February 7, 2025

These documents are influencing the DOGE-sphere’s agenda

Reports from the US Government Accountability Office on improper federal payments in recent years are circulating on X and elsewhere online, and they seem to be a big influence on Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency and its supporters as the group pursues cost-cutting measures across the federal government.  The payment reports have been…

Technology

How generative AI is boosting the spread of disinformation and propaganda

October 4, 2023
Artificial intelligence has turbocharged state efforts to crack down on internet freedoms over the past year.  Governments and political actors around the world, in both democracies and autocracies, are using AI to generate texts, images, and video to manipulate public opinion in their favor and to automatically censor critical online content. In a new report…

How an AI deepfake ad of MrBeast ended up on TikTok

October 3, 2023
AI deepfakes are getting so good that a fraudulent MrBeast ad slipped past TikTok’s ad moderation technology to end up on the platform. In the ad, the massively influential creator appeared to be offering 10,000 viewers an iPhone 15 Pro for just $2. In most cases, this would be a clear indication of a scam, […]

Turning medical data into actionable knowledge

October 3, 2023
Advances in imaging technologies are giving physicians unprecedented insights into disease states, but fragmented and siloed information technology systems make it difficult to provide the personalized, coordinated care that patients expect. In the field of medical imaging, health care providers began replacing radiographic films with digital images stored in a picture and archiving communication system…

The Download: Big Tech’s big AI bet, and crypto’s day in court

October 3, 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. Why Big Tech’s bet on AI assistants is so risky Since the beginning of the generative AI boom, tech companies have been feverishly trying to come up with the killer app for the…

Why Big Tech’s bet on AI assistants is so risky

October 3, 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. Since the beginning of the generative AI boom, tech companies have been feverishly trying to come up with the killer app for the technology. First it was online search, with mixed results. Now…

Humata AI summarizes and answers questions about your PDFs

October 2, 2023
Cyrus Khajvandi, a Stanford biology graduate and two-time entrepreneur, often found it challenging to stay on top of scientific research while managing his daily workload . Recognizing that he wasn’t the only one — and that AI technology was becoming more accessible — Khajvandi began developing an AI platform to summarize and answer questions about […]

The Download: child online safety laws, and ClimateTech is coming

October 2, 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. Child online safety laws will actually hurt kids, critics say This summer, the Senate moved two bills dealing with online privacy for children and teens out of committee. We’ve also seen many states…

Child online safety laws will actually hurt kids, critics say

October 2, 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. This summer, the Senate moved two bills dealing with online privacy for children and teens out of committee. Both have been floating around Congress in various forms…