The Download: deepfake porn’s stolen bodies and AI sharing private numbers

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 shock of seeing your body used in deepfake porn

When Jennifer got a research job in 2023, she ran her new professional headshot through a facial recognition program. She wanted to see whether it would pull up the porn videos she’d made more than a decade earlier. It did, but it also surfaced something she’d never seen before: one of her old videos, now featuring someone else’s face on her body.

Conversations about sexualized deepfakes usually focus on the people whose faces are inserted into explicit content without consent. But another group often gets ignored: the people whose bodies those faces are attached to.

Adult content creators say AI systems are training on their work, cloning their likenesses, and generating explicit content they never agreed to make, all with little legal protection or control.  Read the full story on the threat to their rights, livelihoods, and ownership of their own bodies.

—Jessica Klein

This story is part of our The Big Story series, the home for MIT Technology Review’s most important, ambitious reporting. You can read the rest here. 

AI chatbots are giving out people’s real phone numbers

Generative AI is exposing people’s personal contact information—and there’s no easy way to stop it.

A software developer started receiving WhatsApp messages asking for help after Gemini surfaced his number. A university researcher got the chatbot to reveal a colleague’s private cell number. A Reddit user says Gemini sent a stream of callers looking for lawyers to his phone.

Experts believe these privacy lapses stem from personally identifiable information in AI training data. Chatbots may now be making that information dramatically easier to find.

Find out why these breaches are growing—and why there’s little that victims can do to stop them.

—Eileen Guo

The Tesla Semi could be a big deal for electric trucking

Nearly a decade after Elon Musk first unveiled the Tesla Semi, the electric truck is finally rolling off the production line. It could be a breakout moment for battery-powered freight.

Semitrucks produce an outsized share of road transport pollution, while electric alternatives have struggled with high prices, limited range, and charging challenges. Tesla is betting the Semi can overcome those problems. The truck reportedly travels up to 480 miles on a single charge and costs far less than many competing electric models.

Here’s how the Tesla Semi could give electric trucking a vital boost.

—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 approved Nvidia chip sales to 10 Chinese firms
Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance are among those cleared to buy H200 chips. (Reuters $)
+ The US will receive 25% of the revenue from the sales. (Engadget)
+ But Beijing wants domestic firms to prioritize homegrown chips. (Nikkei Asia)
+ Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is in China with a White House delegation. (CNBC)

2 Beijing’s push for AI independence is weakening US leverage
It’s allowing China to resist pressure during the Beijing talks. (NYT $)
+ The country has made a big bet on open-source. (MIT Technology Review)
+ Here’s what’s at stake for tech at the Trump-Xi meeting. (Rest of World)

3 AI is “rotting the brains” of developers
They’re losing their previous abilities to do their jobs. (404 Media)
+ A populist backlash is building against AI. (MIT Technology Review)
+ It’s time to reset our expectations about AI. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Sam Altman has over $2 billion in companies that have dealt with OpenAI
The ties have triggered accusations of conflicts of interest. (The Times $)
+ The GOP is scrutinizing Altman’s business dealings. (WSJ $)

5 Andreessen Horowitz has become the top political donor in the US
A16z contributed $115.5 million to the midterm elections. (NYT)
+ AI lobbying has reached a fever pitch. (NYT $)

6 Microsoft feared being too dependent on OpenAI 
CEO Satya Nadella was worried about OpenAI supplanting his company. (CNBC)
+ Microsoft is eyeing startup deals for life after OpenAI. (Reuters $)

7 AI systems are forecasting wars and regime collapse
One estimates a 20% chance of regime change in Iran by 2026. (Economist $)
+ AI has turned the Iran conflict into theater. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Anthropic says a model behaved badly due to training on dystopian sci-fi
Training on more positive stories could help. (Ars Technica)

9 Data centers now consume 6% of the electricity in the US and UK
AI’s global energy consumption is up 15% globally in two years. (Guardian)

10 NASA has rescued Curiosity after its drill got stuck on Mars
The agency has just revealed how it freed the rover. (Wired $) 

Quote of the day

“Musk loves to be glazed, and this person is the doughnut factory.”

—Joan Donovan, assistant professor of journalism and emerging media studies at Boston University, tells the Washington Post how Elon Musk has consistently amplified one anonymous X account.

One More Thing

YOSHI SODEOKA

Inside the messy ethics of making war with machines

In a near-future war—one that might begin tomorrow—a sniper’s computer vision system flags a potential target. Just over the horizon, a chatbot advises a commander to order an artillery strike.

In both cases, an AI system recommends pulling the trigger while a human still has the final say. But how much of the decision is really theirs? When, if ever, is it ethical for that decision to kill? And who’s to blame when something goes wrong?

This is how AI is reshaping decision-making on the battlefield.

—Arthur Holland Michel

We can still have nice things

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

+ The secrets behind how Shazam works have been revealed.
+ For the first time in a decade, a rare “Cloud Jaguar” was caught on camera.
+ Explore our galaxy from your screen at this year’s Milky Way Photographer of the Year collection.
+ If you want a game over with style, a funeral company is offering Mario, Luigi, Peach, and even Yoshi-branded coffins.

The Download: making drugs in orbit and NASA’s nuclear-powered spacecraft

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 plan to make drugs in orbit is going commercial

A startup called Varda Space Industries is betting that the future of pharmaceuticals lies in orbit. The company has signed a deal with United Therapeutics to test whether drugs crystallize differently in microgravity, potentially creating improved versions with new properties.

The idea sounds futuristic, but falling launch costs and reusable rockets are making space-based manufacturing seem increasingly plausible. Varda says the partnership could mark an important step toward building products in orbit for use back on Earth.

Discover how space could become the next frontier for drug development.

—Antonio Regalado

MIT Technology Review Narrated: NASA is building the first nuclear reactor-powered interplanetary spacecraft. How will it work?

Just before Artemis II began its historic slingshot around the moon, NASA revealed an even grander space travel plan. By the end of 2028, the agency aims to fly a nuclear reactor-powered interplanetary spacecraft to Mars.

A successful mission would herald a new era in spaceflight—and might just give the US the edge in the race against China. But the project remains shrouded in mystery.

MIT Technology Review picked the brains of nuclear power and propulsion experts to find out how the nuclear-powered spacecraft might work.

—Robin George Andrews

This is our latest story to be turned into an MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we publish 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 Sam Altman claims Elon Musk tried to seize control of OpenAI
Altman said Musk initially wanted 90% of the equity. (AFP)
+ And that control should go to his children when he dies. (BBC)
+ Altman also accused Musk of twice trying to end its non-profit status. (NPR)
+ Musk’s motivations for the suit are under scrutiny. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Google and SpaceX are in talks to launch data centers into orbit
SpaceX could join Suncatcher, Google’s orbital data center project. (WSJ $)
+ The project’s first launch is slated for early 2027. (Guardian)
+ Anthropic and SpaceX have also discussed orbital data centers. (Wired $)
+ But there are a few hurdles to overcome. (MIT Technology Review) 

3 Jensen Huang has joined Donald Trump’s high-stakes mission to China
Nvidia is lobbying to sell its AI chips in the country. (Bloomberg $)
+ Elon Musk and Tim Cook are also on the trip. (CNBC)
+ But a tech rivalry and distrust have sapped hopes for big deals. (Reuters $)

4 ICE agents have a list of 20 million people on their iPhones, thanks to Palantir
An ICE official said Palantir is speeding up raids and arrests. (404 Media)
+ ICE has also used facial recognition and Paragon spyware. (TechCrunch)

5 Defense tech firm Anduril just doubled its valuation to over $60 billion
In a $5 billion funding round led by Thrive Capital and a16z. (FT $)
Anduril, which makes AI-backed weapons, may go public next year. (NYT $)

6 Meta employees are protesting computer-tracking at work
Flyers posted at offices are urging staff to oppose the program. (Reuters $)
+ Meta plans to track workers’ clicks and keystrokes to train AI. (CNBC)

7 OpenAI is facing another wrongful death lawsuit over ChatGPT medical advice
The chatbot’s tips allegedly led to a teenager’s overdose. (Ars Technica)

8 The Canvas learning platform has paid hackers to delete stolen student data
It caved to ransomware demands after the biggest-ever edtech breach. (BBC)

9 Scientific researchers are thinking twice about using AI
Due to price hikes, usage limitations, and unreliable outputs. (Nature)

10 The latest AI compute solution? Putting data centers in your home
Hardware hosts get subsidized electricity and internet. (Ars Technica)

Quote of the day

“Mr Musk did try to kill it.”

—Sam Altman claims that Elon Musk tried to destroy rather than protect OpenAI’s non-profit operations, the Guardian reports.

One More Thing

YOSHI SODEOKA

Why does AI hallucinate?

Chatbot fails are now a familiar meme. Meta’s short-lived scientific chatbot generated wiki articles about the history of bears in space. Lawyers have submitted court documents filled with legal citations fabricated by ChatGPT. Air Canada was ordered to honor a refund policy invented by its customer service chatbot.

This tendency to make things up—known as hallucination—is one of the biggest obstacles holding chatbots back from more widespread adoption. Here’s why they do it—and why we still can’t fix it.

—Will Douglas Heaven

This story is part of MIT Technology Review Explains, our series untangling the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand what’s coming next. You can read more from the series here. 

We can still have nice things

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

+ A historian has unearthed the etymology of every single dinosaur name.
+ Humus on the moon is getting closer to reality after scientists grew chickpeas in lunar soil.
+ Witness the patience of a master paper artist in this gallery of intricate, handmade sculptures.
+ Want to tell the time alphabetically? Me neither, but this cursed clock is an intriguing reason to try.

The Download: a Nobel winner on AI, and the case for fixing everything

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.

Three things in AI to watch, according to a Nobel-winning economist

A few months before he won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2024, Daron Acemoglu published a paper that earned him few fans in Silicon Valley. He argued that AI would give only a small boost to US productivity and would not eliminate the need for human work.

Two years later, Acemoglu’s measured take has not caught on. The technology has advanced quite a bit since his cautious predictions, but the data is still largely on his side. 

MIT Technology Review spoke with him to understand if any of the latest developments have changed his thesis. Here are the three things Acemoglu is paying closest attention to in AI right now.

—James O’Donnell

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

The case for fixing everything

Stewart Brand, the counterculture icon and tech industry legend, considers maintenance a “civilizational” act. His new book argues that taking responsibility for maintaining something, whether a motorcycle, a monument, or the planet, can be radical.

Brand argues that maintainers haven’t gotten the laurels they deserve—and he’s right. Yet his vision of maintenance often feels solitary: profound, but more about personal fulfillment than tending to a shared world or making it better.

Read the full review of his handsome new book, Maintenance: Of Everything, Part One.

—Lee Vinsel

Lee Vinsel is an associate professor of science, technology, and society at Virginia Tech, a cofounder of The Maintainers, and the host of Peoples & Things, a podcast about human life with technology.

This story is from the latest edition of our print magazine, which is all about nature. Subscribe now to read the full issue and receive future print copies once they land.

The must-reads

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

1 The first zero-day exploit built by AI has been discovered
Google spotted and stopped the attempted “mass exploitation event.” (CNBC)
+ The hackers used AI to discover an unknown bug. (NYT $)
+ AI-powered hacking has exploded into an industrial-scale threat. (Guardian)
+ New tools are simplifying online crime. (MIT Technology Review)

2 OpenAI just launched its answer to Claude Mythos
Daybreak patches vulnerabilities before attackers find them. (The Verge)
+ Sam Altman said it will “continuously secure software.” (Gizmodo)
+ It will rival Anthropic’s Claude Mythos, which arrived a month ago. (BBC)
+ OpenAI is allowing wider access to its cyber models than Anthropic. (CNBC)

3 Trump is heading to China to spread the gospel of American tech
While taking cues from Beijing’s more stringent approach. (Guardian)
+ But investors want Trump and Xi to stay out of AI’s way. (Reuters $)
+ Elon Musk and Tim Cook are joining him on the trip this week. (BBC)

4 Ilya Sutskever has testified on Sam Altman’s “pattern of lying”
OpenAI co-founder Sutskever took the stand in the Altman v. Musk trial. (BI)
+ He said he spent a year gathering proof of Altman’s dishonesty. (Reuters $)
+ But he also added to OpenAI’s defense. (Wired $)
+ While Satya Nadella called attempts to remove Altman “amateur city.” (FT $)
+ Here’s what happened last week in the trial. (MIT Technology Review)

5 A new hantavirus vaccine is in the works
Moderna and Korea University are developing an mRNA vaccine. (Wired $)
+ Here’s what you need to know about the cruise ship outbreak. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Texas has sued Netflix over alleged data harvesting and “addictive” design
AG Ken Paxton accuses Netflix of secretly collecting and selling user data. (Quartz)
+ And spying on children while deliberately fostering addiction. (Guardian)

7 A data center guzzled 30 million gallons of water—and no one noticed
The curious case serves as a warning for other data center projects. (Ars Technica)

8 Europe is reportedly selling spyware to human rights abusers
EU states allegedly sold the tech to countries violating rights. (Bloomberg $)

9 The US government’s AI vetting announcement has mysteriously vanished
It had detailed a security test agreement with Google, xAI, and Microsoft. (Gizmodo)

10 Amazon staff are using AI for pointless tasks just to inflate usage scores
In a bid to impress managers. (FT $)
+ An AI expert says we should stop using AI so much. (MIT Technology Review)

Quote of the day

“This is like the cheating husband complaining about the cheating wife.” 

—Anupam Chander, a professor of law and technology at Georgetown Law School, tells the New York Times that Elon Musk’s hypocrisy over OpenAI becoming a for-profit company will undermine his courtroom battle with Sam Altman.

One More Thing

STUART BRADFORD

How sounds can turn us on to the wonders of the universe

For decades, astronomy has relied on visual information to make sense of the cosmos: images, charts, and graphs. Now, some researchers are trying something different: listening to the universe.

Using sonification, the process of turning information into sound, they’re helping blind and visually impaired researchers explore the cosmos—and even uncover patterns that might otherwise go unnoticed. The approach is spreading beyond astronomy into fields like climate science, navigation, and education.

Discover how sound could make science more accessible—and even more revealing.

—Corey S. Powell

We can still have nice things

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

+ This musical mashup beautifully blends LCD Soundsystem with Twin Peaks.
+ Match your speculative ideas to sci-fi stories with the Extrapolated Futures Archive.
+ A live-action animation Coyote vs. ACME is coming soon—and the first trailer just dropped.
+ Want to surf elsewhere in the galaxy? Here’s what it would be like to catch waves on distant planets.

The Download: the hantavirus outbreak and Musk v. Altman week 2

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

Here’s what you need to know about the cruise ship hantavirus outbreak

Last week, eight passengers aboard a Dutch-flagged cruise ship contracted a type of hantavirus transmitted by rats. Three have since died. But health experts stress that this situation is nothing like the coronavirus outbreak in 2020.

The Andes virus is known to spread between people, and there are no specific antiviral treatments or vaccines. Yet transmission appears to require a specific form of contact that the cruise ship fostered.

Here’s what you need to know about the outbreak—and why experts believe it can be contained.

—Jessica Hamzelou

This story is part of MIT Technology Review Explains, our series untangling the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand what’s coming next. You can read more from the series here. 

Musk v. Altman week 2: OpenAI fires back, and Shivon Zilis reveals that Musk tried to poach Sam Altman

In the second week of the landmark trial between Elon Musk and OpenAI, Musk’s motivations for bringing the suit came under intense scrutiny.

OpenAI president Greg Brockman testified that Musk had pushed for the company to create a for-profit entity, while Shivon Zilis, a former board member, revealed that the Tesla tycoon had sought to lure Sam Altman to a new AI venture.

The courtroom also heard about Brockman’s private journals, Musk’s abandoned plans for a rival AI lab, and the moment he stormed out of a pivotal meeting carrying a painting of a Tesla.

Here’s what happened in the second week of the trial—and what’s coming next. 

—Michelle Kim

Michelle Kim, who’s also a lawyer, has been in court on each day of the Musk v. Altman trial. To keep up with her ongoing coverage of their legal showdown, follow @techreview or @michelletomkim on X. 

How LLMs could supercharge mass surveillance in the US: 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now

There are pieces of your life scattered all over the internet, and some of them are for sale. Data brokers collect web searches, financial records, and location data from millions of people and sell them to various clients, including the US government.

While gathering that data has become easier in the smartphone era, making use of it at scale has remained difficult. But researchers are beginning to show that LLM agents can connect anonymized data to real people quickly, cheaply, and at a massive scale.

Find out why privacy experts fear AI could remove the friction that has long protected the public from mass surveillance.

—Grace Huckin

“How LLMs could supercharge mass surveillance in the US” is a feature accompanying MIT Technology Review’s 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now, our guide to what’s really worth your attention in the busy, buzzy world of AI. Check out the full list of the big ideas, trends, and advances in the field here.

The must-reads

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

1 Meta’s embrace of AI is making employees miserable
Workers feel pressured to use the tech while fearing AI-driven layoffs. (NYT $)
+ They’re also unhappy about Meta tracking them to train AI. (The Verge)
+ AI’s rise has been described as “the most joyless tech revolution ever.” (WSJ $)
+ Gen-Z is particularly fed up with it. (NYT $)
+ We’ve entered the era of AI malaise. (MIT Technology Review)
 
2 South Korea’s military wants robots to fill gaps in troop numbers
It’s in talks with Hyundai to bring robotics to the front lines. (Bloomberg $)
+ They could include Boston Dynamics’ Spot and a new exoskeleton. (SCMP)
+ South Korea’s military has shrunk by 20% over six years. (BBC)
 
3 OpenAI is being sued over ChatGPT’s alleged role in guiding a mass shooter
A lawsuit claims the bot said targeting children would bring more attention. (NBC)
+ Florida’s AG has opened a criminal investigation into the case. (NPR)
+ Does AI cause or amplify delusions? (MIT Technology Review)

4 The Canvas hack was the biggest-ever student data privacy disaster
It exposes the risks of centralizing the data of millions of students. (404 Media)
+ While the platform is back online, the hack disrupted university exams. (NPR)
+ The breach is part of a trend of edtech vulnerabilities. (WP $)
 
5 Alibaba has joined China’s “chat to buy” shopping craze
By integrating AI assistant Qwen into its e-commerce platforms. (Reuters $)
+ Companies are betting that chat is the future of online shopping. (SCMP)
+ OpenClaw is a driving force behind the trend. (MIT Technology Review)
 
6 Cybercrime increasingly comes with threats of physical violence
In the US, the physical threats rose more than twofold last year. (BBC)
 
7 AI’s next phase plays into TSMC’s hands
Taiwan’s chip-making giant stands to gain from the supply squeeze. (WSJ $)

8 Europe is confronting life without American tech
Dependence on Silicon Valley is a growing geopolitical concern. (FT $)
 
9 The US, UK, and China top new rankings for AI in life sciences
Switzerland and Germany follow in the AI Competitiveness Index. (SCMP)

10 The Pentagon has released a massive trove of declassified UFO files
Including newly declassified documents, images and footage. (New Scientist)
+ The files contain reports of “orbs,” “saucers,” and lunar “flashes.”  (Wired $)
+ Here’s how to spot an alien. (MIT Technology Review)

Quote of the day

“There’s a real sense where ‘safety’ isn’t a bad word anymore.”

—Nathan Calvin, general counsel at Encode, a nonprofit AI advocacy group, tells the Washington Post that Anthropic’s Mythos has forced a White House reset on AI safety.

One More Thing

NASA/JPL-CALTECH

Inside NASA’s bid to make spacecraft as small as possible

As NASA’s InSight lander descended to Mars in November 2018, two tiny spacecraft tracked its progress. InSight had touched down, they reported, and survived its treacherous journey.

The mission offered a pathway to cheaper space exploration, with small, low-cost probes launching far more often than multibillion-dollar flagship missions. But there’s a catch: miniaturization can only go so far before it collides with the hard limits of physics.

NASA still hopes small sats could transform planetary exploration. But first, scientists and engineers have to figure out what these tiny spacecraft can realistically do.

Discover how small spacecraft could pave the way for giant leaps into the cosmos.

—David W. Brown

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line.)
+ In a grand tribute to a four-legged hero, Cambodia has erected a statue to honor a rat.
+ A 1957 comedy accidentally made a seriously prescient prediction about office automation.
+ Explore the physics of the train that wouldn’t fall over—a monorail that promised to revolutionize travel.
+ Are you a true cinephile? Prove it with these daily movie quote challenges.

The Download: AI malaise and babymaking 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.

We’ve entered the era of AI malaise

AI is spreading everywhere, and it is not going away. But what will it do? What effect will it have on our society? Will it make life better, or worse? How will we know? What’s the plan?

This technology may very well take our jobs—or just crash the economy instead. Our apps are all getting injections of AI, like it or not. And it is increasingly impossible to tell whether we are relying too much on AI or not using it enough.

We’re all sitting uncomfortably with AI right now. Read our essay on the strange, uncertain mood of the moment.

The era of AI malaise is an essay written by our editor-in-chief Mat Honan. It accompanies MIT Technology Review’s 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now, our list of the big ideas, trends, and advances in the field that are driving progress today—and will shape what’s possible tomorrow.

Here’s how technology transformed babymaking

Technology is changing the way we make babies. Clinicians have improved hormonal treatments. Embryologists have devised ways to culture embryos in the lab for longer. IVF clinics today offer multiple genetic tests for embryos.

The technology has also had a huge social impact, allowing for changes in the structure of families and providing more reproductive choices for would-be parents. Now, AI and robots are set to usher in another new era for IVF.

Here’s how technology is reshaping babymaking.

—Jessica Hamzelou

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

How robots learn: a brief, contemporary history

For decades, researchers have been inspired by science fiction robots that can move through the world, adapt to different environments, and interact with people. But bringing these devices into the messiness of the real world has proved incredibly difficult.

Now, advances in AI are changing that. Instead of relying on rigid rules, robots are learning through trial and error, simulations, and huge amounts of real-world data. The progress represents a revolution in how machines interact with their surroundings.

It also means that Silicon Valley roboticists are dreaming big again. Here’s how we got here. 

—James O’Donnell

This story is from the latest issue of our print magazine, which is all about nature. Subscribe now to read it in full.

The must-reads

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

1 ICE plans to develop its own smart glasses
The “ICE Glasses” would identify people in real time. (404 Media)
+ ICE already uses an app with facial recognition to track citizens. (NYT $)
+ A new lawsuit wants to stop ICE using DNA to track critics. (Ars Technica)

2 AI is distorting key economic signals
It makes growth look better and the job market look worse. (WSJ $)
+ Welcome to the economic singularity. (MIT Technology Review)

3 A cyberattack paralyzed thousands of schools
And stole 275 million people’s data from edtech platform Canvas. (NYT $)
+ The digital learning software is used across the US. (CNN)
+ It’s the worst case scenario from an attack on one education platform. (Wired $)

4 The US suspects Nvidia chips were smuggled to Alibaba via Thailand
Super Micro servers containing Nvidia chips were allegedly smuggled. (Bloomberg $)
+ Through a firm linked to Thailand’s national AI initiative. (Reuters $)

5 China’s affordable AI models are increasingly worrying Silicon Valley
They’re often cheaper and more adaptable than US rivals. (Bloomberg $)
+ China is betting big on open source. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Scientists developed a new energy storage system inspired by sunburn
It stores solar energy by mimicking molecular changes in damaged DNA. (BBC)
+ Solar and wind with battery storage are becoming cost-competitive. (Reuters $)
+ Here are three other breakthrough climate technologies. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Russia’s internet crackdown is hobbling small businesses
App restrictions and internet outages are causing headaches. (Reuters $)

8 Younger researchers are more likely to produce “disruptive” science
A new study found more experience led to fewer breakthroughs. (Nature)

9 Why Richard Dawkins was mistaken to believe Claude has feelings
But his line of inquiry wasn’t altogether foolish. (The Atlantic $)
+ Why it’ll be hard to tell if AI ever becomes conscious. (MIT Technology Review)

10 The Golden Globes have new AI rules (and they’re looser than the Oscars’)
AI is permitted as an enhancement, but not as a replacement. (Gizmodo)
+ Last week, the Oscars banned AI actors and writing. (NPR)

Quote of the day

“When I am talking to these astonishing creatures, I totally forget that they are machines. I treat them exactly as I would treat a very intelligent friend.” 

—Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins reflects on his interactions with advanced AI systems in an essay published in Unherd.

One More Thing

VIRGINIA HANUSIK

How to stop a state from sinking

In a 10-month span in 2020 and 2021, southwest Louisiana saw five climate-related disasters, including two destructive hurricanes and flash floods. But there could be a better way to protect the area: elevation.

The $6.8 billion Southwest Coastal Louisiana Project is betting that raising buildings while restoring coastal boundary lands that have long acted as natural barriers can preserve this slice of coastline. 

Here’s how officials hope to protect vulnerable communities by lifting homes out of the floodplain.

—Xander Peters

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.)

+ Soaking in a hot tub might offer even more health benefits than a sauna.
+ A court has officially protected America’s largest rainforest from future logging.
+ Experience the majesty of the world’s largest owl collection through these intimate, high-detail portraits.
+ A dad has turned his toddler’s random stories into high-production pop songs that are surprisingly catchy.

The Download: the tech reshaping IVF and the rise of balcony solar

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.

What’s next for IVF

IVF has brought millions of babies into the world over the last four decades. But the process can still be slow, painful, and expensive—and far from guaranteed to work. Now, a wave of new technologies aims to change that. 

Researchers are using AI to identify promising sperm and embryos, developing robotic systems that could automate parts of the IVF process, and even exploring controversial genetic editing techniques designed to prevent inherited disease.

The technologies could make IVF more effective and accessible. But they’re also raising difficult ethical questions about how far reproductive medicine should go.

Find out what’s next for IVF.

—Jessica Hamzelou

This story is from MIT Technology Review’s What’s Next series, which looks across industries, trends, and technologies to give you a first look at the future. You can read the rest of them here.

The balcony solar boom is coming to the US

Dozens of US states are considering legislation to allow people to install plug-in solar systems, often called balcony solar. These small arrays require little to no setup and could help cut emissions and power bills.

Proponents say the systems could make solar power more accessible, but some experts caution that there are safety concerns. 

Read the full story on balcony solar’s potentially massive impact in the US.

—Casey Crownhart

This article is from The Spark, our weekly climate newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday.

Resistance: 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now

Resistance against AI’s proliferation is growing. People from all walks of life are speaking out against rising electricity bills from data centers, disappearing jobs, chatbots’ impact on teen mental health, the military’s use of AI, and copyright infringement—among other concerns. 

People want to have a say in how the technology transforms their future. And they’re starting to create small cracks in AI labs’ vision for the future. Find out how.

—Michelle Kim

Resistance is on our list of the 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now, MIT Technology Review’s guide to what’s really worth your attention in the buzzy world of AI. 

The must-reads

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

1 After years of insults, Anthropic and SpaceX have teamed up
Anthropic will tap SpaceX’s GPUs to meet surging demand. (Axios)
+ While SpaceX gets a marquee customer for its AI ambitions. (Wired $)
+ Anthropic says the deal will double Claude Code’s rate limits. (Ars Technica)
+It’s also exploring building compute capacity in space. (CNBC)
+ Musk previously called Anthropic “evil” and “misanthropic.” (Gizmodo)

2 Ex-OpenAI leaders say Sam Altman sowed “chaos” and distrust
Former CTO Mira Murati said she couldn’t trust his words. (The Verge)
+ He also bypassed OpenAI’s safety board before a model release. (Gizmodo)
+ And pitted leaders against one another. (Forbes)
+ But Elon Musk still tried to recruit Altman to lead a Tesla AI lab. (FT $)
+ Here’s why Musk and Altman are in court. (MIT Technology Review)

3 China’s humanoid robots are fueling its next export boom
Morgan Stanley says Beijing has taken an early lead in the sector. (Bloomberg $)
+ Gig workers are training humanoids at home. (MIT Technology Review)

4 SpaceX’s IPO plans will give Elon Musk “virtually unchecked” authority
And erode typical shareholder protections. (Reuters $)
+ Activists and pension funds are pushing back against the IPO. (Wired $)
+ While SpaceX is shifting focus from Falcon 9 to Starship. (Ars Technica)

5 Google DeepMind will use the MMORPG Eve Online for AI model testing
It’s also bought a stake in the game’s maker. (Ars Technica)
+ DeepMind also recently built a new video-game-playing agent. (MIT Technology Review)

6 The US risks isolating its automakers by banning a Chinese EV standard
It’s prohibiting software that’s dominating global EV markets. (Rest of World)

7 Elon Musk’s proposed Texas chip factory could cost $119 billion
It would manufacture chips for Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI. (CNBC)
+ Future AI chips could be built on glass. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Why the “attention-span crisis” is misunderstood
Technology may be exhausting attention rather than shortening it. (Atlantic $)

9 Scientists are getting closer to explaining what causes lightning
New tools are revealing unexpected physics inside thunderstorms. (Quanta)

10 Kids have found an age verification loophole: fake mustaches
Resourceful children are foiling blocks on adult websites. (TechCrunch)

Quote of the day

“My concern was about Sam saying one thing to one person and completely the opposite to another person.”

—Mira Murati, the former CTO of OpenAI, testifies ‌in court that CEO Sam Altman was deceptive, Reuters reports.

One More Thing

ALAMY

A brief, weird history of brainwashing

During the Cold War, the US prepared for a psychic war with the Soviet Union and China by spending millions of dollars on research into manipulating the human brain. 

The science never exactly panned out, but residual beliefs fostered by this bizarre conflict continue to play a role in ideological and scientific debates to this day. And now, new technologies are altering how we think about mind control. 

This is how the race for mind control changed America forever.

—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.)

+ Listen to the 10 bird songs of spring in this lovely compilation of American species.
+ Good Samaritans saved a 29-foot whale that had wandered too far into a river.
+ Explore the intersection of human emotion and machine learning in this look at AI’s influence on art.
+ Break down the walls between streaming services and manage all your digital music in one place with this app.

The Download: seafloor science and military 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.

Inexpensive seafloor-hopping submersibles could stoke deep-sea science—and mining

Last week, two oblong neon submersibles started to descend nearly 6,000 meters into the Pacific Ocean. Throughout the rest of May, they will map the seafloor in search of critical mineral deposits. 

If all goes well, the vehicles, built by Orpheus Ocean, could help scientists probe the vastly understudied deep sea—and the resources it holds—at a fraction of the cost of existing systems.

But the same submersibles are also attracting deep-sea mining companies, raising concerns about environmental impacts. Find out why they’re drawing so much attention.

—Hannah Richter

The new war room: 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now 

A new kind of system has entered the war room: conversational AI tools that commanders turn to not just for analysis, but for advice. 

One US defense official told MIT Technology Review that personnel might give these advice engines a list of potential targets to help decide which to strike first. China is commissioning similar tools too.

But as the systems gain traction, they’re also sparking concerns about AI-generated errors, a lack of transparency, and Big Tech gaining undue influence over what information gets seen. 

Here’s how these AI advice engines could impact the battlefield.

—James O’Donnell

The new war room is one of the 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now, our list of the big ideas, trends, and advances in the field that are driving progress today—and will shape what’s possible tomorrow.

MIT Technology Review Narrated: is fake grass a bad idea? The AstroTurf wars are far from over. 

In 2001, Americans installed just over 7 million square meters of synthetic turf. By 2024, that number was 79 million square meters—enough to carpet all of Manhattan and then some. The increase worries folks who study microplastics and environmental pollution.  

While the plastic-making industry insists that synthetic fields are safe if properly installed, lots of researchers think that isn’t so. 

—Douglas Main 

This is our latest story to be turned into an MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we publish 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 Elon Musk pushed OpenAI to go commercial, its president has testified
Greg Brockman said Musk tried to turn it into a for-profit company years ago. (NYT $)
+ Musk allegedly wanted full control so he could raise $80 billion to colonize Mars. (Reuters $)
+ The Tesla CEO claims he intended for OpenAI to remain a non-profit. (BBC)
+ Here’s what happened in week one of Musk v. Altman. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Google and Meta are building AI agents to rival OpenClaw
Google’s Gemini agent will take actions on the users’ behalf. (Business Insider)
+ Meta’s will be powered by its Muse Spark AI model. (FT $)
+ Hustlers are cashing in on China’s OpenClaw AI craze. (MIT Technology Review)

3 Anthropic will spend $200 billion on Google’s cloud and chips
The investment will be spread across five years. (The Information $)
+ It’s part of a broader AI compute war. (Axios) 

4 DeepSeek is nearing a $45 billion valuation
A state-backed “Big Fund” will lead a new investment round in the company. (FT $)
+ Beijing is pushing to build alternatives to Nvidia and OpenAI. (Bloomberg $)
+ Here’s why DeepSeek’s new model matters. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Anthropic is launching AI agents for banks and financial firms
The 10 tools cover a broad mix of financial services tasks. (WSJ $)
+ They’re part of a push to win over Wall Street. (Bloomberg $)

6 Apple will pay $250 million to settle an AI lawsuit
It was accused of misleading iPhone buyers about Apple Intelligence. (BBC)
+ Some iPhone owners are eligible to receive up to $95. (NYT $)

7 Cheap laptops and phones may be disappearing because of AI demand
 Competition for memory chips is driving up gadget prices worldwide. (The Guardian)

8 Google DeepMind workers in the UK have voted to unionize
As a result of Google’s work with the Pentagon. (Wired $)

9 Pennsylvania is suing Character.AI over chatbots posing as doctors
Investigators say the bots claimed to hold medical licenses. (NPR)
+ How well do AI health tools work? (MIT Technology Review)

10 Scientists created a “living” plastic that destroys itself on command
It could help to eliminate microplastics. (Gizmodo)

Quote of the day

“I want AI to benefit humanity, not to facilitate a genocide.” 

—An anonymous Google DeepMind worker tells the Guardian that Google’s work with the Israel Defense Forces had motivated their vote to unionize.

One More Thing

COURTESY OF BENEATH THE WAVES

How tracking animal movement may save the planet

For decades, wildlife researchers have dreamed of building an “Internet of Animals”—a big-data system that monitors and analyzes animal behavior to help us understand the planet. Advances in sensors, AI, and satellite technology are now bringing that vision to reality.

Scientists want the system to track 100,000 sensor-tagged animals. They believe it could reveal how species respond to climate change and ecosystem loss—and even predict environmental disasters. Read the full story on how their idea could save our planet.

—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.)

+ Master the art of fried chicken with this definitive chef’s guide.
+ Find out why some birds hop and others walk in this breakdown of avian lifestyles.
+ This vintage Hollywood map shows how California’s landscape stood in for everything from the Nile to the Alps.
+ Here’s a fascinating look at the “Flatbed” airplane that was surprisingly efficient on paper but never left the hangar.

The Download: inside the Musk v. Altman trial, and AI for democracy

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.

Week one of the Musk v. Altman trial: what it was like in the room

Two of the most powerful figures in AI—Sam Altman and Elon Musk—are in the middle of a landmark legal showdown, with Musk alleging he was misled about OpenAI becoming a for-profit company.

Our reporter Michelle Kim, who also happens to be a lawyer, has been in court each day, and has broken down the first week’s key moments in her latest report. In a new Q&A, she also reveals what it was like in the room, the new details that have emerged about how Musk and OpenAI operate—and what we can expect from this week’s proceedings.

Find out what she’s discovered so far, and if you want to keep up with MIT Technology Review’s ongoing coverage of the Musk v. Altman trial, follow @techreview or @michelletomkim on X.

—James O’Donnell

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

A blueprint for using AI to strengthen democracy

—Andrew Sorota & Josh Hendler lead work on AI and democracy at the Office of Eric Schmidt.

Faster than many realize, AI is becoming the primary interface through which we form beliefs and participate in democratic self-governance. This shift could further strain already fragile institutions, but it could also help address problems like polarization and declining civic engagement.

What happens next depends on design choices that are already being made, whether we know it or not. Here’s how we can harness AI to strengthen democracy.

Artificial scientists: 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now

Large language models can already assist scientists in all sorts of ways, from writing code to searching through literature and drafting articles. But companies and labs have a much more ambitious vision. They want to build AI systems that can act as a full member of a scientific team—and even conduct entire research projects.

These artificial scientists seem like a win for frontier labs and for society at large. But they could also narrow the scope of scientific inquiry.

Read the full story on how artificial scientists could reshape the research process—and what might be lost along the way.

—Grace Huckins

Artificial scientists is an item on our list of the 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now, MIT Technology Review’s guide to what’s really worth your attention in the busy, buzzy world of AI. We’re unpacking one item from the list each day here in The Download, so stay tuned.

The must-reads

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

1 The Pentagon has struck sweeping AI deals for classified work
It’s signed contracts with Microsoft, Nvidia, AWS, and Reflection AI. (NYT $)
+ It wants the US military to be an “AI-first” force. (BBC)
+ The announcement leaves Anthropic increasingly isolated. (WP $)
+ Here’s how the firms could train on classified data. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Elon Musk has finally settled the SEC lawsuit over the Twitter purchase
He’s agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine for waiting too long to disclose his initial stock purchases. (Guardian)
+ But won’t lose any of the $150 million he allegedly saved. (The Verge)
+ Musk allegedly illegally hid his growing Twitter stake. (CBS News)

3 A Chinese court has ruled that firms can’t lay off workers on AI grounds
They can’t terminate employees just to replace them with AI. (Bloomberg $)
+ The court said a firm had illegally fired one of its workers. (NPR)
+ Chinese tech workers are starting to train their AI doubles—and pushing back. (MIT Technology Review)

4 A gene therapy is helping deaf children hear again
In a trial, 80% of patients gained measurable hearing. (Vox)

5 The White House is vetting AI models before they’re released
It may create a new working group to oversee AI development. (NYT $)
+ A war over AI regulation is coming to the US. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Nature has retracted a paper on ChatGPT’s educational benefits
Over “discrepancies” and a lack of confidence in the findings. (404 Media)
+ The paper had already racked up hundreds of citations. (Ars Technica)
+ AI giants want to take over the classroom. (MIT Technology Review)

7 GameStop made a $56 billion bid for eBay
eBay said it was reviewing the offer. (Ars Technica)
+ The bid has drawn skepticism from investors and analysts. (Reuters $)

8 AI systems are increasingly used to monitor workers’ emotions
New tools claim to measure “agreeability” as well as productivity. (The Atlantic $)

9 Peter Thiel is backing wave-powered data centers
He’s leading a $140 million investment into a startup developing the tech. (FT $)

10 Ask Jeeves is shutting down after nearly 30 years online
The closure marks the end of one of the internet’s earliest search engines. (NYT $)

Quote of the day

“By the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America.” 

—Elon Musk texted a warning to OpenAI president Greg Brockman two days before their courtroom battle started, NBC News reports.

One More Thing

SIMON MITCHELL

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

Two hundred and thirty meters into one of the deepest underwater caves on Earth, a team of extreme divers tested a route to new depth records: breathing hydrogen.

They believe the gas could help the human body withstand underwater pressure significantly past its natural threshold. But the approach is highly experimental—and dangerous.

Find out how far they’re willing to go.

—Samantha Schuyler

We can still have nice things

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

+ Wild horses are roaming in Spain for the first time in 10,000 years.
+ Star Wars meets the Renaissance in this bardcore cover of the “Imperial March.”
+ Improve your writing by avoiding these six common linguistic pitfalls shared by many Americans.
+ From Stephen King’s IT changing the clown industry to Black Widow boosting hair dye sales, here are 12 times movies changed the real world.

The Download: a new Christian phone network, and debugging LLMs

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 US phone network for Christians aims to block porn and gender-related content

A new US-wide cell phone network marketed to Christians is set to launch next week. It blocks porn using network-level controls that can’t be turned off—even by adult account owners.

It’s also rolling out a filter on sexual content aimed at blocking material related to gender and trans issues, optional but turned on by default across all plans.

The trouble is, many websites don’t fit neatly into one category. That leaves its maverick founder with broad, subjective control over what is allowed or banned. Read the full story.

—James O’Donnell

This startup’s new mechanistic interpretability tool lets you debug LLMs

The San Francisco–based startup Goodfire has released a new tool, Silico, that lets researchers peer inside an AI model and adjust its parameters during training. It could give users more control over how this technology is built than was once thought possible.

The goal is to make building AI models less like alchemy and more like a science. Using a technique called mechanistic interpretability, Silico maps the neurons and pathways inside a model and lets developers tweak them to reduce unwanted behaviors or steer outputs.

By exposing the “knobs and dials,” Goodfire hopes to bring AI training closer to traditional software engineering. Read the full story.

—Will Douglas Heaven

With mass firing, Trump deals a fresh blow to American science

This past week delivered another gut punch for science in the US. This time, the target was the National Science Foundation—a federal agency that funds major research projects to the tune of around $9 billion. On Friday, the 22 scientists overseeing those efforts were all fired.

Since 2025, the NSF has faced budget cuts, grant terminations, and mass firings, with staff numbers down sharply and many ambitious projects grinding to a halt. The result is a major shift in how American science is funded and governed. Discover what it means, and what’s next.

—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.

China’s open-source bet: 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now

Silicon Valley AI companies follow a familiar playbook: keep the models behind an API and charge for access. China’s leading AI labs are playing a different game, releasing “open-weight” models that developers can download, adapt, and run on their own hardware.

That approach went mainstream after DeepSeek open-sourced its R1 model, which matched top US systems at a fraction of the cost. It also won something subtler: goodwill with developers. A growing cohort of Chinese labs is now following the same blueprint.

As AI shifts from hype to deployment, open-source models are making the future of AI more multipolar than Silicon Valley expected. Read the full story.

—Caiwei Chen

China’s open-source bet is one of the 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now, our list of the biggest ideas, trends, and advances in AI today. We’re unpacking one item from the list each day here in The Download, so stay tuned.

The must-reads

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

1 Elon Musk has admitted that xAI trained Grok on OpenAI models
“Distillation” is standard practice in AI, despite being legally dubious. (Wired $)
+ The White House has accused Chinese firms using distillation of theft. (BBC)
+ American labs are widely assumed to use similar techniques. (TechCrunch)

2 A “de-extinction” startup wants to resurrect a long-lost antelope
Colossal Biosciences wants to bring back the bluebuck. (Axios)
+ The company is using genomic editing to revive the animal. (Gizmodo)
+ It previously claimed to have cloned red wolves. (MIT Technology Review)

3 ​​An OpenAI model outperformed ER doctors at diagnosing patients
By analyzing health records data and information provided to physicians. (NPR)
+ But it still must be proven in real-world clinical trials. (Vox)

4 Scientists are trying to power AI data centers with tiny nuclear reactors
They could provide a new way to meet AI’s energy demands. (Gizmodo)
+ We did the math on AI’s energy footprint. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Spotify has started verifying human artists
A new badge will distinguish them from AI. (The Guardian)
+ Spotify has faced criticism for its handling of AI. (BBC)

6 The US is backing a Congolese railway to break China’s grip on critical minerals
The old railroad is key to the race for critical metals in Africa. (Rest of World)
+ The US is also searching for alternative sources. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Huawei is set to overtake Nvidia in China’s AI chip market
It’s expected to capture the largest market share this year. (FT $)

8 Japan is building cardboard drones for the battlefield
The flatpack designs are cheap, disposable, and built at scale. (404 Media)

9 The more young people use AI, the more they hate it
Research shows that Gen Z doesn’t trust GenAI. (The Verge)

10 A new organoid can menstruate—and show how tissue repairs itself
It’s revealing how the uterus can shed without scarring. (Nature)

Quote of the day

“I suspect that there are a number of people who do not want to put the future of humanity in Mr Musk’s hands. But we’re not going to get into that.”

—Judge Gonzalez Rogers rebukes attempts by Elon Musk’s lawyer to focus on AI’s existential risks as part of his lawsuit against OpenAI, the New York Times reports. 

One More Thing

TMY350 VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

This rare earth metal shows us the future of our planet’s resources

The materials we need to power our world are shifting from fossil fuels to energy sources that don’t produce greenhouse gas emissions.

Take neodymium, a rare earth metal used in powerful magnets that power everything from smartphones to wind turbines. Its story reveals many of the challenges we’ll likely face across the supply chain in the coming century and beyond.

The question isn’t whether we’ll run out, but how we extract, process, use, and recycle these materials as technology keeps changing. Find out what it reveals about the future of our planet’s resources.

—Casey Crownhart

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.)

+ Here’s a fascinating visual history of exploring the dark side of the Moon.
+ This interactive map lets you compare the actual dimensions of our world.
+ These five tiny homes are proof you don’t need a massive footprint to live with style.
+ Explore the history of “Control Room Green” and why it was the default choice for the Cold War’s highest-stakes environments.

Top image credit: Stephanie Arnett/MIT Technology Review | Adobe Stock

The Download: the North Pole’s future and humanoid data

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.

Digging for clues about the North Pole’s past

In the past, getting to the North Pole involved a treacherous trip through ice many meters thick. But last year, a research vessel encountered open water and thin ice, which created an easy passage. It provided a reminder of how quickly the Arctic is changing. 

Now scientists are digging deep below the seabed to find out if the Arctic Ocean was ever ice-free—and what that could mean for the future of Earth’s northernmost waters. Here’s what they hope to discover.

—Tim Kalvelage

This story is from the latest issue of our print magazine, which is all about nature. Check out the full issue here, and subscribe to get the next one when it lands. 

Humanoid data: 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now

I was recently invited to join an app that would pay me to film myself doing tasks like putting food in a bowl and microwaving it. Another site asked if I’d like to remotely control a robotic arm to help improve its dexterity. What on earth is happening?

These examples are just part of a growing push by robotics companies to collect data on our movements for training humanoids. As the race for real-world data heats up, our everyday movements are being turned into training data. Read the full story.

—James O’Donnell

Humanoid data is one of our 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now, a new look at the big ideas, trends, and technologies really worth your attention in the buzzy world of AI.

The must-reads

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

1 Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta have all set AI spending records
Collectively, they’re up 71% on the same quarter last year.  (NYT $)
+ Microsoft, Google and Amazon reported big payoffs from the splurge. (FT $)
+ But Meta’s shares slid after its plans spooked investors. (BBC)
+ What even is the AI bubble? (MIT Technology Review)

2 The White House opposes Anthropic’s plan to expand Mythos access
It’s concerned about the model’s cyber risks. (Bloomberg $)
+ And worried that the government will lose compute access. (WSJ $)
+ Anthropic is seeking funding at a valuation over $900 billion. (Bloomberg $)

3 Elon Musk has claimed OpenAI’s leaders “looted the nonprofit”
During testimony, Musk said he “was a fool” for trusting them. (Gizmodo)
+ But he had raised his own concerns about OpenAI’s non-profit status. (The Verge)
+ The case could reshape the AI landscape. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Autonomous vehicles may be worsening
According to emergency first-responders, glitches are increasing. (Wired)

5 OpenAI has abandoned much of its Stargate plan
It will no longer develop its own data centers. (FT $)
+ The project’s compute requirements have been questioned. (MIT Technology Review)

6 A convicted Harvard scientist is rebuilding a brain-computer lab in China
He had previously been named the world’s top chemist. (Reuters $)
+ But was then convicted for lying about payments from China. (NYT $)

7 Families have sued OpenAI over a mass shooter’s use of ChatGPT
They say OpenAI provided a dangerously defective version of the chatbot. (NPR)

8 Apple is reportedly close to giving up on the Vision Pro
After the latest model flopped. (MacRumors) 

9 Senators are interrogating US AI firms on safeguards against China
Over fears of IP theft. (Axios)

10 Friendly AI chatbots are more likely to be inaccurate
A new study found kinder answers contained more mistakes. (BBC)

Quote of the day

“Never talk about goblins, gremlins, raccoons, trolls, ogres, pigeons, or other animals or creatures unless it is absolutely and unambiguously relevant to the user’s query.” 

—OpenAI instructs Codex to avoid critter talk in a system prompt for the coding agent, Ars Technica reports.

One More Thing

ARTHUR MOUNT

Is this the most energy-efficient way to build homes?

When engineers began designing an ultra-efficient home in the 1970s, they realized the trick wasn’t generating energy in a greener way, but using less of it. They needed to make a better thermos, not a cheaper coffee maker.

That idea helped inspire today’s passive-house standard: airtight buildings that can cut energy use by up to 90% through better windows, insulation, and ventilation.

Although they’re often considered a cold-climate approach, passive houses actually have universal benefits. Find out what makes them so efficient.

—Patrick Sisson

We can still have nice things

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

+ Finally, someone built a gaming PC inside a microwave that runs DOOM.
+ Experience the rhythm of the city through this rapid-fire collage of urban photography.
+ Get a dose of pure cuteness as these tiny snow leopard cubs leave their den for the first time.
+ If you’re staring at a random assortment of groceries, SuperCook will find a recipe based on what’s already in your pantry.