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The US government is still spending big on climate

For example, in December 2023 we learned how restrictions in the EV tax credits will affect vehicles with components made in China. As a result, starting in 2024 some vehicle models became... Read more »

Happy birthday, baby! What the future holds for those born today

DAVID BISKUP If getting from point A to point B is becoming difficult, maybe you can travel without going anywhere. Green, who favors a blank-slate room, wonders if you’ll have a brain-machine... Read more »

DHS plans to collect biometric data from migrant children “down to the infant”

As Boyd explained at a conference in June, the key question for OBIM is, “If we pick up someone from Panama at the southern border at age four, say, and then pick... Read more »

A new public database lists all the ways AI could go wrong

These findings may have implications for how we evaluate AI, as we currently tend to focus on ensuring a model is safe before it is launched. “What our database is saying is,... Read more »

The Download: a new AI risk database, and studying Jupiter’s mysterious moon

What’s new: Adopting AI can be fraught with danger. Systems could be biased, or parrot falsehoods, or even become addictive. And that’s before you consider the possibility AI could one day somehow... Read more »

The Download: greener steel, and join us for EmTech 2024

+ Riki Banerjee, CTO of brain-computer interface company Synchron, will give us an  inside look at the future of minimally invasive brain-computer interfaces that enable humans to use their thoughts to control... Read more »

How the auto industry could steer the world toward green steel

“The relatively high value of cars, especially of premium brands, also means they can absorb the short-term green premium of greener steel,”  Alex Keynes, cars policy manager at the European Federation for... Read more »

The Download: how we’re using AI, and Trump’s campaign hack

When the generative AI boom started with ChatGPT in late 2022, we were sold a vision of superintelligent AI tools that know everything, can replace the boring bits of work, and supercharge... Read more »

Here’s how people are actually using AI

Two years on, those productivity gains mostly haven’t materialized. And we’ve seen something peculiar and slightly unexpected happen: People have started forming relationships with AI systems. We talk to them, say please... Read more »

The Download: robotic table tennis, and future space habitats

What’s new: Google DeepMind has trained a robot to play table tennis at the equivalent of amateur-level competitive performance, the company has announced. It claims it’s the first time a robot has... Read more »