July 29, 2025

Microsoft in talks to maintain access to OpenAI’s tech beyond AGI milestone 

Microsoft is reportedly in advanced talks with OpenAI for a new agreement that would give it ongoing access to the startup’s technology even if OpenAI achieves what it defines as AGI, or advanced general intelligence. If the deal goes through, it would clear a key hurdle in OpenAI’s transition toward becoming a fully commercial enterprise.

Technology

The Download: how to run an LLM, and a history of “three-parent babies”

July 18, 2025
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 run an LLM on your laptop In the early days of large language models, there was a high barrier to entry: it used to be impossible to run anything useful on…

A brief history of “three-parent babies”

July 18, 2025
This week we heard that eight babies have been born in the UK following an experimental form of IVF that involves DNA from three people. The approach was used to prevent women with genetic mutations from passing mitochondrial diseases to their children. You can read all about the results, and the reception to them, here. …

Finding value from AI agents from day one

July 17, 2025
Imagine AI so sophisticated it could read a customer’s mind? Or identify and close a cybersecurity loophole weeks before hackers strike? How about a team of AI agents equipped to restructure a global supply chain and circumnavigate looming geopolitical disruption? Such disruptive possibilities explain why agentic AI is sending ripples of excitement through corporate boardrooms. …

How to run an LLM on your laptop

July 17, 2025
MIT Technology Review’s How To series helps you get things done.  Simon Willison has a plan for the end of the world. It’s a USB stick, onto which he has loaded a couple of his favorite open-weight LLMs—models that have been shared publicly by their creators and that can, in principle, be downloaded and run…

The Download: three-person babies, and tracking “AI readiness” in the US

July 17, 2025
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. Researchers announce babies born from a trial of three-person IVF Eight babies have been born in the UK thanks to a technology that uses DNA from three people: the two biological parents plus…

In defense of air-conditioning

July 17, 2025
I’ll admit that I’ve rarely hesitated to point an accusing finger at air-conditioning. I’ve outlined in many stories and newsletters that AC is a significant contributor to global electricity demand, and it’s only going to suck up more power as temperatures rise. But I’ll also be the first to admit that it can be a…