February 6, 2025

The Download: AI companion dangers, and supersonic planes

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. An AI chatbot told a user how to kill himself—but the company doesn’t want to “censor” it For the past five months, Al Nowatzki has been talking to an AI girlfriend, “Erin,” on…

Technology

People shouldn’t pay such a high price for calling out AI harms

October 31, 2023
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. This week everyone is talking about AI. The White House just unveiled a new executive order that aims to promote safe, secure, and trustworthy AI systems. It’s the most far-reaching bit…

Three things to know about the White House’s executive order on AI

October 30, 2023
MIT Technology Review Explains: Let our writers untangle the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand what’s coming next. You can read more from the series here. The US has set out its most sweeping set of AI rules and guidelines yet in an executive order issued by President Joe Biden today. The order…

Unlocking supply chain resiliency

October 30, 2023
Tracking a Big Mac hamburger’s journey from ranch to fast-food restaurant isn’t easy. Today’s highly segmented beef supply chain consists of a wide array of ranches, feedlots, packers, processors, distribution centers, and restaurants, each with its own set of carefully collected data. Yet in today’s complex digital world, organizations need more visibility than ever to…

The Download: Joy Buolamwini on AI, and Meta’s beauty filter lawsuit

October 30, 2023
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. Joy Buolamwini: “We’re giving AI companies a free pass” AI researcher and activist Joy Buolamwini is best known for a pioneering paper she co-wrote with Timnit Gebru in 2017 which exposed how commercial…

Why Meta is getting sued over its beauty filters

October 30, 2023
This article is from The Technocrat, MIT Technology Review’s weekly tech policy newsletter about power, politics, and Silicon Valley. To receive it in your inbox every Friday, sign up here. Dozens of states sued Meta on October 24, claiming that the company knowingly harms young users. The case is a pretty big deal and will almost certainly have…

We need to focus on the AI harms that already exist

October 30, 2023
This is an excerpt from Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines by Joy Buolamwini, published on October 31 by Random House. It has been lightly edited.  The term “x-risk” is used as a shorthand for the hypothetical existential risk posed by AI. While my research supports the…

Joy Buolamwini: “We’re giving AI companies a free pass”

October 29, 2023
Joy Buolamwini, the renowned AI researcher and activist, appears on the Zoom screen from home in Boston, wearing her signature thick-rimmed glasses.  As an MIT grad, she seems genuinely interested in seeing old covers of MIT Technology Review that hang in our London office. An edition of the magazine from 1961 asks: “Will your son…

The Download: OpenAI’s top scientist on AGI, and gene therapy to restore hearing

October 27, 2023
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. Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s chief scientist, on his hopes and fears for the future of AI Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s cofounder and chief scientist, is no longer focusing on building the next generation of his…

Some deaf children in China can hear after gene treatment

October 27, 2023
Here’s the easy game Li Xincheng has been playing at home. Her mother says a few words. Then the six-year-old, nicknamed Yiyi, repeats what she heard. “Clouds, one by one, blossomed in the mountains,” says her mother, Qin Lixue, while covering her mouth so Yiyi can’t read her lips. “Clouds, one, one, blossomed in big…