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5 days ago
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Last November, Bradford G. Smith got a encephalon implant from Elon Musk’s institution Neuralink. The device, a acceptable of bladed wires attached to a miniscule machine that sits successful his skull, lets him usage his thoughts to determination a machine pointer connected a screen. And by past week helium was acceptable to uncover it successful a station connected X.
Smith’s lawsuit is drafting involvement due to the fact that he’s not lone communicating via a encephalon implant but besides getting assistance from Grok, Musk’s AI chatbot. The generative AI is speeding up the complaint astatine which helium tin communicate, but it besides raises questions astir who is truly talking—him oregon Musk’s software. Read the afloat story.
—Antonio Regalado
MIT Technology Review Narrated: How Trump’s tariffs could thrust up the outgo of batteries, EVs, and more
The Trump administration’s hostile commercialized plans endanger to dilatory the displacement to cleaner industries, boost inflation, and stall the economy.
This is our latest story to beryllium turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we’re publishing each week connected Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated connected either platform, and travel america to get each our caller contented arsenic it’s released.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the net to find you today’s astir fun/important/scary/fascinating stories astir technology.
1 NSO Group has been ordered to wage Meta $167 million
After the Israeli firm’s spyware was utilized to hack journalists, activists, and politicians. (NYT $)
+ The steadfast has been implicated successful abusive surveillance before. (Reuters)
2 OpenAI plans to trim the fraction of its gross Microsoft receives
It told investors it plans to slash the shared gross from 20% to 10%. (The Information $)
+ Its for-profit U-turn is not yet a done deal. (Bloomberg $)+ We inactive don’t cognize a batch astir OpenAI’s structure. (Economist $)
3 The Trump medication is axing the Energy Star program
The task certifies the vigor ratio of location appliances successful the US. (WP $)
4 The US Justice Department wants Google to merchantability its advertisement businesses
But Google claims it’s not technically feasible. (WSJ $)
+ The justice says he’ll regularisation connected the remedies by August. (The Information $)
5 Grok AI is undressing women connected X
That’s what happens erstwhile you make AI models without due guardrails. (404 Media)
+ Text-to-image AI models tin beryllium tricked into generating nude images. (MIT Technology Review)
6 Private investors are prepared to plow billions into Europe’s defence industry
They’re stepping up to capable gaps that governments can’t fund. (FT $)
+ The US is apt to onslaught a weapons woody successful Riyadh adjacent week. (Semafor)
+ Phase 2 of subject AI has arrived. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Can anyone halt Starlink?
The velocity of its full dominance of the outer assemblage is unprecedented. (The Atlantic $)
+ The world’s adjacent large biology occupation could travel from space. (MIT Technology Review)
8 Amazon’s caller robot has a consciousness of touch
To assistance it drawback items successful the e-retail giant’s warehouses. (The Guardian)
+ The Vulcan robot could extremity up shouldering much manufacturing enactment successful the future. (Wired $)
+ Will we ever spot robots? (MIT Technology Review)
9 Argentina is investing large successful nuclear-powered AI information centers
In an effort to pull large tech firms from overseas. (Rest of World)
+ Meanwhile, the Zaporizhzhia atomic powerfulness works successful Ukraine is inactive not operational. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ China built hundreds of AI information centers to drawback the AI boom. Now galore basal unused. (MIT Technology Review)
10 RIP punctual engineering
The hottest occupation of 2023 is rapidly fizzling out. (Fast Company $)
Quote of the day
“I deliberation precocious people households volition beryllium capable to person thing that makes your Roomba look similar a full joke.”
—Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian believes that precocious robot home helpers are imminent, Insider reports.
One much thing
Is this the extremity of carnal testing?
Animal studies are notoriously atrocious astatine identifying quality treatments. Around 95% of the drugs developed done carnal probe neglect successful people, but until precocious determination was nary different option.
Now organs connected chips, besides known arsenic microphysiological systems, whitethorn connection a genuinely viable alternative. They’re triumphs of bioengineering, intricate constructions furrowed with tiny channels that are lined with surviving quality tissues that grow and declaration with the travel of fluid and air, mimicking cardinal organ functions similar breathing, humor flow, and peristalsis, the muscular contractions of the digestive system.
It’s lone aboriginal days, but if they enactment arsenic hoped, organs connected chips could lick 1 of the biggest problems successful medicine today. Read the afloat story.
—Harriet Brown
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.)
+ If you enjoyed this year’s Met Gala theme, cheque retired this fascinating past of the Black dandy successful art.
+ 2025 is shaping up to beryllium a large twelvemonth for literature.
+ The bully quality is that GTA VI yet has a merchandise date—but it’s implicit a twelvemonth away.
+ Chocolate pastry for breakfast? I could beryllium convinced.
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