Technology

The Download: a bid to scrap the virtual wall and AI hits Climate Week

September 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. A congressional representative just proposed killing America’s border tower program Delia Ramirez, a Democratic US representative from Illinois, has announced plans to introduce legislation to terminate the surveillance tower program along…

AI is dominating the conversation at Climate Week

September 24, 2026
This week, world leaders descended on Manhattan for the UN General Assembly. It’s also New York Climate Week—investors, policymakers, advocates, and journalists are colliding at panels, talks, and fancy dinners. With so many climate voices in one place, the discourse can feel a little louder than usual. This year, the unavoidable topic is artificial intelligence.…

A congressional representative just proposed killing America’s border tower program

September 23, 2026
Delia Ramirez, a Democratic US representative from Illinois, has announced a plan to introduce new legislation to terminate the surveillance tower program along the US southern border.  The announcement comes just days after publication of an MIT Technology Review investigation, “Dying on Camera,” in which we looked at deaths along the border that took place…

The Download: India’s smart glasses menace and AI’s trillion-dollar gamble

September 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. Smart glasses are already causing havoc in India When Shubnam saw an Instagram video of a Delhi protest they had attended, they realized a content creator wearing Meta smart glasses had…

Smart glasses are already causing havoc in India

September 23, 2026
Shubnam was packing boxes for a move into a new home when their friend sent them an Instagram video. The footage had only been up for a few hours, but it was days old, recorded at a Delhi protest this spring against a bill that would have narrowed the legal recognition for transgender people in…

Roundtables: The Deadly Failures of The Virtual Border Wall

September 22, 2026
The US has spent billions building a “virtual wall” of surveillance towers along its southern border over the past 25 years, promising they will help detect and apprehend border crossers and save lives. But a groundbreaking investigation by MIT Technology Review has documented hundreds of people who moved through areas watched by these towers without…

The Download: why AI’s latest breakthroughs and fears may be more hype than reality

September 22, 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. Don’t be fooled by this summer of AI hype  —Timnit Gebru, executive director of the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR), and Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the University of…