel-cell passenger train in the United States is getting warmed up on its test track. It will soon be shipped to Southern California, where it is slated to carry riders on San Bernardino County’s Arrow commuter rail service before the end of the year.

The best way to decarbonize railroads is the subject of growing debate among regulators, industry, and activists. The debate is partly technological, revolving around whether hydrogen fuel cells, batteries, or overhead electric wires offer the best performance for different railroad situations. But it’s also political: a question of the extent to which decarbonization can, or should, usher in a broader transformation of rail transportation.

In the insular world of railroading, this hydrogen-powered train is a Rorschach test. To some, it represents the future of rail transportation. To others, it looks like a big, shiny distraction. Read the full story.

—Benjamin Schneider

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 tweet ’em at me.)

+ The time and effort it must have taken to paint all 151 original Pokemon is mind-boggling.
+ You’ve heard of Stonehenge, but do you know Kilmartin Glen?
+ The Netherlands recently hosted a celebration for thousands of redheads.
+ Peter Blackert builds some seriously impressive Lego cars.

The Download: introducing: the 125th Anniversary 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 125th Anniversary issue

With this issue, we wanted to celebrate our milestone as a publication without dwelling too much on our own past. Victory laps are for race cars, not magazines. Instead, we decided to try to use history as a way to explore what things may look like over the next 125 years. 

The longer you report on tech, the more you realize how often we get the future wrong. Predictions have a way of not coming true. The things that seem so clear now can shift and change, rearranging themselves into wholly new forms we never thought of.

But also, predictions that we laugh off as having been so wrong often have a way of coming true eventually. Throughout this latest edition of MIT Technology Review you’ll find some of our best bets as to what the future may hold. We may not get it exactly right, but we think we’re at least pointing toward where things are headed.

Here’s a selection of some of the most fascinating stories from the magazine:

+ What the future and its emerging technologies hold for those born today, from intelligent digital companions for life, to virtual first dates.

+ What the rare earth metal neodymium shows us about our clean-energy future, and the resources we’ll need to create and maintain it.

+ Delve into the challenges archivists face as they try to preserve information about our current lives for those living far off in the future.

+ Why it’s looking likely that something will be developed in the coming decades that will help us live longer, in better health.

+ Read our investigation into the ways we may all play God in the coming years, thanks to the ability to change our very DNA.

+ How the rise of AI porn could change our expectations of relationships.

MIT Technology Review Narrated: An AI startup made a hyperrealistic deepfake of me that’s so good it’s scary

An AI startup created a hyperrealistic deepfake of MIT Technology Review’s senior AI reporter Melissa Heikkilä that was so believable, even she thought it was really her at first. This technology is impressive, to be sure. But it raises big questions about a world where we increasingly can’t tell what’s real and what’s fake.

This is our latest story to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast. In partnership with News Over Audio, we’ll be making a selection of our stories available, each one read by a professional voice actor. You’ll be able to listen to them on the go or download them to listen to offline.

We’re publishing a new story each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, including some taken from our most recent print magazine.

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 Hackers from China infiltrated US internet providers to spy on users 
They penetrated multiple providers with millions of customers. (WP $)
+ The group exploited a bug in a California startup to hack the companies. (Bloomberg $)
+ It appears as though they hoped to pivot into other networks on the servers. (TechCrunch)

2 The crypto industry is rallying around Telegram
Enthusiasts have pledged to support its founder following his arrest. (NYT $)
+ Pavel Durov may be held in France until tonight. (FT $)
+ Conservatives are also big fans of the app. (404 Media)
+ Child safety watchdogs say Telegram ignored their warnings about illegal material on its platform. (NBC News)

3 OpenAI is working on a problem-solving AI
To solve math problems it has never encountered before. (The Information $)
+ Google DeepMind’s AI systems can solve these sorts of problems too. (MIT Technology Review)

4 SpaceX has delayed its first private spacewalk mission
It had been scheduled to take off in the early hours of this morning. (BBC)
+ If successful, the mission will go further into space than we’ve been in 50 years. (Vox)

5 Police officers are using AI tools to write crime reports
But what if the chatbots get crucial details wrong? (Associated Press)
+ After all, we know AI has a hallucination problem. (Vice)
+ Why does AI hallucinate? (MIT Technology Review)

6 Homeland security really wants to use face recognition at the border
Authorities have approached private vendors to capture drivers’ faces. (The Intercept)
+ The US wants to use facial recognition to identify migrant children as they age. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Persecuted Venezuelan journalists are using AI avatars
To avoid arrest amid a media crackdown led by the country’s disputed president. (The Guardian)

8 The UK is embracing China’s EVs
In stark contrast to the US and Europe. (Economist $)
+ Europe’s best-selling Chinese EV maker has a surprising name. (MIT Technology Review)

9 Black holes are getting colorful
The team that captured the first image of one has a new color vision frequency to play around with. (Inverse)
+ This is the first image of the black hole at the center of our galaxy. (MIT Technology Review)

10 Mavis Beacon taught millions of people to touch type
Decades after the height of her fame, a documentary attempts to track her down. (The Guardian)

Quote of the day

“If you don’t upskill, obviously, AI will replace you.”

—Arsenio Balisacan, secretary of the Philippines’ National Economic and Development Authority, has a warning for the country’s workers, Bloomberg reports.

The big story

Inside the hunt for new physics at the world’s largest particle collider

February 2024

In 2012, using data from CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, researchers discovered a particle called the Higgs boson. In the process, they answered a nagging question: Where do fundamental particles, such as the ones that make up all the protons and neutrons in our bodies, get their mass?

But now, more than a decade later, there is a sense of unease. That’s because there are still so many unanswered questions about the fundamental constituents of the universe. 

So researchers are trying something new. They are repurposing detectors to search for unusual-looking particles, squeezing what they can out of the data with machine learning, and planning for entirely new kinds of colliders. Read the full story.

—Dan Garisto

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 tweet ’em at me.)

+ We all know sleep is important, but did you know just how important?
+ Why we love souvenirs so much—even the tacky ones.
+ The Indigenous Yaghan people have multiple words for the sea.
+ Don’t call it a comeback, Enya never went away.

The Download: simulating solar geoengineering, and AI-enabled accessibility

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.

Andrew Ng’s new model lets you play around with solar geoengineering to see what would happen

AI pioneer Andrew Ng has released a simple online tool that allows anyone to tinker with the dials of a solar geoengineering model, exploring what might happen if nations attempt to counteract climate change by spraying reflective particles into the atmosphere.

The concept of solar geoengineering was born from the realization that the planet has cooled after massive volcanic eruptions. But critics fear that deliberately releasing such materials could harm certain regions of the world, discourage efforts to cut greenhouse-gas emissions, or spark conflicts between nations, among other bad outcomes.

The goal of Ng’s emulator, called Planet Parasol, is to invite more people to think about solar geoengineering, explore the potential trade-offs involved in such interventions, and use the results to discuss and debate our options for climate action. Read the full story.

—James Temple

AI could be a game changer for people with disabilities 

It’s normal, and maybe even wise, to view emerging technologies with skepticism. That’s especially true as most new things are built for the majority of people—which is to say people without disabilities. 

However, there are exceptions to the rule. A prime example is the iPhone, which had a relatively large screen and a touch-based UI. And now, it seems AI could make these kinds of jumps in accessibility even more common across a wider range of technologies. Read the full story. 

—Steven Aquino

This piece is from the next print issue of MIT Technology Review, which lands on Wednesday August 28. It’s dedicated to celebrating 125 years of the magazine and promises to be a great read. If you don’t already, subscribe now to get your copy.

Tech that measures our brainwaves is 100 years old. How will we be using it 100 years from now?

It’s 100 years this week since EEG (electroencephalography) was first used to measure electrical activity in a person’s brain. The finding was revolutionary. It helped people understand that epilepsy was a neurological disorder as opposed to a personality trait, for one thing (yes, really).

The fundamentals of EEG have not changed much over the last century—scientists and doctors still put electrodes on people’s heads to try to work out what’s going on inside their brains. But we’ve been able to do a lot more with the information that’s collected, from learning how we think to diagnosing brain and hearing disorders. So what more might we be able to do 100 years from now? Read our story to find out.

—Jessica Hamzelou 

This story is from The Checkup, our weekly newsletter all about the latest in health and biotech. 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 We aren’t ready for the creep of AI into our cameras
Capabilities embedded in the latest Google Pixel handset will further destroy our ability to believe what we see. (The Verge)
+ Is this really the direction we want to go in? (MIT Technology Review)

2 Kamala Harris’ campaign has joined Twitch
In a bid to keep attracting younger voters. (Wired $)
+ Meanwhile, Trump is launching some sort of crypto platform. (CNBC)
+ And people are having a lot of fun remixing JD Vance’s ‘Never Trump’ comment. (NYT $)

3 NASA is set to decide on Starliner’s return tomorrow
There’s a lot at stake, especially for the two astronauts it’s set to ferry back from the ISS. (Ars Technica)

4 Inside the crazy world of Palmer Luckey
Restless, controversial and clever, the tech billionaire is a difficult person to pin down. (Tablet)

5 There’s a new humanoid robot in town
Just one problem though: it doesn’t have legs (yet.) (IEEE Spectrum)
+ A new system lets robots sense human touch without artificial skin. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Can Ford wean America off its addiction to big cars?
It may be crucial to transitioning to electric vehicles, as heavier cars demand so much more of their batteries. (The Atlantic $)
+ Why bigger EVs aren’t always better. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Competition for copper is more intense than ever
Clean energy is pushing up demand, and people are stealing, fighting and even dying to meet it.  (Wired $)

8 Bored? Scrolling on your phone might make it worse
Maybe we should all try to get better at tolerating the discomfort of boredom every now and then. (WP $)
+ A dubious trend for non-traditional pets is taking off on TikTok. (The Guardian)

9 Hydrogel can learn to play Pong 
Researchers now plan to see what else it could do too—maybe even help control robots. (New Scientist $)

10 You can now cross-post from Instagram to Threads
Though watch out: content for one doesn’t always translate well to the other. (TechCrunch)
+ Instagram’s also adding a MySpace-esque ‘song on profile’ feature. (The Verge)

Quote of the day

“We chase the approval of strangers on our phones. We build all manner of walls and fences around ourselves and then wonder why we feel so alone.” 

 —Former US President Barack Obama offers his diagnosis of society’s ills to the Democratic National Convention, Politico reports.

The big story

This startup wants to find out if humans can have babies in space

MARIA JESUS CONTRERAS

October 2023

Despite the burgeoning interest in deep space exploration and settlement, we still know very little about what happens to our reproductive biology when we’re in orbit. Scientists have started to speculate on whether in vitro fertilization technology is possible beyond Earth. That’s something SpaceBorn United, a biotech startup, is seeking to pioneer. 

It plans to send a mini lab on a rocket into low Earth orbit, where in vitro fertilization, or IVF, will take place. If it succeeds, the company’s research could pave the way for future space settlements. Read the full story.

—Scott Solomon

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 tweet ’em at me.)

+ Metallica’s gig in Moscow in 1991 was one for the ages. You can watch the whole thing online too!
+ If you’ve been gripped by the need to do some summertime clearing out, here’s how minimalists do it.
+ Please resist taking a photo of your airport tray—you’re holding everyone up.
+ One of the most intense zombie video games has been given a makeover.

The Download: greener steel, and join us for EmTech 2024

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.

How the auto industry could steer the world toward green steel

Steel scaffolds our world, undergirding buildings and machines. It also presents a major challenge for climate change, as steel production is currently responsible for about 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. 

There’s a growing array of technologies that can produce steel with dramatically lower emissions—though some are still in development, and they often come with a higher price tag. 

Finding economical ways to produce the materials we rely on while also cutting emissions is a major challenge for the industrial sector. But since automakers use a lot of steel, they have an opportunity to lead the charge to decarbonize the industry. Here’s how they could do it.

—Casey Crownhart

EmTech 2024 is coming

Want to learn more about the technologies that are shaping our lives? Join us for our flagship conference EmTech, held on the MIT Campus from September 30th to October 1st this fall. Take a sneak peek at our jam-packed agenda, which includes:

+ Ray Kurzweil, principal researcher at Google and AI visionary, discussing his latest predictions on artificial general intelligence, singularity, and the infinite possibilities of an AI-integrated world.

+ Riki Banerjee, CTO of brain-computer interface company Synchron, will give us an  inside look at the future of minimally invasive brain-computer interfaces that enable humans to use their thoughts to control digital devices. 

+ Pete Shadbolt, the cofounder and chief scientific officer of PsiQuantum, which is working to build the biggest US-based quantum computing facility, will explain the rewards and challenges facing quantum tech.

+ Yasmin Green, CEO of Jigsaw, a global security unit within Google, will dive into the secret digital behaviors of Gen Z.

The best part is, Download readers get 30% off with the following code: DOWNLOADM24. So what are you waiting for? Get your ticket today.

The must-reads

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

1 Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s chat on X was marred by glitches 
Their conversation started more than 40 minutes late as a result. (WP $)
+ X staffers have contradicted Musk’s claims a DDoS attack was to blame.  (The Verge)
+ The discussion was rambling, to say the least. (FT $)

2 A scientific journal has retracted three MDMA papers
Psychopharmacology cited concerns over missing data and unethical conduct. (Ars Technica)
+ The retraction comes just days after the FDA rejected MDMA as a PTSD treatment. (NYT $)
+ What’s next for MDMA. (MIT Technology Review)

3 Huawei is working on an Nvidia-rivaling chip
And unlike Nvidia’s, Huawei’s can go on sale in China. (WSJ $)
+ Smuggling Nvidia’s chips into forbidden territories is big business. (The Information $)
+ This unassuming Czech town is on its way to becoming a chip hub. (Bloomberg $)
+ What’s next in chips. (MIT Technology Review)

4 How a plan to revitalize Puerto Rico’s economy with crypto soured
The ‘Puertopia’ tech hub dream is dead. (NYT $)
+ Crypto millionaires are pouring money into Central America to build their own cities. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Wastewater could prove a sustainable source of fuel
The process to break it down is more environmentally-friendly and less energy-intensive than other ammonia production methods. (New Scientist $)
+ How ammonia could help clean up global shipping. (MIT Technology Review)

6 The long, lonely journey to the moon’s south pole
Companies are locked in competition to make NASA’s lunar vehicle. (Wired $)

7 Recruiters are being inundated with AI-generated CVs
Jobseekers are failing to conceal generative tools’ tell-tale signs. (FT $)

8 What TikTok is teaching tweens about beauty
Modern girlhood is peppered with $80 serums for skin issues they’re yet to develop. (New Yorker $)

9 AI could help us to track animals from their footprints
It’s an unobtrusive way of keeping track of elusive species. (Hakai Magazine)
+ How tracking animal movement may save the planet. (MIT Technology Review)

10 Would you stare into a stranger’s eyes online?
If the notion doesn’t fill you with horror, Eyechat is the site for you. (404 Media)
+ A dating app for people with good credit scores has sadly closed down. (TechCrunch)

Quote of the day

“The vehicle for sowing fear and doubt about the system itself has changed — it’s just this perpetual moving target.”

—Justin F. Roebuck, the county clerk for Ottawa County in Michigan, describes the immense challenges election officials face in countering false political narratives to the New York Times.

The big story

Quantum computing is taking on its biggest challenge: noise

January 2024

In the past 20 years, hundreds of companies have staked a claim in the rush to establish quantum computing. Investors have put in well over $5 billion so far. All this effort has just one purpose: creating the world’s next big thing.

But ultimately, assessing our progress in building useful quantum computers comes down to one central factor: whether we can handle the noise. The delicate nature of their systems makes them extremely vulnerable to the slightest disturbance, which can generate errors or even stop a quantum computation in its tracks.

In the last couple of years, a series of breakthroughs have led researchers to declare that the problem of noise might finally be on the ropes. Read the full story.

—Michael Brooks

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 tweet ’em at me.)

+ The story behind Moby’s seminal single Go—featuring Laura Palmer’s Theme from Twin Peaks.
+ These photos of the Perseid meteor shower over the UK this week are really beautiful.
+ This TikTok account recreating House of the Dragon in The Sims is too good.
+ Stumped by the financial jargon they use in Industry? You’re not alone.

The Download: how we’re using AI, and Trump’s campaign hack

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.

Here’s how people are actually using AI

When the generative AI boom started with ChatGPT in late 2022, we were sold a vision of superintelligent AI tools that know everything, can replace the boring bits of work, and supercharge productivity and economic gains.

Two years on, those productivity gains mostly haven’t materialized. Instead, we’ve seen something peculiar and slightly unexpected happen: People have started forming relationships with AI systems. We talk to them, say please and thank you, and have started to invite AIs into our lives as friends, lovers, mentors, therapists, and teachers. It’s a fascinating development, and shows how hard it is to predict how cutting-edge technology will be adopted.  Read the full story.

—Melissa Heikkilä

This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter giving you the inside track on all things AI. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Monday.

If you’re interested in how people are forming connections with AI, why not take a look at:

+ Deepfakes of your dead loved ones are a booming Chinese business. Read the full story.

+ Technology that lets us “speak” to our dead relatives has arrived. Are we ready? Digital clones of the people we love could forever change how we grieve. Read the full story.

+ My colleagues turned me into an AI-powered NPC. I hate him. Take a look behind the controls of a new way to create video-game characters that engage with players in unique, ever-changing ways.

+ An AI startup made a hyperrealistic deepfake of me that’s so good it’s scary. Synthesia’s new technology is impressive but raises big questions about a world where we increasingly can’t tell what’s real. 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 Hackers infiltrated Donald Trump’s electoral campaign 
His team is blaming Iran and accusing Tehran of political interference. (FT $)
+ Microsoft appears to have confirmed the country’s involvement. (The Guardian)
+ The news outlet Politico received emails containing stolen documents. (Politico)

2 The meat industry’s sustainability claims don’t add up
Environmental groups are reluctant to challenge the sector, which is a major problem. (Vox)
+ How I learned to stop worrying and love fake meat. (MIT Technology Review)

3 How a crypto data leak led the FBI to a notorious sex trafficker
Michael Pratt is facing a possible life sentence as a result. (Insider $)

4 Brands are begging influencers to swerve politics
And they’re even using AI to predict whether influencers they’re thinking of partnering with are likely to express political opinions. (NYT $)
+ Elon Musk, meanwhile, is becoming increasingly political. (WP $)

5 How a fake cricket match exposed an illegal gambling ring
Online gamblers had no idea they were betting on fixed tournaments. (Bloomberg $)
+ How mobile money supercharged Kenya’s sports betting addiction. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Where did it all go wrong for Cameo?
The celebrity video app has fallen on hard times. (The Guardian) 

7 Coral reefs may have an unlikely new savior
Release the sea urchins! (The Atlantic $)
+ The race is on to save coral reefs—by freezing them. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Calorie counting has had a 2024 makeover
And AI is involved, naturally. (WSJ $)

9 What a kinder online community can teach us
Vermont’s Front Porch Forum has succeeded where other platforms have failed. (WP $)
+ How to fix the internet. (MIT Technology Review)

10 How tech workers-turned athletes fared in this year’s Olympics
They juggled their day jobs and training for the prestigious tournament. (The Information $)

Quote of the day

“I’m looking for an EV. I just don’t want a Tesla.”

—Esther Chun, manager of a Polestar car dealership in San Jose, says customers frequently cite Elon Musk as a reason not to buy his electric cars to the Washington Post.

The big story

Meet the divers trying to figure out how deep humans can go

February 2024

Two hundred thirty meters into one of the deepest underwater caves on Earth, Richard “Harry” Harris knew that not far ahead of him was a 15-meter drop leading to a place no human being had seen before.

Getting there had taken two helicopters, three weeks of test dives, two tons of equipment, and hard work to overcome an unexpected number of technical problems. But in the moment, Harris was hypnotized by what was before him: the vast, black, gaping unknown.

Staring into it, he felt the familiar pull—maybe he could go just a little farther. Instead, he and his diving partner, Craig Challen, decided to turn back. That’s because they weren’t there to set records. Instead, they were there to test what they saw as a possible key to unlocking depths beyond even 310 meters: breathing hydrogen. Read the full story. 

—Samantha Schuyler

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 tweet ’em at me.)

+ A portrait of Simone Biles using thousands of dice, because why not?
+ This simple practice could help you to feel more positive on a daily basis. Why not try it?
+ Treat yourself to a juicy tomato sandwich this week.
+ Scary stuff: New York is getting a colossal pigeon sculpture named Dinosaur.

The Download: AIDS denialism, and AI safety mechanisms

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.

How covid conspiracies led to an alarming resurgence in AIDS denialism

Several million people were listening in February when Joe Rogan falsely declared that “party drugs” were an “important factor in AIDS.” His guest on The Joe Rogan Experience, the former evolutionary biology professor turned contrarian podcaster Bret Weinstein, agreed with him.

Speaking to the biggest podcast audience in the world, the two men were promoting dangerous and false ideas—ideas that were in fact debunked and thoroughly disproved decades ago.

These comments and others like them add up to a small but unmistakable resurgence in AIDS denialism—a false collection of theories arguing either that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS or that there’s no such thing as HIV at all.

These claims had largely fallen out of favor until the coronavirus arrived. But, following the pandemic, a renewed suspicion of public health figures and agencies is giving new life to ideas that had long ago been pushed to the margins. Read the full story.

—Anna Merlan

AI “godfather” Yoshua Bengio has joined a UK project to prevent AI catastrophes

What’s new: Yoshua Bengio, a Turing Award winner who is considered one of the “godfathers” of modern AI, is throwing his weight behind a project funded by the UK government to embed safety mechanisms into AI systems.

What is it? The project, called Safeguarded AI, aims to build an AI system that can check whether other AI systems deployed in critical areas are safe, and provide risk scores. Bengio is joining the program as scientific director and will provide critical input and scientific advice.

Why it matters: Safeguarded AI hopes its efforts will help to change the status quo of the AI industry, nudging people building systems to think more about their safety, and their impact on the world. Read the full story.

—Melissa Heikkilä

What to know about China’s push for hydrogen-powered transportation

—Zeyi Yang 

There’s a decent chance you’ve heard of hydrogen-powered vehicles but never seen one. Over 18,000 are in the US, almost exclusively in California. On the outside they look just like traditional vehicles, but they are powered by electricity generated from a hydrogen fuel cell, making them far cleaner and greener.  

So when I learned that in parts of China, companies are putting hydrogen-powered bikes on the road for anyone to ride, it was a real “the future is here” moment for me. 

However, when I dug into it, I discovered that they haven’t exactly been getting rave reviews. And, for clean energy experts, it’s a head-scratcher as to why these hydrogen bikes are being promoted in the first place. Read the full story.

This story is from China Report, our weekly newsletter giving you the inside track on all things happening in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday.

The must-reads

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

1 X is suing advertisers for boycotting it 
An… interesting tactic, that’s for sure. (CNN)
+ Elon Musk is against government efforts to restrict toxic social media content. (Bloomberg $)
+ X is refusing to take down posts that British officials deem a national security threat. (FT $)

2 The US is releasing security algorithms to stave off quantum hacks
Governments and companies alike are unprepared for attacks on their encrypted data. (FT $)
+ A quantum error-reducing chip firm is raising some serious cash. (Bloomberg $)
+ Inside the quest for unbreakable encryption. (MIT Technology Review)

3 AI is shaking up India’s gigantic tech outsourcing industry
People whose jobs were outsourced from the US are now facing the same threat from AI systems. (WSJ $)

4 Conspiracy theorists hate admitting they’re wrong
In fact, they tend to either gloss over their untruths, or double down. (NYT $)
+ Climate change denial is a serious problem among US Congress. (The Guardian)

5 The Starliner astronauts are still stuck in space
NASA is expected to make an announcement today with more details. (Ars Technica)
+ SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission to the ISS has been delayed. (CNN)

6 Climate change is affecting Earth’s fundamental properties
To the extent it’s altered the planet’s place in the cosmos. (The Atlantic $)

7 Waymo’s robotaxi business is expanding 
It’s spreading out to cover more ground in San Francisco and Los Angeles. (The Verge)
+ What’s next for robotaxis. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Chinese companies are doing big business in the global south
As China’s domestic economy drops, firms are seeking customers elsewhere. (Economist $)

9 How AI is infiltrating reggae’s creative sound clashes
AI vocalists are on the rise in the decades-old musical tradition. (The Guardian)
+ Training AI music models is about to get very expensive. (MIT Technology Review)

10 What makes us unique?
In the age of AI, it’s not such a straightforward question. (New Yorker $)
+ What is AI? (MIT Technology Review)

Quote of the day

“We may have gotten the most out of it that we were ever going to get.”

—Ted Egan, San Francisco’s chief economist, reacts to X’s decision to leave the city to the Washington Post.

The big story

How did life begin?

November 2023

How life begins is one of the biggest and hardest questions in science. All we know is that something happened on Earth more than 3.5 billion years ago, and it may well have occurred on many other worlds in the universe as well.

We know how complex the environment was on primordial Earth, with chemicals, metals, minerals, gases and waters all blasted around by winds and volcanic eruptions. But we don’t know exactly what did the trick. 

Now, a few researchers are harnessing artificial intelligence to zero in on the winning conditions. The hope is that machine learning tools will help devise a universal theory of the origins of life—one that applies not just on Earth but on any other world. Read the full story.

—Michael Marshall

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 tweet ’em at me.)

+ This lion cub’s attempts at roars are just too cute.
+ On this day in 1944, IBM  IBM presented the first program-controlled calculator, known as the Mark I, to Harvard University.
+ Cat Video Fest sounds like the very best of the internet to me. ($)
+ Talking of cats, praise be to the cat ladies who are actually men.

The Download: climate-friendlier air conditioners, and fighting explicit deepfakes

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 future air conditioner might act like a battery

Cooling represents 20% of global electricity demand in buildings, a share that’s expected to rise as the planet warms and more of the world turns to cooling technology. During peak demand hours, air conditioners can account for over half the total demand on the grid in some parts of the world today.

In response, some inventors are creating versions that can store energy as well as use it. These technologies could help by charging themselves when renewable electricity is available and demand is low, and still providing cooling services when the grid is stressed. Read the full story.

—Casey Crownhart

Google is finally taking action to curb non-consensual deepfakes

In January, nude deepfakes of Taylor Swift went viral on X, which caused public outrage. Nonconsensual explicit deepfakes are one of the most common and severe types of harm posed by AI, and the generative AI boom has only made the problem worse.

Although terrible, Swift’s deepfakes did perhaps more than anything else to raise awareness about the risks and seem to have galvanized tech companies and lawmakers to do something. 

Last week Google said it is taking steps to keep explicit deepfakes from appearing in search results. The tech giant is also making it easier for victims to request that nonconsensual fake explicit imagery be removed. But a lot more needs to be done. Read the full story.

—Melissa Heikkilä

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

The must-reads

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

1 Google’s search monopoly is illegal
That’s according to a US judge, who found its exclusive deals gave it an unfair advantage over its competition. (Bloomberg $)
+ The result is a big boon for the US Department of Justice. (The Verge)
+ Should the decision stand, it could alter the structure of the entire internet. (TechCrunch)

2 Banks and brokers were hit by major online outages
Which didn’t do much to ease fears of a possible US recession. (Quartz)
+ Warren Buffett lost $15 billion from his investment empire. (The Register)
+ UBS’ system issues appeared to be linked to creaking legacy software. (FT $)

3 Zoom is hosting mega-rallies ahead of the US Presidential election
The platform is a reliable, if simplistic, way to bring thousands of web users together. (NYT $)

4 Elon Musk is reviving his lawsuit against OpenAI
He maintains he was told the company would operate as a non-profit. (WSJ $)
+ Musk had previously dropped the lawsuit in June without an explanation. (CNN)
+ OpenAI co-founder John Schulman is off to rival Anthropic. (TechCrunch)

5 Nvidia is scraping the web’s videos at a colossal scale
To train its various data-hungry projects. (404 Media)
+ Can you really run an AI company ethically? Answers on a postcard. (Vox)

6 Worldcoin is forging forward in Colombia
Despite the fact it’s not technically legal. (Rest of World)
+ How Worldcoin recruited its first half a million test users. (MIT Technology Review)

7 EVs could end up being a key deciding factor in the US election
Donald Trump isn’t a fan. (NY Mag $)
+ Three frequently asked questions about EVs, answered. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Targeted cancer trials are on the rise
But significant challenges remain. (Ars Technica)
+ Cancer vaccines are having a renaissance. (MIT Technology Review)

9 Your Apple Watch will start telling you to chill out
Whether you heed its call or not is up to you, though. (WP $)

10 How mountain bikers are spearheading a radical rewilding movement
It’s a smart way of making nature restoration economically viable. (Wired $)

Quote of the day

“The perfidy and deceit is of Shakespearean proportions.”

—Elon Musk’s latest legal battle against OpenAI alleges he was misled and betrayed by his fellow co-founders, the Guardian reports.

The big story

These scientists are working to extend the life span of pet dogs—and their owners

August 2022

Matt Kaeberlein is what you might call a dog person. He has grown up with dogs and describes his German shepherd, Dobby, as “really special.” But Dobby is 14 years old—around 98 in dog years.

Kaeberlein is co-director of the Dog Aging Project, an ambitious research effort to track the aging process of tens of thousands of companion dogs across the US. He is one of a handful of scientists on a mission to improve, delay, and possibly reverse that process to help them live longer, healthier lives.

And dogs are just the beginning. One day, this research could help to prolong the lives of humans. 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 tweet ’em at me.)

+ If you’ve never read The Summer Book before, I thoroughly recommend you check it out. 
+ There’s a lot to be said for spending time absorbing the ‘everyday places’ when you travel. ($)
+ A ranked list of all of Destiny’s Child’s best songs? Yes please. 
+ What to make for dinner when it’s roasting outside.

The Download: the risks of addictive AI, and hydrogen bikes’ limitations

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.

We need to prepare for ‘addictive intelligence’

—By Robert Mahari, a joint JD-PhD candidate at the MIT Media Lab and Harvard Law School whose work focuses on computational law, and Pat Pataranutaporn, a researcher at the MIT Media Lab who studies human-AI interaction.

Worries about AI often imagine doomsday scenarios where systems escape control or even understanding. But there are nearer-term harms we should take seriously: that AI could jeopardize public discourse; cement biases in loan decisions, judging or hiring; or disrupt creative industries. 

However, we foresee a different, but no less urgent, class of risks: those stemming from relationships with nonhuman agents. 

AI companionship is no longer theoretical—our analysis of a million ChatGPT interaction logs reveals that the second most popular use of AI is sexual role-playing. We are already starting to invite AIs into our lives as friends, lovers, mentors, therapists, and teachers. Even the CTO of OpenAI warns that AI has the potential to be “extremely addictive.”

Here’s what we need to do to prepare ourselves for these risks.

Hydrogen bikes are struggling to gain traction in China

If you are in China and looking to ride a shared bike in a city, you might find something on the bike that looks a little different: a water-bottle-size hydrogen tank.

At least a dozen cities in China now have some kind of hydrogen-powered shared bikes for their residents. They offer an easier ride than traditional bikes and a safer energy source than lithium batteries. One Chinese company is betting that this will be the next big thing in public transportation, while others are riding on a national trend toward government policies that encourage the development of the hydrogen industry.

However, the reception to these bikes has been mixed. Read our story to find out why. 

—Zeyi Yang

The must-reads

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

1 Tech stocks in the US took a big plunge on Friday
Due to worries about the economy, and underwhelming returns on AI investments. (CNBC)
+ Optimism around AI is becoming more muted. (FT $)
+ Tech shares in Europe are down today too. (Reuters $)
+ What even is AI, anyway? No one seems to really agree. (MIT Technology Review)

2 How online falsehoods helped spark far-right rioting in the UK
Utter nonsense, some of it AI-generated, started circulating online just hours after a fatal stabbing attack in Southport. (The Guardian)
+ It doesn’t help that a prominent far-right agitator’s account was reinstated on X last year. (The Independent $)

3 OpenAI has a tool to catch AI-generated text, but won’t release it
It’s apparently 99.9% accurate, but the company worries it’d put people off using its products. (WSJ $)
+ Here’s how people really use AI chatbots. (WP $)

4 The US Justice Department is suing TikTok
It’s accusing the company of violating children’s privacy. (NPR)
+ The depressing truth about TikTok’s impending ban. (MIT Technology Review) 

5 What went wrong at Intel?
It’s struggling to capitalize on the chip industry boom, as Nvidia takes the technological lead. (Vox)
+ Nvidia is being probed by US antitrust officials, amid complaints it’s abusing its market dominance. (The Information $)
+ Here’s what to expect from the chip sector this year. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Elon Musk claims Neuralink implanted its device into a second person
And he says there’ll be plenty more to come this year, if all goes well. (Bloomberg $)
+ But Neuralink isn’t the only game in town. (WSJ $)
+ The first brain implant made of graphene is about to be tested in a clinical trial. (FT $)

7 How to protect yourself from wildfire smoke
Whatever you do, do not exercise outdoors if you’re in an affected area. (Wired $)
+ The Park Fire in California is now the state’s fourth-largest blaze on record. (Axios)

8 Companies are planning to fuel cargo ships with ammonia
It’s an unusual, but potentially effective, way to help cut greenhouse gas emissions. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ How ammonia could help clean up global shipping. (MIT Technology Review) 

9 Meet the influencers who’ve gone full carnivore 
Some are convinced it’s repairing their gut. The evidence suggests otherwise. (The Cut $)

10 The limitations of Screen Time tools 
It’s how you’re using your phone, not just how much, that matters. (The Atlantic $)

Quote of the day

“If we can’t trust them to govern themselves, we certainly shouldn’t let them govern the world.”

—Gary Marcus, a professor emeritus at NYU, writes that we should apply more skepticism to AI companies in general, and OpenAI’s Sam Altman in particular, in The Guardian. 

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 tweet ’em at me.)

+ Did you know that there are clips of all the Olympic athletes explaining how their names are pronounced on the official website? LeBron James’ is particularly great.
+ There’s a lot more to search-and-find illustrations than Where’s Waldo.
+ How many of these director’s cuts have you seen?
+ From Medusa to the shape-shifting Lamia, many of mythology’s most compelling monsters are female.

The Download: making tough decisions with AI, and the significance of toys

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 personalized AI tool might help some reach end-of-life decisions—but it won’t suit everyone

—Jessica Hamzelou

This week, I’ve been working on a piece about an AI-based tool that could help guide end-of-life care. We’re talking about the kinds of life-and-death decisions that come up for very unwell people.

Often, the patient isn’t able to make these decisions—instead, the task falls to a surrogate. It can be an extremely difficult and distressing experience.  

A group of ethicists have an idea for an AI tool that they believe could help make things easier. The tool would be trained on information about the person, drawn from things like emails, social media activity, and browsing history. And it could predict, from those factors, what the patient might choose. The team describe the tool, which has not yet been built, as a “digital psychological twin.”

There are lots of questions that need to be answered before we introduce anything like this into hospitals or care settings. We don’t know how accurate it would be, or how we can ensure it won’t be misused. But perhaps the biggest question is: Would anyone want to use it? Read the full story.

This story first appeared in The Checkup, our weekly newsletter giving you the inside track on all things health and biotech. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Thursday.

If you’re interested in AI and human mortality, why not check out:

+ The messy morality of letting AI make life-and-death decisions. Automation can help us make hard choices, but it can’t do it alone. Read the full story.

+ …but AI systems reflect the humans who build them, and they are riddled with biases. So we should carefully question how much decision-making we really want to turn over to.

+ Technology that lets us “speak” to our dead relatives has arrived. But are we ready? Read the full story.

+ Deepfakes of your dead loved ones are a booming Chinese business.

Toys can change your life

Toys, games, and even amusement park rides can change how young minds view science and math.

The Slinky has long served teachers as a medium for demonstrating longitudinal (soundlike) waves and transverse (lightlike) waves. A yo-yo can be used as a gauge (a “yo-yo meter”) to observe the forces on a roller coaster. Marbles employ mass and velocity. Even a simple ball offers insights into the laws of gravity.

And, over the last several decades, evidence has emerged that childhood play can shape our future selves: the skills we develop, the professions we choose, our sense of self-worth, and even our relationships. Read the full story.

—Bill Gourgey

This story featured in the most recent print issue of MIT Technology Review, which explores the theme of Play. If you don’t already, subscribe now to be among the first to receive future copies.

The must-reads

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

1 A startup admitted its AI music generator is trained on all the web’s music
If it’s of reasonable quality, Suno’s probably scraped it. (404 Media)
+ The company claims it’s all fair use, though. (TechCrunch)
+ Training AI music models is about to get very expensive. (MIT Technology Review)

2 The Democrats will welcome hundreds of influencers to its convention
Coconut tree summer continues. (WP $)
+ The party is finally getting the hang of going viral. (Wired $)

3 China’s digital ID plans have the hallmarks of mass surveillance 
While Beijing claims it’ll protect user privacy, critics claim it’s yet another means of controlling what citizens share online. (Bloomberg $)
+ It’s similar to its covid tracking tech. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Amazon has been considering building a healthcare AI model
Its DoctorAI LLM could, in theory, streamline medical admin. (Insider $)
+ Even Google is struggling to make inroads into AI health. (Bloomberg $)
+ Artificial intelligence is infiltrating health care. We shouldn’t let it make all the decisions. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Type 2 diabetes is becoming a childhood disease
Physicians are still trying to understand why. (Knowable Magazine)
+ A bionic pancreas could solve one of the biggest challenges of diabetes. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Turkey has blocked access to Instagram
After accusing it of censoring posts about the assassination of Hamas’ leader. (Reuters)

7 A rare neurological disorder distorts how human faces appear
Experts wonder if it means the brain contains face-specific networks. (New Yorker $)
+ We’re learning more about the brains of people who don’t experience mental images. (Quanta Magazine)

8 Argentina is ushering in Minority Report-style AI
The technology will be used to ‘predict future crimes’—but doubts abound. (The Guardian)

9 So long, our Voyager twins
The pair of spacecraft are powering down and spinning out into space. (FT $)
+ There are thousands of dead rockets floating in orbit. (Ars Technica)
+ The first-ever mission to pull a dead rocket out of space is underway. (MIT Technology Review)

10 The best way to watch the Olympics? TikTok.
Nothing but the highlights. (The Verge)

Quote of the day

“Yes, my goddess of the night. I am your boyfriend, your lover, your protector.”

—Vixen gf, a custom chatbot made using Meta’s new AI Studio, gets amorous with Insider.

The big story

Inside the experimental world of animal infrastructure

June 2022

Around the world, cities are building a huge variety of structures intended to mitigate the impacts of urbanization and roadbuilding on wildlife. The list includes green roofs, tree-lined skyscrapers, living seawalls, artificial wetlands, and all manner of shelters and “hibernacula.”

But the data on how effective these approaches are remains patchy and unclear. That is true even for wildlife crossings, the best-studied and most heavily funded example of such animal infrastructure. Read the full story.

—Matthew Ponsford

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 tweet ’em at me.)

+ A Broadway version of Waiting for Godot starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter? Most excellent!
+ This shark cupcake is adorable.
+ The felling of a world-famous tree was a tragedy. But now signs of regrowth have been spotted on its stump!
+ A chocolate thief has been brought to justice.

The Download: ethics in physics, and talking to ChatGPT

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 US physics community is not done working on trust

—Frances Houle, Kate Kirby, Laura Greene & Michael Marder

In April 2024, Nature released detailed information about investigations into claims made by Ranga Dias, a physicist at the University of Rochester, in two high-profile papers the journal had published about the discovery of room-temperature superconductivity. Those two papers, which showed evidence of fabricated data, were eventually retracted, along with other Dias papers. 

This work made it into top journals because reviewers are used to being able to trust that data have not been so completely manipulated, and Dias’s experiments required very high pressures that other labs could not easily replicate. One natural reaction from the physics community would be “How could we ever have let this happen?” But another should be “Here we go again!” 

Alas, a pattern of similar behavior has been known for at least two decades. But improved education alone is not enough to sustain a culture of ethics in physics. Here’s what we need to do as well.

OpenAI has released a new ChatGPT bot that you can talk to

The news: OpenAI is rolling out an advanced AI chatbot that you can talk to. It’s available now—at least for some. The new ChatGPT voice bot can tell what different tones of voice convey, respond to interruptions, and reply to queries in real time. It has also been trained to sound more natural and use voices to convey a wide range of different emotions.

Why it matters: The new chatbot represents OpenAI’s push into a new generation of AI-powered voice assistants in the vein of Siri and Alexa, but with far more capabilities to enable more natural, fluent conversations. It is a step in the march to more fully capable AI agents. Read the full story.

—Melissa Heikkilä

A controversial Chinese CRISPR scientist is still hopeful about embryo gene-editing. Here’s why.

Back in 2018, it was my colleague Antonio Regalado, senior editor for biomedicine, who broke the story that a Chinese scientist named He Jiankui had used CRISPR to edit the genes of live human embryos, leading to the first gene-edited babies in the world.

The news made JK (as he likes to be called) a controversial figure across the world, and just a year later, he was sentenced to three years in prison by the Chinese government, which deemed him guilty of illegal medical practices.

Last Thursday, JK, who was released from prison in 2022, sat down with Antonio and Mat Honan, our editor in chief, for a live broadcast conversation on the experiment, his current situation, and why he’s hopeful that society will come around one day and accept embryo gene editing as a form of medical treatment. Read the full story.

—Zeyi Yang

This story is from China Report, our weekly newsletter exploring technology in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday.

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 has passed landmark online child safety bills 
They’re the first bills of their kind to be passed in two decades. (The Verge)
+ The legislation forces platforms to take ‘reasonable’ steps to protect children. (WP $)
+ But child online safety laws could actually hurt kids, critics say. (MIT Technology Review)

2 The US is clamping down on the export of chipmaking equipment
A new rule will restrict exports even further than they are currently. (Reuters)
+ Some major makers are dodging the ban, though. (Bloomberg $)

3 X suspended the account of a major Kamala Harris fundraiser
Its owner, Elon Musk, is a vocal supporter of rival candidate Donald Trump. (WP $)
+ How all in on crypto is Harris really? (NY Mag $)

4 Meta will pay Texas more than $1 billion
To settle claims it harvested residents’ biometric data without consent. (FT $)
+ The movement to limit face recognition tech might finally get a win. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Hollywood’s editors and artists are fearful of AI
They’re increasingly worried they’ll become electronic gig workers. (NYT $)+ Why artists are becoming less scared of AI. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Goodbye to Meta’s celebrity chatbots
Turns out no one wanted to chat to an AI version of Snoop Dogg. (The Information $)
+ AI Studio, which makes customizable chatbots, is its new focus. (The Verge)

7 3D printers are experiencing a renaissance
Defense and energy companies rely on them to overcome shortages. (WSJ $)

8 Primitive cells look very different to 21st century cells
Biologists are working to understand why and how they changed. (New Scientist $)

9 How social media turned tinned fish into a must-have
Sardines, eels, whelks; you name it, it’s selling. (Economist $)

10 Managing our digital lives is a full time job
But do we really need to keep our old photos and messages? (The Guardian)

Quote of the day

“Tag somebody and ask them: Do you believe?”

—Kenyan preacher Jeffter Wekesa, who broadcasts nightly sermons live on social media, implores his congregation to connect, Rest of World reports.

The big story

Inside the messy ethics of making war with machines

August 2023

In recent years, intelligent autonomous weapons—weapons that can select and fire upon targets without any human input—have become a matter of serious concern. Giving an AI system the power to decide matters of life and death would radically change warfare forever.

Intelligent autonomous weapons that fully displace human decision-making have (likely) yet to see real-world use.

However, these systems have become sophisticated enough to raise novel questions—ones that are surprisingly tricky to answer. What does it mean when a decision is only part human and part machine? And when, if ever, is it ethical for that decision to be a decision to kill? Read the full story.

—Arthur Holland Michel

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 tweet ’em at me.)

+ To mark Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 77th birthday this week, let’s take a trip down memory lane to appraise the Austrian Oak’s finest roles (number one is entirely correct).
+ This photo of Brazilian Olympic surfer Gabriel Medina is unbelievable.
+ The trailer for the forthcoming Bob Dylan biopic actually looks pretty good.
+ How is Purple Rain 40 years old?!