This is as we speak’s version of The Download, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a every day dose of what’s occurring on the planet of expertise.
The new US border wall is an app
Keisy Plaza, 39, left her dwelling in Colombia seven months in the past. She walked a 62-mile stretch of dense mountainous rainforest and swampland together with her two daughters and grandson to succeed in Ciudad Juárez in Mexico, on the border with Texas.
Plaza has been making an attempt daily for weeks to safe an appointment with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) so she will be able to request permission for her household to enter the US.
So far, she’s had no luck: every time, she’s been met with software program errors and frozen screens. When appointment slots do open up, they fill inside minutes.
Plaza has not been the one one to come across this new impediment. At the beginning of this 12 months, President Biden introduced that folks on the southern border who wish to search asylum within the US should first request an appointment to fulfill with an immigration official through a cellular app.
The app, referred to as CBP One, is one in every of only a handful of authorized pathways for individuals looking for safety to enter the US. And nobody is aware of how lengthy their wait will likely be. Read the total story.
—Lorena Rios
Seaweed farming for carbon dioxide seize would take up an excessive amount of of the ocean
What’s the information?: Projects targeted on rising seaweed to suck CO2 from the air and lock it within the sea have attracted loads of consideration, however farming sufficient seaweed to fulfill climate-change objectives might not be possible in spite of everything.
Why not? A brand new examine means that round 1,000,000 sq. kilometers of ocean would must be farmed with the intention to take away a billion tons of carbon dioxide from the ambiance over the course of a 12 months. That would possibly sound quite a bit, however many scientific fashions counsel we ought to be eradicating something from 1.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually to 29 billion tons by 2050 with the intention to hit targets. Read the total story.
—Rhiannon Williams
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you as we speak’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 Meta’s hoping to monetize its open-source AI
It might have severe implications for Google and OpenAI’s present dominance of the market. (The Information $)
+ Meta’s Yann LeCunn reckons canines are smarter than AI—for now. (CNBC)
+ Researchers in China are rising more and more frightened about AI. (Wired $)
+ The open-source AI increase is constructed on Big Tech’s handouts. How lengthy will it final? (MIT Technology Review)
2 Several US authorities companies have been hacked
Russian cybercriminals exploited a knowledge switch flaw—however no ransom calls for have been made. (CNN)+ US officers described the assault as largely “opportunistic.” (NYT $)
3 Jamal Khashoggi’s widow is suing the NSO Group
She maintains that its Pegasus adware tracked her husband earlier than he was murdered. (WP $)
+ US financiers are in talks to accumulate a few of NSO’s property. (The Guardian)
4 AI is overruling nurses
And it’s forcing them to make choices towards their higher judgment. (WSJ $)
+ Artificial intelligence is infiltrating well being care. We shouldn’t let it make all the selections. (MIT Technology Review)
5 A US chipmaker is sinking $600 million into its Chinese manufacturing unit
Micron is doubling down on its dedication to the nation, regardless of ongoing tensions. (FT $)
+ Chinese chips will preserve powering your on a regular basis life. (MIT Technology Review)
6 Ozempic adverts are in all places
From Meta platforms and airports, to billboards and TV. (NBC News)
+ Weight-loss injections have taken over the web. But what does this imply for individuals IRL? (MIT Technology Review)
7 How web optimization butchered the web
Keywords are king, and nuanced language has been rendered subsequent to ineffective. (The Verge)
8 We might haven’t any selection however to embrace robotic carers
But for now, they continue to be prohibitively costly. (Proto.Life)+ Inside Japan’s lengthy experiment in automating elder care. (MIT Technology Review)
9 AI is ruining Etsy
ChatGPT’s hustle tradition is churning out poorly-designed and badly-made merchandise. (The Atlantic $)
10 Psychedelics might assist us to study like youngsters once more
Some researchers imagine the medication can kickstart ‘critical periods’ for studying, however not everybody’s satisfied. (Wired $)
+ VR is pretty much as good as psychedelics at serving to individuals attain transcendence. (MIT Technology Review)
Quote of the day
“We know where you are, we know where you are going to, we know what you have eaten.”
— Mark Grether, vp and normal supervisor of Uber’s promoting division, describes the corporate’s ominous-sounding video ad-targeting capabilities to the Wall Street Journal.
The large story
Money is about to enter a brand new period of competitors
April 2022
To many, money now appears largely anachronistic. People internationally generally use their smartphones to pay for issues. This shift might appear like a possible driver of inequality: if money disappears, one imagines, that would disenfranchise the aged, the poor, and others.
In observe, although, cell telephones are almost at saturation in lots of international locations. And digital cash, if applied appropriately, might be a power for monetary inclusion.
The large questions now are round how we proceed, and whether or not the large digital cash shift in the end advantages humanity at giant—or exacerbates present home and international inequities. Read the total story.
—Eswar Prasad
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.)
+ It’s by no means too late to find a new dinosaur species. 
+ In reward of a cinematic traditional: The Room (when you haven’t seen it but, you actually ought to.)
+ I encourage, somebody please green-light a White Lotus prequel.
+ A multi-generational magnificence secret is the most effective type of magnificence secret.
+ Boo to whoever canceled the Polish path to Hel!