Huawei announces new AI infrastructure as Nvidia gets locked out of China
Huawei’s SuperPoD interconnect technology creates clusters of chips, including AI chips, to increase compute.
The Download: AI and coding, and Waymo’s aggressive driverless cars
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. Everything you need to know about AI and coding AI has already transformed how code is written, but a new wave of autonomous systems promise to make the process even smoother and less…
Technology
ICE unit signs new $3 million contract for phone hacking tech
Homeland Security Investigations, the law enforcement arm of ICE, adds phone unlocking tech made by Magnet Forensics to its arsenal of technology used to power the Trump administration’s deportation crackdown.
A pivotal meeting on vaccine guidance is underway—and former CDC leaders are alarmed
This week has been an eventful one for America’s public health agency. Two former leaders of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explained the reasons for their sudden departures from the agency in a Senate hearing. And they described how CDC employees are being instructed to turn their backs on scientific evidence. The…
DACLab says it can remove CO2 using less electricity than many competitors
DACLab repurposed technology originally intended to capture carbon from power plants and other industrial facilities. It says the approach has been key to lowering costs.
The Download: AI-designed viruses, and bad news for the hydrogen industry
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. AI-designed viruses are here and already killing bacteria Artificial intelligence can draw cat pictures and write emails. Now the same technology can compose a working genome. A research team in California says it…
Clean hydrogen is facing a big reality check
Hydrogen is sometimes held up as a master key for the energy transition. It can be made using several low-emissions methods and could play a role in cleaning up industries ranging from agriculture and chemicals to aviation and long-distance shipping. This moment is a complicated one for the green fuel, though, as a new report…
AI-designed viruses are here and already killing bacteria
Artificial intelligence can draw cat pictures and write emails. Now, the same technology can compose a working genome. A research team in California says it used AI to propose new genetic codes for viruses—and managed to get several of these to replicate and kill bacteria. The scientists, based at Stanford University and the non-profit Arc…
The Download: measuring returns on R&D, and AI’s creative potential
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 to measure the returns on R&D spending Given the draconian cuts to US federal funding for science, it’s worth asking some hard-nosed money questions: How much should we be spending on R&D?…
How to measure the returns to R&D spending
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. Given the draconian cuts to US federal funding for science, including the administration’s proposal to reduce the 2026 budgets of the National Institutes of Health by…
De-risking investment in AI agents
Automation has become a defining force in the customer experience. Between the chatbots that answer our questions and the recommendation systems that shape our choices, AI-driven tools are now embedded in nearly every interaction. But the latest wave of so-called “agentic AI”—systems that can plan, act, and adapt toward a defined goal—promises to push automation…