The Download: China’s EV dominance, and making ChatGPT safer

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.

How did China travel to predominate the satellite of electrical cars?

Before astir radical could recognize what was happening, China became a satellite person successful electrical vehicles. And the momentum hasn’t slowed: In conscionable the past 2 years, the fig of EVs sold annually successful the state grew from 1.3 cardinal to a whopping 6.8 million. 

The manufacture is increasing astatine a velocity that has amazed adjacent the astir experienced observers, giving China’s car manufacture sustained maturation during the pandemic. It has besides boosted the state successful its quest to go 1 of the world's clime argumentation leaders.

But the communicative of however the assemblage got present is astir much than conscionable Chinese authorities policy. Read the afloat story.

—Zeyi Yang

How OpenAI is trying to marque ChatGPT safer and little biased

Have you been threatened by an AI chatbot yet? Over the past week it seems similar astir each quality outlet has tried Microsoft’s Bing AI hunt and recovered that the chatbot makes up anserine and creepy stuff. OpenAI, the startup down the chatbot’s connection technology, has besides gotten a batch of (likely baseless) vigor from conservatives successful the US who person accused its chatbot ChatGPT of having a “woke” bias. 

All this outrage is yet having an impact, and OpenAI has realized it needs to bash much to reassure the public. Our elder AI newsman Melissa Heikkilä spoke to 2 AI argumentation researchers astatine OpenAI to perceive much astir however the institution is making ChatGPT safer and little nuts. Read the afloat story.

Melissa’s communicative is from The Algorithm, her play AI newsletter. Sign up to person it successful your inbox each Monday.

The must-reads

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

1 China’s courts are invalidating occidental tech patents
In a bid to springiness its ain businesses a limb up. (WSJ $)
+ China’s tech assemblage is uneasy aft a salient banker mysteriously disappeared. (FT $)
+ The sector’s toxic estimation is failing to pull endowment from overseas. (SCMP $)

2 Russia is nary person to winning the warfare than it was a twelvemonth ago
But it inactive has capable resources to support warring for the foreseeable future. (FT $)
+ How Ukraine’s startups managed to thrive and adjacent grow. (The Information $)
+ Turkey has denied supplying tech to Russia’s military. (FT $) 

3 Hackers are selling logins to large information centers
Including credentials for Amazon, Apple and Microsoft. (Bloomberg $)

4 How Berlin's tech country is becoming much inclusive
A New Yorker is helping pistillate refugees to participate the city’s tech scene. (MIT Technology Review)
+ Why can’t tech hole its sex problem? (MIT Technology Review)
+ The voices of women successful tech are inactive being erased. (MIT Technology Review)

5 These underwater cables tin amended tsunami detection
The task could prevention lives by alerting land residents erstwhile deadly waves are forming. (MIT Technology Review)

8 We should support the Amazon astatine each costs
Its nonaccomplishment would person wide-ranging clime repercussions. (Scientific American $)
+ We aren’t terrified capable astir losing the Amazon. (MIT Technology Review)

9 How to thatch AI to talk with a cleanable Latino Spanish accent
Voice actors are progressively grooming the precise exertion that volition regenerate them. (Rest of World)
+ What it’s similar to find retired you’re the dependable of Siri. (Insider $)

10 Why you shouldn’t usage your telephone fig to log in
The hacking risks are high. (Vox)

Quote of the day

“They are sidesplitting civilians, women, children… and past saying they came present to assistance america and liberate us. Liberate america from what? Life.”

—Liudmila Zadnipriany, a Ukrainian pistillate whose lad was killed successful the conflict, rubbishes Vladimir Putin’s claims that Ukraine and its occidental allies started the warfare to the BBC.

The large story

This super-realistic virtual satellite is simply a driving schoolhouse for AI

February 2022

Building driverless cars is simply a dilatory and costly business. After years of effort and billions of dollars of investment, the exertion is inactive stuck successful the aviator phase.

Autonomous exertion institution Waabi thinks it tin bash better. Last twelvemonth it revealed the arguable caller shortcut to autonomous vehicles it’s betting on. The large idea? Ditch the cars.

Wasabi has built a super-realistic virtual situation called Waabi World. Instead of grooming an AI operator successful existent vehicles, it plans to bash it wholly wrong the simulation. But simulation unsocial is simply a bold strategy, and however acold it tin spell depends connected however realistic Waabi World truly is. Read the afloat story.