This is right this moment’s version of The Download, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a every day dose of what’s occurring on the earth of know-how.
Unpacking the hype round OpenAI’s rumored new Q* mannequin
Ever since final week’s dramatic occasions at OpenAI, the rumor mill has been in overdrive about why the corporate’s board tried to oust CEO Sam Altman.
While we nonetheless don’t know all the main points, there have been experiences that researchers at OpenAI had made a “breakthrough” in AI that alarmed employees members. The declare is that they got here up with a brand new method to make highly effective AI techniques and had created a brand new mannequin, referred to as Q* (pronounced Q star), that was in a position to carry out grade-school degree math.
Some at OpenAI reportedly imagine this could possibly be a breakthrough within the firm’s quest to construct synthetic normal intelligence, a much-hyped idea of an AI system that’s smarter than people.
So what’s truly occurring? And why is grade-school math such an enormous deal? Our senior AI reporter Melissa Heikkilä referred to as some specialists to learn how massive of a deal any such breakthrough would actually be. Here’s what they needed to say.
This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly e-newsletter providing you with the within monitor on all issues AI. Sign up to obtain it in your inbox each Monday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you right this moment’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 X is hemorrhaging hundreds of thousands in promoting income
Internal paperwork present the corporate is in a good worse place than beforehand thought. (NYT $)
+ Misinformation ‘super-spreaders’ on X are reportedly eligible for payouts from its advert income sharing program. (The Verge)
+ It’s not simply you: tech billionaires actually have gotten extra insufferable. (The Guardian)
2 The brakes appear to now be off on AI improvement 
With Sam Altman’s return to OpenAI, the ‘accelerationists’ have come out on high. (WSJ $)
+ Inside the thoughts of OpenAI’s chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever. (MIT Technology Review)
3 How Norway acquired warmth pumps into two-thirds of its households
Mostly by making it the cheaper selection for folks. (The Guardian)
+ Everything you might want to know concerning the wild world of warmth pumps. (MIT Technology Review)
4 How your social media feeds form the way you see the Israel-Gaza struggle
Masses of content material are being pumped out, not often with any nuance or historic understanding. (BBC)
+ China tried to maintain children off social media. Now the aged are hooked. (Wired $)
5 US regulators have surprisingly little scope to implement Amazon’s security guidelines
As demonstrated by the measly $7,000 tremendous issued by Indiana after a employee was killed by warehouse equipment. (WP $)
6 How Ukraine is utilizing superior applied sciences on the battlefield
The Pentagon is utilizing the battle as a testbed for a few of the 800-odd AI-based initiatives it has in progress. (AP $)
+ Why enterprise is booming for army AI startups. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Shein is attempting to overtake its picture, with restricted success
Its merchandise appear too low-cost to be ethically sourced—and it doesn’t take kindly to folks pointing that out. (The Verge)
+ Why my bittersweet relationship with Shein needed to finish. (MIT Technology Review)
8 Every app could be a relationship app now 
As folks flip their backs on the normal apps, they’re discovering love in locations like Yelp, Duolingo and Strava. (WSJ $)
+ Job sharing apps are additionally gaining popularity. (BBC)
9 People can’t get sufficient of labor livestreams on TikTok
It’s largely concerning the weirdly hypnotic high quality of watching folks doing duties like manicures or frying eggs. (The Atlantic $)
10 A useful information to time journey within the motion pictures
Whether you prioritize scientific accuracy or leisure worth, this chart has acquired you coated. (Ars Technica)
Quote of the day
“It’s in the AI industry’s interest to make people think that only the big players can do this—but it’s not true.”
—Ed Newton-Rex, who simply resigned as VP of audio at Stability.AI, says the concept generative AI fashions can solely be constructed by scraping artists’ work is a fantasy in an interview with The Next Web.
The massive story
The YouTube baker combating again in opposition to lethal “craft hacks”
September 2022
Ann Reardon might be the final particular person you’d anticipate to be banned from YouTube. A former Australian youth employee and a mom of three, she’s been instructing hundreds of thousands of subscribers easy methods to bake since 2011.
However, extra just lately, Reardon has been utilizing her platform to warn folks about harmful new “craft hacks” which might be sweeping YouTube, equivalent to poaching eggs in a microwave, bleaching strawberries, and utilizing a Coke can and a flame to pop popcorn.
Reardon was banned as a result of she acquired caught up in YouTube’s messy moderation insurance policies. In doing so, she uncovered a failing within the system: How can a warning about dangerous hacks be deemed harmful when the hack movies themselves aren’t? Read the complete story.
—Amelia Tait
We can nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
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