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What the US can learn from the role of AI in other elections This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. That’s the approach bad state actors seem to have taken when it comes to how they mess with elections around the world. When the…
Addressing climate change impacts image The reality of climate change has spurred enormous public and private investment worldwide, funding initiatives to mitigate its effects and to adapt to its impacts. That investment has spawned entire industries and countless new businesses, resulting in the creation of new green jobs and contributions to economic growth. In the United States, this includes the…
The Download: EV subsidies risks, and introducing The Debrief https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdJxFM0wpwVmaQL66IEuAxHvnV1_OICDYQQV-mwTXbkDDt46ITyteQ_l9W316TQay05nxcdZJCh063etqEtOwzlXzEC6tMIiyRc4oT8znszY1_7QGTfXZw1K0xzVs2zbA7eoNd9wRbNsPi6LcZlfgl_MvNM?key=aoBVh-zLz_n_vL4khBzwnw 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. Some countries are ending support for EVs. Is it too soon? Sales of new electric vehicles in Germany have plummeted, dropping nearly 37% in July 2024 from the same month one year ago.…
Some countries are ending support for EVs. Is it too soon? Sales of new electric vehicles in Germany have plummeted, dropping nearly 37% in July 2024 from the same month one year ago. One of the main reasons traces back to mid-December 2023, when the German government gave less than one week’s notice before ending its subsidy program for electric vehicles. The program had given drivers…
The Download: training robots for unfamiliar environments, and all-new bird flu image 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 models let robots carry out tasks in unfamiliar environments What’s new: It’s tricky to get robots to do things in environments they’ve never seen before. Typically, researchers need to train them on…
AI models let robots carry out tasks in unfamiliar environments It’s tricky to get robots to do things in environments they’ve never seen before. Typically, researchers need to train them on new data for every new place they encounter, which can become very time-consuming and expensive. Now, researchers have developed a series of AI models that teach robots to complete basic tasks in new surroundings…
Flu season is coming—and so is the risk of an all-new bird flu This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. September will soon be drawing to a close. The kids are back to school, and those of us in the Northern Hemisphere are experiencing the joys the end…
The Download: bird flu concerns, and tracking AI’s impact on elections image 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 virologists are getting increasingly nervous about bird flu Bird flu has been spreading in dairy cows in the US—and the scale is likely to be far worse than it looks. In addition,…
How AI can help spot wildfires This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. In February 2024, a broken utility pole brought down power lines near the small town of Stinnett, Texas. In the following weeks, the fire reportedly sparked by that equipment grew to burn…
Why virologists are getting increasingly nervous about bird flu Bird flu has been spreading in dairy cows in the US—and the scale of the spread is likely to be far worse than it looks. In addition, 14 human cases have been reported in the US since March. Both are worrying developments, say virologists, who fear that the country’s meager response to the virus is…
AI-generated content doesn’t seem to have swayed recent European elections  AI-generated falsehoods and deepfakes seem to have had no effect on election results in the UK, France, and the European Parliament this year, according to new research.  Since the beginning of the generative-AI boom, there has been widespread fear that AI tools could boost bad actors’ ability to spread fake content with the potential to…
The Download: Congress’s AI bills, and Snap’s new AR spectacles image 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 are more than 120 AI bills in Congress right now More than 120 bills related to regulating artificial intelligence are currently floating around the US Congress. This flood of bills is indicative…
There are more than 120 AI bills in Congress right now More than 120 bills related to regulating artificial intelligence are currently floating around the US Congress. They’re pretty varied. One aims to improve knowledge of AI in public schools, while another is pushing for model developers to disclose what copyrighted material they use in their training.  Three deal with mitigating AI robocalls, while two address…
Here’s what I made of Snap’s new augmented reality Spectacles image Before I get to Snap’s new Spectacles, a confession: I have a long history of putting goofy new things on my face and liking it. Back in 2011, I tried on Sony’s head-mounted 3-d glasses and, apparently, enjoyed them. Sort of. At the beginning of 2013, I was enamored with a Kickstarter project I saw…
The Download: OpenAI’s latest model, and 4D printing’s potential image 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 OpenAI’s new model is such a big deal Last week OpenAI released a new model called o1 (previously referred to under the code name “Strawberry” and, before that, Q*) that blows GPT-4o…
Why OpenAI’s new model is such a big deal This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get it in your inbox first, sign up here. Welcome back to The Algorithm! This week we’re going to talk about OpenAI’s impressive new reasoning model, called o1. I want to illustrate why it’s such a big deal with an example from my wedding…
Google is funding an AI-powered satellite constellation that will spot wildfires faster image Early next year, Google and its partners plan to launch the first in a series of satellites that together would provide close-up, frequently refreshed images of wildfires around the world, offering data that could help firefighters battle blazes more rapidly, effectively, and safely. The online search giant’s nonprofit and research arms have collaborated with the…
The Download: an AI safety hotline, and tech for farmers image 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 we need an AI safety hotline —Kevin Frazier is an assistant professor at St. Thomas University College of Law and senior research fellow in the Constitutional Studies Program at the University of…
Why we need an AI safety hotline In the past couple of years, regulators have been caught off guard again and again as tech companies compete to launch ever more advanced AI models. It’s only a matter of time before labs release another round of models that pose new regulatory challenges. We’re likely just weeks away, for example, from OpenAI’s release of…
The Download: conspiracy-debunking chatbots, and fact-checking AI image 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. Chatbots can persuade people to stop believing in conspiracy theories The internet has made it easier than ever before to encounter and spread conspiracy theories. And while some are harmless, others can be…