Technology

Inside OpenAI’s big play for science 

January 26, 2026
In the three years since ChatGPT’s explosive debut, OpenAI’s technology has upended a remarkable range of everyday activities at home, at work, in schools—anywhere people have a browser open or a phone out, which is everywhere. Now OpenAI is making an explicit play for scientists. In October, the firm announced that it had launched a…

Why chatbots are starting to check your age

January 26, 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. How do tech companies check if their users are kids? This question has taken on new urgency recently thanks to growing concern about the dangers that can arise when children talk to…

The power of sound in a virtual world

January 26, 2026
In an era where business, education, and even casual conversations occur via screens, sound has become a differentiating factor. We obsess over lighting, camera angles, and virtual backgrounds, but how we sound can be just as critical to credibility, trust, and connection. That’s the insight driving Erik Vaveris, vice president of product management and chief…

The Download: why LLMs are like aliens, and the future of head transplants

January 26, 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. Meet the new biologists treating LLMs like aliens   How large is a large language model? We now coexist with machines so vast and so complicated that nobody quite understands what they are, how…

The Download: chatbots for health, and US fights over AI regulation

January 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. “Dr. Google” had its issues. Can ChatGPT Health do better?   For the past two decades, there’s been a clear first step for anyone who starts experiencing new medical symptoms: Look them up online.…

America’s coming war over AI regulation

January 23, 2026
MIT Technology Review’s What’s Next series looks across industries, trends, and technologies to give you a first look at the future. You can read the rest of them here. In the final weeks of 2025, the battle over regulating artificial intelligence in the US reached a boiling point. On December 11, after Congress failed twice…

Measles is surging in the US. Wastewater tracking could help.

January 23, 2026
This week marked a rather unpleasant anniversary: It’s a year since Texas reported a case of measles—the start of a significant outbreak that ended up spreading across multiple states. Since the start of January 2025, there have been over 2,500 confirmed cases of measles in the US. Three people have died. As vaccination rates drop…

“Dr. Google” had its issues. Can ChatGPT Health do better?

January 22, 2026
For the past two decades, there’s been a clear first step for anyone who starts experiencing new medical symptoms: Look them up online. The practice was so common that it gained the pejorative moniker “Dr. Google.” But times are changing, and many medical-information seekers are now using LLMs. According to OpenAI, 230 million people ask…

Dispatch from Davos: hot air, big egos and cold flexes

January 22, 2026
This story first appeared in The Debrief, our subscriber-only newsletter about the biggest news in tech by Mat Honan, Editor in Chief. Subscribe to read the next edition as soon as it lands. It’s supposed to be frigid in Davos this time of year. Part of the charm is seeing the world’s elite tromp through the…