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.

AI is more likely than humans to form biases when hiring

The next time you apply for a job, AI may screen your résumé before any human sees it. But there’s good reason to question whether AI will judge you fairly. 

We already know that LLMs pick up human biases from their training data. New research suggests they can also develop their own biases from experience—and stereotype job applicants more than humans do.

As AI companies race to build agentic models that remember the tiniest details about users, they may be handing them ammunition for forming those biases. 

Read the full story on AI’s alarming potential to stereotype job applicants.

—Michelle Kim

The risk of weather data sabotage is rising

Every morning, airline dispatchers, grid operators, and farmers around the world make decisions based on weather forecasts. More recently, the forecasts have become relevant for another industry: prediction markets, where people bet money on all kinds of real-world events, including the weather. 

The temptation to manipulate weather data to get an edge in these markets, combined with a collective move toward data-driven AI weather forecasting, is starting to put the accuracy of weather predictions at risk. 

As experts in the field, we can foresee scenarios where the risks snowball into far bigger, more systemic problems. 

Find out why the threats to weather data are growing—and how to stay ahead of them.

—Monique Kuglitsch, Jesper Dramsch, Franz G. Kuglitsch, & Andrea Toreti

The must-reads

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

1 SpaceX is negotiating to sell the Pentagon AI compute
It would provide data center capacity worth billions of dollars. (WSJ $)
+ Deepening ties between Elon Musk’s company and the DoD. (Reuters $)
+ Meanwhile, Anthropic is in talks with Meta to acquire compute. (CNBC)
+ The compute explosion is only just beginning. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Trump Media wants $100,000 a month for early access to Trump’s posts
The premium feed is being pitched to trading firms and banks. (FT $)
+ It aims to monetize Trump’s market-moving social media posts. (Reuters $)
+ Critics described the plan as “brazen corruption.” (Guardian)
 
3 ICE shared Medicaid data it wasn’t supposed to have with Palantir
Court filings show the data reached the contractor before being deleted. (NPR)
+ ICE is using data broker tools to identify “unaccompanied minors.” (Wired $) 
 
4 Apple briefly overtook Nvidia as the world’s most valuable company
The iPhone maker’s earnings durability has impressed investors. (Reuters $)
+ While Nvidia’s rise has stalled amid shifting AI bets. (CNBC)
 
5. Politicians are trying to change what chatbots say about them
A new industry has sprung up to help them edit AI outputs. (NYT $)
+ Chatbots can sway voters better than political ads. (MIT Technology Review)
 
6 Washington is opening the door to armed robots
The Pentagon is accelerating AI weapons development. (WP $)
+ “Humans in the loop” in war is an illusion. (MIT Technology Review)
 
7 China’s Moonshot has paused new subscriptions amid surging uptake
Demand for the headline-grabbing Kimi ​K3 has strained capacity. (SCMP)
+ China’s open-source AI is challenging US models. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Lab-grown teeth could soon replace fillings and implants
Scientists believe regenerative medicine could transform dentistry. (BBC)
+ Humanlike “teeth” have been grown in mini pigs. (MIT Technology Review)
 
9 AI slop on birdwatching forums is putting research at risk
It could contaminate records of species. (Guardian)

10 Heart experts have good news for your coffee habit
Roughly five cups per day is fine—and may even be beneficial. (Gizmodo)

Quote of the day

“The most authoritarian government is producing the most egalitarian models, and what should be the most democratic government is breeding companies that are the most authoritarian.” 

—Rayan Krishnan, CEO of Vals AI, a company that evaluates AI performance, gives the New York Times his take on the competition between Chinese and American models.

One More Thing

The curious case of the disappearing Lamborghinis

A new wave of theft is rocking the luxury car industry—mixing high tech with old-school chop-shop techniques to snag vehicles while they’re in transport. 

It’s remained under the radar, even as it’s rocked the industry over the past two years. MIT Technology Review identified more than a dozen cases involving high-end vehicles, obtained court records, and spoke to law enforcement, brokers, drivers, and victims in multiple states to reveal how transport fraud is wreaking havoc across the country.

Find out how a new wave of transport fraud is wreaking havoc across the country. 

—Craig Silverman

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 the perfect outfit for a heat wave: the world’s first self-cooling clothes.
+ The “unhinged” cake decorators at a Missoula Walmart have become local legends.
+ This visual guide to chili peppers around the world is a lavishly illustrated ode to the world’s hottest fruit.
+ Take a quirky tour of mid-20th-century cinema in this thread of film posters inadvertently photographed by postwar town planners.

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.

Four nuclear reactors hit a big milestone in the US

—Casey Crownhart

I was really looking forward to July 4, and not just because I love a poolside barbecue. This year the American holiday also marked a big symbolic deadline for US nuclear power.

Last year the Trump administration set a goal to see three new microreactors achieve criticality, a technical milestone establishing that a reactor can sustain a chain reaction, by the nation’s 250th birthday. And just in time, not just three, but four reactors did so.

It’s a positive sign for nuclear technologies at a time of increasing need for electricity and emissions-free energy sources. But achieving criticality doesn’t mean a reactor is ready to provide electricity for the grid (or at all, for that matter).

Here’s what the milestone could mean for nuclear power in the US—and where the four companies might go next.

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 China plans to let its top AI firms buy Nvidia H200 chips
Alibaba, ByteDance, and DeepSeek are set to get permission. (Information $)
+ China had previously withheld approval despite US authorization. (Reuters $)

2 NATO is building a network to stop Russian attackers in their tracks
It will use sensors, drones, satellites, and AI to detect them. (Business Insider)
+ Troops are donning odd camouflage to elude drones. (Economist $)
+ The US wants cheaper drones as Iran’s wrecking its Reapers. (Ars Technica)

3 Researchers have a new idea to fight future El Niños: dimming the sun
Deflecting solar energy could cool the ocean and mitigate the risks. (Wired $)
+ But there could be unexpected consequences. (New Scientist $)
+ And geoengineering as a field is getting a reality check. (MIT Technology Review)
 
4 Meta is patenting an AI device that records users to analyse emotions
It ostensibly aims to tailor workout plans to the user’s mood. (404 Media)
+ AI memory is privacy’s next frontier. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Chipmakers are going vertical as Moore’s Law slows
They’re stacking transistors to keep chips advancing. (Economist $)
+ IBM is betting on the technique. (MIT Technology Review)
 
6 Ivy League students suspected of AI cheating saw scores fall in person
From 96% all the way down to 48%. (Ars Technica)
+ AI giants want to take over the classroom. (MIT Technology Review)
 
7 A new study says parents’ phone addictions damage bonds with kids
It can exacerbate “insecure attachment” for life. (Bloomberg $)
+ And make children more anxious and avoidant. (Gizmodo)

8 A judge approved Musk’s $1.5 million Twitter settlement with the SEC
Despite what she called “serious misgivings” and “red flags.” (Reuters $)
+ Musk was accused of skirting stock disclosure rules. (Fortune)
 
9 Shoebox-sized “detector satellites” could find nuclear bombs in space
Cubesats carrying the detector could sense a bomb’s radiation. (Space)
+ Russia is suspected of developing space-based nukes. (Reuters $)

10 A World Cup match drove Google Search traffic to a new record
The milestone came after Argentina’s comeback against Egypt. (CNBC)

Quote of the day

“I talk about it on Tic Tac.”

—President Donald Trump tells the public where to find his insights on the dangers of communism, Gizmodo reports.

One More Thing

Robots are bringing new life to extinct species

Paleontologists aren’t easily deterred by evolutionary dead ends or a sparse fossil record. And in the last few years, they’ve developed a new trick for turning back time and studying prehistoric animals: building experimental robotic models of them. 

In the absence of a living specimen, an ambling, flying, swimming, or slithering automaton is the next best thing for studying the behavior of extinct organisms. Learning more about how they moved can in turn shed light on their lives, such as their historic ranges and feeding habits. Scientists can simply sit back and observe their behavior in different environments. 

Read the full story on the rise of paleo-inspired robots—and four examples that are shedding light on creatures of yore.

—Shi En 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.)

+ Georgia Hill’s monochrome artworks are filled with visual harmony.
+ AI has salvaged text from a papyrus scroll burned to a crisp when Mount Vesuvius erupted 2,000 years ago.
+ Rare images taken by a Japanese space probe show a near-Earth asteroid resembling a cuddly snowman.
+ “Another One Bites the Bee Gees” smoothly merges two classic tracks with a 4/4 time signature into the perfect song for applying CPR.

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

Why worms (and microbes) are catching on as a manure pollution solution

Anthony Agueda, a third-generation California dairy farmer, pulls a rake through a bed of dark, wet wood chips to reveal a half-dozen squirming red earthworms. There are likely hundreds of thousands more wriggling just under the surface.

The worms and microbes are part of a “vermifiltration” system that cleans manure wastewater. The approach may dramatically cut methane, nitrous oxide, and water pollution.

Vermifiltration is just one of a variety of methods that farmers, companies, and scientists are employing to drive down manure pollution as the livestock industry faces growing pressure to address the environmental harms from one of the smelliest parts of the business.

Explore how the humble earthworm could reshape the future of sustainable farming.

—James Temple

MIT Technology Review Narrated: geoengineering gets a reality check

Solar geoengineering, the controversial idea that we could deliberately intervene in the climate system to counteract global warming, is moving beyond computer simulations and into the practical engineering challenges required to make it real.

Researchers are now working on aircraft, materials, and other systems for solar geoengineering. But as they delve into these details, they’re finding that even early deployment would require significant new infrastructure, time, and investment.

—James Temple

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 The Trump administration has lifted restrictions on OpenAI’s GPT 5.6
The green light came after additional testing and meetings. (Axios)
+ OpenAI subsequently said it will launch widely tomorrow. (Bloomberg $) 
+ The rollout had been delayed due to security concerns. (Verge)
+ Does AI know too much? (MIT Technology Review)

2 China is looking at curbing overseas access to its top AI models
Alibaba, ByteDance, and Z.ai attended meetings about the plan. (Reuters $)
+ Beijing is also weighing the security risks of open-weight AI. (SCMP)
+ And has issued a “backdoor” security alert over Claude Code. (CNBC)

3 European NATO allies have unveiled a $50 billion high-tech missile plan
They will engineer stealth and high-speed hypersonic weapons. (BBC)
+ Which can strike targets at least 300 km away. (Reuters $)
+ The Dutch and British are also developing amphibious ships. (Bloomberg $)
 
4 Meta is testing “super sensing” AI glasses that record every moment
It plans to disable privacy LEDs that alert people when they’re “on.” (FT $)
+ It’s also released an AI image generator. (NYT $)
+ Which lets anyone use your Instagram photos in AI images. (Wired $)
 
5 China’s DeepSeek is developing its own AI chip, sources say
It could reduce the company’s reliance on Nvidia and Huawei. (Bloomberg $)
+ DeepSeek V4 was a win for Chinese chipmakers. (MIT Technology Review)
 
6 Wikipedia is fighting to survive the internet’s next era
It’s under attack from MAGA, AI raids, and repressive regimes. (NYT $)
+ AI has given Wikipedia a language problem. (MIT Technology Review)
 
7 SpaceX plans to launch its first model coproduced with Cursor
The new frontier model could arrive as soon as this week. (Information $)
+ It’s built with AI startup Cursor, which SpaceX is buying for $60 billion. (FT $)
 
8 A new academic “humanizer” tool can erase signs of AI-written text
But researchers are very divided over its potential impact. (Nature $)

9 Scientists have detected a mystery chemical on Pluto and Titan
It appears to absorb light in a way we don’t currently understand. (Wired $)

10 A Waymo robotaxi reportedly called the cops on drinking teens
Officers then approached the vehicle with guns drawn. (404 Media)

Quote of the day

“Parents do you know where your teens are? Waymo does!” 

—Local police post on Facebook that a Waymo in California called the cops on two teenagers for “drinking and shooting from the vehicle.”

One More Thing

Your boss is watching

Dora Manriquez has spent nine years driving for Uber and Lyft, where every ride she accepts or rejects is tracked by the apps she relies on for work. Having found herself unable to score enough better-­paying rides, she has had to file for bankruptcy. 

App-based employers aren’t the only ones keeping a very close eye on workers today. Jobs today—whether in an office, a warehouse, or your car—can mean constant electronic surveillance with little transparency, and potentially with livelihood-ending consequences if your productivity flags.

All that data is shifting the relationships between workers and managers—and protections are lagging. Read the full story on the widening power imbalance it’s created.

—Rebecca Ackermann

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.)

+ Literary worlds collide in this marvellous Dr Seuss/Stephen King mashup.
+ A daring snorkeler saved a dolphin from a suckerfish—and then celebrated with its whole pod.
+ This clever musical project seamlessly constructs an original song from vocal snippets of 50 artists singing US city names.
+ A long-lost wallet from 1970 was recently unearthed, creating a cute time capsule from its owner’s high school years.

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.

Your family’s $300 stake in OpenAI

Sam Altman’s proposal that Americans should share in the wealth created by AI is back in the spotlight, with reports that he is discussing giving the US government a 5% stake in OpenAI. At the company’s current valuation, that stake would be worth roughly $320 per American household.

The idea is meant to address concerns that AI companies are benefiting from human-generated work without compensating creators, while also easing fears that AI will cause a collapse of the labor market by providing a safety net. 

The details, however, remain unclear. Indeed, the offer may be more powerful as a political narrative than as a policy plan.

Read the full story on what the dividend proposal reveals about the future of AI.

—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 A leaked Treasury report compares the AI market to the dotcom bubble
 Which contradicts the administration’s public optimism about AI. (NOTUS)
+ Fears that the market is overinflated are growing. (Reuters $)
+ And AI profits are hiding bigger risks in earnings reports. (FT $)
+ What even is the AI bubble? (MIT Technology Review)

2 Samsung profits have jumped 1,800% on booming AI chip sales
It just reported its third consecutive record quarterly profit. (BBC)
+ But its shares slumped over fears that the AI boom will stall. (Reuters $)
+ That boom has turned Samsung into a $1 trillion company. (CNBC)
 
3 A US cyber agency is using Mythos to audit government code
Sources say CISA is tapping Anthropic’s model to search for bugs. (Reuters $)
+ Agencies are using it despite Anthropic’s feud with the White House. (Axios)
 
4 Illinois’ governor has signed the nation’s strongest frontier AI law
It’s designed to protect citizens from AI risks. (Gizmodo)
+ US lawmakers are clashing over AI rules. (MIT Technology Review)
 
5 A hidden tracker in Claude Code has been exposed and removed
It secretly monitored users in China. (WP $)
+ Critics said it shows Anthropic’s willingness to surveil users. (Ars Technica)
+ The company has also found a hidden “thinking” space in Claude. (Axios)

6 Russia is suspected of flying drones over Europe from a shadow fleet
The flights were reportedly launched from commercial ships. (Ars Technica)
+ Europe has a drone-filled vision for future wars. (MIT Technology Review)
 
7 A controversial AI “actor” is set to star in its first feature film
Tilly Norwood will debut in a comedy-drama called “Misaligned.” (Variety)
+ A major actors union has lambasted the AI creation. (NBC News)

8 AI costs are driving US companies toward Chinese models
Businesses are hunting for cheaper model alternatives. (CNBC)
+ Chinese AI labs are betting big on open source. (MIT Technology Review)
 
9 Researchers have shown quantum proofs can beat classical ones
They found a problem that classical proofs can’t solve. (Quanta)

10 Earth will never be swallowed by the sun, according to new models
But it probably won’t be much fun to live here by that point anyway! (Wired $)

Quote of the day

“The goal might be to make machines in our image. But what I fear is that—perhaps without even quite noticing—we remake ourselves in theirs.” 

—Reporter Sarah O’Connor sounds a note of caution in her new book, We Are Not Machines, the Guardian reports.

One More Thing

Adventures in the genetic time machine

Eske Willerslev, a specialist in recovering DNA from old bones and objects, has made numerous breakthroughs. These include recovering the first more or less complete genome of an ancient human and 2.4-million-year-old genetic material from Greenland, revealing that today’s Arctic desert was once a forest with poplar, birch, and mastodons.

These findings are part of a wave of discoveries from what’s being called an “ancient-DNA revolution.” 

Beyond revealing stories of human migration and vanished ecosystems, scientists believe ancient DNA can unearth clues about modern diseases. It could even lead to a better food supply for our warming world. “And can we get that?” Willerslev asks. “Yes, I believe we can.”

Discover how ancient DNA could rescue the future. 

—Antonio Regalado

We can still have nice things

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

+ Underworld’s electric set from EDC Las Vegas 2026 has been released as a full concert video.
+ This photographic journey through global soccer culture captures the mad passion of fandom around the world.
+ Feeling unhinged? Me too. This playlist of gloriously intense classical music sympathetically captures the mood.
+ If you’re looking for visual inspiration, this collection of graphic design archives from across the web is a goldmine.

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.

South Korea’s hottest new bachelors are chip workers

Baek, a 35-year-old manager at the South Korean semiconductor titan SK Hynix, was enrolled in a matchmaking company a year ago. In a move typical of anxious South Korean parents, his mother signed him up, hoping to find a good wife for her son.

Lately, says Baek, he and his coworkers are having better luck finding dates—perhaps because of the dazzling bonuses they just got. Flush with eye-popping profits from the AI chip boom, SK Hynix agreed to pay 10% of operating profits to employees, which translates to an extra $476,000 per employee this year. Samsung workers received a similar deal this May.

With their newfound wealth, chip workers like Baek have become the most sought-after bachelors and bachelorettes in South Korea. 

Discover how AI chip profits are transforming South Korea’s dating market—and stoking anxieties.

—Michelle Kim

A device that revives eyeballs from dead donors could make eye transplants possible

It’s not easy to transplant a whole human eye. The surgery is difficult, and eyes start to degenerate as soon as they’ve left the body. When surgeons attempted it a few years ago, the newly transplanted eye couldn’t see.

But researchers believe they might have a solution: a device that maintains and revives freshly removed eyeballs using a technique called perfusion. Treated eyes don’t degrade as quickly and appear to retain the ability to transmit electrical signals—and potentially see. 

The device could one day make whole-eye transplants a viable possibility. Here’s how it works.

—Jessica Hamzelou

The must-reads

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

1 The UN’s chief has warned that AI is outpacing global rules
He’s called for globally harmonised guardrails. (Reuters $)
+ The UN also said AI could worsen global inequality. (Guardian)

2 An Israeli battlefield system identified 850,000 targets in Gaza and Lebanon
Elbit Systems says it detected targets in real time. (Guardian)
+ Congress wants to permanently integrate US and Israeli defence tech. (Intercept) 
+  How AI turned the Iran conflict into theater. (MIT Technology Review) 

3 EU transparency rules have exposed Microsoft’s tax haven tactics
A new report shows how it shifts profits around to reduce tax bills. (NYT $)
+ Other US companies will soon need to provide similar reports. (Engadget)

4 A spacecraft has launched an audacious mission to rescue a NASA telescope
LINK will try to tug the SWIFT observatory to a higher orbit. (New Scientist $)
+ It will attempt to grab the telescope with three robotic arms. (BBC)
+ The observatory studies gamma-ray bursts. (NBC News)
+ We’re putting more stuff into space than ever. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Chinese tech giants are disabling humanlike AI due to new regulations
ByteDance and Alibaba have shut down the features. (SCMP)
+ Beijing is tightening its AI regulations. (Nikkei Asia)

6 Anthropic wants to develop its own drugs
The company says it will pursue treatments for “neglected” diseases. (Verge)
+ It’s also got a new AI for science product. (MIT Technology Review)

7 India is testing an alternative to Silicon Valley’s AI playbook
It’s based on small, offline, multilingual, open-source AI. (Rest of World)
+ India’s AI infrastructure is also attracting investors. (CNBC)

8 Big Tech has suddenly flipped on the AI jobs wipeout scenario
Negative public opinion has sparked a more optimistic public stance. (WSJ $)
+ The AI jobs hysteria needs a reality check. (MIT Technology Review)

9 Midjourney has accused Hollywood studios of covertly using AI
It’s escalated its legal fight with Disney, Universal, and Warner. (Gizmodo)

10 A martian rock has lots of carbon on it, and it’s not clear why
Scientists cannot yet tell whether biology played a role. (Ars Technica)

Quote of the day

“It’s just his AI and my AI going back and forth.” 

—An anonymous employee explains why she’s struggling to develop a good working relationship with her boss, Fortune reports.

One More Thing

The AI relationship revolution is already here

AI is everywhere, and it’s starting to alter our relationships with our spouses, kids, colleagues, friends—and even ourselves. 

Although the technology remains unpredictable and sometimes baffling, individuals from all across the world and from all walks of life are finding it useful, supportive, and comforting too. 

People are using large language models to seek validation, mediate marital arguments, and help navigate interactions with their community. They’re using it for parenting support, self-care, and even to fall in love.

Explore how AI is changing our relationships.

—Rhiannon Williams

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.)

+ Radiohead’s seminal album “OK Computer” has been reimagined as a Nintendo 64 soundtrack.
+ Graphic design history meets stamp collecting in this beautifully curated archive of postage stamp design.
+ As Lionel Messi lights up another World Cup, his former coach breaks down his style of play in this fascinating analysis.
+ Armchair engineers will enjoy the brilliant product teardowns of everyday items like clicky pens and lighters on Mechanical Pencil.

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 UK’s generational tobacco ban might not work. I’m supporting it anyway.

—Jessica Hamzelou

As the parent of two little girls, I often think about how their childhood is different from mine. The seven-year-old is learning about AI at school. The five-year-old is given internet-based homework every week. And they are both absolutely repulsed by the idea of smoking.

That was not the prevailing sentiment when I was young. Smoking was a central part of our culture. Which is why the UK’s recent passing of a generational sales ban on tobacco products feels like such a big deal.

This is what’s described as an “endgame” approach. While many tobacco control strategies—such as taxation or gory imagery—aim to reduce consumption, policies like the UK’s are designed to eliminate it entirely. It’s a new approach, and no one knows whether it will work. But it’s an enticing prospect—and it’s starting to look a lot less radical.

Find out why generational tobacco bans are gaining support.

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

You do your own time

—You do your own time is a short story by Elizabeth Bear, an award-winning speculative fiction author.

There we were, a regular murderers’ row of librarians. Turning around in the nave of our library to greet the sound of footsteps, pistols leveled in case whoever was coming in didn’t respect sanctuary.

I pulled down a solid-state drive full of biographies and case studies of people who had spent time—and sometimes their whole lives—in labor camps or chattelhood. It was illegal to possess, and the feds used smart agents to track down and obliterate any copies. Which was why we were sending one to the stars.

What’s left behind when a name is erased from the system? No legacy, no memory—that is the point of media and narrative control. So that was our plan: to preserve it, for later generations, or just as a silent record of our existence.

Read the rest of this short story in full. 

—Elizabeth Bear

This story is from the latest edition of our magazine, which is all about engineering. Subscribe now to get a copy, plus all our other issues and a range of subscriber-only content.

The must-reads

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

1 An EU lawmaker investigating spyware was hacked by that spyware
Citizen Lab found Pegasus spyware on Stelios Kouloglou’s phone. (Wired $)
+ It said the EU “looks the other way” on spyware abuses. (Guardian)
+ Meet the director of Citizen Lab. (MIT Technology Review)
 
2 Anthropic is closing loopholes that allow Chinese access to Claude
It’s targeting VPNs, relay services, and overseas accounts. (FT $)
+ Users in China keep finding new workarounds. (Wired $)
 
3 A Tesla driver has been charged with manslaughter after a fatal crash
Court records show he was using automated driver-assistance. (WSJ $)
+ Tesla sales have surged 25% after a rebound in Europe. (NYT $)
 
4 Trump bought lots of tech stock the day he unveiled his AI Action Plan
He acquired up to $5 million in stock from Amazon and others. (Engadget)
+ His AI Action Plan was a distraction. (MIT Technology Review)
 
5 Companies are throttling employees’ AI use because it’s too expensive
They’re pleading with workers to use less powerful models. (404 Media)
+ Tesla has capped their AI spending at $200 per week. (The Information $)

6 The Energy Dept wants data centers on backup power in heat waves
It wants them to free up power for AC. (NYT $)
+ People near data centers are dreading heat wave pollution. (Politico $)
+ No one wants a data center in their backyard. (MIT Technology Review)
 
7 A Meta glasses feature just went from free to a subscription service
“Conversation Focus” will now cost $19.99 per month. (BBC)
+ The move heralds a new era of consumer tech subscriptions. (Wired $)

8 Random wobbles in time could solve gravity’s greatest mystery
A new idea could reconcile gravity and quantum mechanics. (New Scientist $)
 
9 Peter Thiel claims the pope is “working for the Chinese Communists”
By pushing for stricter AI rules that may benefit Chinese interests. (CNN)
+ Pope Leo XIV said AI must be “disarmed” in his first major teaching. (BBC)
+ His encyclical offered a template for steering AI. (MIT Technology Review) 
 
10 Supersonic flight over land could finally be legal again
Regulators want to lift a ban—so long as the planes are quiet. (Ars Technica)

Quote of the day

“We don’t have robots that are nearly as good at understanding the physical world as a rat.”

—Yann LeCun, the founder of AMI Labs and Meta’s former chief AI scientist, tells the BBC that AI isn’t as smart as many think.

One More Thing

How two brothers became go-to experts on America’s “mystery drone” invasion 

On a Friday evening in December, every tier of US law enforcement was dispatched to a military research installation outside Boston after a squadron of 15 to 20 drones was spotted violating restricted airspace. The culprits could not be found.

It was the latest in a series of purported drone sightings along the US East Coast. Lacking coordination or clarity from the White House, the Pentagon, and the intelligence community, law enforcement officers turned to an unlikely source: twin brothers from Long Island who hunt UFOs.

The Tedescos have built a mobile field lab to investigate unexplained aerial phenomena. Now members of the FBI want their support.

Discover how the brothers are helping law enforcement investigate UFOs.


—Matthew Phelan

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 record-breaking drone show is a mind-bending display of aerial light.
+ A Paris bakery is taking a bite out of food waste by repurposing croissants.
+ Relive your childhood with a classic episode from the Mister Rogers archive.
+ See graffiti through new eyes with this project that prettifies tags and makes them legible.

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.

LLMs are stuck in a groupthink groove. This startup is trying to get them out.

Open up your chatbot of choice—Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini—and type “Give me a random number between 1 and 10.” You’re going to get 7. Almost always. 

That won’t work every time—but if it did for you, you may wonder if I have superpowers. I don’t.

The truth is that most large language models are stuck in a rut. They are far more predictable and far less creative in their responses than you might expect. That’s fine for tasks like coding or research, but groupthink is a problem when you’re brainstorming or planning your next vacation.

The Australian startup Springboards has a solution. It built an LLM called Flint, which has been trained to come up with a wider variety of responses than mainstream LLMs to open-ended questions such as “Where should I go in Europe?”

Meet the company pushing chatbots away from the obvious.

—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 Scientists say they have built a cell from scratch for the first time
Built with lab-made DNA, it can feed, grow, and multiply. (CNN)
+ It brings us closer to creating synthetic life. (Quanta)
+ And is arguably the greatest feat of bioengineering yet. (New Scientist $)
+ But also raises concerns over the dangers of synthetic biology. (NYT $)
+ Mirror organisms could threaten life on Earth. (MIT Technology Review)

2 OpenAI has proposed giving the Trump administration a 5% stake
Talks over a public ownership deal come amid rising political pressure.(FT $)
+ OpenAI also proposed other US AI giants providing a 5% stake. (CNBC)
+ That could include Anthropic, Google, and Meta. (Bloomberg $)
+ President Trump says he wants the public to have a stake in AI. (BBC)

3 Singapore has seized a $42 million mansion tied to Nvidia chip smuggling
It was seized as part of an investigation into alleged illegal trading. (BBC)
+ Days earlier, Supermicro’s Taiwan offices were raided in the probe. (FT $)

4 Anthropic’s Fable 5 is back online
But queries posing security risks may be routed to less powerful models. (Axios)
+ Anthropic restored access yesterday after the US lifted an export ban. (BBC)
+ But the battle over how to tame AI has just begun. (WSJ $)
+ Anthropic has launched a new AI science product. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Meta is building its own cloud infrastructure business
It’s exploring two ways of monetizing AI compute and models. (Bloomberg $)
+ One is selling access to models hosted on Meta’s infrastructure. (CNBC)
+ The other is selling “raw” computing power. (TechCrunch)

6 PlayStation will stop releasing games on discs in 2028
Future PS5 games will be digital-only releases. (Verge)
+ The news comes days after reports that GTA VI will have no disc. (BBC)
+ It’s put a nail in physical media’s coffin. (Wired $)

7 A low-cost Chinese AI model is catching up with US giants on their home turf
Western customers are drawn to GLM-5.2’s cheap but powerful model. (Reuters $)
+ Chinese open-source models are spreading fast. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Google has lost its fight against a record €4.1 billion EU antitrust fine
It was charged in 2018 for using Android to ‌block rivals. (CNBC)

9 The UN has launched an “AI for Good” commission
Salesforce CEO Benioff and Rwandan President Kagame will co-chair it. (Axios)

10 People prefer AI impersonators over politicians
The study’s findings raise alarm bells around potential public deception. (404 Media)

Quote of the day

“If AI overdelivers, it will impact financial stability. If AI underdelivers, it will impact financial stability.”

—Torsten Slok from Apollo Global Management shares common concerns about AI at the European Central Bank’s annual conference, Reuters reports.

One More Thing

America was winning the race to find Martian life. Then China jumped in.


In July 2024, after more than three years on Mars, the Perseverance rover came across a peculiar rocky outcrop. Instead of the usual crystals or sedimentary layers, this one had spots. Those specks were the best hint yet of alien life.  

NASA began a new mission to bring the rocks back to Earth to study. But now, just over a year and a half later, the project is on life support. As a result, those oh-so-promising rocks may be stuck out there forever. 

This also means that, in the race to find evidence of alien life, America has effectively ceded its pole position to its greatest geopolitical rival: China. Beijing is now moving full steam ahead with its own version of NASA’s mission. 

Here’s how the search for Martian life has become a contest between two superpowers.

—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.)

+ The classic arcade game Crazy Taxi is returning.
+ Thom Yorke’s live set from the Sydney Opera House is a reminder of what an extraordinary performer he is.
+ Peer into 1,000 gloriously illuminated New York apartment windows at night in this generative photography project.
+ The Orion constellation dazzlingly displays every stage of star formation in this image from the James Webb Space Telescope.

Top image credit: Sarah Rogers/MITTR | Photos Getty

Please send gloriously illuminated New York apartments to hi@technologyreview.com. 

You can follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks for reading!

—Thomas

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.

Claude Science is Anthropic’s newest flagship product

At an event for pharmaceutical executives, biotech founders, and researchers yesterday, Anthropic announced Claude Science, a major new product intended to support scientific research like Claude Code supports software engineering.

Like Claude Code, Claude Science can autonomously carry out meaningful work from concise, high-level instructions, with tools for computational biology and drug development. The launch signals that Anthropic is doubling down on AI for science, and the company will also use the product in its own research into drugs for rare, neglected diseases.

Discover why Anthropic is betting big on AI for scientific research.

—Grace Huckins

Why California’s carbon manure math doesn’t add up

Something stinks in California’s climate policies. 

Years ago, the state set up a system that pays cattle farmers to turn the methane emitted from cattle manure into natural gas. It’s become wildly popular because the subsidies are extremely lucrative. But research suggests the program exposes the shortcomings of carbon offsetting and trading schemes.

Instead of forcing industries to directly cut their pollution or pay for it as a cost of doing business, legislators have opted for incentives that swap climate responsibilities between parties and regions. The system could ultimately lock in more warming.

Read the full story on California’s dubious carbon calculations.

—James Temple

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

Watch now: longevity’s next frontier—“reprogramming” your body

Billions of dollars are pouring into efforts to reverse aging as scientists investigate ways to return cells to a younger state. But how close are these experimental treatments? And are they likely to work? 

At a recent virtual Roundtables event, MIT Technology Review explored the answers with science editor Mary Beth Griggs and senior biotechnology reporter Jessica Hamzelou. Subscribers can now watch the full recording of the fascinating discussion.

MIT Technology Review Narrated: the search for dark matter has been blown wide open

For decades, physicists have hunted for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), a leading candidate for dark matter. But their search has run into a new problem: neutrinos. 

These tiny particles from the sun and other stars can create a “neutrino fog” that drowns out any signal of dark matter. Hitting the neutrino fog does not, however, mean an end to the search. Researchers just have to shift the focus of their hunt.

They’re now casting a much wider net. New proposals include quantum sensors, liquid-helium detectors, and even searches in Jupiter’s atmosphere.

—Dan Garisto

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 The US has lifted restrictions on Anthropic’s Mythos and Fable models
Anthropic said it would begin restoring access today. (NYT $)
+ The US had imposed controls over security concerns. (Bloomberg $)
+ It lifted the restrictions after lengthy talks with Anthropic. (BBC)
+ But the crackdown has already opened doors for Chinese AI rivals. (CNBC)

2 The most detailed survey of the universe ever is now underway
It’s using the largest digital camera on Earth. (New Scientist $) 
+ The project is based at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. (NYT $)
+ It aims to transform our view of the cosmos. (MIT Technology Review)
 
3 Tech talent is fleeing the US due to H1-B visa chaos
They’re eyeing relocation to Canada, the UK, or the Gulf. (Rest of World)
+ While China is poaching AI talent from the US. (CNBC)
+ Visa rules are also affecting young scientists. (MIT Technology Review)
 
4 Trump raked in more than $1 billion from crypto businesses in 2025
He reported $635 million in royalties from a Trump meme coin. (BBC)
+ The rest largely came from his World Liberty Financial venture. (The Hill)
 
5 The UN warns that the rapid spread of AI may worsen global inequality
It’s proposed a shared framework for responsible AI development. (Guardian)

6 Companies are making LLMs talk like a caveman to curb AI spending
A senior OpenAI employee contributed to the “caveman” project. (404 Media)
 
7 Babies are born with the neural foundations for math
Brain recordings have identified the mechanisms. (New Scientist $)

8 An independent studio has bought the OpenAI movie Amazon dropped
Neon has purchased “Artificial,” which focuses on Sam Altman. (NYT $)
+ Amazon had dumped it after investing in OpenAI. (Gizmodo)
+ The depiction of Altman is reportedly unsympathetic. (Variety)

9 AI has re-created Gene Wilder’s voice for a new “Willy Wonka” series
Wilder’s wife said his estate is “delighted” with the new show. (NBC News)
+ Netflix partnered with AI company ElevenLabs on the project. (The Verge)

10 NASA aims to send a spare Mars rover—and soccer ball—to the moon
The nuclear-powered “Promise” may help establish a lunar base. (NYT $)

Quote of the day

“Caveman save you token, save you money.” 

—The GitHub repository for the “caveman” plugin explains how the project curbs AI spending by turning verbose LLM outputs into concise text.

One More Thing

AI is dreaming up drugs that no one has ever seen. Now we’ve got to see if they work.

On average, it takes more than 10 years and billions of dollars to develop a new drug. A growing number of startups are betting that AI can make the process faster and cheaper. 

By predicting how potential drugs might behave in the body and discarding dead-end compounds before they leave the computer, machine-learning models can cut down on the need for painstaking lab work. 

Yet it is still early days for AI drug discovery. A lot of AI companies are making claims they can’t back up—and the technology is not a panacea. But the technology is beginning to move from promise to practice.

Find out how AI is speeding up drug discovery.

—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.)

+ Explore the surprisingly diverse world of regional dartboards from across the UK.
+ Judge a book’s beauty by its cover with this collection of the best designs of the last decade.
+ This John Wick parody with almost no dialogue understands what audiences really came for.
+ Focus your mind or unwind with over 80 custom albums of ambient instrumental electronic music on Caught In Joy.

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 agents are not your “coworkers”

Imagine coming in to work to learn that a new underling will report to you. The worker is not a person but an AI tool—one that your company nonetheless calls Alex, an “employee” with a title and defined responsibilities. How well do you think you would work with Alex?

If you’re anything like the managers studied by Boston University professor Emma Wiles, treating that AI as a “coworker” would lead you to do a worse job. They caught 18% fewer errors when the work was attributed to an agentic “AI employee” rather than a chatbot.

This is an alarming glimpse of the future Silicon Valley is hurling us toward. Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google have all released tools for managing teams of AI agents, many of which are advertised as digital colleagues. Find out why that’s a losing proposition for workers.

—James O’Donnell

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

This flying solar-powered platform could deliver better internet from the air

As soon as August, a giant silver bullet will cut its way through the dry air of the southwestern US and cross the Pacific to reach the coast of Japan.

Once there, the roughly 200-foot-long craft, built by the New Mexico–based company Sceye, will park some 18 kilometers above the ocean’s surface in the stratosphere, then use a custom-built antenna to supplement a 5G network, in a test that includes beaming data straight to devices.

Sceye (pronounced “sky”) is one of several firms building these high-altitude platform stations, or HAPS. Find out why they plan to connect us from the stratosphere.

—Rachel Courtland

This story is from the latest edition of our magazine, which is all about engineering. Subscribe now to get a copy, plus all our other issues and a range of subscriber-only content.

Longevity’s next frontier: “reprogramming” your body

Billions of dollars are flooding into efforts to reverse aging as scientists explore ways to return cells to a younger state. But how far off are these experimental treatments? Will they really work? At a virtual Roundtables event today, MIT Technology Review will examine the science behind the hype.

Science editor Mary Beth Griggs and senior biotechnology reporter Jessica Hamzelou will explore longevity’s latest frontier in a subscriber-only discussion.

Register here to join the session at 11:30 AM ET / 8:30 AM PT / 16:30 GMT.

The must-reads

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

1 The US House has passed new youth online safety legislation
+ It would set baseline federal standards for kids’ online safety. (Politico $)
+ States would be allowed to adopt more aggressive protections. (Reuters $)
+ But critics say it lets tech companies avoid accountability. (Axios)
+ And tech groups warn it threatens privacy and free expression. (NBC)
+ The Senate is expected to push for tougher rules. (The Hill)

2 Ford is rehiring human engineers after AI failed to match quality checks
It said the AI lacked the training and expertise of technicians. (Bloomberg $) 
+ The new hires will train younger staff and reprogram AI tools. (BBC)
+ Many firms that replaced workers with AI are now rehiring humans. (Forbes)
+ The AI jobs hysteria needs a reality check. (MIT Technology Review)
 
3 Senator Mark Warren is set to introduce a bill to regulate AI agents
It would set rules for agent permissions and verification. (The Information $)
+ Voters of both parties want tighter AI regulation. (NBC News)
+ But politicians are bitterly divided on the rules. (MIT Technology Review)
 
4 Rocket Lab is buying Iridium for $8 billion to take on SpaceX
It wants to integrate the satellite network with its launch services. (The Verge)
+ Which could create a fleet that can compete with SpaceX. (WSJ $)
 
5 Hackers have exposed secrets about Apple’s upcoming iPhone 18
The data was stolen from Tata Electronics, Apple’s Indian supplier. (Reuters $)
+ The breach also exposed Tesla secrets. (TechCrunch)

6 Chatbots are replacing therapists despite lacking scientific evidence
Experts question their safety and therapeutic quality. (WSJ $)
+ Chatbots may make us lose control of our brains. (MIT Technology Review)
 
7 Newborn DNA sequencing is edging closer to routine healthcare
Trials are expanding despite privacy and ethical concerns. (Economist $)
+ The push for perfect babies is an ethical mess. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Astronomers are using AI to find new galaxies
New tools are reviving decades of space telescope data. (FT $)

9 Remote-controlled cockroach swarms can now breathe underwater
The cyborg insects could one day explore Mars. (New Scientist $)

10 Drone shows are creating new forms of worship 
Churches are depicting biblical stories with thousands of UAVs. (Wired $))

Quote of the day

“This is taking us back to the 1950s, and that is not progress.” 

—Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, tells NPR that slashing regulations undoes decades of safety lessons from the industry.

One More Thing

Design thinking was supposed to fix the world. Where did it go wrong?

When Kyle Cornforth walked into IDEO’s San Francisco offices for a meeting about reimagining school lunches, she was impressed. “It was Post-its everywhere, prototypes everywhere,” she recalls. “What I really liked was that they offered a framework for collaboration and creation.”

Cornforth was new to IDEO’s way of working: a six-step methodology for innovation called design thinking. But when she looked at the ideas themselves, she had questions: “I was like, ‘You didn’t talk to anyone who works in a school, did you?’ They were not contextualized in the problem at all.”

Design thinking broadened the idea of “design,” elevating designers to take on big, knotty problems through a structured process. But critics argue it has produced unrealistic ideas and, by centering designers, reinforced existing inequities.

Read the full story on the rise and fall of design thinking.

—Rebecca Ackermann

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 London tube station has solved its persistent flooding issue by reintroducing beavers.
+ The Beastie Boys song “Sabotage” has been stunningly recreated in this stop-motion video.
+ Classical antiquity is lovingly preserved in this collection of over 8,000 late Latin and Greek letters from the Roman world.
+ This homemade jet-powered fishing boat is a reminder that great engineering and good judgment don’t always travel together.

Top image credit: Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/MITTR | Photos Getty

Please send homemade jet-powered fishing boats to hi@technologyreview.com. 

You can follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks for reading!

—Thomas