The Download: US aid disruptions, and imagining the future

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.

HIV could infect 1,400 infants every day because of US aid disruptions

Around 1,400 infants are being infected by HIV every day as a result of the new US administration’s cuts to funding to AIDS organizations, new modeling suggests.

In an executive order issued January 20, President Donald Trump paused new foreign aid funding to global health programs. Four days later, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a stop-work order on existing foreign aid assistance. Surveys suggest that these changes forced more than a third of global organizations that provide essential HIV services to close within days of the announcements. 

Hundreds of thousands of people are losing access to HIV treatments as a result. Read the full story.

—Jessica Hamzelou

MIT Technology Review Narrated: What the future holds for those born today

Happy birthday, baby.

You have been born into an era of intelligent machines. They have watched over you almost since your conception. They let your parents listen in on your tiny heartbeat, track your gestation on an app, and post your sonogram on social media. Well before you were born, you were known to the algorithm.

How will you and the next generation of machines grow up together? We asked more than a dozen experts to imagine your joint future.

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

The must-reads

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

1 A judge has ordered DOGE to cease dismantling USAID 
It’s been told to reinstate employees’ email access and let them return to their offices. (WP $)
+ The judge believes its efforts probably violated the US Constitution.(Reuters)
+ The department has also targeted workers that prevent tech overspending. (The Intercept)
+ Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? It’s complex. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Can Oracle save TikTok? 
A security proposal from the cloud giant could reportedly allow it to keep operating in the US. (Bloomberg $)
+ The deal would leave the app’s algorithm in the hands of its Chinese parent company. (Politico)

3 NASA’s astronauts have touched down on Earth
They safely landed off the coast of Florida yesterday evening. (FT $)
+ A pod of dolphins dropped by to witness the spectacle. (The Guardian)

4 AI is turning cyber crime into a digital arms race
Europol warns that more criminals than ever are exploiting AI tools for nefarious means. (FT $)
+ Five ways criminals are using AI. (MIT Technology Review)

5 An Italian newspaper has published an edition produced entirely by AI
The technology was responsible for “the irony” too, apparently. (The Guardian)

6 Tesla’s taxi service has been greenlit in California
But the road ahead is still full of obstacles. (Wired $)
+ Chinese EVs are snapping at Tesla’s heels across the world. (Rest of World)
+ It certainly seems as though Asia will birth the next EV superpower. (Economist $)
+ Robotaxis are one of our 10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2025. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Online platforms are fueling ‘facial dysmorphia’
Hours of staring at their own faces made these women anxious and depressed. (NY Mag $)
+ The fight for “Instagram face.” (MIT Technology Review)

8 Inside the hunt for water on Mars
We know that the red planet was once host to it, but we don’t know why. (Knowable Magazine)

9 This robotic spider is shedding light on how real spiders hunt  
Namely using a form of echolocation. (Ars Technica)

10 We could be dramatically underestimating the Earth’s population
New data analysis suggests it could be much higher than previously thought. (New Scientist $)

Quote of the day

“In no uncertain terms is this an audit. It’s a heist, stealing a vast amount of government data.”

—An anonymous auditor offers a scathing review of DOGE’s attempts at auditing US government departments to Wired.

The big story

The humble oyster could hold the key to restoring coastal waters. Developers hate it.

October 2023

Carol Friend has taken on a difficult job. She is one of the 10 people in Delaware currently trying to make it as a cultivated oyster farmer.

Her Salty Witch Oyster Company holds a lease to grow the mollusks as part of the state’s new program for aquaculture, launched in 2017. It has sputtered despite its obvious promise.

Five years after the first farmed oysters went into the Inland Bays, the aquaculture industry remains in a larval stage. Oysters themselves are almost mythical in their ability to clean and filter water. But human willpower, investment, and flexibility are all required to allow the oysters to simply do their thing—particularly when developers start to object. Read the full story.

—Anna Kramer

We can still have nice things

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

+ If you’re stuck for something to do this weekend, why not host a reading hang?
+ Do baby owls really sleep on their stomachs? Like most things in life, the truth is somewhere in the middle.
+ Keep your eyes peeled the next time you’re in the British countryside, you might just spot a black leopard.
+ I couldn’t agree more—why When Harry Met Sally is a perfect film.

The Download: speaking to robots, and growing pharmaceutical mushrooms

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.

When you might start speaking to robots

Last week, Google made a somewhat surprising announcement. It launched a version of its AI model, Gemini, that can do things not just in the digital realm of chatbots and internet search but out here in the physical world, via robots. 

Gemini Robotics fuses the power of large language models with spatial reasoning, allowing you to tell a robotic arm to do something like “put the grapes in the clear glass bowl.” These verbal commands get filtered by the LLM, which identifies intentions from what you’re saying and then breaks them down into commands that the robot can carry out.

You might be wondering if this means your home or workplace might one day be filled with robots you can bark orders at. Read our story to find out.

—James O’Donnell

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here.

And to read more about how AI is making robots smarter, check out: 

+ Fast-learning robots were one of the entries in MIT Technology Review’s list of 10 Breakthrough Technologies for 2025. Read why they made the cut, and the companies you should be keeping an eye on. 

+ What’s next for robots in 2025. With tests of humanoid bots and new developments in military applications, the next year will intrigue even the skeptics. Read the full story.

+ “Robot utility models” sidestep the need to tweak the data used to train robots every time they try to do something in unfamiliar settings. Read the full story.

+ Is robotics about to have its own ChatGPT moment? Researchers are using generative AI and other techniques to teach robots new skills—including tasks they could perform in homes. Read the full story.

Job titles of the future: Pharmaceutical-grade mushroom grower

Studies have indicated that psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin and MDMA, have swift-acting and enduring antidepressant effects. Though the US Food and Drug Administration denied the first application for medical treatments involving psychedelics (an MDMA-based therapy) last August, these drugs appear to be on the road to mainstream medicine.

Research into psilocybin has been slowed in part by the complexity of the trials, but the data already shows promise for the psychedelic compound within so-called magic mushrooms. Eventually, the FDA will decide whether to approve it to treat depression. If and when it does—a move that would open up a vast legal medical market—who will grow the mushrooms?

Scott Marshall already is. The head of mycology at the drug manufacturer Optimi Health in British Columbia, Canada, he is one of a very small number of licensed psilocybin mushroom cultivators in North America. Read the full story.

—Mattha Busby

This story is from the latest edition of our print magazine, which is all about relationships. Subscribe now to receive future editions once they land—subscriptions are currently 25% off the usual price!

The must-reads

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

1 BYD’s new EV can charge in just five minutes
Which could help attract customers previously put off by long charging times. (Bloomberg $)
+ The company also announced plans to build a charging network in China. (The Guardian)
+ The world’s first consumer sodium-ion battery power bank has been announced. (The Verge)
+ BYD is one of MIT Technology Review’s Climate Tech Companies to Watch. (MIT Technology Review)

2 NASA’s stranded astronauts have begun their return to Earth
Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have spent nine long months in space. (CNN)
+ The pair kept busy by exercising for two hours a day. (BBC)

3 How Elon Musk’s ties to China could warp American polic
Tesla’s value is heavily dependent on him maintaining a cordial relationship with the CCP. (Vox)
+ Musk’s companies are extremely valuable targets. (The Hill)
+ If relations sour with China, Musk may look to expand more aggressively in India. (Rest of World)

4 Microsoft is developing an AI model that simulates our brains’ reasoning 
The goal is for it to learn from real-world experience, instead of just data. (FT $)
+ AI reasoning models can cheat to win chess games. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Alphabet has agreed to buy cybersecurity startup Wiz
At $32 billion, it’s the biggest acquisition the company has ever made. (FT $)

6 Everything you say to your Echo will be sent to Amazon
And if you opt out, Alexa won’t work anymore. (Ars Technica)
+ But Amazon denies that ending on-device processing will harm user privacy. (The Register)

7 US funding cuts could undo decades of progress fighting HIV
Experts are rushing to get drugs to vulnerable communities while they still can.(The Guardian)
+ Eight countries are likely to run out of treatments soon. (Reuters)
+ This annual shot might protect against HIV infections. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Donald Trump is convinced that Joe Biden used an autopen
The President alleges that aides used the gadget to duplicate Biden’s signature. (WP $)
+ However, Trump has not provided any evidence to back up his allegations. (BBC)

9 Big Tech is competing with your need to sleep
There’s only so many hours in the day to consume content, after all. (Insider $)
+ I tried to hack my insomnia with technology. Here’s what worked. (MIT Technology Review)

10 Thank goodness for Facebook Marketplace
It feels like the last bastion of fully human interaction on social media. (NYT $)

Quote of the day

“It’s been a roller coaster for them, probably a little bit more so than for us.”

—Astronaut Suni Williams, who has spent nine months living on the International Space Station, says she’s looking forward to returning to her family once she touches back down on Earth, Reuters reports.

The big story

Exosomes are touted as a trendy cure-all. We don’t know if they work.

October 2024

There’s a trendy new cure-all in town: exosomes. They’re being touted as a miraculous treatment for hair loss, aging skin, acne, eczema, pain conditions, long covid, and even neurological diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. That’s, of course, if you can afford the price tag—which can stretch to thousands of dollars.

But there’s a big problem with these big promises: We don’t fully understand how exosomes work—or what they even really are. Read our story. 

—Jessica Hamzelou

We can still have nice things

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

+ This destructive little otter is a menace, but still very cute.
+ Here’s how to make the perfect tomato soup: complete with a surprise twist.
+ London’s fanciest bars are going all out to outfit themself with hi-fi listening systems.
+ A word of warning—these books are dangerous.

The Download: Google playing AI search catchup, and forming relationships with chatbots

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.

Is Google playing catchup on search with OpenAI?

—Mat Honan

I’ve been mulling over something that Will Heaven, our senior editor for AI, pointed out not too long ago: all the big players in AI seem to be moving in the same directions and converging on the same things. Agents. Deep research. Lightweight versions of models. Etc.

Google is no different. It’s just announced it’s adding new AI features from Gemini to search, and adding search features to Gemini. 

What strikes me more than how well they work is that they are really just about catching up with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.  And their belated appearance in March of the year 2025 doesn’t seem like a great sign for Google. Read the full story.

This story originally appeared in The Debrief with Mat Honan, a weekly newsletter about the biggest stories in tech from our editor in chief. Sign up here to get the next one in your inbox on Friday.

If you’re interested in reading more about AI search, check out the following stories: 

+ Generative AI search was one of MIT Technology Review’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies for 2025. Read more about why it made the cut for this year’s list. + AI means the end of internet search as we’ve known it. Despite fewer clicks, copyright fights, and sometimes iffy answers, AI could unlock new ways to summon all the world’s knowledge.

+ AI search could break the web. Developers should act before governments fall back on blunt tools. Read the full story.

+ Why Google’s AI Overviews gets things wrong. The feature provides brief, AI-generated summaries highlighting key information and links on top of search results. Unfortunately, it’s also unreliable.

+ Why you shouldn’t trust AI search engines. Read the full story.

AI chatbots have joined the chat

Chatbots are changing how we connect to each other and ourselves. But are these changes for the better, and how should they be monitored and regulated?

To learn more, join me for a live Roundtable session this Thursday at 12pm ET. I’ll be chatting with MIT Technology Review editor Rachel Courtland and senior reporter Eileen Guo, and we’ll be unpacking the landscape around chatbots. Register to ensure you don’t miss out!

The must-reads

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

1 How Trump’s foreign aid cuts will hurt millions of peoples’ health
The world is going to struggle to cope with the loss of US support. (Vox)
+ Hundreds of thousands of people are likely to lose their lives as a result. (New Yorker $)
+ The cuts could cause tuberculosis to become untreatable again. (The Atlantic $)
+ Top scientific universities are being forced to slash jobs. (The Guardian)
+ Pregnant women may die because of cuts to reproductive care. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Left-leaning Americans are abandoning Tesla
And conservatives face an uphill climb to plug the sales gap. (NYT $)
+ The company is turning its back on the typically pro-EV buyers that made it a success. (WP $)

3 VC firms are rushing to invest in Israeli startups
They’re betting that the firms are likely to do future business with the US. (WSJ $)
+ Here’s the defense tech at the center of US aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. (MIT Technology Review)

4 NASA is scheduled to return the two stranded astronauts on Tuesday
A new crew arrived to relieve them of their duties over the weekend. (NPR)
+ Let’s see if they make it home this week or not. (Ars Technica)
+ Space travel is seriously hard on the human body. (WP $)

5 Baidu’s new reasoning AI model is designed to challenge DeepSeek
It claims Ernie X1 offers the same performance at half the price. (Insider $)
+ DeepSeek’s shock success is sparking a new wave of AI investment. (Bloomberg $)
+ Four Chinese AI startups to watch beyond DeepSeek. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Alphabet has big plans for its laser-based internet project
Taara has been spun out of its moonshot incubator and into the real world. (FT $)
+ It’s a rival to Musk’s Starlink network. (The Verge)

7 What if Bitcoin’s mysterious creator is just a loser?
As the trail grows older, all signs point towards the shadowy figure being… a bit of a jerk. (NY Mag $)

8 Drone shows are bringing 3D artists’ ideas to life
The only problem is, they come with a safety warning. (Rest of World)

9 Google’s new Gemini AI model can remove watermarks from images
Naughty, naughty. (TechCrunch)
+ It’s easy to tamper with watermarks from AI-generated text. (MIT Technology Review)

10 What is vibe coding, exactly?
Developers are giving in and letting AI dictate its own path. (The Information $)

Quote of the day

 “To a lot of people, putting Elon Musk in charge of protecting the middle class is like putting Jeffrey Dahmer in charge of protecting a morgue.”

—Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic strategist, explains why Elon Musk’s unpopular actions are likely to become a problem for the Trump administration, the Guardian reports.

The big story

How covid conspiracies led to an alarming resurgence in AIDS denialism

August 2024

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

We can still have nice things

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

+ Happy St Patrick’s Day, if you’re celebrating today!
+ This newsreader losing it over the name of an inspirational pig is the most entertaining thing you’ll see today
+ These one-pot pasta dishes are exactly the kind of low-maintenance recipes you need for a weekday dinner.
+ Do you snerdle? Me neither.

The Download: HIV prevention shots, and fixing a broken sex doll

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 annual shot might protect against HIV infections

Every year, my colleagues and I put together a list of what we think are the top 10 breakthrough technologies of that year. When it came to innovations in biotech, there was a clear winner: lenacapavir, a drug that was found to prevent HIV infections in 100% of the women and girls who received it in a clinical trial.

You never hear “100%” in medicine. The trial was the most successful we’ve ever seen for HIV prevention. The drug was safe, too (it’s already approved to treat HIV infections). And it only needed to be injected twice a year to offer full protection.

This week, the results of a small phase I trial for once-yearly lenacapavir injections were announced at a conference in San Francisco. These early “first in human” trials are designed to test the safety of a drug in healthy volunteers. Still, the results are incredibly promising. Read our story to find out why.

—Jessica Hamzelou

This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here.

My sex doll is mad at me: A short story

In the not-too-distant future, we might form intimate relationships with robots. In this short fiction story from the latest edition of our print magazine, writer and artist Leo Herrera imagines what might happen when those robots break. Read the full story and if you aren’t already a subscriber, sign up now to get the next edition of the print magazine. Subscriptions are 25% off today!

The must-reads

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

1 A second wave of mass US government firings is coming 
More than 100,000 jobs have been cut to date—a figure that’s likely to keep rising. (Reuters)
+ But a judge has demanded the rehiring of thousands of recently fired workers. (NYT $)
+ Meet the archivists resisting DOGE’s data purge. (New Yorker $)
+ Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? It’s complex. (MIT Technology Review)

2 OpenAI has accused DeepSeek of being state-controlled
And it’s recommended the US bans the Chinese company’s models, just in case. (TechCrunch)
+ OpenAI wants to preserve US AI models’ ability to learn from copyrighted material. (CNBC)
+ DeepSeek is uninterested in entering the AI rat race for profits. (FT $)
+ How a top Chinese AI model overcame US sanctions. (MIT Technology Review)

3 NASA and SpaceX will attempt to rescue the astronauts stuck in space tonight
After a mission to send their replacements into space was called off on Wednesday. (WP $)

4 Tech’s biggest companies aren’t fans of Donald Trump’s tariffs
Chinese manufacturer Foxconn, which supplies Apple and Amazon, has been hard hit. (FT $)
+ Meanwhile, Trump has taken aim at the foundation of US climate rules. (Vox)

5 China will start to label AI-generated content online
Following in the footsteps of the EU. (Bloomberg $)
+ The race to find a better way to label AI. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Big Pharma is cautiously investing in mental health again
The industry had previously turned its back on the field, but new treatments are piquing its interest. (WSJ $)

7 Africa is pinning its hopes of reliable electricity on solar grids
Africa is the world’s sunniest continent. Why not harness that energy? (Knowable Magazine)
+ Yes, we have enough materials to power the world with renewable energy. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Meet the Christians of Silicon Valley
When their work leaves them feeling disillusioned, they find hope in their faith. (Wired $)
+ The rise of the tech ethics congregation. (MIT Technology Review)

9 How generative AI’s creations complement the MAGA aesthetic
The pro-Trump internet isn’t especially stylish. (NYT $)

10 How to lose $148 billion in under two months
Just ask Elon Musk. (The Atlantic $)

Quote of the day

“It’s about as good as an intern. Generic and guessable answers.”

—An anonymous US agency worker says they’re not impressed by a chatbot DOGE created in an attempt to automate work previously done by federal employees, Wired reports.

The big story

Inside the quest to map the universe with mysterious bursts of radio energy

May 2024

When our universe was less than half as old as it is today, a burst of energy that could cook a sun’s worth of popcorn shot out from somewhere amid a compact group of galaxies. Some 8 billion years later, radio waves from that burst reached Earth and were captured by a sophisticated low-frequency radio telescope in the Australian outback.

The signal, which arrived in June 2022, and lasted for under half a millisecond, is one of a growing class of mysterious radio signals called fast radio bursts. In the last 10 years, astronomers have picked up nearly 5,000 of them. This one was particularly special: nearly double the age of anything previously observed, and three and a half times more energetic.

No one knows what causes fast radio bursts. They flash in a seemingly random and unpredictable pattern from all over the sky. But despite the mystery, these radio waves are starting to prove extraordinarily useful. Read the full story.

—Anna Kramer

We can still have nice things

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

+ Why is Hollywood so obsessed with twins right now?
+ This octopus contorting its body to fit into a tiny hole is mesmerizing
+ Did you catch this morning’s blood moon lunar eclipse? Don’t worry if you didn’t—these pictures are pretty amazing.
+ Happy Pi Day to all who celebrate!

The Download: Google DeepMind’s plans for robots, and Eastern Europe’s changing tech sector

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.

Gemini Robotics uses Google’s top language model to make robots more useful

The news: Google DeepMind has released a new model, Gemini Robotics, that combines its best large language model with robotics. Plugging in the LLM seems to give robots the ability to be more dexterous, work from natural-language commands, and generalize across tasks. All three are things that robots have struggled to do until now.

Why it matters: The team hopes their work could usher in an era of robots that are far more useful and require less detailed training for each task. Incorporating LLMs into robotics is part of a growing trend, and this may be the most impressive example yet. Read the full story.

—Scott J Mulligan

If you’re interested in how researchers are making robots more useful, why not take a look at these stories:

+ The robot race is fueling a fight for training data. AI is upending the way robots learn, leaving companies and researchers with a need for more data. Read the full story.

+ It’s becoming easier to train robots with sound, which helps them adapt to tasks and environments where visibility is limited. Read the full story.

+ To be more useful, robots need to become lazier. Smarter data processing could make machines more helpful and energy-efficient in the real world. A good way to test this principle is to make robots play soccer.

+ Gen AI models aren’t just good for creating pictures—they can be fine-tuned to generate useful robot training data, too. Read the full story.

MIT Technology Review Narrated: How the Ukraine-Russia war is reshaping the tech sector in Eastern Europe

Startups in Latvia and other nearby countries see the mobilization of Ukraine as a warning and as inspiration. They are now changing consumer products—from scooters to recreational drones—for use on the battlefield.

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

The must-reads

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

1 The European Union is pushing back against Donald Trump’s tariffs
By slapping the US with its own levies. (WP $)
+ Its measure could affect up to €26bn of American-made goods. (FT $)

2 What does ‘waste’ mean to Elon Musk?
DOGE’s crude calculation of what is—and isn’t—valuable doesn’t make sense. (The Atlantic $)
+ Musk seems to be testing the limits of Trump’s patience. (FT $)
+ He’s admitted he’s struggling to balance his DOGE commitments with his work. (Insider $)
+ Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? It’s complex. (MIT Technology Review)

3 Big Tech is calling for new nuclear power stations 
With the notable exception of Microsoft. (FT $)
+ Interest in nuclear power is surging. Is it enough to build new reactors? (MIT Technology Review)

4 BYD is rapidly gaining on Tesla
It’s undercutting the EV maker in 10 major non-Western markets. (Rest of World)
+ Mercedes-Benz is turning its attention to solid-state batteries. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ Where it all went wrong for Europe’s EV battery darling. (Bloomberg $)
+ BYD is one of MIT Technology Review’s 15 climate tech companies to watch. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Intel’s future is hanging in the balance
Shares are down, jobs are being cut, and competition is heating up. (The Guardian)

6 North Korean hackers snuck spyware onto the Google Play app store
The malicious software can take control of a device’s audio and camera systems. (TechCrunch)

7 Things aren’t looking good for iRobot
Its future seems increasingly precarious. (The Verge)
+ The company is undergoing a strategic review to see if it can be salvaged. (Bloomberg $)
+ A Roomba recorded a woman on the toilet. How did screenshots end up on Facebook? (MIT Technology Review) 

8 Spotify has removed Andrew Tate’s misogynistic courses
Following complaints from its own employees. (404 Media)

9 An arbitrator has instructed a former Meta employee to stop promoting her new book
The new memoir details alleged claims of misconduct at the company. (The Verge)

10 How to decide where to hunt for alien life
Top tip: search for the cosmic shoreline. (Quanta Magazine)

Quote of the day

“The President is basically a car salesman now.”

—Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky accuses Donald Trump of acting like a showroom salesman after he urged Americans to buy Tesla electric cars, MSNBC reports.

The big story

What the future holds for those born today

August 2024

Happy birthday, baby.

You have been born into an era of intelligent machines. They have watched over you almost since your conception. They let your parents listen in on your tiny heartbeat, track your gestation on an app, and post your sonogram on social media. Well before you were born, you were known to the algorithm.

Your arrival coincided with the 125th anniversary of this magazine. With a bit of luck and the right genes, you might see the next 125 years. How will you and the next generation of machines grow up together? We asked more than a dozen experts to imagine your future. Read what they prophesied.

—Kara Platoni

We can still have nice things

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

+ These indigenous heavy metal bands are tackling climate change, one devastating riff at a time.
+ Eating asparagus raw is a thing, apparently.
+ How our culture’s monsters have evolved over time, and what they tell us about ourselves.
+ There are few animals more fascinating than the Greenland shark.

The Download: testing new AI agent Manus, and Waabi’s virtual robotruck ambitions

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.

Everyone in AI is talking about Manus. We put it to the test.

Since the general AI agent Manus was launched last week, it has spread online like wildfire. And not just in China, where it was developed by the Wuhan-based startup Butterfly Effect. It’s made its way into the global conversation, with some even dubbing it “the second DeepSeek”.

Manus claims to be the world’s first general AI agent, building off multiple AI models and agents to act autonomously on a wide range of tasks. Despite all the hype, very few people have had a chance to use it. MIT Technology Review was able to obtain access to Manus. Here’s what we made of it. 

—Caiwei Chen 

Waabi says its virtual robotrucks are realistic enough to prove the real ones are safe

The news: Canadian robotruck startup Waabi says its super-realistic virtual simulation is now accurate enough to prove the safety of its driverless big rigs without having to run them for miles on real roads.

How it did it: The company uses a digital twin of its real-world robotrucks, loaded up with real sensor data, and measures how the twin’s performance compares to that of real trucks on real roads. Waabi says they now match almost exactly, and claims its approach is a better way to demonstrate safety than just racking up real-world miles, as many of its competitors do. Read the full story.

—Will Douglas Heaven

This artificial leaf makes hydrocarbons out of carbon dioxide

For many years, researchers have been working to build devices that can mimic photosynthesis—the process by which plants use sunlight and carbon dioxide to make their fuel. These artificial leaves use sunlight to separate water into oxygen and hydrogen, which could then be used to fuel cars or generate electricity. Now a research team from the University of Cambridge has taken aim at creating more energy-dense fuels.

The group’s device produces ethylene and ethane, proving that artificial leaves can create hydrocarbons. The development could offer a cheaper, cleaner way to make fuels, chemicals, and plastics—with the ultimate goal of creating fuels that don’t leave a harmful carbon footprint after they’re burned. Read the full story.

—Carly Kay

This startup just hit a big milestone for green steel production

Green-steel startup Boston Metal just showed that it has all the ingredients needed to make steel without emitting gobs of greenhouse gases. The company successfully ran its largest reactor yet to make steel, producing over a ton of metal, MIT Technology Review can exclusively report.

The latest milestone means that Boston Metal just got one step closer to commercializing its technology. And while there are still a lot of milestones left before reaching the scale needed to make a dent in the steel industry, the latest run shows that the company can scale up its process. Read the full story.

—Casey Crownhart

This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here.

The must-reads

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

1 The US has resumed aid deliveries to Ukraine 
Leaders have also agreed to start sharing military intelligence again. (The Guardian)
+ Ukraine also endorsed a US proposal for a ceasefire. (Vox)
+ Meet the radio-obsessed civilian shaping Ukraine’s drone defense. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Donald Trump has imposed a 25% tariff on metal imports
The decision is likely to raise costs for American carmakers, and other manufacturers. (NYT $)
+ Business leaders feel spooked by his frequent mixed messaging around tariffs. (WSJ $)
+ However, US-native metal makers are delighted by the tariffs. (Economist $)
+ How Trump’s tariffs could drive up the cost of batteries, EVs, and more. (MIT Technology Review)

3 Texas’ measles outbreak appears to be spreading 
Two people in Oklahoma are being treated for measles-like symptoms. (Ars Technica)
+ An unvaccinated six-year old girl recently died in Texas. (The Atlantic $)
+ The state is scrambling to respond to the outbreak. (Undark)
+ The virus is extremely contagious and dangerous to children and adults alike. (Wired $)

4 Elon Musk wants the US government to shut down
Partly because it would make it easier to fire federal workers. (Wired $)
+ A judge has ruled that DOGE must comply with the Freedom of Information Act. (The Verge)
+ Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? It’s complex. (MIT Technology Review)

5 OpenAI says it’s trained an AI to be ‘really good’ at creative writing|
The question is, can a model trained on existing material ever be truly creative? (TechCrunch)
+ AI can make you more creative—but it has limits. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Silicon Valley’s AI startups are expanding in India
Talent is plentiful, particularly in tech hub Bangalore. (Bloomberg $)

7 Spotify claims it paid $10 billion in royalties last year
It called the payout “the largest in music industry history.” (FT $)
+ How to break free of Spotify’s algorithm. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Saturn has more moons than the rest of the planets combined
Researchers have finally spotted new moons that have previously evaded detection. (New Scientist $)

9 This coffee shop is New York’s hottest AI spot
Handily, OpenAI’s office is just across the street. (Insider $)

10 Netflix shouldn’t use AI to upscale resolution
The technology left sitcom A Different World looking freakishly warped. (Vice)

Quote of the day

“The uncertainty is just as bad as tariffs themselves.”

—Donald Schneider, deputy head of US policy at investment bank Piper Sandler, explains to the Washington Post why investors are feeling rattled by Donald Trump’s volatile approach to imposing tariffs.

The big story

Can Afghanistan’s underground “sneakernet” survive the Taliban?

November 2021

When Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, Mohammad Yasin had to make some difficult decisions very quickly. He began erasing some of the sensitive data on his computer and moving the rest onto two of his largest hard drives, which he then wrapped in a layer of plastic and buried underground.

Yasin is what is locally referred to as a “computer kar”: someone who sells digital content by hand in a country where a steady internet connection can be hard to come by, selling everything from movies, music, mobile applications, to iOS updates. And despite the dangers of Taliban rule, the country’s extensive “sneakernet” isn’t planning on shutting down. Read the full story.

—Ruchi Kumar

We can still have nice things

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

+ Check out these novels inspired by what it means to be middle-aged.
+ After a long absence, it’s looking like the Loch Ness Monster is staging its return.
+ Chappell Roan, you are just fantastic.
+ An AI stylist telling me what to wear? No thanks.

The Download: making AI fairer, and why everyone’s talking about AGI

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.

Two new measures show where AI models fail on fairness

What’s new: A new pair of AI benchmarks could help developers reduce bias in AI models, potentially making them fairer and less likely to cause harm. The benchmarks evaluate AI systems based on their awareness of different scenarios and contexts. They could offer a more nuanced way to measure AI’s bias and its understanding of the world.

Why it matters: The researchers were inspired to look into the problem of bias after witnessing clumsy missteps in previous approaches, demonstrating how ignoring differences between groups may in fact make AI systems less fair. But while these new benchmarks could help teams better judge fairness in AI models, actually fixing them may require some other techniques altogether. Read the full story.

—Scott J Mulligan

AGI is suddenly a dinner table topic

The concept of artificial general intelligence—an ultra-powerful AI system we don’t have yet—can be thought of as a balloon, repeatedly inflated with hype during peaks of optimism (or fear) about its potential impact and then deflated as reality fails to meet expectations.

Over the past week, lots of news went into inflating that AGI balloon, including the launch of a new, seemingly super-capable AI agent called Manus, created by a Chinese startup. Read our story to learn what’s happened, and why it matters.

—James O’Donnell

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here.

The must-reads

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

1 The US has rebranded its immigration app with a ‘self-deport’ function
It’s a bid to encourage people living illegally to leave the country voluntarily. (AP News)
+ If they fail to self-report, undocumented migrants could face harsher consequences. (BBC)
+ But immigrants should think very carefully before trusting the app. (The Guardian)
+ The app was previously used to schedule asylum appointments. (MIT Technology Review)

2 DOGE is scrabbling around for some wins
The growing backlash against its clumsy cuts puts DOGE’s top brass under pressure. (WP $)
+ Biomedical research cuts would affect both elite and less-wealthy universities. (Undark)
+ The agency is causing chaos within social security’s offices. (New Yorker $)
+ The next phase? Handing over decisions to machines. (The Atlantic $)

3 Donald Trump isn’t a fan of the CHIPS Act
Even though the law is designed to support chip manufacturing in the US. (NYT $)
+ Here’s what is at stake if he follows through on his threats to scrap it. (Bloomberg $)

4 Elon Musk claims a cyber attack on X came from ‘the Ukraine area’
But the billionaire, who is a fierce critic of Ukraine, hasn’t provided any evidence. (FT $)
+ The platform buckled temporarily under the unusually powerful attack. (Reuters)
+ Cyber experts aren’t convinced, however. (AP News)

5 AI-powered PlayStation characters are on the horizon
Sony is testing out AI avatars that can hold conversations with players. (The Verge)
+ How generative AI could reinvent what it means to play. (MIT Technology Review)

6 DeepSeek’s founder isn’t fussed about making a quick buck
Liang Wenfeng is turning down big investment offers in favor of retaining the freedom to make his own decisions. (WSJ $)
+ China’s tech optimism is at an all-time high. (Bloomberg $)
+ How DeepSeek ripped up the AI playbook—and why everyone’s going to follow its lead. (MIT Technology Review)

7 The rain is full of pollutants, including microplastics
And you thought acid rain was bad. (Vox)

8 An all-electric seaglider is being tested in Rhode Island
It can switch seamlessly between floating and flying. (New Scientist $)
+ These aircraft could change how we fly. (MIT Technology Review)

9 Tesla Cybertruck owners have formed an emotional support group
One member is pushing for Cybertruck abuse to be treated as hate crimes. (Fast Company $)

10 There’s only one good X account left
Step forward Joyce Carol Oates. (The Guardian)

Quote of the day

“There is no more asylum.”

—US immigration officials tell a businessman seeking legitimate asylum that he can’t enter the country just days after Donald Trump took office, the Washington Post reports.

The big story

Next slide, please: A brief history of the corporate presentation

August 2023

PowerPoint is everywhere. It’s used in religious sermons; by schoolchildren preparing book reports; at funerals and weddings. In 2010, Microsoft announced that PowerPoint was installed on more than a billion computers worldwide.

But before PowerPoint, 35-millimeter film slides were king. They were the only medium for the kinds of high-impact presentations given by CEOs and top brass at annual meetings for stockholders, employees, and salespeople.

Known in the business as “multi-image” shows, these presentations required a small army of producers, photographers, and live production staff to pull off. Read this story to delve into the fascinating, flashy history of corporate presentations. 

—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 or skeet ’em at me.)+ Here’s how to prevent yourself getting a crick in the neck during your next flight.
+ I would love to go on all of these dreamy train journeys.
+ This Singaporean chocolate cake is delightfully simple to make.
+ Meet Jo Nemeth, the woman who lives entirely without money.

The Download: supercharging the power grid, and a new Chinese AI agent

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 cheapest way to supercharge America’s power grid

—Brian Deese is an innovation fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and served as director of the White House National Economic Council from 2021 to 2023. Rob Gramlich is founder and president of Grid Strategies and was economic advisor to the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission during the George W. Bush administration.

US electricity consumption is rising faster than it has in decades. Accommodating that growth will require building wind turbines, solar farms, and other power plants faster than we ever have before—and expanding the network of wires needed to connect those facilities to the grid.

But one major problem is that it’s expensive and slow to secure permits for new transmission lines and build them across the country. Fortunately, there are some shortcuts that could expand the capacity of the existing system without requiring completely new infrastructure: a suite of hardware and software tools known as advanced transmission technologies (ATTs), which can increase both the capacity and the efficiency of the power sector.

ATTs have the potential to radically reduce timelines for grid upgrades, avoid tricky permitting issues, and yield billions in annual savings for US consumers. So why are we not seeing an explosion in ATT investment and deployment in the US? Read the full story.

Interested in learning more about this topic? Read more of our stories:

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

+ That said, AI’s search for energy is growing more urgent. 

+ Why this developer won’t quit fighting to connect the US’s grids. 

+ Here are four ways AI is making the power grid faster and more resilient. 

The must-reads

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

1 China claims to have created the world’s first fully autonomous AI agent 
The agent, called Manus, can allegedly operate fully free of human intervention. (Forbes)
+ But it’s not clear if the hype can be justified at this stage. (TechCrunch)
+ Two former DeepMind researchers are chasing superintelligence. (Bloomberg $)
+ Four Chinese AI startups to watch beyond DeepSeek. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Meta went to extreme lengths to win China’s approval
Including developing a censorship system to comply with the CCP. (WP $)
+ However, its attempts to curry favor with the party did not bear fruit. (Gizmodo)

3 Anonymous Chinese investors are quietly funding Elon Musk’s ventures
They’re happy to invest tens of millions—so long as their identities remain under wraps. (FT $)
+ Despite the influx of cash, SpaceX isn’t having a great year. (NYT $)
+ Starlink is reaping the benefits of its founder’s proximity to the White House. (NBC News)

4 Ukraine doesn’t have minable rare earths
And even if it did, it would take at least 15 years to reach them. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ The country is preparing to hold negotiations with the US this week. (Economist $)

5 Farewell, the Athena lunar lander
It landed sideways in a crater and has been officially written off. (The Register)
+ Intuitive Machines, the company behind it, is contracted for another two landings. (AP News)
+ Firefly Aerospace, another private firm, had better luck. (Economist $)

6 The American public really doesn’t like DOGE
And Donald Trump is starting to pay attention. (The Atlantic $)
+ Musk represents the problem he is claiming he wants to solve. (Wired $)
+ The Trump administration is threatening scientific progress. (New Yorker $)
+ Anti-Musk protestors are targeting Tesla stores and infrastructure. (WP $)

7 Wikipedia is struggling to document the war in the Middle East
Certain editors have been forbidden from working on related pages. (Bloomberg $)

8 How to store the world’s data
Hard discs seem the obvious choice—for now. (WSJ $)
+ Music labels are going after the Internet Archive for copyright infringement. (Ars Technica)
+ The race to save our online lives from a digital dark age. (MIT Technology Review)

9 YouTube bros are peddling Taliban tourism
Inside the depressing rise of videos purporting to show “another side to Afghanistan.” (Insider $)

10 Amazon and Google’s AI calls Mein Kampf “a true work of art” 
That’s what happens when you search for positive reviews of the Nazi manifesto. (404 Media)
+ Want AI that flags hateful content? Build it. (MIT Technology Review)

Quote of the day

“The US won the internet and the US should win crypto.”

—Tyler Winklevoss, who runs crypto exchange Gemini with his twin brother Cameron, could not be happier with the outcome of Donald Trump’s crypto summit, according to a post on X.

The big story

How this Turing Award–winning researcher became a legendary academic advisor

October 2023

Every academic field has its superstars. But a rare few achieve superstardom not just by demonstrating individual excellence but also by consistently producing future superstars.

Computer science has its own such figure: Manuel Blum, who won the 1995 Turing Award—the Nobel Prize of computer science. He is the inventor of the captcha—a test designed to distinguish humans from bots online.

Three of Blum’s students have also won Turing Awards, and many have received other high honors in theoretical computer science. More than 20 hold professorships at top computer science departments. So what’s the formula to his success? Read the full story.

—Sheon Han

We can still have nice things

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

+ Looking for some books to make you laugh out loud? Look no further.
+ What can’t White Lotus star Walton Goggins live without? An orange pen and 22-year old sand, apparently.
+ When it’s time to take a break, here’s how to recharge properly.
+ $40 for “magic” yogurt? What the hell, sure.

The Download: gene de-extinction, and Ukraine’s Starlink connection

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 short, strange history of gene de-extinction

This week saw the release of some fascinating news about some very furry rodents—so-called “woolly mice”—created as part of an experiment to explore how we might one day resurrect the woolly mammoth.

The idea of bringing back extinct species has gained traction thanks to advances in sequencing of ancient DNA. This ancient genetic data is deepening our understanding of the past—for instance, by shedding light on interactions among prehistoric humans. But researchers are becoming more ambitious. Rather than just reading ancient DNA, they want to use it—by inserting it into living organisms.

Because this idea is so new and attracting so much attention, I decided it would be useful to create a record of previous attempts to add extinct DNA to living organisms. And since the technology doesn’t have a name, let’s give it one: “chronogenics.” Read the full story.

—Antonio Regalado

This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. 

If you’re interested in de-extinction, why not check out:

+ How much would you pay to see a woolly mammoth? We spoke to Sara Ord, director of species restoration at Colossal, the world’s first “de-extinction” company, about its big ambitions.

+ Colossal is also a de-extinction company, which is trying to resurrect the dodo. Read the full story.

+ DNA that was frozen for 2 million years has been sequenced. The ancient DNA fragments come from a Greenland ecosystem where mastodons roamed among flowering plants. It may hold clues to how to survive a warming climate.

The must-reads

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

1 Ukraine is worried the US could sever its vital Starlink connection
Its satellite internet is vital to Ukraine’s drone operations. (WP $)
+ Thankfully, there are alternative providers. (Wired $)
+ Ukraine is due to start a fresh round of war-ending negotiations next week. (FT $)
+ Meet the radio-obsessed civilian shaping Ukraine’s drone defense. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Israel’s military has trained a powerful AI model on intercepted Palestinian data
The ChatGPT-like tool can answer queries about the people it’s monitoring. (The Guardian)

3 Donald Trump has suspended tariffs on Canada and Mexico
Until April 2, at least. (Reuters)
+ It’s the second time Trump has rolled back import taxes in as many days. (BBC)
+ How Trump’s tariffs could drive up the cost of batteries, EVs, and more. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Can someone check on NASA’s Athena lunar lander?
While we know it reached the moon, it appears to have toppled over. (NYT $)
+ If it remains in an incorrect position, it may be unable to complete its mission. (CNN)
+ Its engineers aren’t sure exactly where it is on the moon, either. (NBC News)

5 Shutting down 2G is easier said than done
Millions of vulnerable people around the world still rely on it to communicate. (Rest of World)

6 The hunt for the world’s oldest functional computer code
Spoiler: it may no longer be on Earth. (New Scientist $)

7 Robots are set to compete with humans in a Beijing half marathon
My money’s on the flesh and blood competitors. (Insider $)
+ Researchers taught robots to run. Now they’re teaching them to walk. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Where did it all go wrong for Skype?
It was the world leading video-calling app—until it wasn’t. (The Verge) 

9 Dating is out, matchmaking is in
Why swipe when a platform can do the hard work for you? (Wired $)
+ Forget dating apps: Here’s how the net’s newest matchmakers help you find love. (MIT Technology Review)

10 Apps are back, baby!
It’s like the original smartphone app boom all over again. (Bloomberg $)

Quote of the day

“You can only get so much juice out of every lemon.”

—Carl-Benedikt Frey, a professor of AI and work at Oxford University’s Internet Institute, explains why pushing AI as a means of merely increasing productivity won’t always work, the Financial Times reports.

The big story

The cost of building the perfect wave

June 2024

For nearly as long as surfing has existed, surfers have been obsessed with the search for the perfect wave.

While this hunt has taken surfers from tropical coastlines to icebergs, these days that search may take place closer to home. That is, at least, the vision presented by developers and boosters in the growing industry of surf pools, spurred by advances in wave-­generating technology that have finally created artificial waves surfers actually want to ride.

But there’s a problem: some of these pools are in drought-ridden areas, and face fierce local opposition. At the core of these fights is a question that’s also at the heart of the sport: What is the cost of finding, or now creating, the perfect wave—and who will have to bear it? Read the full story.

—Eileen Guo

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)+ Planning a holiday? These handy accessories could make your journey a whole lot easier (beach powder optional)
+ How to avoid making common mistakes.
+ The latest food trend is dry-aged fish—tasty.
+ It’s Friday, so let’s enjoy a bit of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.

The Download: Denmark’s robot city, and Google’s AI-only search results

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.

Welcome to robot city

The city of Odense, in Denmark, is best known as the site where King Canute, Denmark’s last Viking king, was murdered during the 11th century. Today, Odense it’s also home to more than 150 robotics, automation, and drone companies. It’s particularly renowned for collaborative robots, or cobots—those designed to work alongside humans, often in an industrial setting.

Odense’s robotics success has its roots in the more traditional industry of shipbuilding. During the ‘90s, the Mærsk shipping company funded the creation of the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Institute (MMMI), a center dedicated to autonomous systems that drew students keen to study robotics. But there are challenges to being based in a city that, though the third-largest in Denmark, is undeniably small on the global scale. Read the full story.

—Victoria Turk

This story is from our latest print issue, which is all about how technology is changing our relationships with each other—and ourselves. If you haven’t already, subscribe now to receive future issues once they land.

If you’re interested in robotics, why not check out: 

+ Will we ever trust robots? If most robots still need remote human operators to be safe and effective, why should we welcome them into our homes? Read the full story.

+ Why robots need to become lazier before they can be truly useful.

+ AI models let robots carry out tasks in unfamiliar environments. “Robot utility models” sidestep the need to tweak the data used to train robots every time they try to do something in unfamiliar settings. Read the full story.

+ What’s next for robots in 2025, from humanoid bots to new developments in military applications.

The must-reads

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

1 Google has started testing AI-only search results
What could possibly go wrong? (Ars Technica)
+ It’s also rolling out more AI Overview result summaries. (The Verge)
+ AI means the end of internet search as we’ve known it. (MIT Technology Review)  

2 Elon Musk’s DOGE is coming for consultants
Deloitte, Accenture and others will be told to justify the billions of dollars they receive from the US government. (FT $)
+ One federal agency has forbidden DOGE workers from entering its office. (WP $)
+ Anti-Musk protestors set up camp inside a Portland Tesla store. (Reuters)

3 The US military will use AI tools to plan maneuvers
Thanks to a new deal with startup Scale AI. (WP $)
+ Meanwhile, Europe’s defense sector is on the ascendancy. (FT $)
+ We saw a demo of the new AI system powering Anduril’s vision for war. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Global sea ice levels have fallen to a record low
The north pole experienced a period of extreme heat last month. (The Guardian)
+ The ice cores that will let us look 1.5 million years into the past. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Where are all the EV chargers?
Lack of charging infrastructure is still a major roadblock to wider adoption. So why haven’t we solved it? (IEEE Spectrum)
+ Why EV charging needs more than Tesla. (MIT Technology Review)

6 We need new tests to measure AI progress
Training models on questions they’re later tested on is a poor metric. (The Atlantic $)
+ The way we measure progress in AI is terrible. (MIT Technology Review)

7 American cities have a plan to combat extreme heatwaves
Data mapping projects are shedding new light on how to save lives. (Knowable Magazine)
+ A successful air monitoring program has come to an abrupt halt. (Wired $)

8 Chatbots need love too
New research suggests models can tweak their behavior to appear more likeable. (Wired $)
+ The AI relationship revolution is already here. (MIT Technology Review) 

9 McDonald’s is being given an AI makeover
In a bid to reduce stress for customers and its workers alike. (WSJ $)

10 How to stop doom scrolling
Spoiler: those screen time reports aren’t helping. (Vox)
+ How to log off. (MIT Technology Review)

Quote of the day

“What happens when you get to a point where every video, audio, everything you read and see online can be fake? Where’s our shared sense of reality?”

—Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, tells the Guardian why it’s essential to question the veracity of the media we come across online.

The big story

What Africa needs to do to become a major AI player

November 2024

Africa is still early in the process of adopting AI technologies. But researchers say the continent is uniquely hospitable to it for several reasons, including a relatively young and increasingly well-educated population, a rapidly growing ecosystem of AI startups, and lots of potential consumers. 

However, ambitious efforts to develop AI tools that answer the needs of Africans face numerous hurdles. The biggest are inadequate funding and poor infrastructure. Limited internet access and a scarcity of domestic data centers also mean that developers might not be able to deploy cutting-edge AI capabilities. Complicating this further is a lack of overarching policies or strategies for harnessing AI’s immense benefits—and regulating its downsides.

Taken together, researchers worry, these issues will hold Africa’s AI sector back and hamper its efforts to pave its own pathway in the global AI race. Read the full story.

—Abdullahi Tsanni

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)+ Are you a summer or winter? Warm or cool? If you don’t know, it’s time to get your colors done.
+ Why more women are choosing to explore the world on women-only trips.
+ Whitetop the llama, who spends his days comforting ill kids, is a true hero
+ If you missed the great sourdough craze of 2020, fear not—here are some great tips to get you started.