The Download: how doctors fight conspiracy theories, and your AI footprint

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 conspiracy theories infiltrated the doctor’s office

As anyone who has googled their symptoms and convinced themselves that they’ve got a brain tumor will attest, the internet makes it very easy to self-(mis)diagnose your health problems. And although social media and other digital forums can be a lifeline for some people looking for a diagnosis or community, when that information is wrong, it can put their well-being and even lives in danger.

We spoke to a number of health-care professionals who told us how this modern impulse to “do your own research” is changing their profession. Read the full story.

—Rhiannon Williams

This story is part of MIT Technology Review’s series “The New Conspiracy Age,” on how the present boom in conspiracy theories is reshaping science and technology.

Stop worrying about your AI footprint. Look at the big picture instead.

—Casey Crownhart

As a climate technology reporter, I’m often asked by people whether they should be using AI, given how awful it is for the environment. Generally, I tell them not to worry—let a chatbot plan your vacation, suggest recipe ideas, or write you a poem if you want.

That response might surprise some. I promise I’m not living under a rock, and I have seen all the concerning projections about how much electricity AI is using. But I feel strongly about not putting the onus on individuals. Here’s why.

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

A new ion-based quantum computer makes error correction simpler

A company called Quantinuum has just unveiled Helios, its third-generation quantum computer, which includes expanded computing power and error correction capability.

Like all other existing quantum computers, Helios is not powerful enough to execute the industry’s dream money-making algorithms, such as those that would be useful for materials discovery or financial modeling.

But Quantinuum’s machines, which use individual ions as qubits, could be easier to scale up than quantum computers that use superconducting circuits as qubits, such as Google’s and IBM’s. Read the full story.

—Sophia Chen

The must-reads

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

1 A new California law could change how all Americans browse online 
It gives web users the chance to opt out of having their personal information sold or shared. (The Markup)

2 The FDA has fast-tracked a pill to treat pancreatic cancer
The experimental drug appears promising, but experts worry corners may be cut. (WP $)
+ Demand for AstraZeneca’s cancer and diabetes drugs is pushing profits up. (Bloomberg $)
+ A new cancer treatment kills cells using localized heat. (Wired $)

3 AI pioneers claim it is already superior to humans in many tasks
But not all tasks are created equal. (FT $)
+ Are we all wandering into an AGI trap? (Vox)
+ How AGI became the most consequential conspiracy theory of our time. (MIT Technology Review)

4 IBM is planning on cutting thousands of jobs
It’s shifting its focus to software and AI consulting, apparently. (Bloomberg $)
+ It’s keen to grow the number of its customers seeking AI advice. (NYT $)

5 Big Tech’s data centers aren’t the job-generators we were promised
The jobs they do create are largely in security and cleaning. (Rest of World)
+ We did the math on AI’s energy footprint. Here’s the story you haven’t heard. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Microsoft let AI shopping agents loose in a fake marketplace 
They were easily manipulated into buying goods, it found. (TechCrunch)
+ When AIs bargain, a less advanced agent could cost you. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Sony has compiled a dataset to test the fairness of computer vision models
And it’s confident it’s been compiled in a fair and ethical way. (The Register)
+ These new tools could make AI vision systems less biased. (MIT Technology Review)

8 The social network is no more
We’re living in an age of anti-social media. (The Atlantic $)
+ Scam ads are rife across platforms, but these former Meta workers have a plan. (Wired $)
+ The ultimate online flex? Having no followers. (New Yorker $)

9 Vibe coding is Collins dictionary’s word of 2025
Beating stiff competition from “clanker.” (The Guardian)
+ What is vibe coding, exactly? (MIT Technology Review)

10 These people found romance with their chatbot companions
The AI may not be real, but the humans’ feelings certainly are. (NYT $)
+ It’s surprisingly easy to stumble into a relationship with an AI chatbot. (MIT Technology Review)

Quote of the day

“The opportunistic side of me is realizing that your average accountant won’t be doing this.”

—Sal Abdulla, founder of accounting-software startup NixSheets, tells the Wall Street Journal he’s using AI tools to gain an edge on his competitors.

One more thing

Ethically sourced “spare” human bodies could revolutionize medicine

Many challenges in medicine stem, in large part, from a common root cause: a severe shortage of ethically-sourced human bodies.

There might be a way to get out of this moral and scientific deadlock. Recent advances in biotechnology now provide a pathway to producing living human bodies without the neural components that allow us to think, be aware, or feel pain.

Many will find this possibility disturbing, but if researchers and policymakers can find a way to pull these technologies together, we may one day be able to create “spare” bodies, both human and nonhuman. Read the full story.

—Carsten T. Charlesworth, Henry T. Greely & Hiromitsu Nakauchi

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.)

+ Make sure to look up so you don’t miss November’s supermoon.
+ If you keep finding yourself mindlessly scrolling (and who doesn’t?), maybe this whopping six-pound phone case could solve your addiction.
+ Life lessons from a 101-year old who has no plans to retire.
+ Are you a fan of movement snacking?

The Download: the solar geoengineering race, and future gazing with the The Simpsons

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

Why the for-profit race into solar geoengineering is bad for science and public trust

—David Keith is the professor of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago and Daniele Visioni is an assistant professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at Cornell University

Last week, an American-Israeli company that claims it’s developed proprietary technology to cool the planet announced it had raised $60 million, by far the largest known venture capital round to date for a solar geoengineering startup.

The company, Stardust, says the funding will enable it to develop a system that could be deployed by the start of the next decade, according to Heatmap, which broke the story.

As scientists who have worked on the science of solar geoengineering for decades, we have grown increasingly concerned about emerging efforts to start and fund private companies to deploy technologies that could alter the climate of the planet. We also strongly dispute some of the technical claims that certain companies have made about their offerings. Read the full story.

This story is part of Heat Exchange, MIT Technology Review’s guest opinion series offering expert commentary on legal, political and regulatory issues related to climate change and clean energy. You can read the rest of the series here.

Can “The Simpsons” really predict the future?

According to internet listicles, the animated sitcom The Simpsons has predicted the future anywhere from 17 to 55 times.

The show foresaw Donald Trump becoming US President a full 17 years before the real estate mogul was inaugurated as the 45th leader of the United States. Earlier, in 1993, an episode of the show featured the “Osaka flu,” which some felt was eerily prescient of the coronavirus pandemic. And—somehow!—Simpsons writers just knew that the US Olympic curling team would beat Sweden eight whole years before they did it.

Al Jean has worked on The Simpsons on and off since 1989; he is the cartoon’s longest-serving showrunner. Here, he reflects on the conspiracy theories that have sprung from these apparent prophecies. Read the full story.

—Amelia Tait

This story is part of MIT Technology Review’s series “The New Conspiracy Age,” about how the present boom in conspiracy theories is reshaping science and technology.

MIT Technology Review Narrated: Therapists are secretly using ChatGPT. Clients are triggered.

Declan would never have found out his therapist was using ChatGPT had it not been for a technical mishap where his therapist began inadvertently sharing his screen.

For the rest of the session, Declan was privy to a real-time stream of ChatGPT analysis rippling across his therapist’s screen, who was taking what Declan was saying, putting it into ChatGPT, and then parroting its answers.

But Declan is not alone. In fact, a growing number of people are reporting receiving AI-generated communiqués from their therapists. Clients’ trust and privacy are being abandoned in the process.

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 Amazon is suing Perplexity over its Comet AI agent
It alleges Perplexity is committing computer fraud by not disclosing when Comet is shopping on a human’s behalf. (Bloomberg $)
+ In turn, Perplexity has accused Amazon of bullying. (CNBC)

2 Trump has nominated the billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to lead NASA
Five months after he withdrew Isaacman’s nomination for the same job. (WP $)
+ It was around the same time Elon Musk left the US government. (WSJ $)

3 Homeland Security has released an app for police forces to scan people’s faces 
Mobile Fortify uses facial recognition to identify whether someone’s been given a deportation order. (404 Media)
+ Another effort to track ICE raids was just taken offline. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Scientific journals are being swamped with AI-written letters
Researchers are sifting through their inbox trying to work out what to believe. (NYT $)
+ ArXiv is no longer accepting certain papers for fear they’ve been written by AI. (404 Media)

5 The AI boom has proved a major windfall for equipment makers 
Makers of small turbines and fuel cells, rejoice. (WSJ $)

6 Chronic kidney disease may be the first chronic illness linked to climate change
Experts have linked a surge in the disease to hotter temperatures. (Undark)
+ The quest to find out how our bodies react to extreme temperatures. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Brazil is proposing a fund to protect tropical forests
It would pay countries not to fell their trees. (NYT $)

8 New York has voted for a citywide digital map
It’ll officially represent the five boroughs for the first time. (Fast Company $)

9 The internet could be at risk of catastrophic collapse
Meet the people preparing for that exact eventuality. (New Scientist $)

10 A Chinese space craft may have been hit by space junk
Three astronauts have been forced to remain on the Tiangong space station while the damage is investigated. (Ars Technica)

Quote of the day

“I am not sure how I earned the trust of so many, but I will do everything I can to live up to those expectations.”

—Jared Isaacman, Donald Trump’s renomination to lead NASA, doesn’t appear entirely sure in his own abilities to lead the agency, Ars Technica reports.

One more thing

Is the digital dollar dead?

In 2020, digital currencies were one of the hottest topics in town. China was well on its way to launching its own central bank digital currency, or CBDC, and many other countries launched CBDC research projects, including the US.

How things change. Years later, the digital dollar—even though it doesn’t exist—has become political red meat, as some politicians label it a dystopian tool for surveillance. And late last year, the Boston Fed quietly stopped working on its CBDC project. So is the dream of the digital dollar dead? Read the full story.

—Mike Orcutt

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.)

+ The world’s oldest air has been unleashed, after six million years under ice.
+ How to stop sweating the small stuff and try to be happy in this mad world.
+ Happy Bonfire Night to our British readers!
+ The spirit of Halloween is still with us: the scariest music ever recorded.

The Download: the AGI myth, and US/China AI competition

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 AGI became the most consequential conspiracy theory of our time

—Will Douglas Heaven, senior AI editor 

Are you feeling it?

I hear it’s close: two years, five years—maybe next year! And I hear it’s going to solve our biggest problems in ways we cannot yet imagine. I also hear it will bring on the apocalypse and kill us all…

We’re of course talking about artificial general intelligence, or AGI—that hypothetical near-future technology that (I hear) will be able to do pretty much whatever a human brain can do.

Every age has its believers, people with an unshakeable faith that something huge is about to happen—a before and an after that they are privileged (or doomed) to live through. For us, that’s the promised advent of AGI. And here’s what I think: AGI is a lot like a conspiracy theory, and it may be the most consequential one of our time. Read the full story.

This story is part of MIT Technology Review’s series “The New Conspiracy Age,” on how the present boom in conspiracy theories is reshaping science and technology.

The State of AI: Is China about to win the race? 

Viewed from abroad, it seems only a matter of time before China emerges as the AI superpower of the 21st century. 

In the West, our initial instinct is to focus on America’s significant lead in semiconductor expertise, its cutting-edge AI research, and its vast investments in data centers.

Today, however, China has the means, motive, and opportunity to win. When it comes to mobilizing the whole-of-society resources needed to develop and deploy AI to maximum effect, it may be rash to bet against it. Read the full story.

—John Thornhill & Caiwei Chen

This is the first edition of The State of AI, a collaboration between the Financial Times & MIT Technology Review examining the ways in which AI is reshaping global power. Every Monday for the next six weeks, writers from both publications will debate one aspect of the generative AI revolution reshaping global power. Sign up to receive future editions every Monday.

The must-reads

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

1 China is prepared to cut its data centers a sweet deal
If they agree to use native chips over American rivals’, that is. (FT $)
+ What happened when a data center moved into a small American town. (WSJ $)
+ Microsoft and OpenAI want more power—they just don’t know how much more. (TechCrunch)
+ The data center boom in the desert. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Norway’s oil fund has rejected Elon Musk’s $1 trillion pay package
The Tesla shareholder is concerned about the size of the reward. (WSJ $)
+ It says it will vote against the deal on Thursday. (FT $)

3 OpenAI has signed a massive compute deal with Amazon
It’s the latest in a long string of blockbuster deals for the AI company. (Wired $)

4 Cybersecurity workers moonlighted as criminal hackers
They’re accused of sharing their profits with the creators of the ransomware they deployed. (Bloomberg $)
+ The hackers demanded tens of millions in extortion payments. (The Register)

5 Tech’s elites are funding plans to safeguard MAGA
Entrepreneur Chris Buskirk is using donor money to equip it to outlive Trump. (WP $)

6 These startups supply the labor to train multitasking humanoid robots
Teams of humans are doing the dirty work, including filming themselves folding towels hundreds of times a day. (LA Times $)
+ This new system can teach a robot a simple household task within 20 minutes. (MIT Technology Review)

7 LLMs can’t accurately describe their internal processes
Anthropic is on a mission to measure their so-called introspective awareness. (Ars Technica)

8 Why are people using AI to hack their hobbies?
Talk about the death of fun. (NY Mag $)
+ While we’re at it, don’t use chatbots to answer friends’ dilemmas either. (Wired $)
+ Or to write research papers. (404 Media)

9 Coca-Cola is doubling down on AI in its ads
Undeterred by criticism last year, it’s back with more for the 2025 holidays. (WSJ $)
+ Nothing says festive joy like AI slop. (The Verge)

10 Facebook Dating is a…hit?
But you should still be on the lookout for scammers. (NYT $)
+ It’s not just for boomers—younger people are using it too. (TechCrunch)
+ For better or worse, AI is seeping into all the biggest dating platforms. (Economist $)

Quote of the day

“That was the kick of it, that the AI actually did find compatibility. It was the human part that didn’t work out.”

—Emma Inge, a project manager looking for love in San Francisco, describes the trouble with using an AI matchmaker to the New York Times: it can’t stop you getting ghosted.

One more thing

Inside the most dangerous asteroid hunt ever

If you were told that the odds of something were 3.1%, it might not seem like much. But for the people charged with protecting our planet, it was huge.

On February 18, astronomers determined that a 130- to 300-foot-long asteroid had a 3.1% chance of crashing into Earth in 2032. Never had an asteroid of such dangerous dimensions stood such a high chance of striking the planet. Then, just days later on February 24, experts declared that the danger had passed. Earth would be spared.

How did they do it? What was it like to track the rising danger of this asteroid, and to ultimately determine that it’d miss us?

This is the inside story of how a sprawling network of astronomers found, followed, mapped, planned for, and finally dismissed the most dangerous asteroid ever found—all under the tightest of timelines and, for just a moment, with the highest of stakes. Read the full story.

—Robin George Andrews

We can still have nice things

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

+ People in the Middle Ages chose to depict the devil in very interesting ways, I’ll say that much.
+ We may be inching closer to understanding why the animal kingdom has developed such elaborate markings.
+ The music in the new game Pokémon Legends: Z-A sure is interesting.
+ Slow cooker dinners are beckoning.

The Download: gene-edited babies, and cleaning up copper

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 the latest company planning for gene-edited babies

The news: A West Coast biotech entrepreneur says he’s secured $30 million to form a public-benefit company to study how to safely create genetically edited babies, marking the largest known investment into the taboo technology.  

How they’re doing it: The new company, called Preventive, is being formed to research so-called “heritable genome editing,” in which the DNA of embryos would be modified by correcting harmful mutations or installing beneficial genes. The goal would be to prevent disease.

Why it’s contentious: Creating genetically edited humans remains controversial. The first scientist to do it, in China, was imprisoned for three years. The procedure remains illegal in many countries, including the US, and doubts surround its usefulness as a form of medicine. Read the full story.

—Antonio Regalado

This startup wants to clean up the copper industry

Demand for copper is surging, as is pollution from its dirty production processes. The founders of one startup, Still Bright, think they have a better, cleaner way to generate the copper the world needs. 

The company uses water-based reactions, based on battery chemistry technology, to purify copper in a process that could be less polluting than traditional smelting. And the hope is that this alternative will also help ease growing strain on the copper supply chain. Read the full story.

—Casey Crownhart

The must-reads

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

1 The FDA’s top drug regulator has resigned
George Tidmarsh allegedly abused his position to inflict financial harm on a former associate. (STAT)
+ He’s only been in the post since July. (WP $)
+ It’s just the latest in a long line of slapdash leadership changes at the agency. (AP News)
+ Here’s what food and drug regulation might look like under the Trump administration. (MIT Technology Review)

2 America’s nuclear weapons testing won’t involve explosions
So don’t expect to see mushroom clouds any time soon. (BBC)
+ The tests will involve “the other parts of a nuclear weapon,” apparently. (NYT $)
+ The US is working to modernize its nuclear stockpile too. (The Hill)

3 Mustafa Suleyman wants researchers to stop pursuing conscious AI 
The Microsoft AI boss believes consciousness is reserved for biological beings only. (CNBC)
+ Here’s what the man who coined the term AGI has to say. (Wired $)
+ “We will never build a sex robot,” says Mustafa Suleyman. (MIT Technology Review) 

4 Elon Musk may relinquish control of Tesla
If the company’s shareholders decide against awarding him close to $1 trillion in stock. (NYT $)
+ One major investor has already said it won’t be supporting the pay package. (Gizmodo)

5 The hottest job in AI right now? Forward-deployed engineers
They’re specialists who help AI companies’ customers adopt their models. (FT $)

6 Hackers are stealing cargo shipments from transportation firms
They’re successfully infecting networks with remote access tools. (Bloomberg $)

7 OpenAI’s o1 model can analyze languages like a human expert
Experts suggest linguistic analysis is a key testbed for assessing the extent to which these models can reason like we can. (Quanta Magazine)

8 US obesity rates have started to drop
And weight-loss drugs are highly likely to be the reason why. (Vox)
+ We’re learning more about what weight-loss drugs do to the body. (MIT Technology Review)

9 Why it’s so tricky to make a good grocery list app
Notes just won’t cut it. (The Verge)

10 Many robots make light work
Lots of machines working in tandem can achieve what they’d struggle to do alone. (WSJ $)
+ Tiny robots inspired by spiders could help deliver diagnoses. (IEEE Spectrum)

Quote of the day

“You can check if there’s a backdoor.”

—China’s leader Xi Jinping jokes about the security of two Chinese-made cellphones he gifted to South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung, the New York Times reports.

One more thing

Digital twins of human organs are here. They’re set to transform medical treatment.

“Digital twins” are the same size and shape as the human organs they’re designed to mimic. They work in the same way. But they exist only virtually. Scientists can do virtual surgery on virtual hearts, figuring out the best course of action for a patient’s condition.

After decades of research, models like these are now entering clinical trials and starting to be used for patient care. The eventual goal is to create digital versions of our bodies—computer copies that could help researchers and doctors figure out our risk of developing various diseases and determine which treatments might work best.

But the budding technology will need to be developed very carefully. Read the full story to learn why.

—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.)

+ The Empire State Building Run-Up race sounds amazing, if completely gruelling.
+ Very cool: each year, the scientific staff of the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station screen horror classic The Thing to prepare themselves for the long, isolated winter ahead.
+ How caterpillars spin their protective little cocoons.
+ One-pot chicken sounds like a great winter warmer of a recipe.

The Download: down the Mandela effect rabbit hole, and the promise of a vaccine for colds

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

Why do so many people think the Fruit of the Loom logo had a cornucopia?

Quick question: Does the Fruit of the Loom logo feature a cornucopia?

Many of us have been wearing the company’s T-shirts for decades, and yet the question of whether there is a woven brown horn of plenty on the logo is surprisingly contentious.

According to a 2022 poll, 55% of Americans believe the logo does include a cornucopia, 25% are unsure, and only 21% are confident that it doesn’t, even though this last group is correct.

There’s a name for what’s happening here: the “Mandela effect,” or collective false memory, so called because a number of people misremember that Nelson Mandela died in prison. Yet while many find it easy to let their unconfirmable beliefs go, some spend years seeking answers—and vindication. Read the full story.

—Amelia Tait

This story is part of MIT Technology Review’s series “The New Conspiracy Age,” on how the present boom in conspiracy theories is reshaping science and technology.

Here’s why we don’t have a cold vaccine. Yet.

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s the season of the sniffles. As the weather turns, we’re all spending more time indoors. The kids have been back at school for a couple of months. And cold germs are everywhere.

So why can’t we get a vaccine to protect us against the common cold? Scientists have been working on this for decades, but it turns out that creating a cold vaccine is hard. Really hard. But not impossible. There’s still hope. Read the full story.

—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.

Inside the archives of the NASA Ames Research Center

At the southern tip of San Francisco Bay, surrounded by the tech giants Google, Apple, and Microsoft, sits the historic NASA Ames Research Center. Its rich history includes a grab bag of fascinating scientific research involving massive wind tunnels, experimental aircraft, supercomputing, astrobiology, and more.

A collection of 5,000 images from NASA Ames’s archives paints a vivid picture of bleeding-edge work at the heart of America’s technology hub. Read the full story.

—Jon Keegan

This story is from the latest print issue of MIT Technology Review magazine, which is full of stories about the body. If you haven’t already, subscribe now to receive future issues 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 US government is considering banning TP-Link routers
An investigation has raised concerns over the company’s links to China. (WP $)
+ Lawmakers are worried its equipment is vulnerable to hacking. (Bloomberg $)

2 ICE has proposed building a deportation network in Texas
The 24/7 operation would transfer detained immigrants into holding facilities. (Wired $)
+ But US citizens keep being detained, too. (NY Mag $)
+ Inside the operation giving ICE a run for its money. (Slate $)
+ Another effort to track ICE raids was just taken offline. (MIT Technology Review)

3 Ukrainian drone teams are gamifying their war efforts
Officials say rewarding soldiers for successful attacks keeps them motivated. (NYT $)
+ A Peter Thiel-backed drone startup crashed and burned during military trials. (FT $)
+ Meet the radio-obsessed civilian shaping Ukraine’s drone defense. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Meta has denied torrenting porn to train its AI models
Instead, it claims, the downloads were for someone’s “private personal use.” (Ars Technica)

5 Bird flu is getting harder to keep tabs on
The virus has wreaked havoc on the US poultry industry for close to four years. (Vox)
+ A new biosensor can detect bird flu in five minutes. (MIT Technology Review)

6 AI browsers are a cybersecurity nightmare
They’re a hotbed of known—and unknown—risks. (The Verge)
+ I tried OpenAI’s new Atlas browser but I still don’t know what it’s for. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Robots are starting to do more jobs across America
But they’re still proving buggy and expensive to run. (WSJ $)
+ When you might start speaking to robots. (MIT Technology Review)

8 These are the jobs that AI built
From conversation designer to adoption strategist. (WP $)
+ if you fancy landing a job in quantum computing, here’s how to do it. (IEEE Spectrum)

9 Computer vision is getting much, much better
Their blind spots are rapidly being eliminated. (Knowable Magazine)

10 A lock-cracking YouTuber is being sued by a lockmaking company  
It’s arguing he defamed the company, even though he didn’t say a word during the clip. (Ars Technica)

Quote of the day

“Yes, we’ve been to the Moon before… six times!”

—NASA’s acting administrator Sean Duffy reacts to Kim Kardashian’s belief that man has never set foot on the moon, the Guardian reports.

One more thing

What happens when you donate your body to science

Rebecca George doesn’t mind the vultures that complain from the trees that surround the Western Carolina University body farm. Her arrival has interrupted their breakfast. George studies human decomposition, and part of decomposing is becoming food. Scavengers are welcome.

In the US, about 20,000 people or their families donate their bodies to scientific research and education each year. Whatever the reason, the decision becomes a gift. Western Carolina’s FOREST is among the places where watchful caretakers know that the dead and the living are deeply connected, and the way you treat the first reflects how you treat the second. Read the full story.

—Abby Ohlheiser

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.)

+ Zoo animals across the world are getting into the Halloween spirit with some tasty pumpkins.
+ If you’re stuck for something suitably spooky to watch tonight, this list is a great place to start.
+ New York’s historic Morris-Jumel Mansion is seriously beautiful—and seriously haunted.
+ Salem’s Lucipurr is on the prowl!

The Download: Introducing: the new conspiracy 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.

Introducing: the new conspiracy age

Everything is a conspiracy theory now. Conspiracists are all over the White House, turning fringe ideas into dangerous policy. America’s institutions are crumbling under the weight of deep suspicion and the lasting effects of covid isolation. Online echo chambers are getting harder to escape, and generative AI is altering the fabric of truth. A mix of technology and politics has given an unprecedented boost to once-fringe ideas—but they are pretty much the same fantasies that have been spreading for hundreds of years.

MIT Technology Review helps break down how this moment is changing science and technology—and how we can make it through. We’re thrilled to present The New Conspiracy Age, a new series digging into how the present boom in conspiracy theories is reshaping science and technology. 

To kick us off, check out Dorian Lynskey’s fascinating piece explaining why it’s never been easier to be a conspiracy theorist. And stay tuned—we’ll be showcasing a different story from the package each day in the next few editions of The Download!

Four thoughts from Bill Gates on climate tech

Bill Gates doesn’t shy away or pretend modesty when it comes to his stature in the climate world today. “Well, who’s the biggest funder of climate innovation companies?” he asked a handful of journalists at a media roundtable event last week. “If there’s someone else, I’ve never met them.”

The former Microsoft CEO has spent the last decade investing in climate technology through Breakthrough Energy, which he founded in 2015. Ahead of the UN climate meetings kicking off next week, Gates published a memo outlining what he thinks activists and negotiators should focus on and how he’s thinking about the state of climate tech right now. Here’s what he had to say.

—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 US Homeland Security shared false videos of immigration operations
They claimed to show recent operations but used footage that was old, or recorded thousands of miles away. (WP $)
+ ICE is scanning pedestrians’ faces to verify their citizenship. (404 Media)

2 Character.AI is banning under-18s from talking to its virtual companions
It’s currently facing several lawsuits from families who claim its chatbots have harmed their children. (NYT $)
+ The company says it’s introducing age assurance functionality. (FT $)
+ Teenage boys are using chatbots to roleplay as girlfriends. (The Guardian)
+ The looming crackdown on AI companionship. (MIT Technology Review)

3 Trump directed the Pentagon to resume nuclear weapons testing
America hasn’t conducted such tests for more than 30 years. (BBC)
+ The US President made multiple incorrect assertions in his statement. (The Verge)
+ He doesn’t seem to even know why he wants to resume the tests himself. (The Atlantic $)

4 A Google DeepMind AI model accurately predicted Hurricane Melissa’s severity
It’s the first time the US National Hurricane Center has deployed it. (Nature $)
+ Here’s how to actually help the people affected by its extensive damage. (Vox)
+ Google DeepMind’s new AI model is the best yet at weather forecasting. (MIT Technology Review)

5 A major record label has signed a deal with AI music firm Udio
Universal Music Group had previously sued it for copyright infringement. (WSJ $)
+ AI is coming for music, too. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Are companies using AI as a fig leaf to lay workers off?
It’s sure starting to look that way. (NBC News)
+ Big Tech is going to keep spending billions on AI, regardless. (WP $)

7 Meta Ray-Ban users are filming themselves in massage parlors
They’re harassing workers, who appear unaware they’re being recorded. (404 Media)
+ China’s smart glasses makers are keen to capture the market. (FT $)

8 Just three countries dominate the world’s space launches
What will it take to get some other nations in the mix? (Rest of World)

9 Why you shouldn’t hire an AI agent
Their freelancing capabilities are… limited. (Wired $)
+ The people paid to train AI are outsourcing their work… to AI. (MIT Technology Review)

10 This app’s AI-generated podcasting dog videos are a big hit
But DogPack wants to make sure viewers know it’s not trying to trick them. (Insider $)

Quote of the day

“Zuck spent five years and $70 billion dollars to build a business that loses $4.4 billion/year to create only $470 million in revenue. So bad you can’t give it away, I guess.”

—Greg Linden, a former data scientist at Microsoft, pokes fun at Meta’s beleaguered Reality Labs’ earnings in a post on Bluesky.

One more thing

How scientists want to make you young again

A little over 15 years ago, scientists at Kyoto University in Japan made a remarkable discovery. When they added just four proteins to a skin cell and waited about two weeks, some of the cells underwent an unexpected and astounding transformation: they became young again. They turned into stem cells almost identical to the kind found in a days-old embryo, just beginning life’s journey.

At least in a petri dish, researchers using the procedure can take withered skin cells from a 101-year-old and rewind them so they act as if they’d never aged at all.

Now, after more than a decade of studying and tweaking so-called cellular reprogramming, a number of biotech companies and research labs say they have tantalizing hints that the process could be the gateway to an unprecedented new technology for age reversal. Read the full story. 

—Antonio Regalado

We can still have nice things

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

+ 2025’s Comedy Wildlife Award winners and finalists are classics of the genre.
+ This Instagram account shared the same video of Thomas the Tank Engine’s daring railway stunts every day, and I think that’s just beautiful.
+ How to get more of that elusive deep sleep.
+ Here’s an interesting take on why we still find dragons so fascinating

The Download: Boosting AI’s memory, and data centers’ unhappy neighbors

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.

DeepSeek may have found a new way to improve AI’s ability to remember

The news: An AI model released by Chinese AI company DeepSeek uses new techniques that could significantly improve AI’s ability to “remember.”

How it works: The optical character recognition model works by extracting text from an image and turning it into machine-readable words. This is the same technology that powers scanner apps, translation of text in photos, and many accessibility tools.

Why it matters: Researchers say the model’s main innovation lies in how it processes information—specifically, how it stores and retrieves data. Improving how AI models “remember” could reduce how much computing power they need to run, thus mitigating AI’s large (and growing) carbon footprint. Read the full story.

—Caiwei Chen

The AI Hype Index: Data centers’ neighbors are pivoting to power blackouts

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

Roundtables: seeking climate solutions in turbulent times

Yesterday we held a subscriber-only conversation exploring how companies are pursuing climate solutions amid political shifts in the US.

Our climate reporters James Temple and Casey Crownhart sat down with our science editor Mary Beth Griggs to dig into the most promising climate technologies right now. Watch the session back here!

MIT Technology Review Narrated: Supershoes are reshaping distance running

“Supershoes” —which combine a lightweight, energy-­returning foam with a carbon-fiber plate for stiffness—have been behind every broken world record in distances from 5,000 meters to the marathon since 2020.

To some, this is a sign of progress—for both the field as a whole and for athletes’ bodies. Still, some argue that they’ve changed the sport too quickly.

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 Hurricane Melissa may be the Atlantic Ocean’s strongest on record
There’s little doubt in scientists’ minds that human-caused climate change is to blame. (New Scientist $)+ While Jamaica is largely without power, no deaths have been confirmed. (BBC)
+ The hurricane is currently sweeping across Cuba. (NYT $)
+ Here’s what we know about hurricanes and climate change. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Texas is suing Tylenol over the Trump administration’s autism claims
Even though the scientific evidence is unfounded. (NY Mag $)
+ The lawsuit claims the firm violated Texas law by claiming the drug was safe. (WP $)

3 Two US Senators want to ban AI companions for minors
They want AI companies to implement age-verification processes, too. (NBC News)
+ The looming crackdown on AI companionship. (MIT Technology Review)

3 Trump’s “golden dome” plan is seriously flawed 
It’s unlikely to offer anything like the protection he claims it will. (WP $)
+ Why Trump’s “golden dome” missile defense idea is another ripped straight from the movies. (MIT Technology Review)

4 The Trump administration is backing new nuclear plants
To—surprise surprise—power the AI boom. (NYT $)
+ The grid is straining to support the excessive demands for power. (Reuters)+ Can nuclear power really fuel the rise of AI? (MIT Technology Review)

5 Uber’s next fleet of autonomous cars will contain Nvidia’s new chips 
Which could eventually make it cheaper to hail a robotaxi. (Bloomberg $)
+ Nvidia is also working with a company called Lucid to bring autonomous cars to consumers. (Ars Technica)

6 Weight loss drugs are becoming more commonplace across the world
Semaglutide patents are due to expire in Brazil, China and India next year. (Economist $)+ We’re learning more about what weight-loss drugs do to the body. (MIT Technology Review)

7 More billionaires hail from America than any other nation
The majority of them have made their fortunes working in technology. (WSJ $)
+ China is closing in on America’s global science lead. (Bloomberg $)

8 Australian police are developing an AI tool to decode Gen Z slang
It’s in a bid to combat the rising networks of young men targeting vulnerable girls online. (The Guardian)

9 This robot housekeeper is controlled remotely by a human
Nothing weird about that at all… (WSJ $)
+ The humans behind the robots. (MIT Technology Review)

10 Cameo is suing OpenAI
It’s unhappy about Sora’s new Cameo feature. (Reuters)

Quote of the day

“I don’t believe we’re in an AI bubble.”

—Jensen Haung, Nvidia’s CEO, conveniently dismisses the growing concerns around the AI hype train, Bloomberg reports.

One more thing

How to befriend a crow

Crows have become minor TikTok celebrities thanks to CrowTok, a small but extremely active niche on the social video app that has exploded in popularity over the past two years. CrowTok isn’t just about birds, though. It also often explores the relationships that corvids—a family of birds including crows, magpies, and ravens—develop with human beings.

They’re not the only intelligent birds around, but in general, corvids are smart in a way that resonates deeply with humans. But how easy is it to befriend them? And what can it teach us about attention, and patience, in a world that often seems to have little of either? Read the full story.

—Abby Ohlheiser

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 Flava Flav, who’s been appointed Team USA’s official hype man for the 2026 Winter Olympics!
+ Why are Spirographs so hypnotic? Answers on a postcard.
+ I love this story—and beautiful photos—celebrating 50 years of the World Gay Rodeo.
+ Axolotls really are remarkable little creatures.

The Download: Microsoft’s stance on erotic AI, and an AI hype mystery

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 will never build a sex robot,” says Mustafa Suleyman

Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, is trying to walk a fine line. On the one hand, he thinks that the industry is taking AI in a dangerous direction by building chatbots that present as human: He worries that people will be tricked into seeing life instead of lifelike behavior.

On the other hand, Suleyman runs a product shop that must compete with those peers. Last week, Microsoft announced a string of updates to its Copilot chatbot designed to make Copilot more expressive, engaging, and helpful.

Will Douglas Heaven, our senior AI editor, talked to Suleyman about the tension at play when it comes to designing our interactions with chatbots and his ultimate vision for what this new technology should be. Read the full story.

An AI adoption riddle

—James O’Donnell, senior AI reporter 

A few weeks ago, I set out on what I thought would be a straightforward reporting journey.

After years of momentum for AI, hype had been slightly punctured. First there was the underwhelming release of GPT-5 in August. Then a report released two weeks later found that 95% of generative AI pilots were failing, which caused a brief stock market panic. I wanted to know: Which companies are spooked enough to scale back their AI spending?

But if AI’s hype has indeed been punctured, I couldn’t find a company willing to talk about it. So what should we make of my failed quest?

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

The must-reads

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

1 Hundreds of thousands of ChatGPT users exhibit severe mental health symptoms
That’s according to estimates from OpenAI, which says it has tweaked GPT-5 to respond more effectively to users in distress. (Wired $)
+ OpenAI won’t lock access to force users to take a break, though. (Gizmodo)
+ Why AI should be able to “hang up” on you. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Elon Musk has launched his answer to Wikipedia
Grokipedia’s right-leaning entries reflect the way the billionaire sees the world. (WP $)
+ Several pages perpetuate historical inaccuracies and conservative views. (Wired $)
+ The AI-generated encyclopedia briefly crashed shortly after it launched. (Engadget)

3 Surgeons have removed a pig kidney from a patient
It was the longest-functioning genetically engineered pig kidney so far. (Wired $)
+ “Spare” living human bodies might provide us with organs for transplantation. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Amazon is planning to cut up to 30,000 corporate jobs
Partly in response to staff’s reluctance to return to the office five days a week. (Reuters)
+ The company is planning yet another round of layoffs in January. (NYT $)

5 Older people can’t get enough of screens
Their digital habits mirror the high usage typically observed among teenagers. (Economist $)

6 A British cyclist has been given a 3D-printed face
Dave Richards received severe third-degree burns to his head after being struck by a drunk driver. (The Guardian)

7 The twitter.com domain is being shut down
Make sure you re-enroll your security and passkeys before the big switch-off. (Fast Company $)
+ It means the abandoned accounts could be sold on. (The Verge)
+ But 2FA apps should be fine—in theory. (The Register)

8 When is a moon not a moon?
Believe it or not, we don’t have an official definition. (The Atlantic $)
+ Astronomers have spotted a “quasi-moon” hovering near Earth. (BBC)
+ The moon is just the beginning for this waterless concrete. (MIT Technology Review)

9 Threads’ ghost posts will disappear after 24 hours
If anyone saw them in the first place, that is. (TechCrunch)

10 In the metaverse, anyone can be a K-pop superstar
Virtual idols are gaining huge popularity, before crossing over into real-world fame. (Rest of World)
+ Meta’s former metaverse head has been moved into its AI team. (FT $)

Quote of the day

“The impulse to control knowledge is as old as knowledge itself. Controlling what gets written is a way to gain or keep power.”

—Ryan McGrady, senior research fellow at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, reflects on Elon Musk’s desire to create his own online encyclopedia to the New York Times.

One more thing

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

Amsterdam thought it was on the right track. City officials in the welfare department believed they could build technology that would prevent fraud while protecting citizens’ rights. They followed these emerging best practices and invested a vast amount of time and money in a project that eventually processed live welfare applications. But in their pilot, they found that the system they’d developed was still not fair and effective. Why?

Lighthouse Reports, MIT Technology Review, and the Dutch newspaper Trouw have gained unprecedented access to the system to try to find out. Read about what we discovered.

—Eileen Guo, Gabriel Geiger & Justin-Casimir Braun

We can still have nice things

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

+ Happy 70th birthday to Bill Gates, who is not revered enough for his chair-jumping skills.
+ Bring back Guitar Hero—the iconic game that convinced us all we were capable of knocking out Heart’s Barracuda (note: the majority of us were not.)
+ Even the swankiest parts of London aren’t immune to rumours of ghostly hauntings.
+ Justice for medieval frogs and their unfair reputation!

The Download: what to make of OpenAI’s Atlas browser, and how to make climate progress

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.

I tried OpenAI’s new Atlas browser but I still don’t know what it’s for

—Mat Honan

OpenAI rolled out a new web browser last week called Atlas. It comes with ChatGPT built in, along with an agent, so that you can browse, get answers, and have automated tasks performed on your behalf all at the same time.

I’ve spent the past several days tinkering with Atlas. I’ve used it to do all my normal web browsing, and also tried to take advantage of the ChatGPT functions—plus I threw some weird agentic tasks its way to see how it did with those.

My impression is that Atlas is…  fine? But my big takeaway is that it’s pretty pointless for anyone not employed by OpenAI. In fact, Atlas seems to be little more than cynicism masquerading as software. Read the full story.

This review first appeared in The Debrief, Mat Honan’s weekly subscriber-only newsletter.

Seeking climate solutions in turbulent times

Despite recent political shifts in the US, companies are continuing to pursue exciting new climate solutions. Tomorrow we’re holding an exclusive subscriber-only Roundtable event digging into the most promising technologies of the moment drawing from our recently released 10 Climate Tech Companies to Watch list.

This conversation will give subscribers insight into where tangible climate progress is happening today, and how recent political changes are reshaping the path toward a more sustainable future. Join us at 1pm ET on Tuesday October 28—register here!

The must-reads

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

1 Donald Trump says a TikTok deal could be reached this week 
Perhaps on Thursday, when he’s due to meet Xi Jinping. (CNBC)
+ US treasury secretary Scott Bessent appeared to jump the gun when he said the deal had already been done. (The Guardian)

2 Covid vaccines helped to prolong the life of cancer patients
The findings raise hopes a universal vaccine could help patients with different cancers. (WP $)
+ Why US federal health agencies are abandoning mRNA vaccines. (MIT Technology Review)

3 How developing nations benefit from “AI decolonization”
Rules forcing Silicon Valley’s giants to process data locally has helped to spread the AI boom’s wealth. (WSJ $)
+ Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia wants to be known as the “AI exporter.” (NYT $)
+ Inside India’s scramble for AI independence. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Those rising electricity costs aren’t just down to AI
Costly electrical equipment and disaster prep are bigger factors pushing up prices. (WP $)
+ Amazon considered concealing its data centers’ water usage. (The Guardian)
+ AI is changing the grid. Could it help more than it harms? (MIT Technology Review)

5 California State wants to become America’s largest “AI-empowered” University
It’s teaming up with Amazon, OpenAI and Nvidia to prepare its students for increasingly AI-driven careers. (NYT $)
+ How do technologies change our abilities to learn skills? (The Atlantic $)
+ Why the ultra-wealthy are sending their kids to High Point University. (WSJ $)
+ The job market is tough right now, but we’ve weathered this kind of storm before. (Insider $)

6 This new startup sells AI bot interactions to manipulate social media
Even though it violates every major platforms’ policies. (404 Media)

7 Even real estate isn’t safe from AI slop
House hunters are being forced to wade through AI-enhanced listings. (Wired $)

8 Why we’re so obsessed with sleepmaxxing 
Yes, sleep is good for you. But does the tech that tracks it really do the job it claims to? (The Atlantic $)
+ I tried to hack my insomnia with technology. Here’s what worked. (MIT Technology Review)

9 It’s probably not worth buying an Ultra-HD TV
So feel free to ignore all that persuasive marketing jargon. (The Guardian)

10 Sneaky employees are using AI to fake their expense receipts
So expense firms are in turn deploying AI to try and detect the fakes. (FT $)

Quote of the day

“I’m skeptical of all of the hype around AI right now. This is not my first bubble.”

—Jay Goldberg, a senior analyst at Seaport Global Securities, is no stranger to the hysteria that surrounds overhyped technologies, he tells Bloomberg.

One more thing

Inside Clear’s ambitions to manage your identity beyond the airport

Clear Secure is the most visible biometric identity company in the United States. Best known for its line-jumping service in airports, it’s also popping up at sports arenas and stadiums all over the country. You can also use its identity verification platform to rent tools at Home Depot, put your profile in front of recruiters on LinkedIn, and, as of this month, verify your identity as a rider on Uber.

And soon enough, if Clear has its way, it may also be in your favorite retailer, bank, and even doctor’s office—or anywhere else that you currently have to pull out a wallet (or wait in line).

While the company has been building toward this sweeping vision for years, it now seems its time has finally come. But as biometrics go mainstream, what—and who—bears the cost? 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.)

+ Ancient manuscripts are jam packed with weird and wonderful beasts.
+ Horror writers tell us the spooky stories that send a shiver down their respective spines.
+ Here’s why living on a red dwarf isn’t quite as crazy as it sounds.
+ Kiki the sheep may not be able to walk, but she isn’t letting it get in the way of her getting around (thanks Amy!)

The Download: carbon removal’s future, and measuring pain using an app

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 carbon removal?

After years of growth that spawned hundreds of startups, the nascent carbon removal sector appears to be facing a reckoning.

Running Tide, a promising aquaculture company, shut down its operations last summer, and a handful of other companies have shuttered, downsized, or pivoted in recent months as well. Venture investments have flagged. And the collective industry hasn’t made a whole lot more progress toward Running Tide’s ambitious plans to sequester a billion tons of carbon dioxide by this year.

The hype phase is over and the sector is sliding into the turbulent business trough that follows, experts warn. 

And the open question is: If the carbon removal sector is heading into a painful if inevitable clearing-out cycle, where will it go from there? Read the full story.

—James Temple

This story is part of 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.

An AI app to measure pain is here

This week I’ve also been wondering how science and technology can help answer that question—especially when it comes to pain. 

In the latest issue of MIT Technology Review’s print magazine, Deena Mousa describes how an AI-powered smartphone app is being used to assess how much pain a person is in.

The app, and other tools like it, could help doctors and caregivers. They could be especially useful in the care of people who aren’t able to tell others how they are feeling.

But they are far from perfect. And they open up all kinds of thorny questions about how we experience, communicate, and even treat pain. Read the full story.

—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.

The must-reads

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

1 Meta’s lawyers advised workers to remove parts of its teen mental health research
Its counsel told researchers to block or update their work to reduce legal liability. (Bloomberg $)
+ Meta recently laid off more than 100 staff tasked with monitoring risks to user privacy. (NYT $) 

2 Donald Trump has pardoned the convicted Binance founder
Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to violating US money laundering laws in 2023. (WSJ $)
+ The move is likely to enable Binance to resume operating in the US. (CNN)
+ Trump has vowed to be more crypto-friendly than the Biden administration. (Axios)

3 Anthropic and Google Cloud have signed a major chips deal
The agreement is worth tens of billions of dollars. (FT $)

4 Microsoft doesn’t want you to talk dirty to its AI
It’ll leave that kind of thing to OpenAI, thank you very much. (CNBC)
+ Copilot now has its own version of Clippy—just don’t try to get erotic with it. (The Verge)
+ It’s pretty easy to get DeepSeek to talk dirty, however. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Big Tech is footing the bill for Trump’s White House ballroom
Stand up Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft. (TechCrunch)
+ Crypto twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss are also among the donors. (CNN)

6 US investigators have busted a series of high-tech gambling schemes
Involving specially-designed contact lenses and x-ray tables. (NYT $)
+ The case follows insider bets on basketball and poker games rigged by the mafia. (BBC)
+ Automatic card shufflers can be compromised, too. (Wired $)

7 Deepfake harassment tools are easily accessible on social media
And simple web searches. (404 Media)
+ Bans on deepfakes take us only so far—here’s what we really need. (MIT Technology Review)

8 How algorithms can drive up prices online
Even benign algorithms can sometimes yield bad outcomes for buyers. (Quanta Magazine)
+ When AIs bargain, a less advanced agent could cost you. (MIT Technology Review)

9 How to give an LLM brain rot
Train it on short “superficial” posts from X, for a start. (Ars Technica)
+ AI trained on AI garbage spits out AI garbage. (MIT Technology Review)

10 Meet the tech workers using AI as little as possible
In a bid to keep their skills sharp. (WP $)
+ This professor thinks there are other ways to teach people how to learn. (The Atlantic $)

Quote of the day

“He was convicted. He’s not innocent.”

—Republican Senator Thom Tillis criticises Donald Trump’s decision to pardon convicted cryptocurrency mogul Changpeng Zhao, Politico reports.

One more thing

We’ve never understood how hunger works. That might be about to change.

When you’re starving, hunger is like a demon. It awakens the most ancient and primitive parts of the brain, then commandeers other neural machinery to do its bidding until it gets what it wants.

Although scientists have had some success in stimulating hunger in mice, we still don’t really understand how the impulse to eat works. Now, some experts are following known parts of the neural hunger circuits into uncharted parts of the brain to try and find out.

Their work could shed new light on the factors that have caused the number of overweight adults worldwide to skyrocket in recent years. And it could also help solve the mysteries around how and why a new class of weight-loss drugs seems to work so well. Read the full story.

—Adam Piore

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.)

+  Middle aged men are getting into cliff-jumping. Should you?
+ Pumpkin spice chocolate chip cookies sounds like a great idea to me.
+ Christmas Island’s crabs are on the move!
+ Watch out if you’re taking the NY subway today: you might bump into these terrifying witches.