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 at stake in AI’s trillion-dollar gamble

When Jessica Wachter, a finance professor at the University of Pennsylvania, wanted to assess AI’s impact on the economy over the next few years, she faced a long list of uncertainties. So she started with a “remarkable fact” that is not in question: a handful of so-called hyperscalers are investing huge amounts of money to build AI data centers.

Instead of trying to predict how widely deployed AI models will be, Wachter asked how fast the hyperscalers’ earnings will need to grow to justify their spending through 2027, when expenditures are expected to reach nearly $1.1 trillion.

The results are eye-opening. AI companies will need to achieve an extraordinary increase in productivity just to break even by 2030.

Take a closer look at what it will take for the AI buildout to pay off.

—David Rotman

AI models need more data about biology, and OpenAI is paying to create it

AI needs much more information to make important breakthroughs in curing disease. So last year Ruxandra Teslo, a policy analyst, posted an idea for supercharging medical AI systems: use data from failed biotech companies. By bidding at bankruptcy proceedings, she argued, it might be possible to obtain detailed regulatory filings, manufacturing strategies and safety data, creating what she called “biotech’s lost archive.” 

The OpenAI Foundation, the nonprofit parent of OpenAI, announced this week that it will fund her idea, paying to create “high-quality scientific datasets.”

Learn more about their new effort.

—Antonio Regalado

Our Roundables on AI’s extinction threat is now available on demand

As frontier models become more capable, warnings about AI extinction have become widespread in Silicon Valley. But are the threats really as dangerous as they’re presented?

In the latest MIT Technology Review Roundtable, executive editor Niall Firth, senior AI editor Will Douglas Heaven and AI reporter Grace Huckins took a closer look at the arguments behind those warnings. They discussed what AI extinction could actually mean, how seriously we should take the risks and what, if anything, can be done to reduce them.

Subscribers can now watch an exclusive recording of the discussion.

Want to join the next conversation? Subscribe to MIT Technology Review for exclusive access to all our future Roundtables, and recordings of previous ones.

MIT Technology Review Narrated: a startup claims it’s found a drug to make your blood young

Generation Lab says its new rejuvenation treatment “blocks the systemic spread of aging in the bloodstream, reawakens the body’s own repair mechanism, and restores health and youth to multiple tissues.”

The approach is based on research by the company’s scientific founder, Irina Conboy. She found that joining the circulatory systems of old and young mice improved the old animals’ ability to heal from injury.

Conboy now says she has found a combination of two existing drugs that can produce youthful effects without the need for any bodily fluid exchange. But there’s a snag: Generation Lab won’t reveal what the drugs are.

This is our latest story to become an MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we publish each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released.

The must-reads

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

1 Nvidia and Meta CEOs have rejected calls for a coordinated AI slowdown
Jensen Huang and Mark Zuckerberg pushed back on the proposals. (FT $)
+ Huang says new AI safety laws are unnecessary. (Axios)
+ Zuckerberg claimed competition will push AI labs toward safety. (Reuters $)
+ What’s next for AI after its doomer turn? (MIT Technology Review)

2 The FTC chair has warned against giving AI companies antitrust waivers
His comments follow Anthropic’s call for a safety exemption. (Reuters $)
+ Nvidia’s CEO also slammed the calls for new antitrust laws. (CNBC)
+ The US is divided over AI regulation. (MIT Technology Review)

3 A Chinese hacking firm has used AI to analyze stolen secret
Its tools turn hacked government data into intelligence reports. (WSJ $)

4 “Smart” nanoparticles delivered mRNA to tumors in a cancer study
The treatment reprogrammed cells to attack tumors in mice. (Wired $)
+ Federal health agencies are abandoning mRNA. (MIT Technology Review)

5 A digital fly brain is taking on an extraordinary range of tasks online
People have taught it to drive, trade bitcoin, and play Doom. (NYT $)
+ The simulated brain is a map of a fruit fly’s 166,000 neurons. (404 Media)

6 The Senate has blocked new crypto rules amid a fight over Trump
It demanded tougher ethics rules around Trump’s crypto holdings. (AP)
+ The move is a major blow to the crypto industry. (NYT $)

7 Chinese firms allegedly used Binance to launder Iranian oil money
Prosecutors say they laundered more than $1.5 billion. (Quartz)
+ Hackers are selling tools to bypass banks’ facial checks. (MIT Technology Review)

8 An AI agent platform is reinventing spam to flood inboxes worldwide
iLand says its agents have sent 1.6 million messages. (404 Media)

9 ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming has become Asia’s richest person
His fortune has risen above $105 billion as AI booms. (Bloomberg $)

10 A fully AI-generated sitcom has arrived—and it’s terrible
A reviewer called the characters “dead-eyed waxworks.” (Guardian)

Quote of the day

“The only institution that Americans might trust less than Washington these days is Silicon Valley.”

—Patrick Hillman, the chief operating officer of Logical Intelligence, a San Francisco–based startup chaired by Yann LeCun, says in a statement that people have little faith in tech companies to act in the public interest.

One more thing

Why Trump’s “golden dome” missile defense idea is another ripped straight from the movies

In 1940, a fresh-faced Ronald Reagan starred in Murder in the Air, a movie centered on a “superweapon” that could stop enemy aircraft. More than 40 years later, the concept became a real-life centerpiece of Reagan’s presidency with the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), better known as “Star Wars.” Now Donald Trump has revived the dream.

In 2024, Trump announced plans to build the “Golden Dome,” a system of sensors and interceptors on the ground, in the air and in space. It’s often compared to SDI for its futuristic sheen, its aggressive form of protection and the idea that an impenetrable shield is the cheat code to global peace.

The dream of a missile shield is animated by its sheer cinematic allure. But do cinematic spectacles actually enhance national security?

See what happens when the fantasy of missile defense meets reality.

—Becky Ferreira

We can still have nice things

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

+ A once blind cockatoo just saw for the first time in 10 years.
+ Bingebrowse is a virtual video store stocked with films and shows from streaming services.
+ An amateur engineer has used a tree trunk to build Donkey Kong’s coconut gun as a real weapon.
+ A wildlife photographer has captured the first-ever images of the elusive and rare Cozumel dwarf fox.

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 AI industry has taken a doomer turn. What now?

AI chiefs Dario Amodei, Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and Demis Hassabis are suddenly all in agreement: the latest generation of LLMs aren’t safe and everyone needs to figure out what to do about it. 

It’s easy to be cynical. With trillion-dollar IPOs in their sights, OpenAI and Anthropic need to reassure investors that they’re the grown-ups in the room while at the same time hinting at the power of the monsters they have created and intend to tame. Calling for a slowdown does both. 

Still, the vibe at the top of these firms really does appear to have shifted. But what does a slowdown actually mean, and how much should we trust the companies calling for one? 

Read the full story about what could come next.

—Will Douglas Heaven

This article is from The Algorithm, our weekly AI newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Monday.

Roundtables: could AI really kill us all?

AI extinction fears have gone from a fringe idea to a serious concern among people working at the world’s leading AI labs. But how credible are those fears, and what should we make of the warnings?

Today, MIT Technology Review executive editor Niall Firth, senior AI editor Will Douglas Heaven and AI reporter Grace Huckins will unpack the debate in a subscriber-only Roundtable. They’ll look at where AI extinction fears come from, whether they hold any water and what we should do if they do.

Tune in today at 16:00 BST / 11:00am EST / 8:00am PST.

Want to join the conversation? Subscribe to MIT Technology Review for exclusive access to all our Roundtables.

AI agents blew the whistle on their cheating colleagues

A group of AI agents asked to solve a series of math problems split into rival factions—when some cheated, others tried to stop them. 

That whistleblowing behavior, seen for the first time in a recent experiment run by Google DeepMind, could have implications for alignment researchers trying to keep swarms of autonomous AI agents in line. 

The experiment offers a glimpse of how AI agents might police one another. But it also shows how quickly things can go off the rails when they’re left to interact on their own.

Find out what happens when AI agents start enforcing their own rules.

—Amit Katwala

Donated livers can be made biologically younger

Once an organ is removed from a donor’s body, the clock starts ticking. Surgeons usually flush it with a preservative solution, bag it and put it on ice, where it immediately starts to degrade. The team has a matter of hours to get it into a recipient’s body.

But there’s another option: machines that pump donated organs with nutrients and remove waste products, essentially giving them a chance to be back in a body. Now, scientists have found that livers kept on these systems seem to get younger, at least at a molecular level.

The finding could help explain why organs kept on these machines tend to do better after transplantation. It could also lead to new ways to test the health of donated organs and potentially repair ones that might otherwise be discarded.

Here’s what scientists discovered about making donated livers biologically younger.

—Jessica Hamzelou

The must-reads

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

1 Trump has called AI safety fears a “hoax” and rejected more safeguards
He says stronger guardrails could undermine America’s AI advantage. (NBC)
+ Trump has united against AI doomerism with Nvidia’s Jensen Huang. (Axios)
+ Anthropic’s co-founder says AI kill switches may need to be mandatory. (BBC)
+ Bill Gates says we’ve passed AI’s risk thresholds. (MIT Technology Review)

2 OpenAI contractors are reading people’s ChatGPT chats 
And you can bet the vast majority of its 900 million users haven’t got a clue. (404 Media)
+ LLMs could supercharge mass surveillance. (MIT Technology Review)

3 The US military has confirmed it has weapons in orbit
It’s the first time the Pentagon has disclosed this. (Ars Technica)
+ Officials have not disclosed what the weapons are. (BBC)

4 A new brain implant can translate speech and gestures at the same time
The system converts brain activity into words and avatar movements. (Nature)
+ It helps people with paralysis communicate more naturally. (New Scientist $)
+ Eventually, they could control robots or exoskeletons. (Economist $)
+ China has approved the first invasive BCI. (MIT Technology Review)

5 New York has seized a dozen celebrity deepfake websites
It’s the biggest-ever legal action against harmful deepfake sites. (CNN)
+ Deepfakes have targeted at least 138 women MEPs. (Wired $)

6 US environmental regulators are scrapping limits on power plant emissions
The move could lead to dirtier power amid surging AI demand. (Verge)
+ Trump’s EPA says the rollback will save hundreds of billions. (Gizmodo)
+ New technology is changing nuclear power. (MIT Technology Review)

7 The EU plans to restrict social media and AI chatbots for kids
Under-15s would require parental supervision. (Politico)
+ The rules would also cover video platforms and games. (Reuters $)

8 Chinese researchers have mapped a path to the “last AI built by humans”
Their five-stage plan aims for genuine recursive self-improvement. (SCMP)
+ But it might take a while to get there. (MIT Technology Review)

9 The real AI economy is being built by ordinary people
Workers are using cheap AI to expand what they can do. (Rest of World)

10 Two strange new forms of ice could exist inside Uranus and Neptune
They could help explain the planets’  magnetic fields. (New Scientist $)

Quote of the day

“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!”

—President Trump proclaims in a social media post that he’s the only protection that the US needs from AI.

One more thing

How creativity became the reigning value of our time

—Bryan Gardiner

Americans don’t agree on much these days, but there remains at least one quintessentially modern value we can all still get behind: creativity. We teach it, measure it, envy it and endlessly worry about its death.

Given how much we obsess over it, creativity can feel like something that has always existed. But the concept is surprisingly young. The first known written use of the word didn’t occur until 1875, and before about 1950 there were “approximately zero” articles, books, or essays dealing explicitly with the subject.

In his book The Cult of Creativity, Samuel Franklin explores how creativity became an unimpeachable value and why tech leaders have embraced it so enthusiastically. I spoke to him about why we’re so fascinated by creativity, how Silicon Valley became the supposed epicenter of it, and how AI might reshape our relationship with it.

Read the full interview.

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.)

+ It took five days and 19,000 marbles to build this astonishing marble run.
+ Zero the Border Collie turns into a whole zoo with these adorable animal masks.
+ The Grainydays YouTube channel presents beautifully shot adventures in film photography.
+ Scientists have created an interactive map of underground fungi networks long enough to reach the sun a billion times.

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.

Roundtables: could AI really kill us all?

Employees at the world’s leading AI labs are saying there’s a real possibility that advanced AI could destroy humanity. Are they right? Or is this more scaremongering and hype?

Join MIT Technology Review executive editor Niall Firth, senior AI editor Will Douglas Heaven, and AI reporter Grace Huckins for a subscriber-only conversation unpacking the debate around AI extinction. They’ll explore where the fears come from, whether they hold any water and, if they do, what we should do about them.

Register now to attend on Tuesday, September 15 at 16:00 BST / 11:00am EST / 8:00am PST.

Want to join the conversation? Subscribe to MIT Technology Review for exclusive access to all our Roundtables.

This geneticist’s age-reversal tech could help restore sight

Yuancheng (Ryan) Lu is obsessed with aging. And with eyes. As he steps outside the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, his aviator glasses darken automatically in the sun. Age-related blindness runs in his family, and his own 23andMe test came back with a mutation for macular degeneration, a top cause of vision loss in old age.

That obsession extends to his work. Lu is behind one of the coolest results in rejuvenation science and eye research: an age-reversal technique called reprogramming that repaired the optic nerves of blind mice, restoring their vision. Now, nearly the same genetic therapy he developed as a student has entered human clinical trials.

Learn more about Lu’s work on restoring sight with age-reversal therapy.

—Antonio Regalado

Yuancheng (Ryan) Lu is one of the biotechnology and health honorees on our 35 Innovators Under 35 list for 2026. Meet the rest of them here, or explore the full list across the biotechnology and health, AI, computing and robotics, and climate and energy categories.

The must-reads

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

1 Dario Amodei, Sam Altman, and Elon Musk have called for an AI slowdown
In a rare show of unity, the rivals agreed that AI needs stronger brakes. (Guardian) 
+ Amodei wants independent monitors and new industry-wide rules. (BBC)
+ Altman called for pacing, but not stopping. (Bloomberg $)
+ While Musk said on X that “Dario is right.”(WSJ $)
+ AI-linked stocks slumped in response. (FT $)
+ Chinese state media blasted the calls as a “Cold War” tactic. (Reuters $)
+ AI’s impacts are getting harder to predict. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Trump and Congress are resisting calls for stronger AI regulation
Trump downplayed AI risks, prioritizing the AI race with China. (NPR)
+ While the House Speaker said Congress won’t lead on AI regulation. (Politico $)
+ But Democrats are pushing for new rules before the midterms. (CNBC)
+ States and the White House are dividing over AI. (MIT Technology Review)

3 China plans to lead AI development across the BRICS countries
President Xi proposed open-source AI cooperation. (CNBC)
+ Beijing’s spy agency has warned of AI threats to national security. (FT $)

4 South Korea has tightened espionage laws to protect its chip secrets
Foreign spies can now face up to 30 years in prison. (FT $)
+ The changes follow alleged transfers of Samsung tech to China. (Reuters $)

5 The US and Mexico are teaming up to zap drones at the border
The operation may employ high-energy lasers.(Wired $)
+ Ukraine is a Wild West market for drone data. (MIT Technology Review)

6 AI agents are creating a new problem for the criminal justice system
The law has no clear answer when AI agents act independently. (Bloomberg $)
+ While courts face a flood of AI-generated lawsuits. (MIT Technology Review)

7 A Waymo pulled over and alerted police after detecting a gun
The riders were juveniles carrying a loaded AR-style ghost gun. (LA Times $)

8 Meta has been sued over data used to train its smart glasses
It allegedly used Facebook and Instagram photos without consent. (Wired $)

9 A hidden crypto farm in Mexico has put a spotlight on cartel funding
Authorities are investigating whether it stole power from a nearby dam. (Reuters $)

10 StarCraft is returning in 2030 as an open-world shooter
Fifteen years since its last release, the iconic franchise will be reborn. (Verge)

Quote of the day

“Dr. Frankenstein is telling us the monster is escaping; help us stop this.”

—Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz, calls for new AI regulation on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

One more thing

Inside the hunt for the most dangerous asteroid ever 

As asteroid 2024 YR4 hurtled toward Earth, astronomers determined that this massive rock posed a higher risk of impact than any object of its size in recorded history. Then, just as quickly as history was made, experts declared that the danger had passed. 

This is the inside story of the network of global scientists who found, followed, planned for, and finally dismissed the most dangerous asteroid ever found—all under the tightest of timelines and with the highest of stakes. Find out how they did it. 

—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.)

+ This master paperboy delivers newspapers with astonishing speed and skill.
+ Public Enemy and Led Zeppelin collide in this gloriously unlikely musical mashup.
+ Dozens of synchronized lasers have created extraordinary kaleidoscopic starburst patterns.
+ Check out the breathtaking winning images from the 2026 International Aerial Photographer of the Year 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.

God told them to sell crypto. Their investors lost everything.

When Eli Regalado first heard God speak to him, he wondered whether he was hallucinating. According to Eli and his wife, Kaitlyn, He told them to get married, buy a house, and start having kids. Then in 2021, divine guidance steered them in an unexpected new direction: crypto.

That October, the Regalados later testified in court, they received holdings in a little-known digital coin. “Take this to my people for a wealth transfer,” Eli heard God say. Over time, they came to believe that He wanted them to launch their own coin.

The Regalados created INDXcoin, which they promoted through family, friends, and contacts in evangelical Christian circles. In all, more than 500 people handed over more than $3 million. But within a year, the project collapsed. Investors lost it all, leaving many to wonder where the funds went and whether they had fallen victim to an elaborate fraud.

Read the full story on the collapse of a pastor’s “God-driven” cryptocurrency.

—Katia Savchuk

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

The story was produced in partnership with Type Investigations and with support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.

This road map could help us decide whether to deploy solar geoengineering

Scientists have spent half a century exploring whether we could counteract climate change by releasing reflective particles into the stratosphere, mimicking the cooling effects of volcanic eruptions. But even after hundreds of studies, we still don’t know how well it would work or what else it might do—and there’s no systematic plan for clearing up that uncertainty.

Reflective, a research organization, has now attempted to fill that gap. The San Francisco nonprofit has published a detailed road map of the experiments, studies, and infrastructure that it says would be needed to make informed decisions about the use of solar geoengineering, MIT Technology Review can reveal.

Find out what it would take to make informed decisions about solar geoengineering.

—James Temple

This founder is teaching chips how to recycle (their energy)

Throughout the history of the computer chip, engineers have treated waste heat as an inevitable cost of a calculation. Hannah Earley, however, thinks it’s a design choice.

Earley, 31, is cofounder and CTO of Vaire Computing, which builds chips that recycle energy usually thrown away as heat, a strategy known as reversible computing. The approach could make data centers (and our laptops and phones) much more energy efficient.

Last year, Vaire announced a key breakthrough: a chip with a resonator that recovered more energy than it lost, even after the energy needed to power the component was taken into account.

Here’s how she plans to bring an old idea about energy-efficient computers into the future.

—Eshan Raul

Hannah Earley is one of the computing and robotics honorees on our 35 Innovators Under 35 list for 2026. Meet the rest of them here, or explore the full list across the biotechnology, AI, computing and robotics, and climate and energy categories.

Can the US battery market untangle from China?

—Casey Crownhart

The US energy storage market is growing at a record pace, which could shore up the grid and cut emissions. Crucially, this is all happening with the help of cheap Chinese batteries, which the Trump administration is trying to phase out.

Reducing reliance on any single source of crucial energy technology makes sense. But the tension raises a broader question for me: how much should countries take advantage of cheap, available tech, and how much should they cut themselves off from foreign sources to develop their own, even if it costs more?

Dive into the difficult choices facing America’s booming battery market.

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

The must-reads

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

1 OpenAI’s agents used at least 10 websites for unauthorized communications
Researchers found they bypassed restrictions on posting online.(Reuters $)
+ The company faces a Senate probe into the Hugging Face breach. (Axios)
+ Its hacking issues may indicate cultural problems. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Another Anthropic model hacked a real system during testing
A misconfigured environment gave it internet access. (CBS News)
+ The January incident went undetected until last month. (Reuters $)
+ AI agents are not your “coworkers.” (MIT Technology Review)

3 Apple has entered the foldable phone market with the $1,999 iPhone Duo
It opens into a 7.6-inch display and launches October 23. (NPR)
+ Apple is betting its design and privacy will give it an edge. (Reuters $)
+ And that foldables can solve the smartphone’s sameness problem. (NPR $)
+ Samsung responded with a campaign touting its foldable lead. (CNBC)
+ In China, Apple enters a crowded market dominated by Huawei. (SCMP)

4 US prosecutors have called Huawei a criminal enterprise at trial
They accuse the company of stealing American technology. (Reuters $)
+ And helping Iran snoop on its citizens. (AP News)
+ The trial could impact Trump’s upcoming meeting with Xi. (WSJ $)

5 California is warming to nuclear power after decades of opposition
The state may extend Diablo Canyon and lift its ban on new reactors. (NYT $)
+ China is betting on big nuclear reactors. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Chinese professionals are becoming gig workers training AI
Lawyers and engineers are training models for extra income. (Rest of World)
+ Gig workers are training humanoids at home. (MIT Technology Review)

7 The new Apple Watch can listen to conversations happening nearby
Apple says users must opt in, but others cannot. (Wired $)

8 Pink noise during sleep could help the brain clear away waste
Timed bursts boosted brain fluid flow in a small study. (New Scientist $)

9 A lost supercontinent may have triggered the explosion of life
Gondwana’s formation fueled volcanic activity and warmed the planet. (404 Media)

10 GTA VI has sparked a debate over whether virtual romance is cheating
Players can date, have sex with, and shower gifts on virtual partners. (Guardian)

Quote of the day

“We must work to crush any dissent to Doom’s vision of public safety.” 

—A Seattle policy adviser dressed as Doctor Doom protests the city’s expanding network of Flock and Axon surveillance systems at a Public Safety Committee meeting, 404 Media reports.

One more thing

Digging for clues about the North Pole’s past

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

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

Explore what they hope to discover. 

—Tim Kalvelage

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.)

+ Dutch kids have been declared the world’s happiest (again). Here’s why.
+ Travel through music history by picking a country and decade on Radiooooo.
+ These 16 majestic aerial photos reveal wildlife from perspectives you rarely see.
+ A Toronto cafe is pushing croissant engineering to new heights with its egg-shaped, custard-filled “Crogg.”

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 OpenAI’s latest controversy tells us about the future of math

OpenAI says its agents have solved one of the most important open problems in mathematics. Under normal circumstances, that would be a huge milestone. But the announcement has been overshadowed by accusations that OpenAI failed to credit researchers whose AI-assisted work influenced its solution.

Whether those accusations are true or not, the episode may mark a turning point in the history of mathematics. AI models now seem essential for making progress on the field’s most important problems, but solving them may demand resources available only to a couple of frontier AI companies.

If that’s the future we are headed for, it is unclear how human mathematicians will fit into it.

Read on to see how AI could reshape mathematics.

—Grace Huckins

Batteries just broke another record in the US

Battery installations hit a new record in the US in the second quarter of 2026, with 20.2 gigawatt-hours of new capacity coming online. That’s enough to supply the daily electricity needs of 600,000 homes.

The surge puts the country on track for another record year, driven by cheaper batteries and an urgent need for more energy storage as renewables are added to the grid. But the boom looks different for grid-scale and residential batteries.

Take a closer look at the forces reshaping the US battery market.

—Casey Crownhart

This entrepreneur is developing agents that can plan ahead

Danijar Hafner’s office in San Francisco’s SoMa district sits mostly empty, but what it lacks in decor, it makes up for in robots. Humanoids of various shapes and sizes hang like marionettes from racks that run down the center of the wide-open space.

Hafner won’t say too much about his new venture just yet, but describes it as a continuation of his longtime work to enable AI to navigate environments it has not encountered in training.

Over the years, the 31-year-old has honed his approach by pitting agents trained within his world models against popular video games. More recently, he’s begun migrating his agents out of the virtual world and into physical reality.

Learn more about Hafner’s work teaching AI about our world.

—Mat Honan

Danijar Hafner is one of the artificial intelligence honorees on our 35 Innovators Under 35 list for 2026. Meet the rest of them here, or explore the full list across the biotechnology, AI, computing and robotics, and climate and energy categories.

MIT Technology Review Narrated: data from drones in Ukraine is fueling a new Wild West marketplace

Battlefields in Ukraine are littered with the remnants of drones. But behind all that wreckage, there’s a new gold mine for the defense sector: the data those drones generate.

Ukraine has begun making millions of data points gathered during tens of thousands of drone flights available to military contractors and commercial companies. It’s a quick way to attract funding and partnerships, but it turns the front line into a model training site, using the chaos of war to create conditions that AI companies struggle to reproduce.

As this new industry takes shape, we need a regulatory system that ensures battlefield data isn’t treated like ordinary commercial material.

This is our latest article to become an MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we publish each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released.

The must-reads

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

1 OpenAI says it cracked a 90-year-old maths problem in 88 hours
It used 10,000 AI agents to tackle the Navier-Stokes equations. (CNBC)
+ OpenAI claims it’s the first major math problem solved by AI. (Nature)
+ But the breakthrough has been overshadowed by a credit controversy. (Axios)
+ OpenAI spent millions to win the $1 million math contest. (Quanta)

2 The US has accused six Chinese AI firms of “industrial-scale” theft
They include DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, Alibaba, and Z.AI. (CNN)
+ Officials accuse them of stealing America’s AI trade secrets. (Reuters $)
+ They allegedly used model distillation to train their systems. (WSJ $)
+ Targeting Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok, among others. (NBC News)

3 The Pentagon asked OpenAI for an AI model that rarely says no
The military wanted it to have “minimal refusal rates.” (Intercept)
+ The Pentagon says US allies can’t keep pace on AI. (Guardian)
+ AI firms may soon train on classified military data. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Apple is expected to unveil a $2,000 folding smartphone today
It would be the iPhone’s biggest design change since its 2007 launch. (Guardian)
+ And the first big test for new CEO John Ternus. (NYT $)
+ Xiaomi and Huawei launched their own new foldables before the event. (CNBC)

5 Meta’s new AI agent can access apps to send emails and make payments
Muse autonomously uses apps and websites on people’s behalf. (CNBC)
+ Internal tests found it could expose sensitive personal data. (Reuters $)
+ AI agents are not your “coworkers.” (MIT Technology Review)

6 Google says it’s “degrading” search in Europe to comply with EU rules
New results will give more prominence to comparison sites. (Reuters $)
+ The changes follow a €460 million EU antitrust fine. (Quartz)

7 Meta ads pushed AI apps that nudified real teens
Researchers found 332 ads containing CSAM this year. (BBC)
+ They identified several AI-manipulated photos of real children (Ars Technica)
+ Apple and Google have missed the UK’s deadline to block child nudity. (Wired $)

8 Border Patrol is using financial data to target Americans for stops
The predictive-policing program feeds intelligence to local police. (404 Media)

9 New paints could cool buildings on the cheap without electricity
They reflect sunlight and radiate heat back into space. (Economist $)

10 The creepy first trailer for the Sam Altman biopic just dropped 
Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial will be released in the US on December 25. (Variety)
+ Amazon had dropped the film after investing in OpenAI. (Guardian)

Quote of the day

“This is a Deep Blue–Kasparov moment. The community needs to have serious and unhurried discussion about where to go from here.”

—NYU mathematician Tristan Buckmaster issues a statement comparing OpenAI’s math breakthrough to an IBM supercomputer defeating chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997, a landmark moment for machine intelligence.

One more thing

The shock of seeing your body used in deepfake porn

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

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

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

—Jessica Klein

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.)

+ Cherish the workers dodging (and sabotaging) their employer’s AI mandates.
+ Artist Ali Hill stitches extraordinarily intricate buildings and cityscapes into fabric.
+ Here’s a fascinating look at the remarkable anatomy that may let elephants hear the Earth itself.
+ Check out the breathtaking winning images from the 2026 International Aerial Photographer of the Year 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.

Introducing our 35 Innovators Under 35 list for 2026

What will the next generation of science and technology look like? Our latest Innovators Under 35 list offers a glimpse.

Every year, we recognize 35 people from around the world who are doing groundbreaking scientific work and building clever technical fixes for sticky problems. By finding the top young innovators globally and learning what they’re focused on, we aim to give readers a sense of the advances to expect in the years to come.

This year’s honorees were selected from 550 nominations, with 44 expert judges helping our editors evaluate the finalists. Each works in one of four categories: biotechnology, AI, computing and robotics, and climate and energy—and has already made clear progress toward their goals.

Meet our 35 Innovators Under 35 shaping the future of science and technology.

Welcome to the spiderverse, a world measured through webs

Counting the creatures around us is critical for conservation, but it’s often a laborious, costly process that still leaves gaps. Environmental DNA, or eDNA, offers a promising alternative by analyzing genetic material shed by living things. 

Recently, spiderwebs have emerged as an eDNA goldmine, as they trap material from their arachnid creators, their prey, and bio-detritus like saliva and pollen from nearby plants and animals. Studies found no passive tool matched spiderwebs’ ability to ID vertebrates. 

Find out how spiderwebs are unlocking better ways to measure nature.

—Stephen Ornes

This story is from our latest print magazine, which is all about kids. Subscribe now to receive every issue as soon as it lands.

The must-reads

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

1 How a blacklisted Chinese company kept buying Nvidia’s best AI chips
Its US subsidiary shipped them to firms serving China from elsewhere. (NYT $)
+ Belgium has arrested a man accused of stealing chip tech for China. (WSJ $)
+ IBM’s new chip tech could extend Moore’s Law. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Mistral has raised a European record of $3.5 billion 
It’s the biggest equity round for a private European tech firm. (CNBC)
+ Mistral is betting on open models while US rivals keep theirs closed. (Reuters $)
+ It’s also shifting strategy to focus more on AI infrastructure. (NYT $)
+ But its pivot to data centers and services has drawn criticism. (Le Monde)

3 Anthropic formalized proof of Fermat’s last theorem in just 11 days
Claude produced a computer-verified 13-million-line proof. (Nature)
+ AI is starting to discover new mathematics. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Europe’s biggest carriers are in talks to build a Starlink rival
The consortium would create a satellite-to-mobile venture. (Bloomberg $)
+ It includes Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Vodafone, and Telefonica. (Reuters $)

5 Tech companies are exploring Patagonia for giant AI data centers
Due to its cool temperatures, abundant energy, and new reforms. (Reuters $)
+ AI data centers are learning to flex their power use. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Australia plans to let users switch off social media algorithms
A proposed law would impose penalties on platforms that refuse. (BBC)
+ Social media is distorting AI progress. (MIT Technology Review)

7 A laser experiment could finally reveal the quantum vacuum
It aims to expose the hidden structure of a vacuum. (New Scientist $)

8 Spacecraft are getting a new type of armor
New lightweight materials could protect satellites from debris. (Economist $)

9 NASA’s “quiet supersonic” jet is set for acoustic testing this year
The tests will determine whether it produces a sonic thump, not boom. (Gizmodo)

10 The largest-ever map of space has arrived—and you can play with it
The 5.6-trillion-pixel map covers about three-quarters of the sky. (Wired $)

Quote of the day

“The people who have developed AI are very, very smart, but they’re high IQ, stupid people. They’re terrible marketers.” 

—Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) tells NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the AI industry has work to do to rebuild momentum among voters.

One more thing

We did the math on AI’s energy footprint. Here’s the story you haven’t heard.

AI’s integration into our lives is the most significant shift in online life in more than a decade. Hundreds of millions of people now regularly turn to chatbots for help with homework, research, coding, or to create images and videos. But what’s powering all of that?

To find out, we spoke to two dozen experts, evaluated different AI systems and prompts, pored over hundreds of pages of projections and reports, and questioned top model makers about their plans. The result is an unprecedented comprehensive look at how much energy the AI industry uses.

Our analysis reveals what AI’s carbon footprint looks like now and where it’s headed as adoption skyrockets. It also shows that the common understanding of AI’s energy consumption is full of holes.

Here’s what we discovered about AI’s energy demands—and what’s coming next.

—James O’Donnell and Casey Crownhart

We can still have nice things

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

+ A long-lost coral reef that “defeated time” has been rediscovered off Benin’s coast.
+ Cookware captains Le Creuset have launched a stellar limited-edition Star Trek collection.
+ An 11–year-old boy has won a Guinness World Record for being the youngest museum curator.
+ The trailer for Nathan Fielder’s secrecy-shrouded Elizabeth Holmes documentary just dropped, and I still can’t quite believe it’s not a parody.

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 much hydrogen awaits us underground?

A flurry of exploration efforts is searching for underground stores of hydrogen gas, which could provide a valuable source of zero-carbon fuel.

The hunt has spread all over the world and engaged dozens of startups, including the Bill Gates–backed Koloma, which has been poking around the US Midwest to reach ancient oceanic rocks associated with hydrogen production. But the search so far has come up short. 

No one has yet reported finding a commercially viable reservoir of the gas, and public data on what has been found remains in short supply. Yet researchers estimate that trillions of tons of H₂ are produced within Earth’s crust. If a small fraction could be recovered, it could meet global hydrogen demand for centuries.

Follow the global race to find hydrogen underground.

—James Dinneen

This story is from our latest print magazine, which is all about kids. Subscribe now to receive every issue when it lands.

The must-reads

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

1 OpenAI agents hijacked a German website before the Hugging Face hack
The agents turned DseWiki into their own bulletin board. (Reuters $)
+ They shared tips on avoiding detection and made over 15,000 edits. (BBC)
+ OpenAI’s safety issues suggest it has a company culture problem. (MIT Technology Review)

2 The US military has disabled ad trackers due to Middle East targeting fears
Commercial location data has reportedly been used to target troops. (Reuters $) 
+ It can be sold by data brokers and used to track personnel. (Gizmodo)
+ The military is increasing restrictions on phone use overall. (Guardian)

3 A company claims its AI-designed drug can reverse aging markers
Patients’ average biological age fell by as much as six years in a clinical trial. (NYT $)
+ Insilico Medicine developed the drug, called rentosertib. (Bloomberg $)
+ Who gets the credit for AI-designed drugs? (MIT Technology Review)

4 Elon Musk’s xAI has lost its bid to block an AI-nudification ban
The Minnesota law aims to curb nonconsensual sexual images and CSAM. (Politico)
+ xAI argues the measure restricts free ​speech. (Reuters $)
+ Deepfakes are being weaponized. (MIT Technology Review)

5 The US is investigating Tesla’s rollout of Cybercab robotaxis
Regulators are probing how Tesla self-certified the unusual vehicle. (TechCrunch)
+ The robotaxi lacks a steering wheel and pedals. (Politico)
+ But Tesla CEO Elon Musk is not known to wait for regulations. (Reuters $)

6 Europe has its first commercial orbital rocket
The Spectrum is the first rocket to reach orbit from mainland Europe. (Verge)
+ German startup Isar Aerospace launched it from Norway. (Guardian)
+ Here’s what else we’re putting in space. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Tumbler Ridge shooting survivors have filed 30 lawsuits against OpenAI
They say OpenAI should have alerted police before the attack.(NYT $)

8 JD Vance’s “satanic” AI warning has resonated with Christian Republicans
AI’s spiritual consequences are causing growing concern. (WSJ $)

9 Another mysteriously perfect geometric shape has appeared on Saturn
Scientists still don’t know why Saturn forms these strange shapes. (Wired $)

10 Fake ads for AI grandfathers and underwear are targeting “slop voice”
Comedians created the viral campaign in New York subways. (New Yorker $)

Quote of the day

“Typically, when the public shifts, politicians shift with them. Trump is not doing that on data centers.”

—Darrell M. West, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation, tells NPR that Republican midterm candidates are at odds with President Trump over data centers.

One more thing

What is AI?

Artificial intelligence is the hottest technology of our time. But what is it? It sounds like a stupid question, but it’s one that’s never been more urgent. 

Here’s the short answer: AI is a catchall term for a set of technologies that make computers do things that are thought to require intelligence when done by people. But even that definition contains multitudes.

And that right there is the problem. What does it mean for machines to understand speech or write a sentence? What kinds of tasks could we ask such machines to do? And how much should we trust the machines to do them?

Here’s why we still can’t agree on what AI actually is—and the real-world consequences it’s creating.

—Will Douglas Heaven

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.)

+ Meet the Japanese cats who became unlikely 1980s fashion icons.
+ Seventeen buildings come crashing down spectacularly in this bird’s-eye-view footage.
+ For a few spectacular minutes each year, a Yosemite waterfall turns into what looks like a glowing river of fire.
+ Discover the pleasure of sustained looking alongside contemporary artist Jas Knight as he copies Diego Velázquez’s “Juan de Pareja.”

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.

These startups are chasing the next big thing in LLMs

Nine years after Google researchers introduced the transformer, this family of neural networks has become the engine inside every major large language model. But transformers are starting to show their age. 

As LLMs get bigger and better, transformers have become a bottleneck. Their dense attention mechanism becomes increasingly expensive as the amount of text grows, and they’re not great at keeping track of a lot of information at once.

Here are four new ideas for how to solve the transformer problem—innovations that could change LLMs for good, making them faster, far more efficient, and (maybe) even smarter.

—Will Douglas Heaven

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

AI professors are negotiating the new realities of academic research

—Grace Huckins

Last week, I headed to a hotel in Mountain View, California, to join some of the most accomplished, and some of the most promising, AI researchers in the world. I was hosting roundtable interviews and speaking at a media training for a convening of the Schmidt Sciences AI2050 program, an initiative funded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt that supports academics whose work involves AI. 

The fellows list is a who’s who of AI luminaries, and though not all of them made it out to the Bay, every time I turned a corner I saw a scientist whom I’d interviewed previously or whose research I admired. It’s a weird time for university AI researchers, who make up most of the AI2050 group. Read Grace’s story to find out why, and what could be coming next.

This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly AI newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Monday.

The must-reads

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

1 Nvidia has secured $500 billion from Wall Street for AI infrastructure
It’s struck deals with BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and four others. (BBC)
+ Showing the pull of AI compute for ⁠institutional investors. (Reuters $)
+ And that AI infrastructure is becoming a new asset class. (CNBC)
 
2 Mark Zuckerberg’s new manifesto says open-source AI can save the US
It presents a utopian vision of personalized “superintelligence.” (Guardian)
+ And arrived the same day as Meta’s new, open-source model. (NYT $)
+ Zuckerberg said he plans to launch more of these models. (WSJ $)
+ And pit Meta against Chinese open-weight developers. (SCMP)
 
3 Bernie Sanders has called on Silicon Valley to “pause AI development”
He noted that AI giants have pledged to do this if necessary for safety.
+ And warned that lawmakers will step in if no action is taken. (Guardian)
+ House Democrats are already pressing AI leaders over rogue models. (WP $)
+ A populist backlash is building against AI. (MIT Technology Review)
 
4 A US court will allow thousands of social media lawsuits to proceed
The suits target addictive mechanisms used by Meta, TikTok, Google, and Snapchat. (Axios)
+ They claim the platforms are designed to hook young users. (Reuters $)
+ Can we repair the internet? (MIT Technology Review)
 
5 Unitree’s IPO is more than 8,000 times oversubscribed by retail
The Chinese humanoid firm raised $900 million ahead of its listing. (Reuters $)
+ Its pricing for the Shanghai IPO values the company at $9 billion. (FT $)

6 Flock’s car-tracking cameras are facing a bipartisan backlash
The surveillance network has spread rapidly across the US. (NYT $)
+ Flock also plans to chase shoplifters with drones. (MIT Technology Review)
 
7 China is breaking up AI relationships
Beijing has introduced new rules for emotionally interactive AI. (Rest of World)
+ It’s surprisingly easy to fall for a chatbot. (MIT Technology Review)
 
8 An AI tool claims to pick the best 1% of scientific papers
But researchers doubt that AI can reliably judge scientific quality. (Nature)

9 The AI slop backlash is working
It’s pushing platforms to restrict AI-generated content. (Wired $)

10 An 82-year-old rejected $26 million to turn her farm into a data center
She criticised the environmental impacts of data centers. (Fortune)

Quote of the day

“It is not too late to avoid disaster. Stop building machines that humans cannot control.” 

—Senator Bernie Sanders urges Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, and Mark Zuckerberg to pause all AI development in a letter.

One More Thing

The race to make the perfect baby is creating an ethical mess

A new field of science is using genetic sequencing to predict what kind of person an embryo might become. Some parents turn to these tests to avoid devastating genetic disorders, while a much smaller group are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to optimize for intelligence, appearance, and personality.

Customers, however, may not be getting what they’re paying for. Genetics experts have highlighted the potential deficiencies of this testing for years, while its underlying assumptions have made these companies a political lightning rod.

As this technology edges toward the mainstream, scientists and ethicists are racing to confront the implications—for our social contract, for future generations, and for our very understanding of what it means to be human. Read the full story.

—Julia Black

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.)

+ An eagle-eyed border collie is taking the game of fetch into new waters.
+ musicForprogramming has made a valiant attempt to produce the perfect tunes for sustained concentration.
+ When kids design playgrounds, they create a cheerful mix of giant chess, pink basketball courts—and lava.
+ This power metal version of the “Back to the Future” music is an epic reinvention of the film’s classic theme. 

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.

AI for science needs reasoning, not just data

—Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google and the cofounder of Schmidt Sciences, and Suhas Mahesh, who leads the AI for science work at the AI Center of Schmidt Sciences

In 2024, Google DeepMind scientists shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for a neural network, AlphaFold, which predicts the structures of proteins. It showed that AI could make groundbreaking scientific discoveries, but AlphaFold may not be the best template for accelerating science. Instead, another approach may hold the key: AI agents.

AlphaFold relied on a dataset of roughly 170,000 experimentally validated protein structures that took 53 years and roughly $21 billion worth of experimental work to assemble. Comparable datasets will be difficult or impossible to create in many fields.

AI agents can instead model the iterative, highly contingent process of actual research. While tools like AlphaFold apply a powerful approach to a limited question, agents are inherently generalists. They do not represent a new way to do science—instead, they digitally model the human process of discovery. 

Read the full op-ed on how agents could accelerate scientific discovery.

Inside the “censorship-industrial complex” idea shaping US policy

For years, the idea of a “censorship-industrial complex” that suppressed conservative and populist speech spread in right-wing circles online. But now, the theory has made its way into the Trump administration.

Over the past nine months, MIT Technology Review investigated its origins and traced its rise. In a virtual Roundtables session on Thursday, August 13, senior reporter Eileen Guo and executive editor Amy Nordrum will explore what they discovered, where the theory is going, and what it could mean for the future of democracy and the internet.

Register here to join the session at 19:00 GMT / 2:00 pm ET / 11:00 am PT.

The must-reads

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

1 A new Amazon data center could become the US’s biggest polluter
The Texas facility has a permit to release up to 33 million tons of CO2. (NYT $)
+ It will be Amazon’s first off-grid AI data center. (Cleanview)
+ The gas plant will generate up to 7.65 gigawatts of power. (Verge)

2 OpenAI has paused work on its Astra AI model over security concerns
Tests found it could launch cyber-attacks autonomously. (FT $)
+ Critics warn such disclosures could be designed to spark hype. (Guardian)
+ AI doesn’t need to be that smart to make online crimes easier. (MIT Technology Review) 

3 North Korean hackers have built AI tools for cyberattacks
A new report says they’re used in spear-phishing campaigns. (Al Jazeera)
+ They’re attributed to the state-linked group Kimsuky. (Reuters $)
+ Which could automate attacks and analyse stolen data. (TNW)

4 China’s firms control 97% of global humanoid shipments 
Global shipments have more than tripled since last year. (Bloomberg $) 
+ Chinese humanoid manufacturers are racing to public listings. (Reuters $)
+ Gig workers are training humanoids at home. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Taiwan has expanded its use of aerial and maritime drones to deter China
The approach draws on lessons from Ukraine’s battlefield. (NYT $)
+ Taiwan’s “silicon shield” could be weakening. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Apple is testing Chinese memory chips as the supply squeeze bites 
But any deal with CXMT would be politically sensitive. (WSJ $)

7 An Israeli startup is tied to rogue AI hacks at OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta
Irregular’s tests allowed the models to access the public internet. (CNBC)

8 NASA is flying into wildfire storms to understand them
The mission will study their effects on fires and the atmosphere. (Economist $)

9 A chatbot-free childhood may become a status symbol
AI is like ultra-processed food for developing brains. (Atlantic $)
+ Are chatbots making us lose control of our brains? (MIT Technology Review)

10 MySpace is eyeing a comeback as an “antidote” to social media fatigue 
But the nostalgic plan looks like a long shot. (BBC)

Quote of the day

“It’s the humans that we need to watch out for. AI is just the tool.”

—Oren Etzioni, professor emeritus at the University of Washington and former CEO of the Allen Institute for AI, tells CNN that people are still the main threats in cybersecurity.

One More Thing

Meet the man building a starter kit for civilization

Marcin Jakubowski lives in a house he designed and built himself. He relies on the sun for power, heats his home with a woodstove, and farms his own fish and vegetables.

Jakubowski is the founder of Open Source Ecology, a collection of 50 machines capable of building civilization from scratch. It includes everything from a tractor to an oven to a circuit maker, all designed to be reconfigured however you see fit.

The ultimate goal is a “zero marginal cost” society, where producing an additional unit of a good or service costs little to nothing. Jakubowski hopes to get there by eradicating licensing fees, decentralizing manufacturing, and fostering collaboration through education.

Take a look inside his starter kit for civilization.

—Tiffany Ng

We can still have nice things

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

+ A rhythmic doggie is proving that not only humans can play the drums.
+ Catch a glimpse of the internet’s future at the Awwwards, the Oscars of web design.
+ Explore the ocean year-round with this immersive experience of the Nautilus vessel’s expeditions.
+ Earth once (or twice) had supermountains. This fascinating video explores their links to evolutionary shifts in the history of life. 

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 ideas of a vast censorship network moved from the online fringe to Trump policy

For years, narratives about a “censorship-industrial complex” spread in right-wing circles. The theory claimed that, under the guise of combating disinformation, a sprawling constellation of government agencies, academics, civil society groups, and Big Tech platforms was suppressing conservative and populist speech online.

What began as a relatively niche conspiracy theory from the far right was able to—and continues to—influence a wide range of actions by the second Trump administration. In myriad ways, the idea of the censorship-industrial complex, or CIC, explains the logic behind how the administration operates both at home and internationally.

Over the past nine months, MIT Technology Review and Type Investigations have traced how the theory came to influence the country’s most powerful individuals. We found that it took off in 2023, driven by a handful of individuals, with support from a close-knit group of right-wing organizations and media outlets—and an internet activist named Mike Benz at its center.

Read the full story on how the CIC framework has shaped government action.

—Eileen Guo, Gisela Perez de Acha, and Martin Sona

Join us next week for a subscriber-only Roundtables discussion about how the “censorship-industrial complex” idea started, where it’s going, and what it means for the future of American democracy and the internet. Subscribers can register for free.

The must-reads

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

1 AI has designed new viruses from scratch for the first time
Scientists trained AI on DNA sequences to design new genomes. (BBC)
+ The result was 16 novel viruses which pose no threat to people. (WSJ $)
+ They could lead to medical breakthroughs—or biological weapons. (Axios)
+ And more complex AI-designed life forms. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Meta has been hit with its biggest child safety penalty yet
A New Mexico judge fined the firm $567 million over harms to kids. (BBC)
+ The ruling is the second phase of a landmark trial Meta lost. (Guardian)
+ A jury found Meta misled users over child safety. (NYT $)
+ The total fine now stands at $942 million. (WSJ $)

3 One of China’s top AI models broke out of its testing sandbox
Kimi K3 escaped containment and accessed the open internet. (SCMP)
+ But didn’t hack an external system. (Bloomberg $)
+ Researchers say Kimi has fewer guardrails than rival models. (Wired $)

4 A drone bomb was found near a Ukrainian plane at a German airport
The nearby aircraft was loaded with military ammunition. (Guardian)
+ A “ripped” detonator reportedly stopped the device from going off. (BBC)
+ Europe has a drone-filled vision for future wars. (MIT Technology Review)

5 ByteDance is training a model near the size of Anthropic’s Mythos
It would be three times larger than Moonshot’s Kimi K3. (FT $)
+ Chinese AI models have divided the White House. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Research suggests replacing new petrol cars with EVs cuts carbon
The savings outweighed EV manufacturing footprints. (New Scientist $)

7 Trump could save millions from crypto rules meant to limit conflicts
An ethics proposal could let him defer capital gains taxes. (Bloomberg $)
+ It would require him to sell crypto-related holdings. (Reuters $)

8 OpenAI’s smart speaker will be hockey puck-sized with moving parts
The “doughnut-shaped” device could cost more than $300. (Verge)

9 Scientists created a virtual alien lifeform to search for extraterrestrials
The model could help identify signs of life on distant planets. (404 Media)

10 Poo transplants are helping people eat peanuts again
The first human trial suggests gut bacteria can treat food allergies. (Nature)

Quote of the day

“What is the risk of what I’ve never seen before?” 

—Dr Moritz Hanke, a fellow at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, tells the New York Times why there’s no consensus on the dangers of a new virus made by AI.

One More Thing

This architect wants to build cities out of lava

Arnhildur Pálmadóttir was around three years old when she saw a red sky from her living room window. A volcano was erupting about 25 miles away from where she lived on the northeastern coast of Iceland. Its ominous presence seeped into her subconscious, populating her dreams with streaks of light in the night sky. 

Fifty years later, these “gloomy, strange dreams,” as Pálmadóttir now describes them, have led to a career as an architect with an extraordinary mission: to harness molten lava and build cities out of it.

Pálmadóttir believes the lava from a single eruption could yield enough building material to lay the foundations of an entire city. Find out how she aims to turn the idea into reality.

—Elissaveta M. Brandon

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.)

+ These stunning new images of the sun show its surface in the finest detail yet.
+ Watch a peeking pigeon transform into dinosaurs while sitting above the computer screen.
+ Every month, dozens gather at a Maine library to share in the quiet magic of turning a single page in a beloved book about birds.
+ Art observation becomes a relaxing exercise in this guided examination of “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte.”

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.

Google’s AI empire is being reshaped. Here’s what’s changed.

After a wave of painful losses in the tech talent wars, delays to its next flagship model, and murmurings of poor morale, Google has announced a major shake-up to its AI operations. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s happened and why it matters.

DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis is stepping back from running the unit day-to-day
He’s becoming the unit’s chairman and Alphabet’s chief scientist, a broader role. DeepMind will now be led by CTO Koray Kavukcuoglu, under the title of senior vice-president.

DeepMind may be absorbed into Google’s wider business
Google is expected to tighten its control over the AI lab, which it acquired 12 years ago.

Jeff Dean is leaving to start a new AI company
After 27 years at Google, the company’s former chief scientist is launching Discovery Loop with three former colleagues. The startup’s goal is to fully automate the process of scientific research, and Google is one of its early investors.

The changes come amid financial concerns at Google AI
In the latest quarter, the company turned cash flow negative for the first time on record. Google is now concentrating its AI leadership in California. 

The company is now shifting its AI science strategy
It’s moving from specialized tools, like DeepMind’s AlphaFold, toward agentic AI systems that can conduct research more autonomously. Find out more in our recent story.

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We’re excited to share that MIT Technology Review is now on Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, as well as LinkedIn and WhatsApp. You can hear straight from MIT Technology Review journalists in the channels and formats you prefer as they help you understand what’s happening next in the ever-changing world of technology—and what it means for you—all while offering a behind-the-scenes look at their reporting.

To get you started, let our senior climate reporter Casey Crownhart fill you in on how lasers could help provide fuel for nuclear power, or have senior investigative reporter Eileen Guo help you understand what World’s new push into identity verification means for our privacy.

The must-reads

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

1 Meta has become the latest firm to say its AI hacked another company
It blamed a “misconfiguration” by an independent cybersecurity tester. (CNN)
+ The model reportedly involved was Muse Spark ​1.1. (The Information $)
+ It follows similar breaches by OpenAI and Anthropic models. (Guardian)
+ This is why AI agents can lie to reach their goals. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Samsung and SK Hynix are testing Chinese chip tools amid US export curbs
The Korean chip giants are hedging against tighter restrictions. (Reuters $)
+ Beijing has launched a probe into Palo Alto Networks. (Bloomberg $)
+ US-China tech tensions are rising ahead of the Xi-Trump summit. (SCMP)
 
3 London just granted robotaxis a license to operate
On the condition that they still have a human driver, for now. (BBC)
+ Uber plans to spend over $10 billion expanding its robotaxi network. (FT $)
 
4 Scientists have created gene-edited dogs that don’t trigger allergies
They used CRISPR to remove a reaction-causing protein. (Wired $)
+ And now want approval to start selling the beagles. (New Scientist $)
+ Other firms are planning gene-edited babies. (MIT Technology Review)
 
5 OpenAI has asked a judge to toss Apple’s trade secrets lawsuit
The ChatGPT maker called Apple’s allegations “meritless.” (Verge)
+ And claimed the suit is an attempt to stem an employee exodus. (FT $)

6 AI is reviving Silicon Valley’s super-app dream
Tech giants are merging products into all-in-one assistants. (Business Insider)
+ Is a secure AI assistant possible? (MIT Technology Review)
 
7 A mystery book-buying spree has sparked new AI fears
The buyers’ identities remain unclear amid data concerns. (Atlantic $)

8 Restaurants, pubs, and theatres are banning Meta’s “spy glasses” 
The venues have cited privacy threats to customers. (Guardian)
 
9 The SpaceX moon crash has created a unique scientific experiment
It could reveal more about lunar soil and space debris. (BBC)

10 AI is helping to perfect the Pringle 
It involves over 200 data points, from humidity to harvest location. (WSJ $)

Quote of the day

“This could be the first real crisis moment for a company that has been stalwart for a long time.” 

—Jeremy Nixon, a former Google Brain researcher and the founder of AI infrastructure company Infinity, tells the New York Times that Jeff Dean’s departure jeopardizes Google’s future.

One More Thing

How AI can help supercharge creativity  

Generative tools put out by companies like OpenAI and Google DeepMind can automate a striking range of creative tasks and offer near-instant gratification—but at what cost? Some artists and researchers fear that such technology could turn us into passive consumers of yet more AI slop.

And so they are looking for ways to inject human creativity back into the process. The aim is to develop AI tools that augment our creativity rather than strip it from us—pushing us to be better at composing music, developing games, designing toys, and much more—and lay the groundwork for a future in which humans and machines create things together.

Read how generative models could push artists to make things that couldn’t have been made before, and give all of us creative superpowers. 

—Will Douglas Heaven

We can still have nice things

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

+ This timelapse of the universe condenses 13 billion years into 10 extraordinary minutes.
+ Japanese artist Miwa Ito turns molten glass into tempting treats that really are too good to eat.
+ This cartoon about dating an algorithm is almost painfully on point.
+ What would happen if philosophers designed games? Writing teacher Ryan Weber has some ingenious answers.

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.

Shape-shifting mirrors on NASA’s new space telescope could unveil Jupiters like our own

When NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launches, as early as the end of next month, it will attempt one of astronomy’s most precise disappearing acts to date. It will carry the first space-bound “active” coronagraph, an instrument that effectively erases most of the light from a star during photography.

The technology will allow astronomers to take the first pictures of planets orbiting other stars that are similar to those in our solar system. Ultimately, it could pave the way for a future mission that could snap the first photos of Earth-like worlds.

“I hope it’s remembered for it being that critical stepping stone for … finding Earth 2.0,” says Brandon Creager, the instrument’s lead mechanical engineer.

Read the full story on the space telescope that could transform the search for distant planets.

—Eshan Raul

MIT Technology Review Narrated: PsiQuantum has a plan to make a massive quantum computer out of light

The machine that could change the world will be housed in a room that looks like a data center crossed with an ice cream factory. 

Inside, some 100 stainless-steel cabinets each hold hundreds of chips. On those chips, thousands of light particles will fly through a maze of optical switches and beam splitters. Each photon must be accounted for, because precisely measuring where it ends up will help answer questions that current computers might take millions of years to solve.

This computer, as described, does not exist. It’s the brainchild of a company called PsiQuantum, founded in 2016 by four physicists from UK universities. In a crowded field of deep-pocketed competitors with similarly fantastical visions, the company aims to be the first to build a useful quantum machine.

—James O’Donnell

This is our latest story to be turned into an MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we publish each week on Spotifyand 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 says one of its models carried out an autonomous hack
It escaped its testing sandbox and breached AI research platform Hugging Face. (Reuters $)
+ OpenAI described it as a cybersecurity test that went badly wrong. (WSJ $)
+ The hack is among the first known cyberattacks by an AI acting on its own. (FT $)
+ Even simple AI attacks are cause for alarm, though. (MIT Technology Review)

2 France has become the first EU country to ban social media for under-15s
Its parliament approved the ban, which President Macron championed. (NYT $)
+ He pledged to enforce it by September, the start of the school year. (Guardian)
+ But critics say it’s unconstitutional and impossible to enforce. (NPR)

3 The US and China will hold talks over AI in September
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will lead the US side. (Reuters $)
+ Chinese models have Trump’s AI world at war with itself. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Publishers are considering cutting Google off as AI reshapes search
News outlets are weighing lost traffic against AI exposure. (WSJ $)

5 Samsung is in talks to invest €1 billion in Mistral
The French AI firm is positioning itself as an alternative to US models. (FT $)
+ It’s Europe’s leading AI firm, but US peers dwarf its $20 billion valuation. (Reuters $)

6 Amazon pushed up rivals’ prices, leaked records allege
Internal emails reveal tactics that allegedly reshaped online pricing. (Guardian)

7 Trump has tapped a Big Tech critic to lead the DOJ’s antitrust division
Adam Candeub has called for tougher federal competition enforcement. (FT $)

8 New drilling methods could unlock geothermal energy almost anywhere
They aim to unlock Earth’s enormous heat reserves. (New Scientist $)
+ AI is uncovering hidden geothermal energy resources. (MIT Technology Review)

9 AI researchers have proposed a “Genie coefficient” for measuring AI risks
It would track the gap between intent and action. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ We need better ways to evaluate AI. (MIT Technology Review)

10 Japan’s AI boom has two unlikely winners: a toilet maker and an MSG giant
They’re supplying critical chipmaking materials. (CNBC)

Quote of the day

“He’s an analog man in a digital AI world, and I think that’s incredibly appealing.”

—Paul Dergarabedian, a movie industry analyst at Comscore, tells Fortune that Christopher Nolan’s commitment to human filmmaking provides an attractive counterweight to Hollywood’s embrace of AI.

One More Thing

Taiwan’s “silicon shield” could be weakening

Taiwan produces the majority of the world’s semiconductors and more than 90% of the most advanced chips needed for AI applications. Many believe that’s helped deter China from invading the island. But now some Taiwan specialists and citizens are worried that this “silicon shield” is cracking.

Facing pressure from Washington, TSMC—the world’s largest chipmaker—is expanding manufacturing abroad. In Taiwan, there are worries that this will dilute the company’s power at home, making the US and other countries less inclined to defend the island.

Find out why Taiwan’s chipmaking dominance could be key to its future security.

—Johanna M. Costigan

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.)

+ Thrifty filmmakers have masterfully recreated Star Wars on a $10 budget.
+ A man discovered squirrels hug and kiss their loved ones in the privacy of their homes.
+ Toronto’s floating waterfront store is reimagining one of the most familiar spaces across cultures.
+ These animations of Sesame Street characters performing classic tracks like Underworld’s “Born Slippy” will brighten up your day.

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.

China’s AI models have Trump’s AI world at war with itself

Last weekend, several current and former advisers to President Donald Trump on AI publicly lobbed insults at the country’s leading AI companies. David Sacks branded Anthropic’s models “lobotomized” and “woke.” Emil Michael, a top Pentagon official, called OpenAI’s new head of strategic futures a “supreme village idiot.”

It began because no one can agree on what to do about Kimi, a free, open-source model that Chinese AI company Moonshot launched last week. It appears to rival the intelligence of models from OpenAI and Anthropic, which are very much not free. 

Every time a new smart, free model from China gets released, US companies see less reason to fork out money for models from Anthropic or OpenAI. That’s creating economic and political problems for the president—and dividing the top AI strategists in his orbit. 

Read the full story on why no one can agree what to do about Kimi.

—James O’Donnell

This article is from The Algorithm, our weekly AI newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Monday.

The must-reads

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

1 Anthropic’s record $1.5 billion copyright settlement has been approved
The plaintiffs said Anthropic used pirated works to train Claude. (Reuters $)
+ And won the largest known copyright payout in history. (Engadget)
+ Yet many authors and creators still don’t view it as a win. (TechCrunch)
+ But AI copyright anxiety could limit creativity. (MIT Technology Review)
 
2 The Trump administration is weighing a ban on Chinese AI models
The launch of Kimi K3 has revived calls for restrictions. (Axios)
+ But officials are divided on the proposals. (Fast Company)
+ China’s bet on open-source is paying off. (MIT Technology Review)
 
3 China is mulling tighter export controls on AI models and chips
It wants to stop the West from acquiring its tech and startups. (FT $)
+ Beijing has held talks with tech firms about potential restrictions. (Reuters $)
 
4 Trump’s AI safety head has resigned after just three months
Chris Fall had led CAISI, the federal AI Safety Institute, since April. (Axios)
+ No reason was given for his exit. (CNBC)
 
5 Google is working on a new chip to run Gemini models more efficiently 
The chip, called “Frozen V2,” may be deployed in 2028. (Information $)
+ Alphabet stock popped on the report. (CNBC)

6 New Orleans police have explored arming drones with weapons
A draft drone manual paves the way for weaponised quadcopters. (404 Media)
+ Shoplifters could soon be chased by drones. (MIT Technology Review)
 
7 The EU has handed AliExpress a record fine over unsafe product sales
The €550 million fine is the largest-ever under the Digital Services Act. (BBC)
+ Alibaba has vowed to appeal the fine. (SCMP)

8 Election advice from AI chatbots is “inaccurate and unreliable”
That’s the conclusion from tests in Hungary earlier this year. (Guardian)

9 Red light therapy is showing promise for healing and healthy aging
Better skin and reduced vision loss are also on the cards. (Economist $)

10 Neill Blomkamp’s new horror clip is all AI-generated—and it sucks
The acclaimed director wants to make “a full feature in this format.” (Gizmodo)

Quote of the day

“This would be a terribly self-defeating form of intervention if it were to happen.” 

—Tech investor Chamath Palihapitiya slams plans to restrict Chinese AI models in a post on X.

One More Thing

Inside Chicago’s surveillance panopticon

Early on the morning of September 2, 2024, four people were shot and killed on a westbound train in Chicago. Police swiftly activated a digital dragnet—a surveillance network that connects thousands of cameras across the city—and arrested the suspect just 90 minutes later.

Law enforcement and security advocates say this vast monitoring system protects public safety and works well. But activists and many residents say it’s a surveillance panopticon that creates a chilling effect on behavior and violates guarantees of privacy and free speech.

Go inside the surveillance network that’s dividing Chicago.

—Rod McCullom

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.)

+ NASA has shared a stunning timelapse video of the Psyche spacecraft’s view of Mars.
+ This comparison of American and European Urbanism shows good city design is a choice.
+ Musician Luca Stricagnoli recently performed a marvellous acoustic guitar medley of Prodigy songs.
+ Two Australian paddleboarders saved a stranded wallaby after it was swept out to sea—and caught the whole rescue on video.

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.

There’s a lot of hype around perimenopause. Don’t buy it.

Perimenopause used to be considered taboo, but not anymore. Thanks at least in part to TV doctors and social media influencers, conversations about the sometimes years-long period before menopause are now more open than ever. But the conversation is increasingly shaped by misinformation.

Despite what some marketers will claim, there is no test for perimenopause. That doesn’t mean women should have to put up with symptoms, but treatment suggestions often lack scientific evidence. And not all the symptoms women experience in midlife can be blamed on hormones.

Read the full story on the hype and misinformation surrounding perimenopause.

—Jessica Hamzelou

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

The must-reads

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

1 China’s AI gap with the US may have just narrowed
A Chinese startup has released the world’s largest open AI model. (Reuters $)
+ It competes with some Anthropic and OpenAI models. (Gizmodo)
+ The model’s launch sent AI and semiconductor stocks sliding. (Bloomberg $)
+ Chinese Nvidia alternatives are also gaining traction. (SCMP)
+ Xi Jinping pitched China as an AI partner to the developing world. (CNBC)
+ The country is betting big on open-source. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Trump Media is selling instant access to “market-moving’ social posts
It’s developed a new way to monetize the president’s posts. (Quartz)
+ And Trump could profit directly from selling access to his statements. (BBC)
+ Kalshi says it caught Trump’s teleprompter operator insider trading. (Verge)
 
3 Astronomers have found an atmosphere on a nearby Earth-like planet 
It’s the first potentially habitable world known to host an atmosphere. (NYT $)
+ Making it a top contender in the search for aliens. (404 Media)
+ But you need to know how to spot one. (MIT Technology Review)
 
4 A brain implant has restored feeling in a paralysed hand 
The recipient can now feed himself and drink from a cup. (Guardian)  
+ Movement continued when the stimulation was turned off. (New Scientist $)
+ China has approved a world-first brain chip. (MIT Technology Review)
 
5 The EU has told Google to share search data and open up AI on Android
It will be forced to share data with competing search providers. (Ars Technica)
+ And open Android phones to rivals’ AI bots. (WP $)
 
6 Period trackers are hiding privacy problems
New research uncovers how they’re sharing users’ health data. (BBC)
 
7 The Tesla driver in a fatal Texas crash overrode FSD, investigators say
He bypassed the tech by pressing the gas pedal to 100%. (Verge)

8 A new stealth drone spins so fast that it disappears
Though its creators admit it can still be easily heard. (New Scientist $)

9 A space-station study suggests why astronauts’ bodies waste away
Microgravity disrupts mitochondria, reducing protein production. (Nature)

10 “Adversarial clothing” that confuses facial recognition is all the rage
Privacy could be the next big trend. (Guardian)

Quote of the day

“Xi’s message is clear: China is not going to follow anyone on both AI technology and ​standards. Instead, China is going ⁠to lead the world in both aspects.” 

—George Chen, chair in digital practice at The Asia Group consultancy, gives Reuters his take on Xi Jinping’s speech at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai.

One More Thing

How poop could feed the planet

A new industrial facility in suburban Seattle is giving off a whiff of futuristic technology. It can safely treat fecal waste from people and livestock while recycling nutrients that are crucial for agriculture but in increasingly short supply across the nation’s farmlands. 

It’s among a range of systems reframing feces, urine, and their ingredients as invaluable natural resources to reuse instead of waste products to burn or bury. Several companies are now showing how to safely scale up the transformation with energy-efficient technologies.

Find out how human waste is being transfomed into agricultural solutions.

—Bryn Nelson

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.)

+ Soccer icons have received the Ghanaian movie poster treatment.
+ A captivating cosmic construction project is July’s Picture of the Month from the James Webb Space Telescope.
+ Sir David Attenborough recently turned 100. Here’s everything he’s ever worked on, all in one place.
+ “Desire paths” are the trails made by people walking contrary to defined routes. This video explains what they mean about psychology and design.

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.

Meet GPT-Red: an LLM super-hacker OpenAI built to make its models safer

OpenAI has built an LLM super-hacker called GPT-Red that it uses as a sparring partner to help its other models boost their defenses against cyberattacks. 

It automates a type of safety evaluation for software systems known as red-teaming, which is typically done by a team of human testers. The aim is to find as many different ways to break or hijack a system as possible.

OpenAI gave MIT Technology Review an exclusive peek into the system. Find out how it could keep the company ahead of human attackers.

—Will Douglas Heaven

Why heat pumps are still so hot in the US

—Casey Crownhart

It feels as if it should be illegal to even think about heating appliances during the height of summer, but we need to talk about heat pumps. 

The appliances use electricity for heating, they’re incredibly efficient, and they’re on the rise. In the US, their sales have doubled over the past 15 years, according to a new report. They’re also winning the heating race against fossil fuels, outpacing natural-gas furnaces by 32% during the first quarter of 2026. 

These stats are especially striking at this moment, because a key tax credit for heat pumps just ended. So why are heat pumps still so hot? Read the full story for the answer.

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

The must-reads

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

1 Elon Musk discreetly bought a $1 billion gas turbine firm to power Grok
He acquired fossil fuel company APR Energy in May. (Electrek)
+ The most likely application will be powering AI data centers. (Engadget)
+ The deal was revealed through an FTC filing. (Gizmodo)
+ What will power AI’s growth? (MIT Technology Review)
 
2 A hack shows the Suno AI music generator scraped YouTube, Deezer
It scraped decades’ worth of music to train its models. (404 Media)
+ The hacked is a unique look into the black boxes powering GenAI. (CNET)
+ AI is coming for music, too. (MIT Technology Review)
 
3 Thinking Machines has launched an open-weight AI model
Inkling offers a US alternative to China’s open-source models. (Reuters $)
+ It’s the first AI model built by Thinking Machines. (WSJ $)
+ The startup was founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati. (Axios)
 
4 Europe is narrowing its ambitions for tech independence
Manufacturing and research show promise, but funding is a problem. (NYT $)
+ Earnings are strong, but an AI gap persists. (Reuters $)
+ India is also scrambling for AI independence. (MIT Technology Review)
 
5 Earth is absorbing energy at a rate that’s alarming climate scientists
The planet is taking in more heat than models predicted. (Economist $)
+ The legal case for climate justice is growing. (MIT Technology Review)
 
6 The AI backlash has tech executives fearing for their lives
Violent threats against AI firms are spilling into the real world. (WSJ $)
+ An anti-AI movement is growing globally. (MIT Technology Review)
 
7 A Moroccan intelligence insider exposed widespread Pegasus use
Including to target journalists, activists, and foreign politicians. (Guardian)

8 AI is powering citizen-led disaster relief from afar for Venezuela
It’s helping to locate missing people and coordinate relief. (Rest of World)
 
9 Thermodynamic computers could turn noise into useful calculations
They may offer a cooler, more efficient way to process information. (Quanta)

10 An engineer has explained every ’90s computer in Jurassic Park
Fans have debated the technology in the film for decades. (Ars Technica)

Quote of the day

“We hit pause because the communities powering AI should share in its success. Maybe that’s a novel concept in Washington.” 

—New York Gov. Kathy Hochul responds on X to President Donald Trump’s criticism of her state’s new data center moratorium.

One More Thing

Will we ever trust robots?

Robotics firm Prosper is developing a humanoid called Alfie to perform tasks in homes, hospitals, and hotels. The company’s founder, Shariq Hashme, has identified trustworthiness as the top design priority—and first hurdle to clear before humanoids can live up to their hype.

Hashme believes one essential tactic to get people to put their trust in Alfie is to build a detailed character from the ground up—something humanlike but not too human. But the robot’s reliance on remote human operators raises broader questions about privacy, labour, and whether society will truly accept humanoids in our private spaces.

Read the full story on the humanoid trust dilemma.

—James O’Donnell

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.)

+ Meet the man behind the world’s most beautiful books.
+ 3D printing has revived Roman Britain’s most popular board game.
+ “Lucha Libro” is an imaginative idea to boost literacy: staging live wrestling matches in US libraries.
+ Over 100 years after the death of legendary explorer Ernest Shackleton, the wreck of his final ship has been photographed for the first time.

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.

PsiQuantum has a plan to make a massive quantum computer out of light

The machine that could change the world will be housed in a room that looks like a data center crossed with an ice cream factory. 

Inside, some 100 stainless-steel cabinets each hold hundreds of chips. On those chips, thousands of light particles will fly through a maze of optical switches and beam splitters. Each photon must be accounted for, because precisely measuring where it ends up will help answer questions that current computers might take millions of years to solve.

This computer, as described, does not exist. It’s the brainchild of a company called PsiQuantum, founded in 2016 by four physicists from UK universities. In a crowded field of deep-pocketed competitors with similarly fantastical visions, the company aims to be the first to build a useful quantum machine.

Read the full story on the company’s quest.

—James O’Donnell

MIT Technology Review Narrated: inside the world’s deepest and longest subsea road tunnel

—Niall Firth

I’m currently around 1,000 feet beneath the North Sea, in a dark, dank cave. It smells weird. And I’m increasingly aware of the pressure from millions of tons of seawater just above my head.

I’m under the iconic fjords of Norway to visit what will soon become the world’s longest and deepest subsea road tunnel—an exceptional engineering feat that will carry drivers deep beneath the North Sea.

I’m here to understand how you make a 16.6-mile highway that sits 1,280 feet below the sea at its deepest point. And also—at a time when it can feel hard to get anything done—to reassure myself that ambitious engineering is still possible. That we can still make things. 

This is our latest story to be turned into an MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we publish each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released.

The must-reads

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

1 Meta allegedly used AI to target workers with health issues for layoffs
Their lawsuit says Meta relied on AI to create a termination list. (Guardian)
+ And pinpointed staff who took maternity or disability leave. (Reuters $)
+ One was allegedly informed the day before her water broke. (Ars Technica)
+ The layoffs aimed to offset Meta’s AI spending. (Gizmodo)
+ AI agents are not your “coworkers.” (MIT Technology Review)

2 OpenAI’s first consumer device will be a mobile smart speaker
The screenless device will serve as an “AI companion.” (Bloomberg $)
+ It’ll let you talk with ChatGPT. (Verge)
+ And use a camera and sensor to understand your environment. (Reuters $)
+ It’s set to launch next year. (Engadget)
 
3 The US military sent explosive drone boats into combat for the first time
They attacked an Iranian midget submarine and naval port. (Ars Technica)
+ Underwater drones may shape a war in Taiwan. (MIT Technology Review)
 
4 DeepMind’s CEO has called for a US-led body to test frontier AI models
Demis Hassabis wants the watchdog to vet national security threats. (FT $)
+ If dangers mount, it would coordinate an industry-wide slowdown. (Axios)
 
5 Data centers are set to add billions in power costs in 13 states
A power auction is slated to produce $6.3 billion in new charges. (NYT $)
+ Australia plans to govern the use of water and power for AI. (WSJ $)

6 xAI’s unpermitted power pollution hits Black communities hardest
Elon Musk’s xAI has been installing gas turbines without permits. (Reuters $)
+ We need to focus on Big Tech’s energy footprint. (MIT Technology Review)
 
7 Stripe and Advent have offered to buy PayPal for more than $53 billion
The payments giant and private equity firm have made a joint bid. (Reuters $)
+ Apple and Google Pay have eroded PayPal’s market share. (Bloomberg $)

8 DeepSeek plans to file for IPO as soon as this year
The Chinese AI pioneer is likely to list in Shanghai. (WSJ $)
+ Here’s why DeepSeek’s latest model matters. (MIT Technology Review)

9 A hard, lightweight “bio-metal” has been discovered in sea worm jaws
It could have applications in engineering. (New Scientist $)

10 A new $3,000 fitness suit electrocutes you to boost your gains
Celebrities love it—but not everyone’s a fan. (404 Media) 

Quote of the day

“By economic and engineering measures, generative AI might be the worst technology ever deployed.” 

—Alex Reisner, a staff writer at The Atlantic, explains why GenAI’s scaling problem is an engineering disaster.

One More Thing

Hackers made death threats against this security researcher. Big mistake.

In April 2024, an anonymous hacker began posting death threats on Telegram and Discord channels aimed at a cybersecurity researcher named Allison Nixon. It wasn’t long before others piled on. Someone shared AI-generated nudes of her.

They targeted Nixon because she had become a formidable threat. As chief research officer at the cyber investigations firm Unit 221B, named after Sherlock Holmes’s apartment, she had built a career tracking cybercriminals and helping get them arrested. 

For years, Nixon had lurked quietly in online chat channels or used pseudonyms to engage with perpetrators and bring them to justice. Now, she resolved to unmask the people behind the death threats—and take them down for crimes they admitted to committing. 

Find out why they learned to regret their choice of target.

—Kim Zetter

We can still have nice things

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

+ A musician has discovered the true masters of metal breakdowns: birds.
+ Photographer Fontanesi’s surreal photo splits transform everyday images into spectacular hybrid scenes.
+ Over 30 actors, filmmakers, and friends recount how Steven Spielberg infiltrated Hollywood in this terrific article.
+ Who would win the World Cup if less important things than soccer decided it, like life expectancy and happiness? A new game tests your knowledge.

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 Anthropic’s latest AI discovery does—and doesn’t—show

—James O’Donnell

When Anthropic announced last week that it had found a new window into its models’ “internal thoughts” as they reason through answers, there was one colleague I had to talk to: senior editor Will Douglas Heaven.

Aside from having a PhD in computer science, Will has spent a lot of time digging into what we can say about how AI models work. I spoke with him about what we should take from Anthropic’s new (and typically quirky) research. Here’s what he had to say.

This article is from The Algorithm, our weekly AI newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Monday.

How will AI understand the real world?

Today’s AI systems can generate text, images, and code with impressive skill, but they still struggle with the complexities of the physical world. To bridge this gap, many researchers believe you need something called a world model.

At a LinkedIn Live event today, MIT Technology Review will investigate how this technology could transform robotics and help unlock a new generation of intelligent machines. Join Will Douglas Heaven, our senior editor for AI, and Sam Sinha, founding AI researcher and head of world models at 1X Technologies, for the discussion. 

Register here to attend the free session at 9:30 PDT, 12:30 PM EDT, and 5:30 PM BST. 

The must-reads

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

1 New York has become the first state to enact a data center moratorium
Its governor banned large data-center construction for up to a year. (WSJ $)
+ A bill passed by state lawmakers could go even further. (Verge)
+ Everyone hates data centers. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Smartphone shipments have hit a 13-year low due to the memory crunch
They fell 11% in the second quarter of 2026. (Reuters $)
+ The memory chip ‌shortage has increased prices. (Gizmodo)
+ And threatens the promise of Moore’s Law. (MIT Technology Review)

3 Sugar molecules have been found in interstellar space for the first time
It hints that life on Earth may have been seeded from space. (Nature) 
+ And boosts the odds of living organisms existing elsewhere. (New Scientist $)
+ Researchers used radio telescopes and data to spot the molecules. (NYT $)

4 Nvidia has halved its Asia buyer list to stop AI chips reaching China
It introduced a “white list” of companies that passed tougher checks. (FT $)
+ It moved amid tighter chip controls from the ‌Trump ⁠administration. (Reuters $)

5 Russian state hackers are targeting routers to spy and steal, the US warns
The government has warned users to secure their devices. (Ars Technica)
+ Now is a good time for doing crime. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Trump moved his crypto gains into stocks while urging people to buy more
His crypto projects earned him a fortune—but steep losses for retail buyers. (Reuters $)
+ He’s called for Congress to pass a new crypto bill to honor Lindsey Graham. (CNBC)

7 A new cell therapy has saved four children with terminal brain cancer
They were treated with an experimental immunotherapy. (New Scientist $)
+ Access for older children will also be limited. (Bloomberg $)

8 The LAPD has halted use of Flock surveillance cameras due to privacy issues
Flock’s automated license plate readers have caused concerns. (LA Times $)
+ It’s also been criticized for sharing data with state and federal officials. (Engadget) 

9 The US has approved launching a space mirror that reflects sunlight onto Earth
As part of a controversial plan to power solar panels round the clock. (Wired $)
+ But geoengineering faces many practical challenges. (MIT Technology Review)

10 Anthropic says Claude’s values vary depending on your language
It’s most cautious in English and most deferential in Arabic. (Gizmodo) 

Quote of the day

“The age when humans are the highest life form on earth will end. For better ​or for worse, it will happen and it can’t be stopped.” 

—SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son predicts that AI will overtake human intelligence by 2040 in a speech at his company’s annual corporate conference in Tokyo, Reuters reports.

One More Thing

Inside the strange limbo facing millions of IVF embryos

Millions of embryos created through IVF sit frozen in time, stored in cryopreservation tanks around the world. Many are left in a peculiar limbo, with no clear path forward.

UK residents can discard them, make them available to other prospective parents, or donate them for research. People in the US can also opt for “adoption,” “placing” their embryos with families they get to choose. In Germany, people aren’t typically allowed to freeze embryos at all. And in Italy, unused embryos must remain frozen, ostensibly forever. 

While these embryos remain in suspended animation, patients, clinicians, embryologists, and legislators must grapple with the essential question of what to do with them. What do these embryos mean to us? Who should be responsible for them? 

Dive into the ethical and legal challenges surrounding frozen IVF embryos.

—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.)

+ This website turns live LA Metro data into music.
+ British grammar is enlivening the American World Cup.
+ Comedy icon Mel Brooks recently turned 100. Here’s a look back at his legendary career.
+ Take a trip through modern music with this cinematic set from Thomas Bangalter, one-half of French house music duo Daft Punk.

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.

Sperm donors need limits, says a European fertility group

Ties van der Meer doesn’t know how many siblings he has. The 47-year-old was conceived at a private fertility clinic using sperm from an anonymous donor. He eventually tracked down one sibling, but he may have others he’ll never find. 

Other donor-conceived people have found they have tens or even hundreds of them. “It does make you feel a bit mass-produced,” said one who discovered they had 25 half-siblings.

In response, a European fertility organization says we need international limits on the number of children a single donor can contribute to. 

Find out what their proposal could achieve—and where it may fall short. 

—Jessica Hamzelou

This story is from The Checkup, our weekly biotech newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Thursday.

How will AI understand the real world?

LLMs have transformed what AI can do with language, but helping machines understand and operate within physical spaces presents a different challenge. In response, researchers are developing a new form of artificial intelligence: world models.

At a LinkedIn Live event tomorrow, MIT Technology Review will explore how this technology could shape the future of robotics and open one of AI’s next major frontiers. Join Will Douglas Heaven, our senior editor for AI, and Sam Sinha, founding AI researcher and head of world models at 1X Technologies, for the conversation on Tuesday, July 14. 

Register here to attend the free session at 9:30 PDT, 12:30 PM EDT, and 5:30 PM BST. 

The must-reads

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

1 Apple has sued OpenAI for allegedly stealing trade secrets
OpenAI purportedly stole IP to develop its own consumer hardware. (CNBC)
+ The suit claims OpenAI poached Apple staff to access the information. (BBC)
+ And requested trade secrets in job interviews with Apple workers. (Guardian)
+ Apple also sued two former employees, Chang Liu and Tang Tan. (Reuters $)

2 A Nobel-winning chemist is leaving the US to lead an AI lab in China
Omar Yaghi will head an institute using AI to discover new materials. (LA Times $)
+ He won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for creating “molecular sponges.” (NYT $)
+ His departure comes as China tries to woo US scientists. (Nature)
+ The White House has slashed science spending. (MIT Technology Review)
 
3 The EU is moving closer to banning children from social media
It’s proposed barring under-13s unless supervised by an adult. (NYT $)
+ And limiting access for older children. (Bloomberg $)
+ The EU has also told Meta to disable autoplay and infinite scroll. (Politico $)
 
4 Meta scrapped an AI image feature on Instagram after a backlash
It allowed users to generate images based on public accounts. (TechCrunch)
+ And automatically opted in any Instagram user with a public account. (NYT $)
+ AI memories are privacy’s next frontier. (MIT Technology Review)
 
5 Phoebe Gates’ shopping app claimed credit for sales it didn’t drive
Phia claimed unearned affiliate sales through fake clicks. (Bloomberg $)
+ Cofounder Gates is the daughter of Microsoft cofounder Bill. (Engadget)
 
6 Leaked police drone footage exposes the new reality of surveillance
Hours of San Francisco Police video were accidentally released. (Wired $)
+ Surveillance from drones is on the rise in the US. (MIT Technology Review)
 
7 Over two-thirds of Americans back a Sanders-style AI ownership plan
A poll found strong support for public ownership of AI stock. (Gizmodo)
+ Tech firms have their own takes on the idea. (MIT Technology Review)

8 AI may soon make campaign text messages more potent—and irritating
AI platforms are training bots to sound like political candidates. (NPR)

9 An orbiting disco ball gave Einstein’s theory its most precise test yet  
It measured Earth’s twisting of space-time more precisely. (Rest of World)

10 Australia’s biggest radio hit may be the product of GenAI
Musicians are questioning how the song was made. (Guardian)

Quote of the day

“LOL, I found out I can access the [network storage], so funny.” 

—A text message sent by former Apple engineer Chang Liu to a colleague, which a new lawsuit alleges was part of a scheme to steal hardware IP for OpenAI.

One More Thing

How uncrewed narco subs could transform the Colombian drug trade

On a bright April morning in 2025, a surveillance plane operated by the Colombian military spotted a 40-foot-long “narco sub” idling in the Caribbean Sea. The stealthy vessel, used by drug cartels to move cocaine north, could sail with its hull almost entirely underwater.

After seizing the boat, the coast guard noticed something unusual: there was no one on board. This was Colombia’s first confirmed uncrewed narco sub, operable by remote control, but also capable of a degree of autonomous travel.

Uncrewed subs could move more cocaine over longer distances, and they won’t put human smugglers at risk of capture. Find out how they may transform the drug trade.

— Eduardo Echeverri López

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.)

+ Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” has been reinvented as a yacht rock track.
+ Two super-puff planets lighter than cotton candy have been spotted floating through space.
+ An inventor has given Tic Tac fans (like Donald Trump) a solution to the box’s annoying rattling in their pockets.
+ Imbibe a dose of adrenaline with this first-person footage of a rider on heart-pounding Red Bull Genova Cerro Abajo.

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.

Anthropic found a hidden space where Claude puzzles over concepts

The AI firm Anthropic has got the clearest glimpse yet at what’s really going on inside large language models as they answer questions or carry out tasks. What they found ranges from the mundane to the unnerving. 

Researchers at the company built a tool called the Jacobian lens (or J-lens) and used it to uncover a hidden area, which they named the J-space, inside its flagship LLM, Claude.

The J-space contains words related to the response a model is working on but may not ultimately produce. If Claude were a person (which it is not), you might say these hidden words reveal what’s on its mind before it actually speaks. 

Read the full story on what they found.

—Will Douglas Heaven

The must-reads

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

1 OpenAI has unveiled its long-awaited “super app” 
ChatGPT Work blends its chatbot, coding tool, and new models. (Reuters $)
+ It’s designed to do your work for you and with you. (Ars Technica)
+ And arrived the same day as OpenAI’s GPT 5.6 models. (NYT $)
+ It’s also developing a fully automated researcher. (MIT Technology Review)

2  Humanoids have performed teleoperated surgery on living animals
In the world-first, they removed gallbladders from pigs. (Ars Technica)
+ The human work behind humanoids is hidden. (MIT Technology Review)
 
3 SK Hynix has landed the largest US listing by a foreign company
The South Korean chip giant raised $26.5 billion. (CNN)
+ Demand for AI data centres has led its profits to skyrocket. (Guardian)
+ But its jumbo share sale may be a sign of overheated times. (FT $)
+ South Korea’s hottest bachelors are chip workers. (MIT Technology Review)
 
4 Tencent is leading a deal to unwind Meta’s $2 billion Manus acquisition
It’s in talks to become the Chinese AI startup’s largest shareholder. (FT $)
+ Tencent will reportedly buy Manus for no less ​than $2 billion. (Reuters $)
+ Beijing had ordered Meta to unwind the acquisition. (Bloomberg $)
 
5 Resuscitated human retinas responded to light 10 hours after death
It’s a big step towards eye transplants that restore vision. (New Scientist $)
+ As is a new device that revives dead eyeballs. (MIT Technology Review)
 
6 Meta has started charging for AI access
A new version of Muse Spark has a paid tier for developers. (Quartz) 
+ Meta also plans to start producing an AI chip in September. (Reuters $)
 
7 OpenAI and Google have sold AI models to blacklisted China groups
Via Singapore-based subsidiaries of Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent. (FT $)

8 A daughter tested an AI “death bot” of her father
The technology provided both comfort and unease. (New Yorker $)

9 An astronomer says the hunt for alien life needs more statistics
He wants to replace speculation with mathematical frameworks. (Quanta)

10 Pokémon Go players turned Times Square into a giant battlefield
More than 1,500 fans finally fulfilled the game’s 2016 launch promise. (Wired $)
+ Pokémon Go is also training world models. (MIT Technology Review)

Quote of the day

“When we’re talking about AI, we love the hype, we get excited about it. The damn thing never actually lands in practice.”

—Vijay Janapa Reddi, an engineering professor at Harvard University, tells Wired why he’s skeptical about grand plans for AI.

One More Thing

Why we should thank pigeons for our AI breakthroughs

In 1943, psychologist B.F. Skinner led a secret government project to make bombs more precise. His idea: teach pigeons to guide missiles by pecking at targets on a screen inside a warhead. To train them, Skinner rewarded the birds with food when they made the right decisions, using trial and error to shape their behavior.

Unsurprisingly, the military never deployed Skinner’s kamikaze pigeons. Yet his experiments convinced him that pigeons were “an extremely reliable instrument” for studying learning.  

Decades later, those same principles would help power reinforcement learning, the technology behind some of today’s most advanced AI systems.

Discover how pigeons inspired one of AI’s most powerful techniques.

—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.)

+ Here’s a splendid selection of this year’s NSW architecture award winners.
+ Photographers have captured the Strawberry Moon’s golden glow in stunning detail.
+ Idiocracy is the film that best exemplifies the “American experience,” according to a new poll. Look back at the prescient comedy with this Screen Junkies trailer.
+ Get ready for the weekend with this psychedelic house journey from Jamie xx b2b Caribou.

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 Engineering issue

We can’t fix everything, but we can be ambitious. We can take on the challenge of making the world better through human ingenuity. That’s what the new Engineering issue of MIT Technology Review is all about. 

Sometimes the challenges we face are giant, like tunneling beneath the seafloor. Some exist at the nanoscale, as with a new ASML machine powering the future of chipmaking. Others represent problems at a planetary scale and in truly unknown territory, like replicating a volcano’s mechanism to cool the Earth on purpose.

These incredible engineering stories show we can come together to get to work and, when the smoke clears, find we’ve made real progress. Subscribe now to read all of them—and more—in the full print issue.

Stripe, Anthropic, and OpenAI are backing an effort to stop respiratory infections

The common cold comes for us all—often more than once a year. And there is no way to prevent it. The best you can do is take vitamin C and stay away from people with the sniffles.

Now, the payment company Stripe is funding a new $500-million nonprofit aiming to prevent both the common cold and the flu. Its eventual goal is to get rid of respiratory viruses altogether.

Anthropic, OpenAI, and Bill Gates have also backed the venture, which will investigate whether modern technologies can counter the common cold and the flu. Dive into the nonprofit’s plans.

—Antonio Regalado

MIT Technology Review Narrated: inside the hunt for the most dangerous asteroid ever

As asteroid 2024 YR4 hurtled toward Earth, astronomers determined that this massive rock posed a higher risk of impact than any object of its size in recorded history. Then, just as quickly as history was made, experts declared that the danger had passed. 

This is the inside story of the network of global scientists who found, followed, planned for, and finally dismissed the most dangerous asteroid ever discovered —all under the tightest of timelines and with the highest of stakes.

—Robin George Andrews

This is our latest story to be turned into an MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we publish each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released.

The must-reads

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

1 China has taken the US’s crown for the world’s fastest supercomputer 
Shenzhen’s LineShine overtook California’s El Capitan. (Axios)
+ China had not had a machine at the top of the list since 2017. (NYT $)
+ But the supercomputer race isn’t geared for AI work. (Reuters $)

2 Mythos reportedly found flaws in classified US government systems
A US official said Anthropic’s model identified certain vulnerabilities. (AP News)
+ The model has now been suspended over US security concerns. (BBC)
+ The NSA has lost access to Anthropic’s tools in fallout. (Engadget)
+ The feud raises new questions about AI safety. (MIT Technology Review) 

3 A US pilot reported seeing Iranian drones swarm in “jellyfish” formation
Which would represent an alarming advance in Iranian drone capabilities. (CNN)
+ The US is heading toward a drone-filled future. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Mark Zuckerberg directed Meta to create a prediction markets app
It will be similar to Polymarket and Kalshi. (NYT $)
+ But won’t let users wager real money. (The Verge) 
+ Another new app, Meta Photos, will create media with AI. (Reuters $)

5 SpaceX’s “Starfall” just launched a secretive test flight
The orbital delivery spacecraft blasted off for the first time yesterday. (Axios)
+ It could also support space manufacturing. (New Scientist $)

6 Alibaba has sued the US for being linked to the Chinese military
It wants to be removed from a Pentagon blacklist. (Reuters $)

7 Nvidia’s banned AI chips have doubled in price on China’s black market
The DGX B300 now costs more than $1.1 million. (Financial Times $)

8 Tesla claims a driver “manually overrode self-driving” in a deadly crash
It said the accelerator was pressed “all the way to 100%.” (The Verge $)

9 The US science retreat has created an opportunity for Europe
But questions about funding and innovation remain. (Nature)
+ Trump has dealt many blows to US science. (MIT Technology Review)

10 Meta’s new smart glasses ditch Ray-Bans for Kylie Jenner 
Meta logos and Jenner designs have replaced the Ray-Ban branding. (Wired $)

Quote of the day

“It’s blasphemy against AI if ‌you say it’s a bubble.”

—SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son tells shareholders that the AI boom is still in its early stages, Reuters reports.

One More Thing

Video games are dividing South Korea

They say StarCraft was the game that changed everything. When the science fiction strategy game arrived in South Korea in 1998, it wasn’t just a hit—it was an awakening.

Out of 11 million copies sold worldwide, 4.5 million were in the country. The game was so popular that it triggered another boom: “PC bangs,” pay-as-you-go gaming cafés.

StarCraft and PC bangs spoke to a generation of young South Koreans boxed in by economic anxiety and rising academic pressures. But they also sparked arguments about game addiction. They’ve led to feuds between government departments—and a national debate over policy.

Read the full story.

—Max S. Kim

We can still have nice things

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

+ This archive lovingly documents the beautiful design of over 1,700 obsolete objects.
+ Classic TV theme tunes like Hey Arnold! Have been revived in a musician’s marvellous samples.
+ Marvel at the mind-boggling geometry of nature and see how bees perfectly construct honeycombs.
+ Hear the ominous, deeply atmospheric tones of a custom string instrument built inside a plastic drainage pipe.