This is today's variation of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a regular dose of what's going connected successful the satellite of technology.
How AI tin assistance supercharge creativity
Existing generative tools tin automate a striking scope of originative tasks and connection near-instant gratification—but astatine what cost? Some artists and researchers fearfulness that specified exertion could crook america into passive consumers of yet much AI slop.
And truthful they are looking for ways to inject quality creativity backmost into the process: moving connected what’s known arsenic co-creativity oregon more-than-human creativity. The thought is that AI tin beryllium utilized to animate oregon critique originative projects, helping radical marque things that they would not person made by themselves.
The purpose is to make AI tools that augment our creativity alternatively than portion it from us—pushing america to beryllium amended astatine composing music, processing games, designing toys, and overmuch more—and laic the groundwork for a aboriginal successful which humans and machines make things together.
Ultimately, generative models could connection artists and designers a full caller medium, pushing them to marque things that couldn’t person been made before, and springiness everyone originative superpowers. Read the afloat story.
—Will Douglas Heaven
This communicative is from the adjacent variation of our people magazine, which is each astir creativity. Subscribe now to work it and get a transcript of the mag erstwhile it lands!
Tariffs are atrocious quality for batteries
Since Donald Trump announced his plans for sweeping tariffs past week, the vibes person been, successful a word, chaotic. Markets person seen 1 of the quickest drops successful the past century, and it’s wide anticipated that the planetary economical bid whitethorn beryllium everlastingly changed.
These tariffs could beryllium peculiarly unsmooth connected the artillery industry. China dominates the full proviso concatenation and is taxable to monster tariff rates, and adjacent US artillery makers won’t flight the effects. Read the afloat story.
—Casey Crownhart
This nonfiction is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s play clime newsletter. To person it successful your inbox each Wednesday, sign up here.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the net to find you today’s astir fun/important/scary/fascinating stories astir technology.
1 Donald Trump has announced a 90-day tariff intermission for immoderate countries
He’s decided that each the countries that didn’t retaliate against the terrible tariffs would person a reprieve. (The Guardian)
+ China, however, is present taxable to a whopping 125% tariff. (CNBC)
+ Chinese sellers connected Amazon are preparing to hike their prices successful response. (Reuters)
+ Trump’s advisors person claimed the pivot was ever portion of the plan. (Vox)
2 DOGE has fired driverless car information assessors
Many of whom were successful complaint of regulating Tesla, among different companies. (FT $)
+ The section is being audited by the Government Accountability Office. (Wired $)
+ Can AI assistance DOGE slash authorities budgets? It’s complex. (MIT Technology Review)
3 The outgo of a US-made iPhone could emergence by 90%
Bank of America has crunched the numbers. (Bloomberg $)
+ Even so, an American-made iPhone could beryllium inferior quality. (WSJ $)
+ Apple has chartered 600 tons of iPhones to India. (Reuters)
4 The EU wants to physique its ain AI gigafactories
In a bid to drawback up with the US and China. (WSJ $)
5 Amazon was forced to cancel its outer net launch
A rocket carrying a fewer thousands satellites was incapable to instrumentality disconnected owed to atrocious weather. (NYT $)
6 America’s aerial prime is apt to get worse
The Trump medication is rolling backmost the biology rules that helped little aerial pollution. (The Atlantic $)
+ The world’s adjacent large biology occupation could travel from space. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Spammers exploited OpenAI’s tech to blast customized spam
The unwanted messages were distributed implicit 4 months. (Ars Technica)
8 Chinese societal media is filled with memes mocking Trump’s tariffs
Featuring concern bros and JD Vance unhappily laboring successful factories. (Insider $)
9 Do you person a Fortnite accent?
Players of the fashionable crippled thin to talk successful a highly circumstantial way. (Wired $)
10 An em dash is not a giveaway thing has been written by AI
Humans usage it too—and emotion it. (WP $)
+ Not each AI-generated penning is bad. (New Yorker $)
+ AI-text detection tools are truly casual to fool. (MIT Technology Review)
Quote of the day
“Entering a radical chat is similar leaving your beforehand doorway unlocked and letting strangers rotation in.”
—Author LM Chilton reflects connected the innate dangers of trusting that what you accidental successful a radical chat stays successful the radical chat to Wired.
The large story
Digital twins of quality organs are here. They’re acceptable to alteration aesculapian treatment.
Steven Niederer, a biomedical technologist astatine the Alan Turing Institute and Imperial College London, has a cardboard container filled with 3D-printed hearts. Each of them is modeled connected the existent bosom of a idiosyncratic with bosom failure, but Niederer is much funny successful creating elaborate replicas of people’s hearts utilizing computers.
These “digital twins” are the aforesaid size and signifier arsenic the existent thing. They enactment successful the aforesaid way. But they beryllium lone virtually. Scientists tin bash virtual country connected these virtual hearts, figuring retired the champion people of enactment for a patient’s condition.
After decades of research, models similar these are present entering objective trials and starting to beryllium utilized for diligent care. The eventual extremity is to make integer versions of our bodies—computer copies that could assistance researchers and doctors fig retired our hazard of processing assorted diseases and find which treatments mightiness enactment best.
But the budding exertion volition request to beryllium developed precise carefully. Read the afloat communicative to larn why.
—Jessica Hamzelou
We tin inactive person bully things
A spot for comfort, amusive and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got immoderate ideas? Drop maine a line oregon skeet 'em astatine me.)
+ Good quality popular fans: Madonna and Elton John person ended their decades-long feud.
+ It’s clip to instrumentality a travel to each 15 of these top restaurants crossed the world.
+ These tales of cross-generational friendships are genuinely heartwarming.
+ I’d emotion to cognize the concealed down America’s mystery mounds.