This is right this moment’s version of The Download, our weekday publication that gives a day by day dose of what’s happening on the planet of expertise.
How Citizen is attempting to remake itself by recruiting aged Asians
Members of the Asian-American and Pacific Islander group within the US reside by means of a interval of ongoing race-based assaults—most just lately in close by Half Moon Bay.
Many of them really feel that Citizen, a hyperlocal app that permits customers to report and observe notifications of close by crimes, is one in every of their finest technique of safety.
But the app has a checkered historical past. Citizen has lengthy been criticized for amplifying paranoia round crime. Now that the corporate is actively attempting to recruit customers of Asian descent within the Bay Area, a lot of whom are aged, specialists are fearful the app may really make issues worse. Read the total story.
—Lam Thuy Vo
How AI can really be useful in catastrophe response
What’s taking place: We usually hear large (and unrealistic) guarantees in regards to the potential of AI to resolve the world’s ills. But one effort from the US Department of Defense does appear to be helpful: xView2, which helps with catastrophe logistics and on the bottom rescue missions in Turkey after the aftermath of its current devastating earthquake.
How it really works: It makes use of machine-learning algorithms together with satellite tv for pc imagery to determine constructing and infrastructure injury within the catastrophe space and categorize its severity a lot sooner than is feasible with present strategies. Read the total story.
—Tate Ryan-Mosley
Tate’s story is from The Technocrat, her new weekly publication providing you with the within observe on all issues tech coverage. Sign up to obtain it in your inbox each Friday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you right this moment’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 The US Supreme Court is getting ready to listen to the case in opposition to Section 230
The case in opposition to the authorized provision that protects web content material can be heard tomorrow. (NYT $)
+ The courtroom will contemplate a second, related case on Wednesday. (Fast Company $)
+ The Supreme Court might overhaul how you reside on-line. (MIT Technology Review)
2 China is dashing to create its personal ChatGPT
Its web giants are racing to meet up with the west.(FT $)+ The nation’s heavy-handed regulation and censorship received’t assist. (NYT $)
+ Inside the ChatGPT race in China. (MIT Technology Review)
3 The US is getting ready to a norovirus wave
While it’s commonplace every winter, the pandemic might have left us extra inclined.(Vox)
+ The finest technique to stop catching it? Washing your fingers. (The Atlantic $)
4 Twitter has axed two-factor authentication
Which is extremely more likely to make customers extra susceptible to hacking. (Slate $)
+ Facebook and Instagram are copying Twitter’s coverage of charging folks for blue ticks. (The Verge)
5 The crypto winter is devastating miners
Profits are down, they usually’re set to plummet even additional. (Wired $)
+ A hedge fund that invested closely in FTX is shutting down. (FT $)
+ Tim Berners-Lee thinks crypto is akin to playing. (CNBC)
6 AI algorithms are being deployed to put staff off
It’s one more device firms may abuse within the identify of relieving stress on people. (WP $)
7 All kinds of colleges are experimenting with banning smartphones
But it’s a lot simpler for personal faculties to implement the principles. (The Atlantic $)
8 Times are robust for online game makers
Players are spending much less, they usually’re having to cancel video games consequently. (WSJ $)
+ VR arcades are more and more widespread within the UK, although. (The Guardian)
9 What it’s prefer to reside out TikTok’s morning routines
Once the apex of #aspirationalcontent, they’re now grounded in relatability. (The Guardian)
10 Replika says its AI companions weren’t imagined to be erotic
But customers aren’t satisfied the corporate is telling the reality. (Motherboard)
Quote of the day
“The people talking about generative AI right now were the people talking about Web3 and blockchain until recently—the Venn diagram is a circle.”
—Ben Waber, chief government of AI office firm Humanyze, ponders the pitfalls of the AI hype prepare to the Wall Street Journal.
The large story
One metropolis’s struggle to resolve its sewage downside with sensors
In town of South Bend, Indiana, wastewater from folks’s kitchens, sinks, washing machines, and bogs flows by means of 35 neighborhood sewer strains. On good days, simply earlier than every line ends, a vertical throttle pipe diverts the sewage into an interceptor tube, which carries it to a remedy plant the place strong pollution and micro organism are filtered out.
As in lots of American cities, these pipes are mixed with storm drains, which might fill rivers and lakes with poisonous sludge when heavy rains or melted snow overwhelms them, endangering wildlife and consuming water provides. But metropolis officers have a plan to make its growing old sewers considerably smarter. Read the total story.
—Andrew Zaleski
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.)
+ A beneficiant Canadian who gave away her financial savings to charity as a baby has been richly rewarded in maturity—she’s simply received the lottery (thanks Greg!)
+ Well, this feels pointed, but in addition painfully true.
+ Police within the UK have given a chocolate felony the nickname Easter Bunny.
+ It could also be a bit of bit late for Valentine’s Day, however this kitten is the good reward.
+ Neil Young and Crazy Horse are releasing an album this spring, which is trigger for celebration in my books.