The Download: plastic’s problem with fuel prices, and SpaceX’s blockbuster IPO

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.

Fuel prices are soaring. Plastic could be next. 

As the war in Iran continues, one of the most visible global economic ripple effects has been fossil-fuel prices. But looking ahead, further consequences could be looming for plastics. 

Plastics are made from petrochemicals, and the supply chain impacts from the conflict are starting to build up. Americans will likely feel the ripples.  

Read the full story to grasp the unpredictable impacts. 

—Casey Crownhart 

This story is from The Spark, our weekly climate newsletter. Sign up to get 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 SpaceX has filed for an IPO 
It’s set to be the largest ever, targeting a $1.75 trillion valuation. (NYT $)  
+ Which would make Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire. (Al Jazeera) 
+ But the IPO could hinge on the success of Moon missions. (LA Times $) 
+ And the conflicts of interest are staggering. (The Next Web) 
+ Meanwhile, rivals are rising to challenge SpaceX. (MIT Technology Review)  

2 Artemis II is on its way to the Moon 
NASA successfully launched the four astronauts on its rocket yesterday. (Axios) 
+ The lunar plans could violate international law. (The Verge) 
+ But the potential scientific advances are tremendous. (Nature)  
+ Check out our roundtable on the next era of space exploration. (MIT Technology Review)  

3 Iran has struck Amazon’s cloud business in Bahrain again 
It promised to hit US companies only yesterday. (FT $) 
+ Other targets include Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Nvidia. (CNBC) 
+ AWS data centers in Bahrain were also hit last month. (Reuters $) 

4 OpenAI was secretly behind a child safety campaign group 
It pushed for age verification requirements for AI. (The San Francisco Standard $) 
+ OpenAI had backed the legislation as a compromise measure. (WSJ $) 
+ Coincidentally, Sam Altman heads a company providing age verification. (Engadget) 

5 Anthropic is scrambling to limit the Claude Code leak 
It’s trying to remove 8,000 copies of the exposed code from GitHub. (Gizmodo) 
+ An executive blamed the leak on “process errors.” (Bloomberg $) 
+ Here’s what it reveals about Anthropic’s plans. (Ars Technica) 
+ AI is making online crimes easier—and it could get much worse. (MIT Technology Review) 

6 A new Russian “super-app” aims to emulate China’s WeChat 
And give the Kremlin new surveillance powers. (WSJ $) 

7 America’s AI boom is leaving the rest of the world behind  
And it’s concentrating power and wealth in a handful of companies. (Rest of World) 

8 Chinese chipmakers have claimed nearly half the country’s market 
Nvidia’s lead is shrinking rapidly. (Reuters $) 

9 The first quantum computer to break encryption is imminent  
New research reveals how it could happen. (New Scientist) 

10 The world’s oldest tortoise has been embroiled in a crypto scam 
Reports that Jonathan died at just 194 years old are thankfully false. (Guardian) 

Quote of the day 

“Starlink is the only reason this valuation is defensible.” 

—Shay Boloor, chief market strategist at Futurum Equities, tells Reuters why SpaceX has such high hopes for its IPO. 

One More Thing 

These companies are creating food out of thin air 

Dried cells—it’s what’s for dinner. At least that’s what a new crop of biotech startups, armed with carbon-guzzling bacteria and plenty of capital, are hoping to convince us.  

Their claims sound too good to be true: they say they can make food out of thin air. But that’s exactly how certain soil-dwelling bacteria work. 

Startups are replicating the process to turn abundant carbon dioxide into nutritious “air protein.” They believe it could dramatically lower farming emissions—and even disrupt agriculture altogether. Read the full story. 

—Claire L. Evans 

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.) 

+ Need more Artemis II in your life? This site takes you inside the flight. 
+ Here’s a fascinating look at the recording errors that improved songs. 
+ Good news: the elusive Nightjar bird is making a comeback. 
+ Finally, a master chef has baked clam chowder donuts. 

The Download: gig workers training humanoids, and better AI benchmarks

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 gig workers who are training humanoid robots at home 

When Zeus, a medical student in Nigeria, returns to his apartment from a long day at the hospital, he straps his iPhone to his forehead and records himself doing chores. 

Zeus is a data recorder for Micro1, which sells the data he collects to robotics firms. As these companies race to build humanoids, videos from workers like Zeus have become the hottest new way to train them.  

Micro1 has hired thousands of them in more than 50 countries, including India, Nigeria, and Argentina. The jobs pay well locally, but raise thorny questions around privacy and informed consent. The work can be challenging—and weird. Read the full story. 

—Michelle Kim 

Our readers recently voted humanoid robots the “11th breakthrough” to add to our 2026 list of 10 Breakthrough Technologies. Check out what else officially made the cut. 

AI benchmarks are broken. Here’s what we need instead. 

For decades, AI has been evaluated based on whether it can outperform humans on isolated problems. But it’s seldom used this way in the real world. 

While AI is assessed in a vacuum, it operates in messy, complex, multi-person environments over time. This misalignment leads us to misunderstand its capabilities, risks, and impacts. 

We need new benchmarks that assess AI’s performance over longer horizons within human teams, workflows, and organizations. Here’s a proposal for one such approach: Human–AI, Context-Specific Evaluation.  

—Angela Aristidou, professor at University College London and faculty fellow at the Stanford Digital Economy Lab and the Stanford Human-Centered AI Institute. 

MIT Technology Review Narrated: can quantum computers now solve health care problems? We’ll soon find out. 

In a laboratory on the outskirts of Oxford, a quantum computer built from atoms and light awaits its moment. The device is small but powerful—and also very valuable. Infleqtion, the company that owns it, is hoping its abilities will win $5 million at a competition.  

The prize will go to the quantum computer that can solve real health care problems that “classical” computers cannot. But there can be only one big winner—if there is a winner at all. 

—Michael Brooks 

This is our latest story to be turned into an 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 OpenAI just closed the biggest funding round in Silicon Valley history 
It raised $122 billion ahead of its blockbuster IPO, which is expected later this year. (WSJ $) 
+ It’s also prepping a push to “rethink the social contract.” (Vanity Fair $) 
+ Campaigners are urging people to quit ChatGPT. (MIT Technology Review)   

2 Iran has threatened to attack 18 US tech companies  
It’s eyeing their operations in the Middle East. (Politico) 
+ Targets include Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, and Google. (Engadget) 
+ Iran struck AWS data centers earlier this month. (Reuters $) 

3 Artemis II is about to fly humans to the Moon. Here’s the science they’ll do 
Their experiments will set the stage for future explorers. (Nature) 
+ You can watch the launch attempt today. (Engadget)  

4 Putin is trying to take full control of Russia’s internet 
New outages and blockages are cutting the country off from the world. (NYT $) 
+ Can we repair the internet? (MIT Technology Review) 

5 A robotaxi outage in China left passengers stranded on highways  
Baidu vehicles froze on the streets of Wuhan. (Bloomberg $) 
+ Police are blaming a “system failure.” (Reuters $) 

6 US government requests for social media user data are soaring 
They’ve skyrocketed by 770% in the past decade. (Bloomberg $) 
+ Is the Pentagon allowed to surveil Americans with AI? (MIT Technology Review) 

7 Tesla has admitted that humans sometimes drive its robotaxis 
Remote drivers occasionally control them completely. (Wired $) 

8 A satellite-smashing chain reaction could spiral out of control 
This data visualization captures the dangers of space collisions. (Guardian) 
+ Here’s all the stuff we’ve put into space. (MIT Technology Review) 

9 Meta’s smartglasses can turn you into a creep 
According to one journalist who wore them for a month. (Guardian) 

10 A Claude Code leak has exposed plans for a virtual pet  
We could be getting a Tamagotchi for the GenAI era. (The Verge) 

Quote of the day 

“From now on, for every assassination, an American company will be destroyed.” 

—Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) threatens US tech firms in an affiliated Telegram, per CNBC. 

One More Thing 

ACKERMAN + GRUBER

How one mine could unlock billions in EV subsidies 

In a pine farm north of the tiny town of Tamarack, Minnesota, Talon Metals has uncovered one of America’s densest nickel deposits. Now it wants to begin mining the ore. 

Products made from the nickel could net more than $26 billion in subsidies through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which is starting to transform the US economy. To understand how, we tallied up the potential tax credits available. Read the full story to find out what we discovered. 

—James Temple 

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.) 

+ A selfless group of gluttons tried to taste-test every potato chip in the world.  
+ Get romantic inspiration from these penguins’ engagement pebbles. 
+ Good news: global terrorism has hit a 15-year low. 
+ Enjoy endless new views through these windows around the world.  

The Download: AI health tools and the Pentagon’s Anthropic culture war

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.

There are more AI health tools than ever—but how well do they work? 

In the last few months alone, Microsoft, Amazon, and OpenAI have all launched medical chatbots. 

There’s a clear demand for these tools, given how hard it is for many people to access advice through the existing medical system—and they could make safe and useful recommendations. But concerns have surfaced about how little external evaluation they undergo before being released to the public.  

Read the full story to understand what’s at stake. 

—Grace Huckins 

The Pentagon’s culture war tactic against Anthropic has backfired 

A judge has temporarily blocked the Pentagon from labeling Anthropic a supply chain risk and ordering government agencies to stop using its AI. Her intervention suggests that the feud never needed to reach such a frenzy. 

It did so because the government disregarded the existing process for such disputes—and fueled the fire on social media. Find out how it happened and what comes next. 

—James O’Donnell 

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. 

The must-reads 

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

1 California has defied Trump to impose new AI regulations 
Governor Newsom signed off on the new standards yesterday.  (Guardian) 
+ Firms seeking state contracts will need extra safeguards. (Reuters $) 
+ States are installing guardrails despite Trump’s order to stop. (NYT $)  
+ An AI regulation war is brewing in the US. (MIT Technology Review)  

2 Experiments have verified quantum simulations for the first time 
It’s a breakthrough for quantum computing applications. (Nature) 
+ Which could one day help solve healthcare problems. (MIT Technology Review) 

3 The new White House app is a security and privacy nightmare 
It extensively tracks users and relies on external code. (Gizmodo) 
+ The new app promises “unparalleled access” to Trump. (CNET) 
+ It also invites users to report people to ICE. (The Verge) 

4 Big Tech’s $635 billion AI spending faces an energy shock test 
The Middle East crisis is clouding prospects for growth. (Reuters $) 
+ Here are three big unknowns about AI’s energy burden. (MIT Technology Review) 

5 Meta and Google have been accused of breaking child safety rules 
Australia suspects they flouted a social media ban. (Bloomberg $) 
+ Indonesia is also investigating non-compliance. (Reuters $) 

6 Nebius is building a $10 billion AI data center in Finland 
The company is rapidly expanding Europe’s AI infrastructure. (CNBC) 

7 South Korea’s chipmakers’ helium stocks will last until June 
Beyond that? Who knows. (Reuters $) 
+ Shortages caused by the Iran war threaten the chip industry. (NYT $)  

8 Another Starlink satellite has inexplicably exploded  
SpaceX suffered a similar episode in December. (The Verge) 
+ We went inside Ukraine’s largest Starlink repair shop. (MIT Technology Review) 

9 Bluesky’s new AI tool is already its most blocked account—after JD Vance 
About 83 times as many users have blocked it as have followed it. (TechCrunch) 

10 An AI agent banned from Wikipedia has lashed out in angry blogs 
The bot accused its human editors of “uncivil behavior.” (404 Media)  

Quote of the day 

“Is any of this illegal? Probably not. Is it what you’d expect from an official government app? Probably not either.” 

—Security researcher Thereallo reviews the White House’s new app.

One More Thing 

CHANTAL JAHCHAN

Inside Amsterdam’s high-stakes experiment to create fair welfare AI 

When Hans de Zwart, a digital rights advocate, saw Amsterdam’s plan to have an algorithm evaluate every welfare applicant for potential fraud, he nearly fell out of his chair. He believed the system had “unfixable problems.”  

Meanwhile, Paul de Koning, a consultant to the city, was excited. He saw immense potential to improve efficiencies and remove biases. 

These opposing viewpoints epitomize a global debate about whether algorithms can ever make fair decisions that shape people’s lives. Read the full story.  

—Eileen Guo, Gabriel Geiger, and Justin-Casimir Braun 

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.) 

+ A newly authenticated Rembrandt had been hiding in plain sight for years. 
+ This debunking of guitar legends is musical enlightenment for strummers. 
+ Smoking into bubbles looks oddly satisfying. 
+ The man who made the front page twice exposes the thin line between heroes and villains. 

The Download: brainless human clones and the first uterus kept alive outside a body

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.

After operating in secrecy for years, R3 Bio, a California-based startup, suddenly revealed last week that it had raised money to create nonsentient monkey “organ sacks” as an alternative to animal testing. But there is more to the story. And R3 doesn’t want that story told. 

MIT Technology Review discovered that founder John Schloendorn also pitched a startling, ethically charged vision: “brainless clones” that serve as backup human bodies. Find out all the details on the radical proposal. 

—Antonio Regalado 

A woman’s uterus has been kept alive outside the body for the first time 

Ten months ago, reproductive health researchers placed a freshly donated human uterus inside a new device they call “Mother.” They connected the organ to the machine’s plastic veins and arteries and pumped in modified human blood. 

The device kept the uterus alive for a day, a new feat that could lead to longer-term maintenance of wombs outside the body. Future versions of the technology could shine new light on pregnancies—and potentially even grow a human fetus. Read the full story. 

—Jessica Hamzelou 

The must-reads 

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

1 AI data centers can significantly warm up surrounding areas  
The “heat islands” may already affect 340 million people. (New Scientist) 
+ Mistral has raised $830M to build Nvidia-powered AI centers in Europe. (FT $) 
+ But nobody wants a data center in their backyard. (MIT Technology Review) 

2 Elon Musk reportedly joined Trump’s call with Modi about the Iran War 
It remains unclear what Musk was doing during the conversation. (NYT $)  
+ India has disputed the report. (Independent) 
+ The war poses a grave threat to the EV market. (Rest of World) 

3 Eli Lilly has struck a deal to bring AI-developed drugs to the market 
It’s secured a $2.75 billion drug collaboration with Insilico Medicine. (Reuters $) 
+ A I-designed compounds can kill drug-resistant bacteria. (MIT Technology Review) 

4 More and more countries are curbing children’s social media access 
Austria is the latest to pursue a ban. (Engadget) 
+ Indonesia has rolled out the first one in Southeast Asia. (DW) 
+ UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he will also “have to act.” (Guardian)  

5 Tech stocks just had their worst week in nearly a year 
Thanks to a combination of the Iran war and legal disputes. (CNBC) 
+ Tech insiders are split over the AI bubble. (MIT Technology Review) 

6 Meta is launching new smart glasses for prescription wearers 
It plans to debut them next week. (Bloomberg $) 

7 Taiwan is probing 11 Chinese firms for illegal poaching of tech talent 
Its semiconductors are entangled in the tensions with Beijing. (Reuters) 

8 Bluesky has built an AI app for customizing social media feeds 
It uses Anthropic’s Claude. (TechCrunch) 

9 A psychologist is making music with his brain implant 
He believes enjoyment is a prerequisite for BCI success. (Wired $) 

10 The world’s smallest QR code could store data for centuries 
It’s smaller than bacteria. (Science Daily) 

Quote of the day 

“We should be thinking about protecting young people in the digital world as opposed to protecting them from the digital world.” 

—YouTube CEO Neal Mohan gives the New York Times his take on the debate around children’s safety online. 

One More Thing 

AJ PICS / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

AI’s growth needs the right interface 

You’d have to be pudding-brained to believe that chatbots are the best way to use computers. The real opportunity is a system built atop the visual interfaces we already know, but navigated through a natural mix of voice and touch. 

Crucially, this won’t just be a computer that we can use. It’ll be one we can break and remake to suit whatever uses we want. Instead of merely consuming technology like the gelatinous humans in Wall-E, we should be able to architect it to suit our own ends 

This idea is already lurching to life. Read the full story to find out how. 

—Cliff Kuang 

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.) 
 
+ These floating designs will elevate your perspective on architecture. 
+ Uğur Gallenkuş’s portraits of two worlds in one image beautifully build bridges. 
+ This is the anti-Karen that the world needs right now. 
+ If only we could all find a love as pure as this kitty clinging to its favorite toy. 

The Download: the internet’s best weather app, and why people freeze their brains

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 a couple of ski bums built the internet’s best weather app 

The best snow-forecasting app for skiers isn’t a federally-funded service or a big-name brand. It’s OpenSnow, a startup that uses government data, its own AI models, and decades of alpine-life experience to deliver the best predictions out there. 

The app has proved especially vital this winter, one of the weirdest on record. It’s even made microcelebrities of its forecasters, who sift through reams of data to write “Daily Snow” reports for locations around the world.  

We headed to the Tahoe mountains to hear how two broke ski bums became modern-day snow gods. Read the full story. 

—Rachel Levin 

Here’s why some people choose cryonics to store their bodies and brains after death 

—Jessica Hamzelou 

This week I reported on unusual research focused on the frozen brain of L. Stephen Coles. 

Coles, a researcher who studied aging, was interested in cryonics—the long-term storage of human bodies and brains in the hope that they might one day be brought back to life. It’s a hope shared by many. 

Over the past few years, I’ve spoken to people who run cryonics facilities, study cryopreservation, or just want to be cryogenically stored. All of them acknowledge that there’s a vanishingly small chance of being brought back to life. So why do they do it? 

Read the full story to find out. 

This article is from The Checkup, our weekly biotech newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Thursday. 

What’s next for space exploration?  

Whether it’s the race to find life on Mars, the campaign to outsmart killer asteroids, or the quest to make the moon a permanent home to astronauts, scientists’ efforts in space can tell us more about where humanity is headed.

To learn more about the progress and possibilities ahead, our features editor Amanda Silverman sat down with Robin George Andrews, an award-winning science journalist and author, on Wednesday. If you missed their conversation, fear not—you can catch up and watch the video here. You’ll need to be a subscriber to access it, but the good news is subscriptions are discounted right now. Bag yours if you haven’t already! 

The must-reads 

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

1 The Pentagon’s ban on Anthropic has been halted 
A judge has paused its designation as a supply chain risk. (CBS News)  
+ She said the government was trying to “chill public debate.” (BBC) 
+ Sam Altman claimed he tried to “save” Anthropic in the clash. (Axios) 

2 Elon Musk has lost his lawsuit against an ad boycott on X 
A judge admonished the “fishing expedition.” (Ars Technica) 
+ Ad revenue fell by more than half as advertisers fled X after Musk took over. (BBC) 

3 OpenAI has put plans for an erotic chatbot on hold “indefinitely” 
Staff and investors had raised concerns. (The Information $) 
+ The company is making a sharp strategic pivot. (FT $) 
+ AI companions are the final stage of digital addiction. (MIT Technology Review) 

4 A helium shortage has started impacting tech supply chains 
The problem stems from the Middle East conflict. (Reuters) 
+ The era of cheap helium is over. (MIT Technology Review) 

5 Trump’s new science advisers: 12 tech chiefs and just one academic 
They include at least nine billionaires. (Nature) 
+ David Sacks is stepping down as Trump’s crypto and AI czar. (TechCrunch) 

6 Anthropic is mulling an IPO as soon as October 
It’s racing OpenAI to hold an initial public offering. (Bloomberg $) 

7 Wikipedia has banned all AI-generated content  
LLM-related issues had overwhelmed editors. (404 Media) 
+ Here’s what we’re getting wrong about AI’s truth crisis. (MIT Technology Review) 

8 OpenAI’s ad pilot generated $100 million in under 2 months 
More than 600 advertisers are working on the trial. (CNBC) 
+ Ads will arrive on ChatGPT free ‌and Go in the coming weeks. (Reuters) 
 
 9 An Irish village is giving kids a phone-free upbringing 
The ban works because almost everyone’s bought in. (NYT $) 

10 Chatting with sycophantic AI makes you less kind 
New research found it encourages “uncouth behavior.” (Nature) 

Quote of the day 

“I don’t know if it’s ‘murder,’ but it looks like an attempt to cripple Anthropic.” 

—Judge Rita Lin rules against the Pentagon’s ban on Anthropic, The Verge reports. 

One More Thing 

AURELIA INSTITUTE

This futuristic space habitat is designed to self-assemble in orbit  

More and more people are traveling beyond Earth, but the International Space Station can only hold 11 of them at a time.  

Aurelia Institute, an architecture R&D lab based in Cambridge, MA, is building a solution: a habitat that launches in compact stacks of flat tiles—and self-assembles in orbit.  

The concept may sound far-fetched, but it’s already won support from NASA. Read the full story. 

—Sarah Ward 

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.) 

+ These optical illusions are absolute brain-melters. 
+ The web design museum lovingly visualizes the evolution of the internet. 
+ Zara Picken’s modernist illustrations are a new window into the mid-20th century. 
+ Explore our planet’s connections through the digital Knowledge Garden. 

The Download: a battery pivot to AI, and rewriting math

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.

Why this battery company is pivoting to AI 

Qichao Hu doesn’t mince words about the state of the battery industry. “Almost every Western battery company has either died or is going to die. It’s kind of the reality,” he says.  

Hu is the CEO of SES AI, a Massachusetts-based battery company. It previously developed advanced lithium batteries for major industries, but is now shifting to AI materials discovery. Read our story to find out why.  

—Casey Crownhart 

This startup wants to change how mathematicians do math 

Axiom Math, a California startup, has released a free AI tool with a big ambition: discovering mathematical patterns that could unlock solutions to long-standing problems. 

Most of the successes with AI tools have involved finding solutions to existing problems. But that’s not all they could do. There are lots of problems in math that require new ideas nobody has ever had, which could come from spotting patterns that have never been spotted before.  

Axiom Math’s new tool aims to find these hidden links. Read the full story to discover their plans—and how AI in general could change mathematics. 

—Will Douglas Heaven 

Are high gas prices good news for EVs? It’s complicated. 

As the conflict in Iran has escalated, fossil-fuel prices have been on a roller-coaster—and some EV owners are celebrating.  

They believe the volatility will create an opportunity for electric vehicles to make headway. But even the carless among us should be concerned about a sustained rise in fossil-fuel prices.  

To find out why, read the full story. 

—Casey Crownhart 

This article is from The Spark, our weekly climate newsletter. 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 Meta and YouTube have been fined for designing addictive products 
They must pay damages of $6 million for harming young people. (Guardian) 
+ The verdicts will reshape legal protections for Big Tech. (WSJ $) 
+ They could also ripple through social media markets worldwide. (Rest of World) 
+ Juries have started taking the lead in the push for child online safety. (NYT) 

2 SpaceX aims to file for IPO as soon as this week 
It’s hoping to raise more than $75 billion. (The Information) 
+ Rocket stocks soared on the report. (BBC)  
+ But rivals are challenging SpaceX’s dominance. (MIT Technology Review) 

3 A new AI safety bill would halt data center construction 
It was introduced by Bernie Sanders. (Wired) 
+ Nobody wants a data center in their backyard. (MIT Technology Review 
+ One solution: launch them into space. (MIT Technology Review)  

4 Meta has laid off 700 employees 
After raising compensation for top earners. (NYT $) 

5 Elon Musk wants a Delaware judge to recuse herself over an emoji 
She liked a LinkedIn post criticizing him. (CNBC) 
+ The case had ruled Musk misled investors during the Twitter purchase. (Reuters) 

6 Reddit will require “fishy” accounts to verify that a human runs them 
The process aims to combat the deluge of bots. (Ars Technica) 

7 Uber and Pony AI aim to launch Europe’s first robotaxi service in Croatia 
Pony AI is also running trials in Luxembourg, while Uber is testing in London. (The Verge) 

8 Google says quantum computers could break all cryptographic security by 2029 
It’s set a timeline to secure the quantum era. (Gizmodo) 
+ Quantum computers could soon solve health care problems. (MIT Technology Review) 

9 New research shows cloning doesn’t produce perfect copies 
Clones have lots of extra, potentially dangerous mutations. (New Scientist) 

10 The landmark AI Scientist has just completed peer review  
It’s billed as the first AI tool built to fully automate the scientific process. (Nature) 

Quote of the day 

“For years, social media companies have profited from targeting children while concealing their addictive and dangerous design features. Today’s verdict is a referendum—from a jury, to an entire industry.” 

—Attorney Rachel Lanier offers her view on yesterday’s fines for Meta and YouTube, the Washington Post reports.  

One More Thing 

GETTY IMAGES

Longevity enthusiasts want to create their own independent state. They’re eyeing Rhode Island.  

It’s incredibly difficult and expensive to study innovative ways to slow or reverse aging. In response, longevity enthusiasts have devised an ambitious plan: establish an independent state for life-extension experiments.  

They envision a jurisdiction that slashes red tape, encourages self-experimentation with unproven treatments, and eliminates laws that limit how companies develop drugs.  

Exactly where their longevity state might emerge is still being worked out—but one appealing location is Rhode Island. Read the full story to learn more about the plans.  

—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.) 
 
+ These gleaming photos of ancient insects in amber are time capsules of the dinosaur age. 
+ Paint with pixels across a world map at this unique digital canvas. 
+ Hands have a new shield against hammers: a nail holder that protects your fingers. 
+ This new audio player uses cartridges to give digital music a soul. 

The Download: reawakening frozen brains, and the AI Hype Index returns

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.

This scientist rewarmed and studied pieces of his friend’s cryopreserved brain 

L. Stephen Coles’s brain sits in a vat at a storage facility in Arizona. It has been held there at a temperature of around −146 degrees °C for over a decade, largely undisturbed. Before he died in 2014, Coles had the brain frozen with an ambitious goal in mind: reanimation. 

His friend, cryobiologist Greg Fahy, believes it could be revived one day. But other experts are less optimistic.  

Still, Fahy’s research could lead to new ways to study the brain. And using cryopreservation for organ transplantation is becoming a viable reality.  

Read the full story to find out what the future holds for the technology. 

—Jessica Hamzelou 

The AI Hype Index 

Separating AI reality from hyped-up fiction isn’t always easy. That’s why we’ve created the AI Hype Index—a simple, at-a-glance summary of everything you need to know about the state of the industry. Take a look at this month’s edition. 
 

MIT Technology Review Narrated: how Pokémon Go is giving delivery robots an inch-perfect view of the world  

Pokémon Go was the world’s first augmented-reality megahit. Released in 2016 by Niantic, the AR twist on the juggernaut Pokémon franchise fast became a global phenomenon. “500 million people installed that app in 60 days,” says Brian McClendon, CTO at Niantic Spatial, an AI company that Niantic spun out last year.  

Now Niantic Spatial is using that vast trove of crowdsourced data to build a kind of world model—a buzzy new technology that grounds the smarts of LLMs in real environments. The firm wants to use it to help robots navigate more precisely. 

—Will Douglas Heaven 

This is our latest story to be turned into an 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 next era of space exploration 

Our footprint in the solar system is rapidly expanding. Programs to build permanent Moon bases and find life on Mars have transitioned from science fiction to active space agency missions. The scientists behind them will not only shed new light on the cosmos, but also reveal where humanity is headed. 

To examine what the future holds in store, MIT Technology Review features editor Amanda Silverman will sit down today with award-winning science journalist and author Robin George Andrews for an exclusive subscriber-only Roundtable conversation about “The Next Era of Space Exploration.” Register here to join the session at 16:00 GMT / 12:00 PM ET / 9:00 AM PT. 

The must-reads 

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

1 OpenAI is shutting down AI video generator Sora  
The app attracted at least as much controversy as acclaim. (CNBC) 
+ Closing it means saying goodbye to $1 billion from Disney. (BBC) 
+ OpenAI is cutting back on side projects ahead of an expected IPO. (WSJ $) 
+ But it’s focusing its efforts on building a fully automated researcher. (MIT Technology Review) 

2 A judge suspects the Pentagon is illegally punishing Anthropic 
She labelled the DoD’s ban “troubling.” (Bloomberg) 
+ Anthropic and the Pentagon are facing off in court. (Guardian) 
+ The DoD wants AI companies to train on classified data. (MIT Technology Review) 

3 Meta has been ordered to pay $375 million for endangering children online 
Prosecutors said the company knew it put children at risk. (Engadget) 
+ Meta is offering its top talent stock options as incentives for its AI push. (CNBC) 

4 Arm will sell its own computer chips for the first time 
It’s aimed at data centers that run AI tasks. (NYT $) 
+ Arm stock jumped 13% on the news. (CNBC) 

5 Manus’s founders have been barred from leaving China following Meta’s takeover 
Beijing is reviewing the $2 billion acquisition of the AI startup. (FT $) 

6 Baltimore has sued xAI over Grok’s fake nude images  
The chatbot allegedly violated consumer protections. (Guardian) 
+ There’s a big market for pornographic deepfakes of real women. (MIT Technology Review) 

7 NASA plans to send a nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars in 2028 
It’ll take a payload of Ingenuity-class helicopters to the Red Planet. (NYT $) 
+ NASA also wants to put a $20 billion base on the Moon. (The Verge) 

8 A company is secretly turning Zoom meetings into AI-generated podcasts 
WebinarTV turns the calls into content without telling anyone. (404 Media) 

9 Iranian volunteers have built their own missile warning map 
It fills the gap left by Iran’s lack of a public emergency alert tool. (Wired $) 
+ Here’s where OpenAI’s tech could show up in Iran. (MIT Technology Review) 

10 A nonprofit is sending basic income payments to AI-impacted workers 
It’s starting by giving 25-50 people $1,000 per month. (Gizmodo) 

Quote of the day 

“I am first and foremost a scientist. My goal is to understand nature. But doing science is, sort of, like reading the mind of God.” 

—DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis shares his approach to AI strategy with the FT. 

One More Thing 

EVA REDAMONTI

Inside the hunt for the most dangerous asteroid ever  

As asteroid 2024 YR4 hurtled toward Earth, astronomers determined that this massive rock posed a higher risk of impact than any object of its size in recorded history. Then, just as quickly as history was made, experts declared that the danger had passed. 

This is the inside story of the network of global scientists who found, followed, planned for, and finally dismissed the most dangerous asteroid ever found—all under the tightest of timelines and with the highest of stakes. Find out how they did it. 

—Robin George Andrews 

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.) 
 
+ Soothe subscription fatigue with this simple cancellation tool. 
+ Takashi Murakami’s reimagined Monets are pop-art magic. 
+ Jump into a rabbit hole with this app that visualizes links between Wikipedia pages. 
+ This playful lynx that snatched the top prize in a photo competition is a delight. 

The Download: tracing AI-fueled delusions, and OpenAI admits Microsoft risks

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 hardest question to answer about AI-fueled delusions 

What actually happens when people spiral into delusion with AI? To find out, Stanford researchers analyzed transcripts from chatbot users who experienced these spirals. 

Their findings suggest that chatbots have a unique ability to turn a benign, delusion-like thought into a dangerous obsession. But the research struggles to answer a vital question: does AI cause delusions or merely amplify them? Read the full story to understand the answer’s enormous implications. 

—James O’Donnell 

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. 

The next era of space exploration 

Our footprint in the solar system is rapidly expanding. Programs to build permanent Moon bases and find life on Mars have transitioned from science fiction to active space agency missions. The scientists behind them will not only shed new light on the cosmos, but also reveal where humanity is headed. 

To examine what the future holds in store, MIT Technology Review features editor Amanda Silverman will sit down on Wednesday with award-winning science journalist and author Robin George Andrews for an exclusive subscriber-only Roundtable conversation about “The Next Era of Space Exploration.” Register here to join the session at 16:00 GMT / 12:00 PM ET / 9:00 AM PT. 

The must-reads 

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

1 OpenAI has admitted its close ties with Microsoft are a business risk 
It highlighted the dangers in a pre-IPO document. (CNBC) 
+ OpenAI is wooing private equity firms with a sweeter deal than Anthropic’s. (Reuters $) 
+ It’s also building a fully automated researcher. (MIT Technology Review) 
+ And wants to muscle in on Google’s search dominance. (Telegraph $) 

2 The US just banned all new foreign-made consumer routers 
Citing national security concerns. (BBC) 
+ The EU has been urged to tighten rules for big tech-built smart TVs. (Guardian) 

3 Elon Musk’s “Terafab” chip factory faces a harsh reality check 
In the form of chip production shortages. (Bloomberg) 
+ Future AI chips could be built on glass. (MIT Technology Review) 

4 Mark Zuckerberg is building an AI CEO to help him run Meta 
He wants everyone to have their own personal AI agent. (WSJ $) 
+ But don’t let the hype about agents get ahead of reality. (MIT Technology Review) 

5 Palantir has become a “poisonous” flashpoint on the campaign trail  
Candidates are facing scrutiny over their ties to the company. (FT $) 
+ Palantir’s access to sensitive UK data is also causing concern. (Guardian) 

6 Mistral’s CEO has called for AI companies to pay a content levy in Europe 
It would apply to all commercial models on the continent. (FT $) 
+ Siemens’ CEO says Europe risks “disaster” from prioritizing AI independence. (FT $) 

7 Hong Kong police can now demand device passwords under a new law 
Refusing to comply could lead to a year in jail. (Guardian)  

8  Russia’s aspiring SpaceX rival has put its first internet satellites into orbit  
It plans to create a low-Earth orbit network. (Bloomberg $) 

9 A biotech startup wants to replace animal testing with nonsentient “organ sacks” 
The genetically engineered system is backed by billionaire Tim Draper (Wired $)  
+ Several new technologies are promising alternatives to lab animals. (MIT Technology Review) 

10 AI agents in a video game spontaneously created their own religion 
They reinterpreted a mission in the MMORPG. (Gizmodo) 
+ They’re not the first agents to get religious. (MIT Technology Review) 

Quote of the day 

“I think we’ve achieved AGI.” 

—Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang tells the Lex Fridman Podcast that artificial general intelligence is already here (at least by one generous definition). 

One More Thing 

MICHAEL BYERS

Beyond gene-edited babies: the possible paths for tinkering with human evolution 

In 2018, a Chinese scientist created the world’s first gene-edited babies, a milestone that fell between a medical breakthrough and the start of a slippery slope toward human enhancement. 

He achieved the feat with CRISPR, which was sweeping across biology labs because it was so easy to use. For his actions, He was sentenced to three years in prison, and his work was roundly excoriated. Yet even his biggest critics saw the basic idea as inevitable. 

In the years since, CRISPR has continued getting easier and easier to administer. What does that mean for the future of our species? Read the full story to find out why. 

—Antonio Regalado 

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.) 
 
+ This candle-powered Game Boy is a romantic approach to gaming during a blackout. 
+ Apparently, Monopoly would be more fun if we actually followed the rules. 
+ Watching rubber bands explode these everyday objects is strangely hypnotic. 
+This spellbinding site simulates what Earth looked like hundreds of millions of years ago. 

The Download: animal welfare gets AGI-pilled, and the White House unveils its AI policy

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 Bay Area’s animal welfare movement wants to recruit AI 

In early February, animal welfare advocates and AI researchers arrived in stocking feet at Mox, a scrappy, shoes-free coworking space in San Francisco. They gathered to discuss a provocative idea: if artificial general intelligence is on the horizon, could it prevent animal suffering? 

Some brainstormed using custom agents in advocacy work, while others pitched cultivating meat with AI tools. But the real talk of the event was a flood of funding they expect will soon flow to animal welfare charities, not from individual megadonors, but from AI lab employees.   

Some attendees also probed an even more controversial idea: AI may develop the capacity to suffer—and this could constitute a moral catastrophe. Read the full story to find out why their ideas are gaining momentum and sparking controversy. 

—Michelle Kim & Grace Huckins 

The must-reads 

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

1 The White House has unveiled its AI policy blueprint 
Trump wants Congress to codify the light-touch framework into law. (Politico) 
+ He also wants to block state limits on AI. (WP $)  
+ A backlash against the tech has formed within MAGA. (FT $) 
+ A war over AI regulation is brewing in the US. (MIT Technology Review) 

2 Elon Musk has been found liable for misleading Twitter investors 
A jury ruled that he defrauded shareholders ahead of the $44 billion acquisition. (CNBC) 
+ But it absolved him of some fraud allegations. (NPR) 

3 The Pentagon is adopting Palantir AI as the core US military system 
The move locks in long-term use of Palantir’s weapons-targeting tech. (Reuters) 
+ The DoD wants it to link up sensors and shooters for combat. (Bloomberg) 
+ Palantir is also getting access to sensitive UK financial regulation data. (Guardian) 
+ AI is turning the Iran conflict into theater. (MIT Technology Review) 

4 Musk plans to build the largest-ever chip factory in Austin 
Tesla and SpaceX will jointly run the project. (The Verge) 
+ Future AI chips could be built on glass. (MIT Technology Review) 
 
5 OpenAI will show ads to all US users of the free version of ChatGPT  
It’s seeking new revenue streams amid skyrocketing computing costs. (Reuters) 
+ The company is also building a fully automated researcher. (MIT Technology Review) 
+ It plans to double its workforce soon. (FT $) 

6 New crypto rules are set to do the Trumps a “big favor” 
Particularly the narrow securities definitions. (Guardian) 

7 Tencent has added a version of the OpenClaw agent to WeChat 
Users of the super app will now be able to use the tool to control their PCs. (SCMP)  

8 Reddit is mulling identity verification to vanquish bots 
It’s considering “something like” Face ID or Touch ID. (Engadget) 

9 People are using AI to find their lost pets 
Databases for pet reunifications supported their searches. (WP $) 

10 Scientists have narrowed down the hunt for aliens to 45 planets 
The closest is just four light-years from Earth. (404 Media) 

Quote of the day 

“It doesn’t matter how many people you throw at the problem; we are never going to solve the challenges of war without technology like AI.” 

—Alex Miller, the US Army’s CTO, tells Wired why he wants AI in every weapon. 

One More Thing 

STEPHANIE ARNETT/MITTR | GETTY

A brain implant changed her life. Then it was removed against her will. 

Sticking an electrode inside a person’s brain can do more than treat a disease. Take the case of Rita Leggett, an Australian woman whose experimental brain implant changed her sense of agency and self. She told researchers that she “became one” with her device. 

She was devastated when, two years later, she was told she had to remove the implant because the company that made it had gone bust.  
 
Her case highlights the need for a new category of legal protection: neuro rights. Find out how they could be protected. 

—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.) 
 
+ Looking for a good view? Earth’s longest line of sight has been empirically proven. 
+ A biblical endorsement of sin is a welcome reminder that we all make typos. 
+ Richard Nadler’s illustrations of vertical societies are exquisitely detailed. 
+ This 1978 BBC film evocatively exposes our tendency to stress over tech-dependency. 

The Download: OpenAI is building a fully automated researcher, and a psychedelic trial blind spot

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.

OpenAI is throwing everything into building a fully automated researcher 

OpenAI has a new grand challenge: building an AI researcher—a fully automated agent-based system capable of tackling large, complex problems by itself. The San Francisco firm said the new goal will be its “north star” for the next few years.  

By September, the company plans to build “an autonomous AI research intern” that can take on a small number of specific research problems. The intern will be the precursor to the fully automated multi-agent system, which is slated to debut in 2028. 

In an exclusive interview this week, OpenAI’s chief scientist, Jakub Pachocki, talked me through the plans. Find out what I discovered. 

—Will Douglas Heaven 

Mind-altering substances are (still) falling short in clinical trials 

Over the last decade, we’ve seen scientific interest in psychedelic drugs explode. Compounds like psilocybin—which is found in magic mushrooms—are being explored for all sorts of health applications, including treatments for depression, PTSD, addiction, and even obesity. But two studies out earlier this week demonstrate just how difficult it is to study these drugs.  

For me, they show just how overhyped these substances have become. Find out why here. 

—Jessica Hamzelou 

This story first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday. 

Read more: What do psychedelic drugs do to our brains? AI could help us find out 

The must-reads 

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

1 OpenAI is building a “super app”  
It’s merging ChatGPT, a web browser, and a coding tool into a single app. (The Verge) 
+ It’s also buying coding startup Astral to enhance its Codex model. (Ars Technica) 
+ The moves come amid a cutback on side projects. (WSJ $) 
+ OpenAI has lost ground to Anthropic in the enterprise market. (Axios) 

2 The US has charged Super Micro’s co-founder with smuggling AI tech to China  
Super Micro is third on Fortune’s list of the fastest-growing companies. (Reuters)  
+ GenAI is learning to spy for the US military. (MIT Technology Review) 
+ The compute competition is shaping the China-US rivalry. (Politico) 

3 The DoJ has taken down botnets behind the largest-ever DDoS attack 
They had infected more than 3 million devices. (Wired $) 
+ The DoJ has also seized domains tied to Iranian “hacktivists.” (Axios) 

4 The Pentagon says Anthropic’s foreign workers are a security risk 
It cited Chinese employees as a particular concern. (Axios) 
+ Anthropic’s moral boundaries have incensed the DoD. (MIT Technology Review) 

5 High oil prices could wreck the AI boom, the WTO has warned 
Fears are growing of a prolonged energy shock. (The Guardian) 
+ We did the math on AI’s energy footprint. (MIT Technology Review) 

6 Jeff Bezos is trying to raise $100 billion to use AI in manufacturing 
The funds would buy manufacturing firms and infuse them with AI. (WSJ $) 
+ Here’s how to fine-tune AI for prosperity. (MIT Technology Review) 

7 Signal’s creator is helping to encrypt Meta’s AI  
Moxie Marlinspike is integrating his encrypted chatbot, Confer. (Wired $) 
+ Meta is also ditching human moderators for AI again. (CNBC) 
+ AI is making online crimes easier. (MIT Technology Review) 

8 Prediction market Kalshi has raised $1 billion at a $22 billion valuation 
That’s double its valuation from December. (Bloomberg $) 
+ Arizona’s AG has charged the company with “illegal gambling.” (NPR) 

9 Meta isn’t killing Horizon Worlds for VR after all 
It’s canceled plans to dump the metaverse app (for now). (CNBC) 

10 A US startup is recruiting an “AI bully”  
The successful candidate must test the patience of leading chatbots. (The Guardian) 

Quote of the day 

“Imagine a sports bar… but just for situation monitoring — live X feeds, flight radar, Bloomberg terminals, and Polymarket screens.” 

—Kalshi rival Polymarket unveils its hellish vision for a new bar. 

One More Thing 

SELMAN DESIGN

How gamification took over the world 

It’s a thought that occurs to every video-game player at some point: what if the weird, hyper-focused state I enter in virtual worlds could somehow be applied to the real one? 

For a handful of consultants, startup gurus, and game designers in the late 2000s, this state of “blissful productivity” became the key to unlocking our true human potential. Their vision became the global phenomenon of gamification—but it didn’t live up to the hype. 

Instead of liberating us, gamification became a tool for coercion, distraction, and control. Find out why we fell for it—and how we can recover. 

—Bryan Gardiner 

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.) 

+ In a landmark legal win for trolling, Afroman has won his diss track case against the police. 
+ This LEGO artist remixes standard sets into completely different iconic objects. 
+ Ease your search for aliens with these interactive estimates of advanced civilizations.  
+ A rare superbloom in Death Valley has been caught on camera.