Technology

The Download: reawakening frozen brains, and the AI Hype Index returns

March 25, 2026
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. This scientist rewarmed and studied pieces of his friend’s cryopreserved brain  L. Stephen Coles’s brain sits in a vat at a storage facility in Arizona. It has been held there at a temperature…

Agentic commerce runs on truth and context

March 25, 2026
Imagine telling a digital agent, “Use my points and book a family trip to Italy. Keep it within budget, pick hotels we’ve liked before, and handle the details.” Instead of returning a list of links, the agent assembles an itinerary and executes the purchase. That shift, from assistance to execution, is what makes agentic AI…

The AI Hype Index: AI goes to war

March 25, 2026
AI is at war. Anthropic and the Pentagon feuded over how to weaponize Anthropic’s AI model Claude; then OpenAI swept the Pentagon off its feet with an “opportunistic and sloppy” deal. Users quit ChatGPT in droves. People marched through London in the biggest protest against AI to date. If you’re keeping score, Anthropic—the company founded…

Exclusive eBook: Are we ready to hand AI agents the keys?

March 24, 2026
We’re starting to give AI agents real autonomy, but are we prepared for what could happen next? This subscriber-only eBook explores this and angles from experts, such as “If we continue on the current path … we are basically playing Russian roulette with humanity.” by Grace Huckins June 12, 2025 Related Stories: Access all subscriber-only…

This scientist rewarmed and studied pieces of his friend’s cryopreserved brain

March 24, 2026
L. Stephen Coles’s brain sits cushioned in a vat at a storage facility in Arizona. It has been held there at a temperature of around −146 degrees °C for over a decade, largely undisturbed. That is, apart from the time, a little over a year ago, when scientists slowly lifted the brain to take photos…

The Download: tracing AI-fueled delusions, and OpenAI admits Microsoft risks

March 24, 2026
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 hardest question to answer about AI-fueled delusions  What actually happens when people spiral into delusion with AI? To find out, Stanford researchers analyzed transcripts from chatbot users who experienced these spirals.  Their findings suggest that…

The hardest question to answer about AI-fueled delusions

March 23, 2026
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. I was originally going to write this week’s newsletter about AI and Iran, particularly the news we broke last Tuesday that the Pentagon is making plans for AI companies to train on…

The Download: animal welfare gets AGI-pilled, and the White House unveils its AI policy

March 23, 2026
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 Bay Area’s animal welfare movement wants to recruit AI  In early February, animal welfare advocates and AI researchers arrived in stocking feet at Mox, a scrappy, shoes-free coworking space in…

The Bay Area’s animal welfare movement wants to recruit AI

March 23, 2026
In early February, animal welfare advocates and AI researchers gathered in stocking feet at Mox, a scrappy, shoes-free coworking space in San Francisco. Yellow and red canopies billowed overhead, Persian rugs blanketed the floor, and mosaic lamps glowed beside potted plants.  In the common area, a wildlife advocate spoke passionately to a crowd lounging in…