6 Robots still struggle to match warehouse workers on some tasks
For all the advances robots have made, picking things up and moving them around remains a big challenge. (NYT $)
+ AI is poised to automate today’s most mundane manual warehouse task. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Perplexity’s AI search engine can now buy stuff for you
How long until Google follows? (The Verge)
8 Dozens of states are begging Congress to pass the kids online safety act
It has currently stalled in the House of Representatives due to censorship concerns. (The Verge)
+ Roblox is adding more controls to let parents set daily usage limits, block access to certain game genres, and more. (WSJ $)
+ Why child safety bills are popping up all over the US
9 The US Patent and Trademark Office banned staff from using generative AI
It cited security concerns plus the fact some tools exhibit “bias, unpredictability, and malicious behavior.” (Wired $)
10 NASA might have killed life on Mars 😬
A new paper suggests that adding water to Martian soil might have been a bad move. (Quartz $)
+ The ISS has been leaking air for 5 years, and engineers still can’t agree why. (Ars Technica)
Quote of the day
“We are bleeding cash as an industry.”
—Thomas Laffont, co-founder of investment firm Coatue Management, says venture capital firms are struggling to make money amid a boom in AI investments, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The big story
How mobile money supercharged Kenya’s sports betting addiction