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.
GPT-5 is here. Now what?
At long last, OpenAI has released GPT-5. The new system abandons the distinction between OpenAI’s flagship models and its o series of reasoning models, automatically routing user queries to a fast nonreasoning model or a slower reasoning version.
It is now available to everyone through the ChatGPT web interface—though nonpaying users may need to wait a few days to gain full access.
GPT-5 will furnish a more pleasant and seamless user experience. That’s not nothing, but it falls far short of the transformative AI future that Sam Altman has spent much of the past year hyping. Read the full story.
—Grace Huckins
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Donald Trump has called on Intel’s CEO to resign
He claims Lip-Bu Tan is “conflicted” by his business ties to China. (FT $)
+ Tan was already at odds with some of his board members before the intervention. (WSJ $)
+ But the CEO claims he’s got the full backing of his board presently. (Bloomberg $)
2 Wildfires are raging across the western US
And strong winds are rapidly spreading them across parched land. (WP $)
+ The fires have a devastating effect on human health. (The Guardian)
+ How AI can help spot wildfires. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Meta’s AI superintelligence team is growing
The new TBD Lab is currently working on the newest version of its Llama model. (WSJ $)
+ Meta has also been busy acquiring an AI audio firm. (The Information $)
+ Elsewhere, Tesla has disbanded its supercomputer team. (Bloomberg $)
4 A man suffered psychosis after ChatGPT suggested he take sodium bromide
The 60-year old ended up with bromism. (Ars Technica)
+ He’d been taking it for three months before he went to the ER. (The Independent)
+ AI companies have stopped warning you that their chatbots aren’t doctors. (MIT Technology Review)
5 Meet Silicon Valley’s AI Rationalists
The group’s influence has spread through tech giants and AI pioneers alike. (NYT $)
+ Inside effective altruism, where the far future counts a lot more than the present. (MIT Technology Review)
6 An CBP agent wore Meta smart glasses during an immigration raid
Signalling that law enforcement are interested in this technology. (404 Media)
7 The US military has a new use for Tesla Cybertrucks
Namely, aiming missiles at them. (The Verge)
+ It wants to learn how to destroy them if enemies start deploying them. (The Register)
8 South Korea will decide whether to let Google Maps work
The decades-old debate could be laid to rest next week. (The Guardian)
+ The country has previously rejected Google’s requests on security grounds. (Reuters)
9 Instagram’s new location-sharing feature is here
It’s a bid to make the app more participatory and social. (Insider $)
+ It also looks a whole lot like Snap’s map. (Fast Company $)
10 These headphones could help you to focus
Startup Neurable wants to track your brain activity to prevent you getting distracted. (Vox)
+ A new AI translation system for headphones clones multiple voices simultaneously. (MIT Technology Review)
Quote of the day
“I don’t think we should think of them as the ‘new Google’ yet.”
—Brian Chesky, Airbnb’s CEO, questions the hype swirling around AI agents’ capabilities, toptechtrends.com/2025/08/07/ai-agents-arent-the-new-google-says-airbnb-ceo/”>TechCrunch reports.
One more thing
The arrhythmia of our current age
Arrhythmia means the heart beats, but not in proper time—a critical rhythm of life suddenly going rogue and unpredictable. It’s frightening to experience, but what if it’s also a good metaphor for our current times? That a pulse once seemingly so steady is now less sure.
Perhaps this wobbliness might be extrapolated into a broader sense of life in the 2020s.
Maybe you feel it, too—that the world seems to have skipped more than a beat or two as demagogues rant and democracy shudders, hurricanes rage, and glaciers dissolve. We can’t stop watching tiny screens where influencers pitch products we don’t need alongside news about senseless wars that destroy, murder, and maim tens-of-thousands.
All the resulting anxiety has been hard on our hearts—literally and metaphorically. Read the full story.
—David Ewing Duncan
We can still have nice things
A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)
+ This entertaining site tracks just how many cigarettes are smoked throughout famous films (and the ones which feature no smoking at all)
+ Check out the very best seaside amusement arcade games.
+ Next week promises a dazzling meteor shower—here’s how to best watch it.
+ Oh, to live an hour in the shoes of a Boston-based bee doctor
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