The Download: aluminium’s potential as a zero-carbon fuel, and what’s next for energy storage

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

This startup is about to conduct the biggest real-world test of aluminum as a zero-carbon fuel

Found Energy, a startup in Boston, aims to harness the energy in scraps of aluminum metal to power industrial processes without fossil fuels. Since 2022, the company has worked to develop ways to rapidly release energy from aluminum on a small scale.

Now it’s just switched on a much larger version of its aluminum-powered engine, which it claims is the largest aluminum-water reactor ever built.

Early next year, it will be installed to supply heat and hydrogen to a tool manufacturing facility in the southeastern US, using the aluminum waste produced by the plant itself as fuel.

If everything works as planned, this technology, which uses a catalyst to unlock the energy stored within aluminum metal, could transform a growing share of aluminum scrap into a zero-carbon fuel. Read the full story.

—James Dinneen

What a massive thermal battery means for energy storage

Rondo Energy just turned on what it says is the world’s largest thermal battery, an energy storage system that can take in electricity and provide a consistent source of heat.

The concept behind a thermal battery is overwhelmingly simple: Use electricity to heat up some cheap, sturdy material (like bricks) and keep it hot until you want to use that heat later, either directly in an industrial process or to produce electricity. 

Thermal batteries could be a major tool in cutting emissions: 20% of total energy demand today is used to provide heat for industrial processes, and most of that is generated by burning fossil fuels. But the company is using its battery for enhanced oil recovery—a process that critics argue keep polluting infrastructure running longer. Read the full story.

—Casey Crownhart

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

The must-reads

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

1 ChatGPT’s suicide discussion rules were loosened twice before a teen took his own life    
The parents of Adam Raine claim the changes OpenAI made equate to a weakening in its suicide protection for users. (WSJ $)
+ It did so to increase use of the chatbot, they allege in an amended lawsuit. (FT $)
+ The family is accusing OpenAI of intentional misconduct rather than reckless indifference. (Rolling Stone $)

2 Google claims its new quantum algorithm outperforms a supercomputer
It could accelerate advances in drug discovery and new building materials. (Ars Technica)
+ Its Willow chip is at the heart of the advance. (NYT $)
+ But real-world use of quantum computing is still likely to be years away. (The Guardian)

3 Reddit is suing AI search engine Perplexity
For allegedly illegally scraping its data to train the model powering Perplexity’s engine. (FT $)
+ Reddit’s also seeking a permanent injunction on companies selling its data. (Engadget)
+ What comes next for AI copyright lawsuits? (MIT Technology Review)

4 China has a five-year plan to become technologically self-reliant
And semiconductors and AI will play key roles. (Bloomberg $)
+ China is winning the trade war with America. (Economist $)

5 DeepSeek is taking off in Africa
Its decision to make its AI cheaper and less power-intensive is paying off. (Bloomberg $)
+ How DeepSeek ripped up the AI playbook. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Elon Musk is building a robot army
He envisions his Optimus robot becoming an “incredible surgeon.” (Wired $)
+ Will we ever trust robots? (MIT Technology Review)

7 Apple has pulled a pair of controversial dating apps from the App Store
Tea and TeaOnHer fell short of its privacy and content moderation rules. (TechCrunch)

8 Tesla’s profits are massively down
Even though it sold more cars than during its previous quarter. (NYT $)
+ The company has been forced to recall tens of thousands of Cybertrucks. (Reuters)
+ What happens when your EV becomes obsolete? (The Atlantic $)

9 An unexpected victim of the AWS outage? Smart beds
Some unlucky owners’ beds blared alarms and became unbearably warm. (WP $)
+ If the internet stays the way it is, more bed outages could be on their way. (The Atlantic $)

10 The appeal of incredibly basic software
Apple’s TextEdit does exactly what it says on the tin. (New Yorker $)

Quote of the day

“I’m very excited that nerds are having our moment.”

—Madhavi Sewak, a Google DeepMind researcher, says she’s glad that AI experts are being recognized, the Wall Street Journal reports.

One more thing

Inside the hunt for new physics at the world’s largest particle collider

In 2012, using data from CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, researchers discovered a particle called the Higgs boson. In the process, they answered a nagging question: Where do fundamental particles, such as the ones that make up all the protons and neutrons in our bodies, get their mass?

When the particle was finally found, scientists celebrated with champagne. A Nobel for two of the physicists who predicted the Higgs boson soon followed.

More than a decade later, there is a sense of unease. That’s because there are still so many unanswered questions about the fundamental constituents of the universe.

So researchers are trying something new. They are repurposing detectors to search for unusual-looking particles, squeezing what they can out of the data with machine learning, and planning for entirely new kinds of colliders. Read the full story.

—Dan Garisto

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.)

+ Mexico City is already getting into the Halloween spirit: its annual zombie parade took place over the weekend.
+ Everything you need to know before travelling to Japan.
+ The most stylish people alive? I’ll be the judge of that.
+ Here’s something you don’t expect archeologists to uncover: Neolithic chewing gum.

 Introducing: the body issue

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

Introducing: the body issue

We’re thrilled to share the latest edition of MIT Technology Review magazine, digging into the future of the human body, and how it could change in the years ahead thanks to scientific and technological tinkering.

The below stories are just a taste of what you can expect from this fascinating issue. To read the full thing, subscribe now if you haven’t already.

+ A new field of science claims to be able to predict aesthetic traits, intelligence, and even moral 

character in embryos. But is this the next step in human evolution or something more dangerous? Read the full story.

+ How aging clocks can help us understand why we age—and if we could ever reverse it. Read the full story.

+ Instead of relying on the same old recipe biology follows, stem-cell scientist Jacob Hanna is coaxing the beginnings of animal bodies directly from stem cells. But should he?

+ The more we move, the more our muscle cells begin to make a memory of that exercise. Bonnie Tsui’s piece digs into how our bodies learn to remember.

MIT Technology Review Narrated: How Antarctica’s history of isolation is ending—thanks to Starlink

“This is one of the least visited places on planet Earth and I got to open the door,” Matty Jordan, a construction specialist at New Zealand’s Scott Base in Antarctica, wrote in the caption to the video he posted to Instagram and TikTok in October 2023. 

In the video, he guides viewers through the hut, pointing out where the men of Ernest Shackleton’s 1907 expedition lived and worked. 

The video has racked up millions of views from all over the world. It’s also kind of a miracle: until very recently, those who lived and worked on Antarctic bases had no hope of communicating so readily with the outside world. That’s starting to change, thanks to Starlink, the satellite constellation developed by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX to service the world with high-speed broadband internet.

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 OpenAI has launched its own web browser  
Atlas has an Ask ChatGPT sidebar and an agent mode to complete certain tasks. (TechCrunch)
+ It runs on Chromium, the open-source engine that powers Google’s Chrome. (Axios)
+ OpenAI believes the future of web browsing will involve chatting to its interface. (Ars Technica)
+ AI means the end of internet search as we’ve known it. (MIT Technology Review)

2 China is demanding US chip firms share their sales data
It’s conducting a probe into American suppliers, and it wants answers. (Bloomberg $)

3 AI pioneers are among those calling for a ban on superintelligent systems
Including Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio. (The Guardian)
+ Prominent Chinese scientists have also signed the statement. (FT $)
+ Read our interview with Hinton on why he’s now scared of AI. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Anthropic promises its AI is not woke
Despite what the Trump administration’s “AI Czar” says. (404 Media)
+ Its CEO insists the company shares the same goals as the Trump administration. (CNBC)
+ Why it’s impossible to build an unbiased AI language model. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Climate scientists expect we’ll see more solar geoengineering attempts
But it’s a risky intervention with potentially huge repercussions. (New Scientist $)
+ The hard lessons of Harvard’s failed geoengineering experiment. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Why Silicon Valley is so fixated on China
It marvels at the country’s ability to move fast and break things—but should it?(NYT $)
+ How Trump is helping China extend its massive lead in clean energy. (MIT Technology Review)

7 YouTube has launched a likeness detector to foil AI doppelgängers
But that doesn’t guarantee that the fake videos will be removed. (Ars Technica)

8 Bots are threatening Reddit’s status as an oasis of human chat
Can it keep fighting off the proliferation of AI slop? (WP $)
+ It’s not just Reddit either—employers are worried about ‘workslop’ too. (FT $)
+ AI trained on AI garbage spits out AI garbage. (MIT Technology Review)

9 This AI-powered pet toy is surprisingly cute
Moflin is a guinea pig-like creature that learns to become more expressive. (TechCrunch)
+ AI toys are all the rage in China—and now they’re appearing on shelves in the US too. (MIT Technology Review)

10 You don’t need to know a lot about AI to get a job in AI
Make of that what you will. (Fast Company $)

Quote of the day

“It’s wild that Google wrote the Transformers paper (that birthed GPTs) AND open sourced Chromium, both of which will (eventually) lead to the downfall of their search monopoly. History lesson in there somewhere.”

—Investor Nikunj Kothari ponders the future of Google’s empire in the wake of the announcement of OpenAI’s new web browser in a post on X.

One more thing

The quest to protect farmworkers from extreme heat

Even as temperatures rise each summer, the people working outdoors to pick fruits, vegetables, and flowers have to keep laboring.

The consequences can be severe, leading to illnesses such as heat exhaustion, heatstroke and even acute kidney injury.

Now, researchers are developing an innovative sensor that tracks multiple vital signs with a goal of anticipating when a worker is at risk of developing heat illness and issuing an alert. If widely adopted and consistently used, it could represent a way to make workers safer on farms even without significant heat protections. Read the full story.

—Kalena Thomhave

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.)

+ Netflix is making a film based on the hit board game Catan, for some reason.
+ Why it’s time to embrace the beauty of slow running.
+ The Satellite Crayon Project takes colors from the natural world and turns them into vibrant drawing implements.
+ Mamma Mia has never sounded better.

The Download: a promising retina implant, and how climate change affects flowers

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

This retina implant lets people with vision loss do a crossword puzzle

The news: Science Corporation—a competitor to Neuralink founded by the former president of Elon Musk’s brain-interface venture—has leapfrogged its rival after acquiring a vision implant in advanced testing for a fire-sale price. The implant produces a form of “artificial vision” that lets some patients read text and do crosswords, according to a report published in The New England Journal of Medicine today.

How it works: The implant is a microelectronic chip placed under the retina. Using signals from a camera mounted on a pair of glasses, the chip emits bursts of electricity in order to bypass photoreceptor cells damaged by macular degeneration, the leading cause of vision loss in the elderly. Read the full story.

—Antonio Regalado

How will flowers respond to climate change?

Flowers play a key role in most landscapes, from urban to rural areas. Yet flowers have much more to tell in their bright blooms: The very shape they take is formed by local and global climate conditions. 

The form of a flower is a visual display of its climate, if you know what to look for. In a dry year, its petals’ pigmentation may change. In a warm year, the flower might grow bigger. The flower’s ultraviolet-absorbing pigment increases with higher ozone levels.

Now, a new artistic project sets out to answer the question: As the climate changes in the future, how might flowers change? Read the full story.

—Annelie Berner

This story is from our forthcoming print issue, which is all about the body. If you haven’t already, subscribe now to receive future issues once they land.

2025 climate tech companies to watch: Redwood Materials and its new AI microgrids

Over the past few years, Redwood Materials has become one of the top US battery recyclers, joining forces with the likes of Volkswagen, BMW, and Toyota to process old electric-vehicle batteries and recover materials that can be used to make new ones.

Now it’s moving into reuse as well. Redwood Energy, a new branch of the company, incorporates used EV batteries into microgrids to power energy-hungry AI data centers. Read the full story.

—Peter Hall

Redwood Materials is one of our 10 climate tech companies to watch—our annual list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. Check out the rest of the list here.

The must-reads

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

1 AWS is recovering from a major outage 
It’s racing to get hundreds of apps and services back online. (The Verge)
+ Snapchat, Roblox and banking services are among those affected. (The Guardian)

2 OpenAI made—then retracted—a claim it had made a major math breakthrough
After math experts and rival AI firms ridiculed its poorly-worded declaration. (TechCrunch)
+ What’s next for AI and math. (MIT Technology Review)

3 The grave costs of Trump’s war on climate science
It’s affecting the accuracy of forecasting systems globally, not just in the US. (FT $)
+ Trump himself led an effort to derail plans to tax shipping pollution. (Politico $)
+ How to make clean energy progress under Trump in the states. (MIT Technology Review)

4 China claims the US is behind a cyberattack on its national time center
It says it has years’ worth of irrefutable evidence of data stealing. (Reuters)
+ US experts allegedly exploited vulnerabilities in mobile phones belonging to National Time Service Center workers. (Bloomberg $)

5 Is AI-generated art real art?
It’s a question gallery and museum curators across the world are debating. (NYT $)
+ Artisan craftmakers are happy to resist the pull of AI. (FT $)
+ This tool claims to trace how much of an AI image has been drawn from existing material. (The Guardian)
+ From slop to Sotheby’s? AI art enters a new phase. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Chipmaker Nexperia has accused its ousted CEO of spreading falsehoods
Zhang Xuezheng reportedly claimed it was operating independently in China. (Bloomberg $)

7 This whistleblower raised concerns about the safety of US data under DOGE
And says the hostile reception to his complaint led to him leaving his dream job. (WP $)
+ DOGE’s tech takeover threatens the safety and stability of our critical data. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Aid agencies have been criticized for using AI “poverty porn”
But the NGOs say its use protects the identities of real people in social media campaigns. (The Guardian)

9 EVs lose their value much faster than gas-powered cars
Which isn’t exactly an incentive for prospective first-time buyers. (Rest of World)

10 What happens to our brains when we dream
We’re learning more about the many liminal states they can slip through. (Quanta Magazine)

Quote of the day

“Hoisted by their own GPTards.”

—Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun pokes fun at OpenAI after the company walked back its claim it had made a major math breakthrough in a post on X.

One more thing

One option for electric vehicle fires? Let them burn.

Although there isn’t solid data on the frequency of EV battery fires, it’s no secret that these fires are happening.

Despite that, manufacturers offer no standardized steps on how to fight them or avoid them in the first place. What’s more, with EVs, it’s never entirely clear whether the fire is truly out.

Patrick Durham, the owner of one of a growing number of private companies helping first responders learn how to deal with lithium-ion battery safety, has a solution. He believes that the best way to manage EV fires right now is to let them burn. But such an approach not only goes against firefighters’ instincts—it’d require a significant cultural shift. Read the full story.

—Maya L. Kapoor

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.)

+ It looks as though the sumo wrestlers who visited London last week had the best time.
+ The Chicago rat hole may not have been made by a rat after all.
+ Finally, a good use for AI—to help me pick a perfectly ripe avocado
+ Keith Richards, we love you!

The Download: the rehabilitation of AI art, and the scary truth about antimicrobial resistance

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.

From slop to Sotheby’s? AI art enters a new phase

In this era of AI slop, the idea that generative AI tools like Midjourney and Runway could be used to make art can seem absurd.
 

But amid all the muck, there are people using AI tools with real consideration and intent. Some of them are finding notable success as AI artists: They are gaining huge online followings, selling their work at auction, and even having it exhibited in galleries and museums. Read the full story.

—Grace Huckins

This story is from our forthcoming print issue, which is all about the body. If you haven’t already, subscribe now to receive future issues once they land. Plus, you’ll also receive a free digital report on nuclear power.

Take our quiz: How much do you know about antimicrobial resistance?

This week we had some terrifying news from the World Health Organization: Antibiotics are failing us. A growing number of bacterial infections aren’t responding to these medicines—including common ones that affect the blood, gut, and urinary tract. Get infected with one of these bugs, and there’s a fair chance antibiotics won’t help.

You’ve probably heard about antimicrobial resistance before, but how much do you know about it? Here’s our attempt to put the “fun” in “fundamental threat to modern medicine.” Test your knowledge here!

—Jessica Hamzelou

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

2025 climate tech companies to watch: Envision Energy and its “smart” wind turbines

Envision Energy, one of China’s biggest wind turbine makers, has expanded into batteries, green hydrogen, and industrial parks designed to run heavy industry on clean power.

With flagship projects in Inner Mongolia and new ventures planned abroad, the company is testing whether renewables can decarbonize sectors that electricity alone can’t reach. Read the full story.

Envision Energy is one of our 10 climate tech companies to watch—our annual list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. Check out the rest of the list here.

The must-reads

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

1 ICE is beefing up its surveillance capabilities 
It’s recently bought iris-scanning technology, spyware and location tracking software. (WP $)
+ Viral ICE videos are shaping how Americans feel about the agency. (Vox)
+ Protestors in Chicago are fighting back after mass arrests in the city. (New Yorker $)

2 OpenAI has stopped people from generating videos of MLK Jr
After some people used Sora to create “disrespectful depictions” of the civil rights activist. (TechCrunch)
+ It’s not the first time AI’s depiction of public figures has been criticized. (The Information $)

3 A teenager is suing the owners of “nudifying” app ClothOff
A classmate used an image of the New Jersey student to generate fake nudes. (WSJ $)
+ Meet the 15-year-old deepfake victim pushing Congress into action. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Amazon’s Ring camera arm is signing deals with law enforcement
It’s working with Flock Safety and Axon to share footage with criminal investigations. (CNBC)
+ A division of ICE has used Flock’s AI-powered surveillance network. (404 Media)
+ How Amazon Ring uses domestic violence to market doorbell cameras. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Plug-in hybrids pollute almost as much as diesel cars
A new report has found that pollution levels are well above official estimates. (The Guardian)
+ What to expect if you’re expecting a plug-in hybrid. (MIT Technology Review)

6 South Korea is prohibiting its citizens from travelling to Cambodia
It says hundreds of its nationals have been kidnapped and forced into scam complexes. (FT $)
+ Inside a romance scam compound—and how people get tricked into being there. (MIT Technology Review)

7 What it’s like to be trans online in 2025
The internet once helped trans people to connect—now it’s being weaponized against them. (The Verge)

8 Generative AI will make you the star of ads
Companies have to make returns on all that AI investment somehow. (NY Mag $)

9 San Francisco’s AI companies are pushing up housing prices
Rents are rising in a city already renowned for a staggeringly high cost of living. (NYT $)

10 Samsung is making a tri-folding phone
But attendees at the event it’s being shown off at won’t be allowed to touch it. (Bloomberg $)

Quote of the day

“Grandma will be thrown off the Internet because Junior illegally downloaded a few songs on a visit.”

—US broadband provider Cox Communications details a potential scenario in a legal case filed by major record labels, which have accused Cox of failing to disconnect people who are illegally downloading music, Ars Technica reports. 

One more thing

An AI startup made a hyperrealistic deepfake of me that’s so good it’s scary

Until now, AI-generated videos of people have tended to have some stiffness, glitchiness, or other unnatural elements that make them pretty easy to differentiate from reality.

For the past several years, AI video startup Synthesia has produced these kinds of AI-generated avatars. But back in April 2024, it launched a new generation, its first to take advantage of the latest advancements in generative AI, and they are more realistic and expressive than anything we’ve seen before. 

We tested it out by making an AI clone of Melissa Heikkilä, our former senior AI reporter. Read the full story and check out the synthetic version of Melissa.

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.)

+ As support winds down for Windows 10 this week, did you know its blue Windows icon desktop image was taken from a real photograph? Take a look behind the scenes.
+ Rest in power Ace Frehley, Kiss cofounder and undisputed guitar hero.
+ A week spent eating along France’s 385-mile food trail? Yes please.
+ As we get into the Halloween spirit, dare you tour America’s spookiest cities?

The Download: creating the perfect baby, and carbon removal’s lofty promises

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 race to make the perfect baby is creating an ethical mess

An emerging field of science is seeking to use cell analysis to predict what kind of a person an embryo might eventually become.

Some parents turn to these tests to avoid passing on devastating genetic disorders that run in their families. A much smaller group, driven by dreams of Ivy League diplomas or attractive, well-behaved offspring, are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to optimize for intelligence, appearance, and personality.

But customers of the companies emerging to provide it to the public may not be getting what they’re paying for. Read the full story.

—Julia Black

This story is from our forthcoming print issue, which is all about the body. If you haven’t already, subscribe now to receive future issues once they land. Plus, you’ll also receive a free digital report on nuclear power.

The problem with Big Tech’s favorite carbon removal tech

Sucking carbon pollution out of the atmosphere is becoming a big business—companies are paying top dollar for technologies that can cancel out their own emissions.

Tech giants like Microsoft are betting big on one technology: bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). But there are a few potential problems with BECCS, as my colleague James Temple laid out in a new story. And some of the concerns echo similar problems with other climate technologies we cover, like carbon offsets and alternative jet fuels. Read the full story.

—Casey Crownhart

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

2025 climate tech companies to watch: Fervo Energy and its advanced geothermal power plants

Some places on Earth hit the geological jackpot for generating electricity. In those spots, three conditions naturally align: high temperatures, plentiful water, and rock that’s permeable enough for fluids to circulate through.

Enhanced geothermal systems aim to replicate those conditions in far more places—producing a steady supply of renewable energy wherever they’re deployed. Fervo Energy uses fracking techniques to create geothermal reservoirs capable of delivering enough electricity to power massive data centers and hundreds of thousands of homes. Read the full story.

—Celina Zhao

Fervo Energy is one of our 10 climate tech companies to watch—our annual list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. Check out the rest of the list here.

The must-reads

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

1 Meta removed a Facebook group that shared ICE agent sightings
It’s the latest tech company to acquiesce to US government pressure. (NYT $)
+ Meta says the group violates its policies against “coordinated harm.” (NBC News)
+ Another effort to track ICE raids was just taken offline. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Loss-making AI startups are still soaring in value
If it looks like a bubble, and sounds like a bubble… (FT $)
+ AI-backed energy firms have also ballooned in value. (WSJ $)
+ Scaling isn’t always the answer, y’know. (Wired $)

3 Facial recognition is failing people with facial differences
Yet it’s being embedded in everything from phone unlocking systems to public services. (Wired $)

4 Tech billionaires are backing a startup that treats tumors with sound waves
It’s being touted as a less-invasive alternative to chemotherapy. (Bloomberg $)

5 Scam texts are a billion-dollar criminal enterprise
And we’re being inundated with more of them than ever before. (WSJ $)
+ The people using humor to troll their spam texts. (MIT Technology Review)

6 South Korea has rolled back an AI textbook program for schools
Turns out it was riddled with inaccuracies and added to teachers’ workloads. (Rest of World)
+ The country is considering allowing Google and Apple to make hi-res maps. (TechCrunch)

7 YouTube is setting its sights on sports
Which makes sense, given that it’s conquered pretty much all the other TV genres. (Hollywood Reporter $)

8 Job hunting in the age of AI is bleak
Even the best candidates are being overlooked. (The Atlantic $)
+ The job market is a mess too. (Slate $)

9 A new channel broadcasts a livestream direct from the ISS
If you’ve ever wanted to be an astronaut, watching this is the next best thing. (The Guardian)

10 The end of support for Windows 10 is an e-waste disaster
Up to 400 million machines could be heading to the scrap heap. (404 Media)
+ The US government has cut funding for a battery-metals recycler. (Bloomberg $)
+ AI will add to the e-waste problem. Here’s what we can do about it. (MIT Technology Review)

Quote of the day

“We are not the elected moral police of the world.”

—OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reacts to the outcry sparked by his company’s decision to relax its rules to let adults hold erotic conversations with ChatGPT, CNBC reports.

One more thing

Inside India’s scramble for AI independence

Despite its status as a global tech hub, India lags far behind the likes of the US and China when it comes to homegrown AI.

That gap has opened largely because India has chronically underinvested in R&D, institutions, and invention. Meanwhile, since no one native language is spoken by the majority of the population, training language models is far more complicated than it is elsewhere.

So when the open-source foundation model DeepSeek-R1 suddenly outperformed many global peers, it struck a nerve. This launch by a Chinese startup prompted Indian policymakers to confront just how far behind the country was in AI infrastructure—and how urgently it needed to respond. Read the full story.

—Shadma Shaikh

We can still have nice things

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

+ This haunting shot of a hyena is this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year award winner (thanks Laurel!)
+ Madonna sure has a lot of famous friends.
+  This little giraffe is so sleepy
+ Late ‘80s dance heads, rise up!

The Download: Big Tech’s carbon removals plans, and the next wave of nuclear reactors

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.

Big Tech’s big bet on a controversial carbon removal tactic

Microsoft, JP MorganChase, and a tech company consortium that includes Alphabet, Meta, Shopify, and Stripe have all recently struck multimillion-dollar deals to pay paper mill owners to capture at least hundreds of thousands of tons of this greenhouse gas by installing carbon scrubbing equipment in their facilities.

The captured carbon dioxide will then be piped down into saline aquifers more than a mile underground, where it should be sequestered permanently.

Big Tech is suddenly betting big on this form of carbon removal, known as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, or BECCS. But experts have raised a number of concerns. Read the full story.

—James Temple

2025 climate tech companies to watch: Kairos Power and its next-generation nuclear reactors

Like many new nuclear startups, Kairos promises a path to reliable, 24/7 decarbonized power. Unlike most, it already has prototypes under construction and permits for several reactors.

The company uses molten salt to cool its reactions and transfer heat, rather than the high-pressure water that’s used in existing fission reactors. It hopes its technology will enable commercial reactors that are cost-competitive with natural gas plants and boast safer operation than conventional reactors, even in the event of complete power loss. Read the full story.

—Mark Harris

Kairos Power is one of our 10 climate tech companies to watch—our annual list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. Check out the rest of the list here.

MIT Technology Review Narrated: Inside the strange limbo facing millions of IVF embryos

Millions of embryos created through IVF sit frozen in time, stored in tanks around the world. The number is only growing thanks to advances in technology, the rising popularity of IVF, and improvements in its success rates.

At a basic level, an embryo is simply a tiny ball of a hundred or so cells. But unlike other types of body tissue, it holds the potential for life. Many argue that this endows embryos with a special moral status, one that requires special protections.

The problem is that no one can really agree on what that status is. While these embryos persist in suspended animation, patients, clinicians, embryologists, and legislators must grapple with the essential question of what we should do with them. What do these embryos mean to us? Who should be responsible for them?

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 ChatGPT will start talking dirty to verified adults 
The chatbot is getting a new erotica function as part of OpenAI’s bid to “safely relax” its restrictions. (The Verge)
+ The company has created its own wellness council to inform its decisions. (Ars Technica)
+ It’s surprisingly easy to stumble into a relationship with an AI chatbot. (MIT Technology Review)

2 A secret surveillance empire tracked thousands of people across the world
The European-led First Wap has operated covertly for more than two decades. (Mother Jones)
+ The group ran at least 10 scam compounds across the country. (Wired $)
+ Inside a romance scam compound—and how people get tricked into being there. (MIT Technology Review)

3 YouTube ran Israel-funded ads claiming there was food in famine-struck Gaza
And allowed them to remain online even after complaints from multiple government authorities. (WP $)
+ Companies have denied they’re involved in rebuilding Gaza. (Wired $)

4 Instagram wants to become a more teen-friendly space
It’s bringing in new age-gating measures inspired by the PG-13 movie rating. (NBC News)
+ The policy will also extend to its chatbots. (NYT $)

5 A massive Cambodia-based pig butchering scheme has been foiled
It’s the biggest forfeiture action the US Department of Justice has ever pursued. (CNBC)

6 Waymo’s driverless taxis are coming to London
From next year, it says pedestrians will be able to hail its robotaxis. (WSJ $)

7 Black patients were failed by a race-based medical calculation
It delayed their access to life-saving kidney transplants. (The Markup)
+ A woman in the US is the third person to receive a gene-edited pig kidney. (MIT Technology Review)

8 AI flood forecasting is helping farmers across the world
Nonprofits are using it to deliver early aid. (Rest of World)

9 A man with paralysis can feel objects through another person’s hand
Thanks to a new brain implant. (New Scientist $)
+ Meet the other companies developing brain-computer interfaces. (MIT Technology Review)

10 Tech internships are alive and well 
Despite all the AI angst. (Insider $)

Quote of the day

“You made ChatGPT “pretty restrictive”? Really. Is that why it has been recommending kids harm and kill themselves?”

—Josh Hawley, US Senator for Missouri, reacts to the news OpenAI is planning to loosen its restrictions in a post on X.

One more thing

Why we should thank pigeons for our AI breakthroughs

People looking for precursors to artificial intelligence often point to science fiction by authors like Isaac Asimov or thought experiments like the Turing test. But an equally important, if surprising and less appreciated, forerunner is American psychologist B.F. Skinner’s research with pigeons in the middle of the 20th century.

Skinner believed that association—learning, through trial and error, to link an action with a punishment or reward—was the building block of every behavior, not just in pigeons but in all living organisms, including human beings.

His “behaviorist” theories fell out of favor with psychologists and animal researchers in the 1960s but were taken up by computer scientists who eventually provided the foundation for many of the artificial-intelligence tools from leading firms like Google and OpenAI. Read the full story.

—Ben Crair

We can still have nice things

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

+ I love the sound of Grateful Fishing TV—starring two fishermen who just love hanging out and frying some fish. Truly wholesome stuff (thanks to Chino Moreno via Perfectly Imperfect for the recommendation!)
+ Rest in power D’Angelo, your timeless tunes will live on.
+ If you’re into stress-watches, this list is full of anxiety-inducing classics.
+ One of the world’s longest dinosaur superhighways has been uncovered in a sleepy part of England.

The Download: aging clocks, and repairing the internet

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 aging clocks can help us understand why we age—and if we can reverse it

Wrinkles and gray hairs aside, it can be difficult to know how well—or poorly—someone’s body is truly aging. A person who develops age-related diseases earlier in life, or has other biological changes associated with aging, might be considered “biologically older” than a similar-age person who doesn’t have those changes. Some 80-year-olds will be weak and frail, while others are fit and active.

Over the past decade, scientists have been uncovering new methods of looking at the hidden ways our bodies are aging. And what they’ve found is changing our understanding of aging itself. Read the full story.

—Jessica Hamzelou

Can we repair the internet?

From addictive algorithms to exploitative apps, data mining to misinformation, the internet today can be a hazardous place. New books by three influential figures—the intellect behind “net neutrality,” a former Meta executive, and the web’s own inventor—propose radical approaches to fixing it. But are these luminaries the right people for the job? Read the full story.

—Nathan Smith

Both these stories are from our forthcoming print issue, which is all about the body. If you haven’t already, subscribe now to receive future issues once they land. Plus, you’ll also receive a free digital report on nuclear power.

2025 climate tech companies to watch: Cyclic Materials and its rare earth recycling tech

Rare earth magnets are essential for clean energy, but only a tiny fraction of the metals inside them are ever recycled. Cyclic Materials aims to change that by opening one of the largest rare earth magnet recycling operations outside of China next year. 

By collecting a wide range of devices and recycling multiple metals, the company seeks to overcome the economic challenges that have long held back such efforts. Read the full story.

—Maddie Stone

Cyclic Materials is one of our 10 climate tech companies to watch—our annual list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. Check out the rest of the list here.

The must-reads

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

1 California’s AI safety bill has been signed into law   
It holds AI companies legally accountable if their chatbots fail to protect users. (TechCrunch)
+ It also requires chatbots to remind young users that they’re not human. (The Verge)
+ Gavin Newsom also green-lit measures for social media warning labels. (The Hill)

2 Satellites are leaking unencrypted data
Including civilian text messages, plus military and law enforcement communications. (Wired $)
+ It’s getting mighty crowded up there too. (Space)

3 Defense startups are reviving manufacturing in quiet US towns
The weapons of the future are being built in Delaware, Michigan and Ohio. (NYT $)
+ Phase two of military AI has arrived. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Europe is worried about becoming an AI “colony”
The bloc is too dependent on US tech, experts fear. (FT $)
+ The US is locked in a bind with China. (Rest of World)

5 Vast chunks of human knowledge are missing from the web 
And AI is poised to make the problem even worse. (Aeon)
+ How AI and Wikipedia have sent vulnerable languages into a doom spiral. (MIT Technology Review)

6 How mega batteries are unlocking an energy revolution
Vast battery units are helping to shore up grids and extend the use of clean power. (FT $)
+ This startup wants to use the Earth as a massive battery. (MIT Technology Review)

7 A new chemical detection technique reveals what’s making wildlife ill
It’s a small step toward a healthier future for all animals—including humans. (Knowable Magazine)
+ We’re inhaling, eating, and drinking toxic chemicals. Now we need to figure out how they’re affecting us. (MIT Technology Review)

8 The world is growing more food crops than ever before
But hunger still hasn’t been eradicated. (Vox)
+ Africa fights rising hunger by looking to foods of the past. (MIT Technology Review)

9 Google is starting to hide sponsored search results
Only after you’ve seen them first. (The Verge)
+ Is Google playing catchup on search with OpenAI? (MIT Technology Review)

10 Indonesia’s film industry is embracing AI
To the detriment of artists and storyboarders. (Rest of World)

Quote of the day

“It is attempting to solve a problem that wasn’t a problem before AI showed up, or before big tech showed up.”

—Greg Loudon, a certified beer judge and brewery sales manager, tells 404 Media why he’s so unimpressed by a prominent competition using AI to judge the quality of beer.

One more thing

The lucky break behind the first CRISPR treatment

The world’s first commercial gene-editing treatment is set to start changing the lives of people with sickle-cell disease. It’s called Casgevy, and it was approved in November 2022 in the UK.

The treatment, which will be sold in the US by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, employs CRISPR, which can be easily programmed by scientists to cut DNA at precise locations they choose.

But where do you aim CRISPR, and how did the researchers know what DNA to change? That’s the lesser-known story of the sickle-cell breakthrough. Read more about it.

—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.)

+ Why you should consider adopting a “coffee name.”
+ Where does your favorite Star Wars character rank in this ultimate list? (Number one is correct.)
+ Steve McQueen, you will always be cool.
+ The compelling argument for adopting an ethical diet.

The Download: planet hunting, and India’s e-scooters

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

An Earthling’s guide to planet hunting

The pendant on Rebecca Jensen-Clem’s necklace is composed of 36 silver hexagons entwined in a honeycomb mosaic. At the Keck Observatory, in Hawaii, just as many segments make up a mirror that spans 33 feet, reflecting images of uncharted worlds for her to study.

Jensen-Clem, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, works with the Keck Observatory to try to detect new planets without leaving our own. It’s a pursuit that faces a vast array of obstacles, for example wind, and fluctuations in atmospheric density and temperature. 

At her lab among the redwoods, Jensen-Clem and her students experiment with new technologies and software to help overcome the challenges, and see into space more clearly. Read more about her and her work. 

—Jenna Ahart

This story is from the forthcoming print issue of MIT Technology Review, which is all about the body. If you’re not already a subscriber, sign up now to receive issues as soon as they land.

2025 climate tech companies to watch: Ather Energy and its premium e-scooters

While sales of Tesla or BYD cars drove electric vehicle adoption elsewhere in the world, two-wheelers have led the green energy transition in India.

As one of the earliest “pure play” e-scooter makers, Ather Energy has helped drive micromobility EV penetration throughout India and boosted the shift away from carbon-emitting vehicles. Read the full story.

—Nilesh Christopher

Ather Energy is one of our 10 climate tech companies to watch—our annual list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. Check out the rest of the list here.

The must-reads

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

1 The Trump administration has laid off thousands of federal health workers
It’s blaming the government shutdown—but labor unions are suing. (Reuters $)
+ The firings will decimate parts of the CDC that work on disease surveillance. (STAT)

2 AI videos of dead celebrities are upsetting their families
OpenAI is coming under mounting pressure to restrict what its video generator Sora 2 can create. (WP $)
+ Sora was downloaded over a million times in less than five days—a rate even faster than ChatGPT. (BBC)

3 The Dutch government has taken control of a Chinese-owned chipmaker
The move comes after Beijing tightened restrictions on the export of rare earth elements, which could hurt Europe’s car industry. (CNBC)

4 Why some developers reject AI coding tools
Even at their best, they introduce bugs into the code base that can be tricky to spot. (The Information $)
+ The second wave of AI coding is here. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Police are begging teens to stop pulling the AI homeless man prank
Kids are using AI to create images of a disheveled person in their home, then sending that to their parents. (The Verge)

6 How Elon Musk’s embrace of Trump continues to hurt Tesla
The result is that his cars are now more expensive and less desirable. (The Atlantic $)
+ China might force Tesla to redesign its door handles. (Wired $)
+ How did China come to dominate the world of electric cars? (MIT Technology Review) 

7 What happened after schools in Australia banned phones?
Both students and staff say the impact has been overwhelmingly positive. (The Guardian)

8 AI is fantastic at detecting small earthquakes 
But the really big prize is seeing if it can help with predicting them, too. (Ars Technica)
+ What we can learn from Japan’s “megaquake” preparations. (MIT Technology Review)

9 Climate change is creating new hybrid species
The “grue jay” is half-blue jay, half-green jay. It’s also a sign of the times we live in. (Nautilus)
+ How a breakthrough gene-editing tool will help the world cope with climate change. (MIT Technology Review)

10 How people gamify Hinge to get the dates they want 
It puts people’s most promising matches behind a paywall—but they’re finding workarounds. (The Cut $)
+ There’s now a term for daters who use AI to boost their appeal : chatfishers. (The Guardian)

Quote of the day

“It’s as emotionally devastating as it is dangerous to the American public.”

—An employee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells STAT about the impact of the Trump administration’s decision to carry out mass layoffs at the agency. 

One more thing

GETTY IMAGES

How the federal government is tracking changes in the supply of street drugs

In 2021, the Maryland Department of Health and the state police were confronting a crisis: Fatal drug overdoses in the state were at an all-time high, and authorities didn’t know why.

Seeking answers, Maryland officials turned to scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the national metrology institute for the United States, which defines and maintains standards of measurement essential to a wide range of industrial sectors and health and security applications.

There, a research chemist named Ed Sisco and his team had developed methods for detecting trace amounts of drugs, explosives, and other dangerous materials—techniques that could protect law enforcement officials and others who had to collect these samples. And a pilot uncovered new, critical information almost immediately. Read the full story.

—Adam Bluestein

We can still have nice things

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

+ This spicy tea is exactly what you need when you’re under the weather. 
+ Just a man, jamming with his cat. 
+ Empathy is not a fixed trait—you can grow it. Here’s how.
+ There’s something very soothing about João Bernardino’s photos of Portugal. 

The Download: our bodies’ memories, and Traton’s electric trucks

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 do our bodies remember?

“Like riding a bike” is shorthand for the remarkable way that our bodies remember how to move. Most of the time when we talk about muscle memory, we’re not talking about the muscles themselves but about the memory of a coordinated movement pattern that lives in the motor neurons, which control our muscles.

Yet in recent years, scientists have discovered that our muscles themselves have a memory for movement and exercise. And the more we move, as with riding a bike or other kinds of exercise, the more those cells begin to make a memory of that exercise. Read the full story.

—Bonnie Tsui

This piece 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.

This story is also from our forthcoming print issue, which is all about the body. If you haven’t already, subscribe now to receive future issues once they land. Plus, you’ll also receive a free digital report on nuclear power.

2025 climate tech companies to watch: Traton and its electric trucks

Every day, trucks carry many millions of tons of cargo down roads and highways around the world. Nearly all run on diesel and make up one of the largest commercial sources of carbon emissions.

Traton, a subsidiary of Volkswagen, is producing zero-emission trucks that could help clean up this sector, while also investing in a Europe-wide advanced charging network so other manufacturers can more easily follow suit. Read the full story.

—Amy Nordrum

Traton is one of our 10 climate tech companies to watch—our annual list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. Check out the rest of the list here.

This test could reveal the health of your immune system

We know surprisingly little about our immune health. The vast array of cells, proteins, and biomolecules that works to defend us from disease is mind-bogglingly complicated. Immunologists are still getting to grips with how it all works.

Now, a new test is being developed to measure immune health, one that even gives you a score. But that’s a difficult thing to do, for several reasons. 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, 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 China is cracking down on imports of Nvidia’s AI chips 
Customs officers are combing shipments looking for the company’s China-specific chips. (FT $)
+ US officials are investigating a firm that’s suspected of helping China sidestep export restrictions. (NYT $)

2 Tesla’s ‘full self-driving’ feature is under investigation
After multiple reports of vehicles using it ran red lights. (WP $)
+ The company is slashing its prices to compete with Chinese giant BYD. (Rest of World)
+ Elon Musk will still receive billions, even if he fails to achieve his ambitions goals. (Reuters)

3 A data hoarder has created a searchable database of Epstein files
Making it simple to find mentions of specific people and locations. (404 Media)

4 OpenAI says GPT-5 is its least-biased model yet
Even when proceeding with “challenging, emotionally charged prompts.” (Axios)

5 The developers behind ICE-tracking apps aren’t giving up
They’re fighting Apple’s decision to remove their creations from its app store. (Wired $)
+ Another effort to track ICE raids was just taken offline. (MIT Technology Review)

6 The world’s biodiversity crisis is worsening
More than half of all bird species are in decline. (The Guardian)
+ The short, strange history of gene de-extinction. (MIT Technology Review)

7 YouTube is extending an olive branch to banned creators
It’s overturned a lifetime ban policy to give the people behind previously-banned channels a second chance. (CNBC)
+ But users kicked off for copyright infringement or extremism aren’t eligible. (Bloomberg $)

8 This startup wants to bring self-flying planes to our skies  
Starting with military cargo flights. (WSJ $)

9 Your plumber might be using ChatGPT
They’re increasingly using the chatbot to troubleshoot on the ground. (CNN)

10 Do robots really need hands?
Maybe not, but that’s not standing in the way of researchers trying to recreate them. (Fast Company $)
+ Will we ever trust robots? (MIT Technology Review)

Quote of the day

“Social media is a complete dumpster.”

—Hany Farid, a professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, describes the proliferation of AI slop videos infiltrating digital platforms to the New York Times.

One more thing

Who gets to decide who receives experimental medical treatments?

There has been a trend toward lowering the bar for new medicines, and it is becoming easier for people to access treatments that might not help them—and could even harm them. Anecdotes appear to be overpowering evidence in decisions on drug approval. As a result, we’re ending up with some drugs that don’t work.

We urgently need to question how these decisions are made. Who should have access to experimental therapies? And who should get to decide? Such questions are especially pressing considering how quickly biotechnology is advancing. We’re not just improving on existing classes of treatments—we’re creating entirely new ones. Read the full story.

—Jessica Hamzelou

We can still have nice things

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

+ I love this crowd-sourced compendium of every known Wilhelm scream in all sorts of media.
+ Happy birthday to pocket rocket Bruno Mars, who turned 40 this week.
+ Here’s how to visit an interstellar interloper.
+ Bumi the penguin is having the absolute time of their life with this bubble machine

The Download: mysteries of the immunome, and how to choose a climate tech pioneer

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 healthy am I? My immunome knows the score.  

Made up of 1.8 trillion cells and trillions more proteins, metabolites, mRNA, and other biomolecules, every person’s immunome is different, and it is constantly changing.

It’s shaped by everything we have ever been exposed to physically and emotionally, and powerfully influences everything from our vulnerability to viruses and cancer to how well we age to whether we tolerate certain foods better than others.

Yet as critical as the immunome is to each of us, it has remained largely beyond the reach of modern medicine. Now, thanks to a slew of new technologies, understanding this vital and mysterious system is within our grasp, paving the way for powerful new tools and tests to help us better assess, diagnose and treat diseases. Read the full story.

—David Ewing Duncan

The story is a collaboration between MIT Technology Review and Aventine, a non-profit research foundation that creates and supports content about how technology and science are changing the way we live.

3 takeaways about climate tech right now

On Monday, we published our 2025 edition of Climate Tech Companies to Watch. Curating this list gives our team a chance to take a step back and consider the broader picture. What industries are making progress or lagging behind? Which countries or regions are seeing quick changes? Who’s likely to succeed? 

This year is an especially interesting moment in the climate tech world, something we grappled with while choosing companies. Here are three of the biggest takeaways from the process of building this list.

—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.

2025 climate tech companies to watch: Cemvision and its low-emissions cement

Cement is one of the most used materials on the planet, and the industry emits billions of tons of greenhouse gasses annually. Swedish startup Cemvision wants to use waste materials and alternative fuels to help reduce climate pollution from cement production. Read the full story.

—Casey Crownhart

Cemvision is one of our 10 climate tech companies to watch—our annual list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. Check out the rest of the list here.

The must-reads

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

1 OpenAI wasn’t expecting its Sora copyright backlash  
CEO Sam Altman says the company will reverse course and “let rightsholders decide how to proceed.” (The Verge)
+ It appears to be struggling to work out which requests to approve right now. (404 Media)
+ Sam Altman says video IP is a lot trickier than for images. (Insider $)+ What comes next for AI copyright lawsuits? (MIT Technology Review)

2 Apple has removed another ICE app from its store
This one archives video evidence of abuses, rather than tracking officers’ locations. (404 Media)
+ Another effort to track ICE raids was just taken offline. (MIT Technology Review)

3 How private firms are helping economists work out what’s going on
In the absence of economic data from the US government, experts are getting creative. (WP $)
+ How to fine-tune AI for prosperity. (MIT Technology Review)

4 China is cracking down on its rare earth exports
It’s keen to protect its leverage over the critical minerals. (FT $)
+ This rare earth metal shows us the future of our planet’s resources. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Microsoft wants to become a chatbot powerhouse in its own right
Which means lessening its dependence on OpenAI. (WSJ $)

6 High schoolers are starting romantic relationships with AI models
It’s a whole new issue for schools and parents to grapple with. (NPR)
+ It’s surprisingly easy to stumble into a relationship with an AI chatbot. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Those Prime Day savings are often too good to be true
Buyer beware. (WP $)

8 The future of the AI boom hinges on a small Dutch city
Chipmaker ASML is planning a massive expansion—but is the surrounding area ready to support it? (Bloomberg $)
+ Welcome to robot city. (MIT Technology Review)

9 Ferrari’s first electric car is on the horizon
It’s expected to go on sale next year. (Reuters)
+ It sports four motors and more than 1,000 horsepower. (Ars Technica)

10 Inside the enduring appeal of The Sims
Keeping a house full of angry little materialists alive is still lots of fun. (NYT $)

Quote of the day

“The ICE raid is just the cherry on top. How is anybody going to trust us going forward?”

—Betony Jones, a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute think tank, tells IEEE Spectrum how an ICE raid on a Hyundai EV factory in Georgia has shaken the industry.

One more thing

The flawed logic of rushing out extreme climate solutions

Early in 2022, entrepreneur Luke Iseman says, he released a pair of sulfur dioxide–filled weather balloons from Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, in the hope that they’d burst miles above Earth.

It was a trivial act in itself, effectively a tiny, DIY act of solar geoengineering, the controversial proposal that the world could counteract climate change by releasing particles that reflect more sunlight back into space.

Entrepreneurs like Iseman invoke the stark dangers of climate change to explain why they do what they do—even if they don’t know how effective their interventions are. But experts say that urgency doesn’t create a social license to ignore the underlying dangers or leapfrog the scientific process. Read the full story.

—James Temple

We can still have nice things

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

+ What language did residents of the ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan speak? We’re finally starting to find out.
+ If you’re unsure whether an animal is safe to pet, this handy guide is a good starting point.
+ The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new ancient Egypt exhibition sounds brilliant.
+ This story digging into the psychology experiment behind Star Wars‘ special effects is completely bonkers.