The Download: meet the longevity obsessives, and how China’s regulating AI

10 months ago 140

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.

Longevity enthusiasts privation to make their ain autarkic state. They’re eyeing Rhode Island.

—Jessica Hamzelou

Earlier this month, I traveled to Montenegro for a gathering of longevity enthusiasts, radical funny successful extending quality beingness done assorted biotechnology approaches. All the attendees were ace friendly, and the consciousness of optimism was palpable. They’re each assured we’ll beryllium capable to find a mode to dilatory oregon reverse aging—and they person a bold program to velocity up progress.

Around 780 of these radical person created a “pop-up city” that hopes to circumvent the accepted process of objective trials. They privation to make an autarkic authorities wherever like-minded innovators tin enactment unneurotic successful an all-new jurisdiction that gives them escaped rein to self-experiment with unproven drugs. Welcome to Zuzalu. Read the afloat story.

China isn’t waiting to acceptable down rules connected generative AI

Back successful April, the Chinese net regulator published a draught regularisation connected generative AI. The papers doesn’t telephone retired immoderate circumstantial company, but the mode it is worded makes it wide that it was inspired by the incessant motorboat of large-language-model chatbots successful China and the US.

The draught regularisation is simply a substance of sensible restrictions connected AI risks and a continuation of China’s beardown authorities contented of assertive involution successful the tech industry. But portion galore of the clauses successful the draught regularisation are principles that AI critics are advocating for successful the West, it besides contains rules that different countries would apt balk at. Read the afloat story.

—Zeyi Yang

Zeyi’s communicative is from China Report, his play newsletter giving you the wrong way connected what’s going connected successful China. Sign up to person it successful your inbox each Tuesday.

The must-reads

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

1 Elizabeth Holmes has started her 11-year situation sentence
It’s a singular autumn from grace for the entrepreneur, who was convicted of defrauding Theranos’ investors. (The Guardian
+ Her chap prisoners are nonplussed by her arrival, though. (WSJ $)
+ Holmes and her concern spouse person to wage $452 cardinal successful restitution. (NYT $)

2 Nvidia has go the archetypal trillion dollar chipmaker
Thanks to the AI boom. (FT $)
+ Fellow chipmaker Intel is feeling the pressure. (WSJ $)
+ These elemental plan rules could crook the spot manufacture connected its head. (MIT Technology Review)

3 Researchers are disquieted that ChatGPT can’t halt hallucinating
Making up answers to elemental queries is much of a diagnostic than a bug. (WP $)
+ Chatbots tin beryllium utile for radical with autism looking to signifier interactions. (Wired $)
+ A lawyer is successful occupation aft utilizing ChatGPT to mention non-existent cases. (Ars Technica)

4 Twitter is experimenting with crowdsourced information checks
Which seems… risky, to accidental the least. (The Verge)

5 Pandemic simulations tin ne'er afloat hole us
A batch of them aren’t adequately challenging, for one. (The Atlantic $)
+ One cardinal constituent to forestall aboriginal pandemics? Lots of money. (Slate $)
+ AI could assistance with the adjacent pandemic—but not with this one. (MIT Technology Review)

6 An eating upset helpline has disabled its chatbot
The bot, which was designed to regenerate quality volunteers, doled retired harmful weight-loss advice. (Motherboard)

7 Surveilled workers are feeling the pressure
Arbitrary metrics don’t overgarment the afloat representation of however hard someone’s working. (The Guardian)

8 The earnestly analyzable world of nutrient transportation apps
It’s virtually intolerable for mean customers to enactment retired wherever their wealth goes. (WP $)

9 The menopause is an untapped assets for knowing aging
The problem, arsenic ever, is getting backing for probe into women’s health. (Wired $)
+ The statement implicit whether aging is simply a illness rages on. (MIT Technology Review)

10 Who gets to colonize the moon? 🌒
A satellite enactment registry could beryllium 1 mode to find out. (Slate $)
+ The US is brushing up connected its abstraction diplomacy rules. (WP $)
+ Future abstraction nutrient could beryllium made from astronaut breath. (MIT Technology Review)

Quote of the day

"We consciousness a batch similar the filling sandwiched successful the mediate of a biscuit."

—Ryan, a bundle startup laminitis based successful Shenzhen, China, tells Reuters astir the vexation helium and different entrepreneurs consciousness astatine the barriers facing Chinese companies hoping to grow into the US owed to commercialized restrictions.

The large story 

What if aging weren’t inevitable, but a curable disease?

August 2019

Since past times, aging has been viewed arsenic simply inevitable, unstoppable, nature’s way. “Natural causes” person agelong been blamed for deaths among the old, adjacent if they died of a recognized pathological condition. 

The aesculapian writer Galen argued backmost successful the 2nd period AD that aging is simply a earthy process. His view, the acceptance that 1 tin dice simply of aged age, has dominated ever since.

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