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This is right this moment’s version of The Download, our weekday publication that gives a each day dose of what’s occurring on this planet of know-how.
Why Big Tech’s wager on AI assistants is so dangerous
Since the start of the generative AI increase, tech corporations have been feverishly making an attempt to give you the killer app for the know-how. First it was on-line search, with blended outcomes. Now it’s AI assistants. Last week, OpenAI, Meta, and Google launched new options for his or her AI chatbots that enable them to go looking the net and act as a form of private assistant.
This is a dangerous wager, given the restrictions of the know-how. Tech corporations haven’t solved a number of the persistent issues with AI language fashions, comparable to their propensity to make issues. But maybe essentially the most regarding side is their safety and privateness weaknesses. By placing this deeply flawed tech in our fingers, Big Tech is making us all susceptible to scams, phishing, and hacks on an enormous scale. Read the total story.
—Melissa Heikkilä
This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly AI publication. Sign up to obtain it in your inbox each Monday.
Read extra of our fascinating AI reporting:
+ Melissa breaks down precisely why you shouldn’t belief AI serps.
+ Three methods AI chatbots are a safety catastrophe. Large language fashions are filled with safety vulnerabilities, but they’re being embedded into tech merchandise on an unlimited scale. Read the total story.
+ Now you possibly can chat with ChatGPT utilizing your voice. The new characteristic is a part of a spherical of updates for OpenAI’s app, together with the flexibility to reply questions on photographs. Read the total story.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you right this moment’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 Meet the important thing gamers in Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud trial
The FTX founder’s former inside circle shall be giving proof from right this moment. (FT $)
+ He’s dealing with costs of fraud and cash laundering. (NYT $)
+ Why Silicon Valley loves fraud. (Wired $)
2 There’s an battle brewing over making AI open-source
Meta desires to make its code available. OpenAI doesn’t agree. (The Information $)
+ The open-source AI increase is constructed on Big Tech’s handouts. How lengthy will it final? (MIT Technology Review)
3 A satellite tv for pc TV firm has been slapped with an area particles advantageous
Dish Network admitted it hadn’t disposed of its defunct satellite tv for pc correctly. (CNBC)
+ The race to denationalise house is effectively beneath means. (Slate $)
+ Earth might be protected from a killer asteroid for 1,000 years. (MIT Technology Review)
4 Amazon is launching its personal AI-powered search engine
In a bid to spice up its flagging cell gross sales. (Insider $)
5 The yr’s worst hack retains getting worse
Months after it was initially uncovered, new victims are nonetheless being found. (Wired $)
6 An ad-free model of Instagram might quickly be a actuality
But provided that you reside in Europe and are keen to pay $14 a month for it. (WSJ $)
+ TikTok appears to be experimenting with an ad-free model too. (The Verge)
7 New salty batteries are on the horizon
Humble rock salt may very well be our greatest wager to interchange lithium cathodes. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ How sodium might change the sport for batteries. (MIT Technology Review)
8 Our gaming ethics are extremely private
While some folks relish in killing and dishonest, others select the ethical excessive floor. (The Guardian)
9 Silicon Valley is embracing quiet luxurious 
They’re all dressing like Kendall Roy now. (NY Mag $)
10 TikTok snoops are making us scared to gossip
Venting in public might get you canceled nowadays. (Vox)
Quote of the day
“It’s a knife combat proper now.”
—Colin Butler, world head of institutional capital at blockchain agency Polygon Labs, tells Reuters traders are competing for brand spanking new methods to make cash from blockchain know-how.
The large story
Generative AI is altering every thing. But what’s left when the hype is gone?
It was clear that OpenAI was on to one thing. In late 2021, a small workforce of researchers was enjoying round with a brand new model of OpenAI’s text-to-image mannequin, DALL-E, an AI that converts quick written descriptions into footage: a fox painted by Van Gogh, maybe, or a corgi manufactured from pizza. Now they simply had to determine what to do with it.
Nobody might have predicted simply how large a splash this product was going to make. The speedy launch of different generative fashions has impressed a whole lot of newspaper headlines and journal covers, stuffed social media with memes, kicked a hype machine into overdrive—and set off an intense backlash from creators.
The thrilling reality is, we don’t actually know what’s coming subsequent. While artistic industries will really feel the influence first, this tech will give artistic superpowers to all people. Read the total story.
—Will Douglas Heaven
We can nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre occasions. (Got any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ If you reside in North or South America, an eclipse is on the horizon. Here’s how one can greatest get pleasure from it.
+ A peaceable little bit of paint mixing is strictly what I wanted this morning.
+ How many of those highest-ranking eating places on this planet have you ever visited?
+ This celebration of 70s funk soundtracks is undeniably funky.
+ A mysterious round island in Argentina seems like one thing out of a sci-fi blockbuster, nevertheless it’s utterly actual.