1 year ago
112 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.
A bot that watched 70,000 hours of Minecraft could unlock AI’s adjacent large thing
The news: An AI that binged connected 70,000 hours of radical playing Minecraft has learned however to play the crippled amended than immoderate AI before. The bot, created by OpenAI, showcases a almighty caller method that could beryllium utilized to bid machines to transportation retired a wide scope of tasks by binging connected websites similar YouTube, a immense and untapped root of grooming data.
How they did it: The Minecraft AI learned to execute analyzable sequences of keyboard and rodent clicks to implicit tasks successful the game. It’s the archetypal bot that tin trade alleged diamond tools, a task that typically takes bully quality players 20 minutes of high-speed clicking.
Why it matters: The effect is simply a breakthrough for a method known arsenic imitation learning, successful which neural networks are trained however to execute tasks by watching humans bash them. Imitation learning tin beryllium utilized to bid AI to power robot arms, thrust cars oregon navigate websites. Read the afloat story.
—Will Douglas Heaven
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We tin present usage cells from dormant radical to make caller life. But who gets to decide?
Peter Zhu was conscionable 19 years aged erstwhile helium died pursuing a skiing accident. His donor paper made wide helium had wanted to donate his organs. But his parents wanted to cod his sperm, too.
His parents told a tribunal that they wanted to support the anticipation of utilizing the sperm to yet person children that would beryllium genetically related to Peter. The tribunal approved their wishes, and Peter’s sperm was retrieved from his assemblage and stored successful a section sperm bank.
We person the exertion to usage sperm, and perchance eggs, from dormant radical to marque embryos, and yet babies. And determination are millions of eggs and embryos—and adjacent much sperm—in retention and acceptable to beryllium used. When the idiosyncratic who provided those cells dies, similar Peter, who gets to determine what to bash with them? Read the afloat story.
—Jessica Hamzelou
This communicative is from The Checkup, our play newsletter giving you the wrong way connected each things biotech. Sign up to person it successful your inbox each Thursday.
Read much of our fascinating reproductive exertion stories:
+ Inside the contention to make ovum and sperm cells successful the lab. It uses a method that could perchance lick infertility problems and let much radical to person children that are genetically-related to them. Read the afloat story.
+ Scientists person recovered a mode to mature eggs from transgender men successful the lab. It could connection them caller ways to commencement a family—without the request for distressing IVF procedures. Read the afloat story. + How reproductive exertion is changing what it means to beryllium a parent. Advances could pb to babies with 4 oregon much biologic parents—forcing america to reconsider parenthood. Read the afloat story.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the net to find you today’s astir fun/important/scary/fascinating stories astir technology.
1 Elon Musk wants to reinstate banned Twitter accounts
It’s an incredibly unsafe determination with wide repercussions. (WP $)
+ Recent departures person deed Twitter’s argumentation and information divisions hard. (WSJ $)
+ It looks similar Musk’s committedness of nary further layoffs was premature. (Insider $)
+ Meanwhile, Twitter Blue is inactive reportedly launching adjacent week. (Reuters)
+ Imagine simply transferring your followers to different platform. (FT $)
+ Twitter’s imaginable illness could hitch retired immense records of caller quality history. (MIT Technology Review)
2 Russia’s vigor withdrawal could termination tens of thousands successful Europe
High substance costs could effect successful much deaths this wintertime than the warfare successful Ukraine. (Economist $)
+ Higher state prices volition besides deed Americans arsenic the upwind worsens. (Vox)
+ Ukraine’s penetration underscores Europe’s heavy reliance connected Russian fossil fuels. (MIT Technology Review)
3 FTX is incapable to grant the grants it promised assorted organizations
Many of them are having to question exigency backing to plug the gaps. (WSJ $)
+ Bahamians aren’t thrilled astir what its illness could mean for them. (WP $)
4 It’s a quieter Black Friday than usual
Shopping isn’t overmuch of a precedence close now. (Bloomberg $)
+ If you bash determine to shop, marque definite you don’t get scammed. (Wired $)
5 The UK is curbing its usage of Chinese surveillance systems
But lone connected “sensitive” authorities sites. (FT $)
+ The world’s biggest surveillance institution you’ve ne'er heard of. (MIT Technology Review)
6 Long covid is inactive incredibly hard to treat
Its symptoms alteration wildy, which tin marque it hard to track, too. (Undark)
+ A cosmopolitan flu vaccine is looking promising. (New Scientist $)
7 San Francisco’s constabulary is considering letting robots usage deadly force
The unit has 12 remotely piloted robots that could, successful theory, termination someone. (The Verge)
8 Human hibernation could beryllium the cardinal to getting america to Mars
It could beryllium the closest we tin get to clip travel. (Wired $)
9 Why TikTok is abruptly truthful obsessed with dabloons
It’s a signifier of choose-your-own-adventure fun. (The Guardian)
10 We can’t halt trying to reinvent mousetraps 🧀
There are thousands of versions retired there, yet we support coming up with caller designs. (New Yorker $)
Quote of the day
“I get compared to a car clang oregon a bid wreck a lot, wherever radical can’t look away, which I bask proceeding precise much.”—Eli Betchik, 1 of TikTok’s astir fashionable rage-bait chefs, explains their joyousness astatine concocting—and consuming—the astir revolting recipes imaginable successful beforehand of a horrified assemblage to The Verge.
The large story
Toronto wants to termination the astute metropolis forever
June 2022
In February, the metropolis of Toronto announced plans for a caller improvement on its waterfront. They work similar a privation database for immoderate passionate urbanist: 800 affordable apartments, a two-acre forest, a rooftop farm, a caller arts venue focused connected indigenous culture, and a pledge to beryllium zero-carbon.
The thought of an affordable, off-the-grid Eden successful the bosom of the metropolis sounds great. But determination was an wholly antithetic municipality utopia planned for the aforesaid 12-acre plot, known arsenic Quayside, conscionable a fewer years ago.
But contention ensued astir from the infinitesimal the project, tally by Sidewalk Labs, the municipality innovation limb of Alphabet, was announced successful 2017. It struggled to physique a vicinity “from the net up,” and the institution pulled the plug successful May 2020. With its precise top-down approach, Sidewalk failed to comprehend Toronto’s civic culture—and doomed its imaginativeness for a astute metropolis successful the process. Read the afloat story.
—Karrie Jacobs
We tin inactive person bully things
A spot for comfort, amusive and distraction successful these weird times. (Got immoderate ideas? Drop maine a line or tweet 'em astatine me.)
+ This one’s for each of Duolingo’s victims crossed the world.
+ David Lynch is the maestro of philharmonic suspense. Here’s conscionable a mates of his best moments.
+ These fisherman sweaters, oregon jumpers, arsenic we telephone them successful the UK, look some beauteous and incredibly cozy.
+ Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chilli Crisp, a spicy chilli condiment and nationalist Chinese treasure, sounds close up my street.
+ Happy-almost day to Flossie, who astatine 26 is officially the world’s oldest surviving cat!
