10 months ago
119 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 to speech astir AI (even if you don’t cognize overmuch astir it)
Everyone is talking astir AI, it seems. But if you consciousness overwhelmed oregon uncertain astir what the hellhole radical are talking about, don’t worry. We’ve got you.
Melissa Heikkilä, our elder AI reporter, asked immoderate of the champion journalists successful the concern to stock their apical tips connected however to speech astir AI with confidence.
Given that they walk their days obsessing implicit the tech, listening to AI folks and past translating what they accidental into clear, relatable connection with important context, it’s just to accidental they cognize a happening oregon 2 astir what they’re talking about.
Read the afloat story to larn the 7 things you ought to wage peculiar attraction to erstwhile talking astir AI.
This communicative is from The Algorithm, Melissa’s play newsletter giving you the wrong way connected each things AI. Sign up to person it successful your inbox each Monday.
The aboriginal of TikTok bans
Montana precocious banned TikTok successful the astir melodramatic determination US legislators person made against the institution to date.
US policymakers person been scrutinizing the app intensely successful caller months implicit concerns astir Chinese espionage, and nether the caller changes, marketplaces similar Google Play and Apple’s App Store could look fines of $10,000 per time if they marque TikTok disposable to users successful Montana from 1 January adjacent year.
So are we truly proceeding down a way wherever we mightiness person to delete and re-download definite apps arsenic we transverse authorities lines? What is the aboriginal of TikTok bans, and could they ever really beryllium enforced? Tate Ryan-Mosley, our elder tech argumentation reporter, has dug into it all. Read the afloat story.
For much incisive analysis, sign up to The Technocrat, Tate’s play tech argumentation newsletter, and person it successful your inbox each Friday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the net to find you today’s astir fun/important/scary/fascinating stories astir technology.
1 AI could airs arsenic large a menace to humanity arsenic atomic war
That’s what immoderate AI leaders are warning, but it’s a profoundly contested message. (NYT $)
+ Geoffrey Hinton tells america wherefore he’s present frightened of the tech helium helped build. (MIT Technology Review)
2 Germany is betting large connected fusion energy
A promising startup is the latest to instrumentality connected the challenge. (FT $)
+ This startup says its archetypal fusion works is 5 years away. Experts uncertainty it. (MIT Technology Review)
3 China has sent its archetypal civilian astronaut into space
It’s the latest measurement successful the country’s plans to marque it to the satellite by 2030. (CNN)
+ It’s besides portion of China’s plans to look prepared successful the lawsuit of a warfare successful space. (WSJ $)
+ How to combat a warfare successful abstraction (and get distant with it) (MIT Technology Review)
4 Who truly benefits from the AI rush?
Savvy chipmakers and infrastructure suppliers are laughing each the mode to the bank. (Economist $)
+ Nvidia says that AI is turning everyone into a programmer. (FT $)
5 California has a superior EV charger shortage
It’d amended get a determination connected earlier its caller electric-only regulations travel into force. (WSJ $)
+ EVs conscionable got a large boost. We’re going to request a batch much chargers. (MIT Technology Review)
6 Texas is cooling connected Elon Musk
In emblematic Musk fashion, he’s moving accelerated and breaking things (WP $)
7 Sex workers emotion Twitter Spaces
Even if the remainder of the level is falling isolated earlier our eyes. (Wired $)
8 Blank screens are getting tens of millions of YouTube views
The days-long videos are astonishing productivity tools. (The Verge)
9 Vintage vigor lovers are acceptable for the apocalypse 📻
If cellular networks fail, these enthusiasts volition cognize precisely what to do. (The Guardian)
10 Social media can’t get capable of atrocious poetry
Simple verses lend themselves to little posts—but that doesn’t marque them good. (Motherboard)
Quote of the day
“No specified happening arsenic a precocious wage debased accent occupation successful tech.”
—An anonymous Amazon worker responds to a chap tech idiosyncratic seeking proposal connected online vocation assemblage Blind connected however to find a little stressful job, Insider reports.
The large story
The metaverse is simply a caller connection for an aged idea
February 2022
In little than a year, the metaverse graduated from a niche word to a household name. Its metamorphosis began successful July 2021, erstwhile Facebook announced that it would dedicate the adjacent decennary to bringing the metaverse to life: an immersive, affluent integer satellite combining aspects of societal media, online gaming, and augmented and virtual reality.
But we would beryllium remiss if we didn’t instrumentality a measurement backmost to inquire wherever the metaverse comes from. It’s not astir arsenic caller arsenic it looks, and knowing its past tin uncover imaginable pitfalls and lessons already learned. Read the afloat story.
