1 year ago
122 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.
Welcome to Chula Vista, wherever constabulary drones respond to 911 calls
In the skies supra Chula Vista, California, wherever the constabulary section runs a drone programme 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, it’s not uncommon to spot an unmanned aerial conveyance darting crossed the sky.
Chula Vista is 1 of a twelve departments successful the US that run what are called drone-as-first-responder programs, wherever drones are dispatched by pilots, who are listening to unrecorded 911 calls, and often get archetypal astatine the scenes of accidents, emergencies, and crimes, cameras successful tow.
But galore reason that constabulary forces’ adoption of drones is happening excessively quickly. The usage of drones arsenic surveillance tools and archetypal responders is simply a cardinal displacement successful policing, 1 without a well-informed nationalist statement astir privateness regulations, tactics, and limits. There’s besides small grounds disposable of its efficacy, with scant impervious that drone policing reduces crime.
Now Chula Vista is being sued to merchandise drone footage, illustrating however privateness and civilian liberty groups are progressively disquieted that the exertion volition dramatically grow surveillance capabilities and pb to adjacent much constabulary interactions with demographics that person historically suffered from overpolicing. Read the afloat story.
—Patrick Sisson
Four ways the Supreme Court could reshape the web
All eyes were connected the US Supreme Court past week arsenic it weighed up arguments for 2 cases relating to proposal algorithms and contented moderation, some halfway parts of however the net works. While we won’t get a ruling connected either lawsuit for a fewer months yet, erstwhile we do, it could beryllium a Very Big Deal.
All successful all, it appeared arsenic though the justices were hesitant to drastically reinterpret Section 230, the ineligible proviso that gives web companies a shield to people and mean content. So wherever bash we spell from here? Our elder tech argumentation newsman Tate Ryan-Mosley has examined 4 imaginable scenarios, and what they mean for the aboriginal of the net arsenic we cognize it. Read the afloat story.
Tate’s communicative is from The Technocrat, her caller play newsletter covering power, politics, and Silicon Valley. Sign up to person it successful your inbox each Friday.
Vote successful our TR10 poll
Earlier this year, we unveiled MIT Technology Review’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2023. Tomorrow is the past time to ballot successful our poll to assistance determine our 11th technology, and we’ll beryllium announcing the victor successful The Download connected Wednesday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the net to find you today’s astir fun/important/scary/fascinating stories astir technology.
1 AI morals experts interest that OpenAI’s Bing experimentation could beryllium dangerous
They interest specified AI-powered chatbots are being released prematurely. (WSJ $)
+ Timnit Gebru thinks utilizing chatbots successful hunt engines is “bonkers.” (WSJ $)
+ These ChatGPT-generated crochet designs are wholly unhinged. (The Guardian)
+ How OpenAI is trying to marque ChatGPT safer and little biased. (MIT Technology Review)
2 Twitter is shedding yet much staff
Including Esther Crawford, who headed up Twitter Blue. (The Verge)
+ Twitter’s costly severance ineligible battles won’t assistance its currency travel problem. (Insider $)
3 Instagram has a gore problem
Meme pages are progressively sharing gruesome videos to boost engagement. (WP $)
4 SpaceX’s ngo to the ISS has been postponed
It’s hoping to instrumentality disconnected connected Tuesday instead. (Ars Technica)
5 Tech’s task capitalists are turning humble
The ongoing tech clang whitethorn person thing to bash with it. (Economist $)+ What caller startups tin larn from businesses calved from the pandemic. (WSJ $)
6 Gene editing could assistance to amended intelligence health
But experts are wary of selling it arsenic ‘CRISPR for depression.’ (The Guardian)
+ Next up for CRISPR: Gene editing for the masses? (MIT Technology Review)
7 LinkedIn is riddled with recruitment scams
Jobseekers are charismatic targets for unscrupulous scammers. (FT $)+ The cyber-insurance marketplace is bouncing backmost from the pandemic. (Bloomberg $)+ The 1,000 Chinese SpaceX engineers who ne'er existed. (MIT Technology Review)
8 How Ariana Grande sparked a deepfake revolution
The singer’s distinctive vocal benignant is ripe for aping. (The Information $)
+ AI dependable actors dependable much quality than ever—and they’re acceptable to hire. (MIT Technology Review)
9 What it’s similar to flog Silicon Valley’s bureau furnishings 🪑
Furniture flippers are selling instrumentality for a fraction of the terms tech firms paid for it. (NYT $)
10 How a Chinese buying app exploded successful the US
Gamifying buying food nutrient truly pays off. (Rest of World)
+ This obscure buying app is present America’s astir downloaded. (MIT Technology Review)
Quote of the day
“These things prevarication to you. They mislead you. They propulsion you down mendacious paths to discarded clip connected things that don’t work.”
—Simon Willison, a programmer who has studied punctual engineering, reflects connected the unreliability of generative AI systems to the Washington Post.
The large story
Are you acceptable to beryllium a techno-optimist again?
February 2021
Back successful 2001, MIT Technology Review picked 10 emerging areas of innovation that we promised would “change the world.” It was a clip of highest techno-optimism.
We eschewed robotic exoskeletons and quality cloning, arsenic good arsenic molecular nanomanufacturing and the dreaded grey goo of the nano doomsayers. Instead we focused connected cardinal advances successful accusation technology, materials, and biotech. Most of the technologies are inactive familiar: information mining, natural-language processing, microfluidics, brain-machine interfaces, biometrics, and robot design.
So however good did these technologies fulfill the dreams we had for them 2 decades ago? Here are a fewer lessons from the 2001 list. Read the afloat story.
—David Rotman
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.)
+ Wow, the audacity of this groundhog
+ UK residents person been dazzled by the northern lights implicit the weekend, which is usually lone disposable adjacent the poles.
+ Is this the best Joy Division song? I deliberation so.
+ Why we rewatch our favorite aged TV shows again and again.
+ A emotion missive to Ben Affleck’s emotion of Dunkin’.
