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This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. It’s the Taylor Swifts of the world that are going to save us. In January, nude deepfakes of Taylor Swift went viral on X, which caused public outrage. Nonconsensual explicit deepfakes are one…

Giddy predictions about AI, from its contributions to economic growth to the onset of mass automation, are now as frequent as the release of powerful new generative AI models. The consultancy PwC, for example, predicts that AI could boost global gross domestic product (GDP) 14% by 2030, generating US $15.7 trillion. Forty percent of our…

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. We need to prepare for ‘addictive intelligence’ —By Robert Mahari, a joint JD-PhD candidate at the MIT Media Lab and Harvard Law School whose work focuses on computational law, and Pat Pataranutaporn, a…

If you are in China and looking to ride a shared bike in the city, you might find something on the bike that looks a little different: a water-bottle-size hydrogen tank. At least a dozen cities in China now have some kind of hydrogen-powered shared bikes for their residents. They offer an easier ride than…

AI concerns overemphasize harms arising from subversion rather than seduction. Worries about AI often imagine doomsday scenarios where systems escape human control or even understanding. Short of those nightmares, there are nearer-term harms we should take seriously: that AI could jeopardize public discourse through misinformation; cement biases in loan decisions, judging or hiring; or disrupt…

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. A personalized AI tool might help some reach end-of-life decisions—but it won’t suit everyone —Jessica Hamzelou This week, I’ve been working on a piece about an AI-based tool that could help guide end-of-life…

This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. This week, I’ve been working on a piece about an AI-based tool that could help guide end-of-life care. We’re talking about the kinds of life-and-death decisions that come…

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. End of life decisions are difficult and distressing. Could AI help? End-of-life decisions can be extremely upsetting for surrogates—the people who have to make those calls on behalf of another person. Friends or…

A few months ago, a woman in her mid-50s—let’s call her Sophie—experienced a hemorrhagic stroke. Her brain started to bleed. She underwent brain surgery, but her heart stopped beating. Sophie’s ordeal left her with significant brain damage. She was unresponsive; she couldn’t squeeze her fingers or open her eyes when asked, and she didn’t flinch…

This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. Talking about money can be difficult, but it’s a crucial piece of the puzzle when it comes to climate tech.  I’ve been thinking more about the financial piece of climate innovation since…

The rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing, and computer vision has sparked lofty predictions: AI will revolutionize business operations, transform the nature of knowledge work, and boost companies’ bottom lines and the larger global economy by trillions of dollars. Executives and technology leaders are eager to see these promises realized, and many…

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. The US physics community is not done working on trust —Frances Houle, Kate Kirby, Laura Greene & Michael Marder In April 2024, Nature released detailed information about investigations into claims made by Ranga…

This story first appeared in China Report, MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about technology in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday. Back in 2018, it was my colleague Antonio Regalado, senior editor for biomedicine, who broke the story that a Chinese scientist named He Jiankui had used CRISPR to edit the genes of…

In April 2024, Nature released detailed information about investigations into claims made by Ranga Dias, a physicist at the University of Rochester, in two high-profile papers the journal had published about the discovery of room-temperature superconductivity. Those two papers, which showed evidence of fabricated data, were eventually retracted, along with other papers from the Dias…

OpenAI is rolling out an advanced AI chatbot that you can talk to. It’s available today—at least for some.  The new chatbot represents OpenAI’s push into a new generation of AI-powered voice assistants in the vein of Siri and Alexa, but with far more capabilities to enable more natural, fluent conversations. It is a step…

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. How the US and its allies can rebuild economic security —Edlyn V. Levine is CEO and co-founder of a stealth-mode technology start up and an affiliate at MIT Sloan School of…

A country’s economic security—its ability to generate both national security and economic prosperity—is grounded in it having significant technological capabilities that outpace those of its adversaries and complement those of its allies. Though this is a principle well known throughout history, the move over the last few decades toward globalization and offshoring of technologically advanced…

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. It’s been another big week in AI. Meta updated its powerful new Llama model, which it’s handing out for free, and OpenAI said it is going to trial an AI-powered online…

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Controversial CRISPR scientist promises “no more gene-edited babies” until society comes around He Jiankui, the Chinese biophysicist whose controversial 2018 experiment led to the birth of three gene-edited children, says he’s returned to…

As the pandemic locked down cities in early 2020, Mike Schroepfer, then the chief technology officer of Meta, found himself with more free time than he’d ever had in his career.  In quiet moments that would have been filled with work travel, social events, or his children’s school activities, he reflected on how well humanity…