The Download: AI in warfare, and US climate policies

This is today's variation of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a regular dose of what's going connected successful the satellite of technology.

Inside the messy morals of making warfare with machines

In caller years, intelligent autonomous weapons—weapons that tin prime and occurrence upon targets without immoderate quality input—have go a substance of superior concern. Giving an AI strategy the powerfulness to determine matters of beingness and decease would radically alteration warfare forever.

But intelligent autonomous weapons that afloat displace quality decision-making person (likely) yet to spot real-world use. Even the “autonomous” drones and ships fielded by the US and different powers are utilized nether adjacent quality supervision. 

However, these systems person go blase capable to rise caller questions—ones that are trickier to reply than the well-­covered wrangles implicit slayer robots. What does it mean erstwhile a determination is lone portion quality and portion machine? And when, if ever, is it ethical for that determination to beryllium a determination to kill? Read the afloat story.

—Arthur Holland Michel

If you’re funny successful speechmaking much astir AI’s relation successful making beingness oregon decease decisions, cheque retired my workfellow Will Douglas Heaven’s piece exploring the narration betwixt mortality and automation.

What’s changed successful the US since the breakthrough clime measure passed a twelvemonth ago?

When President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into instrumentality 1 twelvemonth agone this week, helium acceptable speech an estimated $369 cardinal to combat clime change. Researchers and others progressive successful clime person been speculating astir what that immense magnitude of currency volition each mean ever since.

Casey Crownhart, our clime reporter, dug into what has changed since then, and what’s adjacent for the breakthrough clime law. Read the afloat story.

Casey’s communicative is from The Spark, her play clime newsletter. Sign up to person it successful your inbox each Wednesday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the net to find you today’s astir fun/important/scary/fascinating stories astir technology.

3 Amazon’s archetypal aiders are pushing injured employees to support working
Staff assertion their reports of superior injuries are being overlooked. (Wired $)

4 An algorithm-less TikTok is connected the horizon
But is TikTok inactive TikTok without its hyper-personalized recommendations? (The Atlantic $)
+ New York City has jumped connected the TikTok prohibition hype train. (Reuters)

5 A US tribunal has attempted to prohibition an termination drug
While the lawsuit lacks ineligible merit, it’s inactive a thorn successful the broadside of wellness providers. (Vox)
+ For now, the ruling doesn’t impact entree to mifepristone. (Ars Technica)
+ Texas is trying retired caller tactics to restrict entree to termination pills online. (MIT Technology Review)

6 A pig kidney transplant has worked for much than a month
The gene-edited transplant into a brain-dead idiosyncratic could assistance pave the mode to much resilient, safer organs. (WSJ $)
+ Meet the pigs that could lick the quality organ transplant crisis. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Computing is simply a large clime villain
However, researchers are assured that achieving net-zero c emissions is possible. (Economist $)
+ We’re getting a amended thought of AI’s existent c footprint. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Southeast Asia’s taxi drivers are calved influencers
The earthy storytellers are spellbinding online audiences. (Rest of World)

9 Beijing’s cemeteries are going integer 🪦
Traditional headstones are out, integer screens are in. (Bloomberg $)
+ What happens erstwhile you donate your assemblage to science. (MIT Technology Review)

10 Chefs aren’t disquieted astir chatbots 🍽️
Even though others successful the hospitality manufacture are increasing progressively curious. (The Guardian)
+ Nutritionally speaking, ChatGPT’s recipes are somewhat lacking. (WSJ $)

Quote of the day

“It’s the Wild West. There is virtually nary capacity.”

—Eric Jonas, who is successful the process of starting an AI cause find company, is conscionable 1 of galore startup workers struggling to procure important AI chips amid a planetary shortage, helium tells the New York Times.

The large story

Stitching unneurotic the grid volition prevention lives arsenic utmost upwind worsens

July 2022The blistering vigor waves that acceptable somesthesia records crossed overmuch of the US this summertime strained energy systems, and threatened to sound retired powerfulness successful susceptible regions of the country. While the energy mostly stayed online, dense usage of energy-sucking air-conditioners and the aggravated vigor contributed to scattered problems and adjacent calls.

The nation’s isolated and antiquated grids are successful hopeless request of upgrades. One solution would beryllium to much tightly integrate the country’s determination grids, stitching them unneurotic with much long-range transmission lines, allowing powerfulness to travel betwixt regions to wherever it’s needed much urgently. However, that’s a ngo that’s fraught with challenges. Read the afloat story.

—James Temple

We tin inactive person bully things

A spot for comfort, amusive and distraction successful these weird times. (Got immoderate ideas? Drop maine a line oregon tweet 'em astatine me.)

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+ Enjoy these rap punchlines for the ages.
+ Zucchini successful a dessert? If you accidental so.
+ There’s thing this shredder won’t effort and shred—even if it needs a spot of assistance sometimes.