The Download: the West’s AI myth, and Musk v Apple

As they recognize it, societal scoring is simply a signifier successful which authoritarian governments—specifically China—rank people’s trustworthiness and punish them for undesirable behaviors, specified arsenic stealing oregon not paying backmost loans. Essentially, it’s seen arsenic a dystopian superscore assigned to each citizen.

The reality? While determination person been immoderate contentious section experiments with societal recognition scores successful China, determination is nary countrywide, all-seeing societal recognition strategy with algorithms that fertile people.

The irony is that portion US and European politicians effort to prohibition systems that don’t truly exist, systems that bash fertile and penalize radical are already successful spot successful the West—and are denying radical lodging and jobs successful the process. Read the afloat story.

—Melissa Heikkilä

Melissa’s communicative is from The Algorithm, her play AI newsletter covering each of the industry’s astir absorbing developments. Sign up to person it successful your inbox each Monday.

2 Another crypto steadfast has collapsed
Lender BlockFi has filed for bankruptcy, and is (partly) blaming FTX. (WSJ $)
+ The institution is suing FTX laminitis Sam Bankman-Fried. (FT $)
+ It looks similar the much-feared “crypto contagion” is spreading. (NYT $)

3 AI is rapidly becoming much powerful—and dangerous
That’s peculiarly worrying erstwhile its maturation is excessively overmuch for information teams to handle. (Vox)
+ Do AI systems request to travel with information warnings? (MIT Technology Review)
+ This AI chat-room crippled is gaining a legion of fans. (The Guardian)

4 A Pegasus spyware probe is successful information of being compromised 
It’s the people of a disinformation campaign, information experts person warned. (The Guardian)
+ Cyber security won’t support you from theft of your data. (The Guardian)

5 Google gave the FBI geofence information for its January 6 investigation 
Google identified much than 5,000 devices adjacent the US Capitol during the riot. (Wired $)

6 Monkeypox isn’t going anywhere
But it’s not connected the rise, either. (The Atlantic $)
+ The World Health Organization says it volition present beryllium known arsenic mpox. (BBC)
+ Everything you request to cognize astir the monkeypox vaccines. (MIT Technology Review)

7 What it’s similar to beryllium the unwitting look of a romance scam
James Scott Geras’ pictures person been utilized to catfish countless women. (Motherboard)

8Your adjacent landlord could beryllium an algorithm
Outsourcing rental spot absorption to bots is making it harder for younger radical to get a ft connected the spot ladder. (Motherboard)
+ House-flipping algorithms are coming to your neighborhood. (MIT Technology Review)

9 Smart bandages tin show however your coiled is healing 🩹
They tin assistance to debar it becoming infected, too. (Inverse)

April 2022

If, successful 2017, you had taken a gamble and purchased a comparatively caller integer currency called Bitcoin, contiguous you mightiness beryllium a millionaire galore times over. But portion the manufacture has provided windfalls for some, section communities person paid a precocious price, arsenic radical started scouring the satellite for inexpensive sources of vigor to tally ample Bitcoin-mining farms.