The Download: AI can cheat at chess, and the future of search

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.

AI reasoning models can cheat to win chess games

The news: Facing defeat in chess, the latest generation of AI reasoning models sometimes cheat without being instructed to do so. The finding suggests that the next wave of AI models could be more likely to seek out deceptive ways of doing whatever they’ve been asked to do. And worst of all? There’s no simple way to fix it.

How they did it: Researchers from the AI research organization Palisade Research instructed seven large language models to play hundreds of games of chess against Stockfish, a powerful open-source chess engine. The research suggests that the more sophisticated the AI model, the more likely it is to spontaneously try to “hack” the game in an attempt to beat its opponent. Older models would do this kind of thing only after explicit nudging from the team. Read the full story.

—Rhiannon Williams

MIT Technology Review Narrated: AI search could break the web

At its best, AI search can infer a user’s intent, amplify quality content, and synthesize information from diverse sources. But if AI search becomes our primary portal to the web, it threatens to disrupt an already precarious digital economy.
Today, the production of content online depends on a fragile set of incentives tied to virtual foot traffic: ads, subscriptions, donations, sales, or brand exposure. By shielding the web behind an all-knowing chatbot, AI search could deprive creators of the visits and “eyeballs” they need to survive.

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.

Join us to discuss disruption in the AI model market

Join MIT Technology Review’s AI writers as they discuss the latest upheaval in the AI marketplace. Editor in chief Mat Honan will be joined by Will Douglas Heaven, our senior AI editor, and James O’Donnell, our AI and hardware reporter, to dive into how new developments in AI model development are reshaping competition, raising questions for investors, challenging industry assumptions, and accelerating timelines for AI adoption and innovation. Make sure you register here—it kicks off at 12.30pm ET today.

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 denied Elon Musk’s attempt to halt OpenAI’s for-profit plans
But other aspects of the lawsuit have been permitted to proceed. (CNBC)
+ The court will fast-track a trial later this year. (FT $)

2 ChatGPT isn’t going to dethrone Google
At least not any time soon. (Insider $)
+ AI means the end of internet search as we’ve known it. (MIT Technology Review)

3 Beijing is going all in on AI
China is treating the technology as key to boosting its economy—and lessening its reliance on overseas trade. (WSJ $)
+ DeepSeek is, naturally, the jewel in its crown. (Reuters)
+ Four Chinese AI startups to watch beyond DeepSeek. (MIT Technology Review)

4  A pair of reinforcement learning pioneers have won the Turing Award
Andrew Barto and Richard Sutton’s technique underpins today’s chatbots. (Axios)
+ The former professor and student wrote the literal book on reinforcement learning. (NYT $)
+ The pair will share a million dollar prize. (New Scientist $)

5 US apps are being used to groom and exploit minors in Colombia 
Better internet service is making it easier for sex traffickers to find and sell young girls. (Bloomberg $)
+ An AI companion site is hosting sexually charged conversations with underage celebrity bots. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Europe is on high alert following undersea cable attacks
It’s unclear whether improving Russian-American relations will help. (The Guardian)
+ These stunning images trace ships’ routes as they move. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Jeff Bezos is cracking the whip at Blue Origin
He’s implementing a tougher, Amazon-like approach to catch up with rival SpaceX. (FT $)

8 All hail the return of Digg
The news aggregator is staging a comeback, over a decade after it was split into parts. (Inc)
+ It’s been acquired by its original founder Kevin Rose and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. (TechCrunch)
+ Digg wants to resurrect the community-first social platform. (The Verge)
+ How to fix the internet. (MIT Technology Review)

9 We’re still learning about how memory works
Greater understanding could pave the way to better treatments for anxiety and chronic pain. (Knowable Magazine)
+ A memory prosthesis could restore memory in people with damaged brains. (MIT Technology Review)

10 AI can’t replace your personality
Despite what Big Tech seems to be peddling. (NY Mag $)

Quote of the day

“That is just a lot of money [to invest] on a handshake.”

—US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers questions why Elon Musk invested tens of millions of dollars in OpenAI without a written contract, Associated Press reports.

The big story

People are worried that AI will take everyone’s jobs. We’ve been here before.

January 2024

It was 1938, and the pain of the Great Depression was still very real. Unemployment in the US was around 20%. New machinery was transforming factories and farms, and everyone was worried about jobs.

Were the impressive technological achievements that were making life easier for many also destroying jobs and wreaking havoc on the economy? To make sense of it all, Karl T. Compton, the president of MIT from 1930 to 1948 and one of the leading scientists of the day, wrote in the December 1938 issue of this publication about the “Bogey of Technological Unemployment.”

His essay concisely framed the debate over jobs and technical progress in a way that remains relevant, especially given today’s fears over the impact of artificial intelligence. It’s a worthwhile reminder that worries over the future of jobs are not new and are best addressed by applying an understanding of economics, rather than conjuring up genies and monsters. Read the full story.

—David Rotman

We can still have nice things

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

+ Congratulations are in order for LeBron James, the first NBA player to break an astounding 50,000 combined points.
+ RIP millennial culture, we hardly knew ye.
+ It’s time to start prepping for the Blood Moon total lunar eclipse later this month.
+ Ancient frogs were surprisingly ruthless when they had to be

The Download: DeepSeek for fortune telling, and the second private moon landing

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 DeepSeek became a fortune teller for China’s youth

As DeepSeek has emerged as a homegrown challenger to OpenAI, young people across the country have started using AI to revive fortune-telling practices that have deep roots in Chinese culture.

Across Chinese social media, users are sharing AI-generated readings, experimenting with fortune-telling prompt engineering, and revisiting ancient spiritual texts—all with the help of DeepSeek.

The surge in AI fortune-telling comes during a time of pervasive anxiety and pessimism in Chinese society. And as spiritual practices remain hidden underground thanks to the country’s regime, computers and phone screens are helping younger people to gain a sense of control over their lives. Read the full story.

—Caiwen Chen

Are you interested in learning more about DeepSeek? Read our stories:

+ How DeepSeek overcame US sanctions and managed to turn restrictions into innovation. Read the full story.

+ How DeepSeek ripped up the AI playbook—and why everyone’s going to follow its lead. The Chinese firm has pulled back the curtain to expose how the top labs may be building their next-generation models. Now things get interesting.

+ DeepSeek might not be such good news for energy after all. New figures show that if the model’s energy-intensive “chain of thought” reasoning gets added to everything, the promise of efficiency gets murky. Read the full story.

+ Three things to know as the dust settles from DeepSeek—and four other Chinese AI startups to keep an eye on.

The must-reads

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

1 A private lander has touched down on the moon
US startup Firefly is the second private company to land on lunar soil. (The Guardian)
+ The mission is part of NASA’s plans to lower costs via private enterprises. (NYT $)
+ Nokia is putting the first cellular network on the moon. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Donald Trump may create America’s first strategic crypto reserve  
Crypto champions believe it could finally lend the industry a sense of legitimacy. (CoinDesk)
+ But some Republican lawmakers worry it could put taxpayer funds at risk. (FT $)
+ Other crypto investors are pushing for the reserve to hold only bitcoin. (CNBC)
+ Meanwhile, Elon Musk is throwing his weight behind Dogecoin. (Ars Technica)

3 AI firms are racing to create cheaper models
And they’re pinning their hopes on a process called distillation to do just that. (FT $)
+ How DeepSeek ripped up the AI playbook—and why everyone’s going to follow its lead. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Amazon has lost its bid to escape regulatory oversight 
It’s been denied permission to skip permitting rules for a proposed data center. (WP $)

5 The US federal layoffs are bad news for aquatic ecosystems 
Firing wildlife workers could lead to an outbreak of parasitic lampreys, which wreak havoc on freshwater fish. (Ars Technica)
+ It’s just one of the many cuts that could make life in the US worse. (The Atlantic $)

6 Smart cameras can detect wildfires before they spread
They’re also adept at spotting blazes overnight. (WSJ $)
+ How AI can help spot wildfires. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Beware the creep of AI chatbots aimed at kids
They can’t be relied upon to always dispense correct information. (Insider $)
+ Some parents are teaching children how to use models safely. (The Guardian)
+ You need to talk to your kid about AI. Here are 6 things you should say. (MIT Technology Review)

8 RIP Skype
Microsoft is shutting it down in favor of Teams. (CNN)
+ You’ve got until May to decide what to do with your data. (The Register)

9 This artificial tongue could allow you to taste flavors in VR
Yum, tasty hydrogels. (New Scientist $)
+ The device helped volunteers taste coffee, fried eggs, and fish soup. (NYT $)

10 How social media drove a Japanese matcha shortage
The tasty green drink is a TikTok sensation. (Bloomberg $)

Quote of the day

“This is the real, actual revenge of the nerds.”

—Hasan Piker, an online political commentator, reflects on how DOGE feels like the culmination of Elon Musk’s eternally-online existence, the New York Times reports.

The big story

These artificial snowdrifts protect seal pups from climate change

April 2024

For millennia, during Finland’s blistering winters, wind drove snow into meters-high snowbanks along Lake Saimaa’s shoreline, offering prime real estate from which seals carved cave-like dens to shelter from the elements and raise newborns.

But in recent decades, these snowdrifts have failed to form in sufficient numbers, as climate change has brought warming temperatures and rain in place of snow, decimating the seal population.

For the last 11 years, humans have stepped in to construct what nature can no longer reliably provide. Human-made snowdrifts, built using handheld snowplows, now house 90% of seal pups. They are the latest in a raft of measures that have brought Saimaa’s seals back from the brink of extinction. Read the full story.

—Matthew Ponsford

We can still have nice things

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

+ This behind the scenes look at how they created the podracing scenes in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is remarkably cool.
+ Has Shrek had botox? Much to think about.
+ The largest live game of Dungeons and Dragons ever played looks incredible ($)
+ Five years ago in the UK, we collectively lost our minds.

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

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

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

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

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

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

—James O’Donnell

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

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

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

—Will Douglas Heaven

How a volcanic eruption turned a human brain into glass

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

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

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

—Jessica Hamzelou

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

The must-reads

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quote of the day

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

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

The big story

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

August 2024

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

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

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

—Eileen Guo

We can still have nice things

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

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

The Download: Introducing the Relationships issue

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

Introducing: the Relationships issue

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The must-reads

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quote of the day

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

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

The big story

Think that your plastic is being recycled? Think again.

October 2023

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

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

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

—Douglas Main

We can still have nice things

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

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

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

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

The foundations of America’s prosperity are being dismantled

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

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

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

—Karen Hao

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

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

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

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

—Jessica Hamzelou

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

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

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

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

—Isabel Ruehl

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

The must-reads

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

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

Quote of the day

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

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

The big story

Bright LEDs could spell the end of dark skies

ADAM SCHMID/GETTY IMAGES

August 2022

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

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

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

—Shel Evergreen

We can still have nice things

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

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

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

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

A new Microsoft chip could lead to more stable quantum computers

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

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

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

—Rachel Courtland

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

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

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

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

—Casey Crownhart 

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

This company is trying to make a biodegradable alternative to spandex

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

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

—Megan DeMatteo

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

The must-reads

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quote of the day

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

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

The big story

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

KATE WARREN

July 2023

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

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

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

—David Rotman

We can still have nice things

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

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

The Download: selling via AI, and Congress testing tech

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

Your most important customer may be AI

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

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

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

—Scott J Mulligan

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

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

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

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

—Peter Andrey Smith

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

How generative AI is changing online search

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

MIT Technology Review Narrated: The weeds are winning

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

The must-reads

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quote of the day

“Well, he’s wrong.”

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

The big story

A brief, weird history of brainwashing

SHIRLEY CHONG

April 2024

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

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

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

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

—Annalee Newitz

We can still have nice things

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

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

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

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

Nokia is putting the first cellular network on the moon

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

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

—Jacek Krywko 

How to have a child in the digital age

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

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

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

—Alison Arieff 

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

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

—James O’Donnell 

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

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

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

How will generative AI change search?

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

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

The must-reads

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quote of the day

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

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

The big story

What is AI?

JUN IONEDA

What is AI?

July 2024

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

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

—Will Douglas Heaven

We can still have nice things

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

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

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

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

Adventures in the genetic time machine

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

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

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

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

—Antonio Regalado

This artist collaborates with AI and robots

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

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

—Stephen Ornes 

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

The must-reads

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quote of the day

“He seems to have ghosted his own company.”

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

The big story

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

March 2023

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

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

—Jessica Hamzelou

We can still have nice things

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

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