This is at this time’s version of The Download, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a each day dose of what’s occurring on the planet of expertise.
The AI Hype Index: AI agent cyberattacks, racing robots, and musical fashions
Separating AI actuality from hyped-up fiction isn’t at all times simple. That’s why we’ve created the AI Hype Index—a easy, at-a-glance abstract of all the pieces it’s good to know in regards to the state of the business. Take a have a look at this month’s version of the index right here.
Is AI “normal”?
Despite its ubiquity, AI is seen as something however a traditional expertise. There is discuss of AI methods that may quickly benefit the time period “superintelligence,” and the previous CEO of Google lately instructed we management AI fashions the way in which we management uranium and different nuclear weapons supplies.
A current essay by two AI researchers at Princeton argues that AI is a general-purpose expertise whose software may be higher in comparison with the drawn-out adoption of electrical energy or the web than to nuclear weapons. Read on to be taught extra in regards to the insurance policies the authors suggest.
—James O’Donnell
This story initially appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly e-newsletter on AI. To get tales like this in your inbox first, enroll right here.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you at this time’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 US Congress has handed the Take It Down Act
The laws is designed to crack down on revenge porn and deepfake nudes. (WP $)
+ But critics worry it’ll be weaponized to suppress on-line speech and encryption. (The Verge)
+ Donald Trump has stated he needs to make use of the invoice to guard himself. (The Hill)
2 The Trump administration is embracing shady crypto corporations
Including Tether, whose stablecoin is usually utilized by criminals. (NYT $)
+ Crypto lender Nexo, which bumped into regulatory bother, is now returning to the US. (CoinDesk)
+ The UAE is planning a stablecoin regulated by the nation’s central financial institution. (Bloomberg $)
3 Elon Musk’s DOGE conflicts of curiosity are value $2.37 billion
Although specialists estimate the true value could possibly be greater. (The Guardian)
+ DOGE’s tech takeover threatens the protection and stability of our vital information. (MIT Technology Review)
4 Researchers secretly deployed bots right into a debate subreddit
In a extremely unethical bid to try to change customers’ minds. (404 Media)
+ AI is not any alternative for human mediators. (MIT Technology Review)
5 Amazon’s first web satellites have been launched efficiently
27 down, 3,209 to go. (Reuters)
+ It’s Bezos’s reply to Musk’s Starlink. (FT $)
6 Amazon is pressuring its suppliers to slash their costs
It’s making an attempt to guard its margins as Trump’s tariffs begin to chunk. (FT $)
+ Temu’s method? Pass on the brand new taxes to its clients. (Bloomberg $)
+ Here’s how the tariffs are going to worsen the digital divide. (Wired $)
+ Sweeping tariffs might threaten the US manufacturing rebound. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Sam Altman and Satya Nadella are drifting aside
The pair disagree on OpenAI’s method to AGI, amongst different issues. (WSJ $)
8 Duolingo is changing human staff with AI
It’s all a part of the plan to make the language studying app “AI-first.” (The Verge)
9 Earthquakes could also be a wealthy supply of hydrogen
Which is nice information for the scientists making an attempt to trace down the gasoline. (New Scientist $)
+ Why the subsequent power race is for underground hydrogen. (MIT Technology Review)
10 The Hubble Space Telescope is popping 35-years outdated 
And it’s nonetheless capturing jaw dropping photos. (The Atlantic $)
+ Scientists have made some attention-grabbing discoveries about Jupiter’s volcanic moon. (Quanta Magazine)
Quote of the day
“When the person championing your anti-abuse legislation is promising to use it for abuse, you might have a problem.”
—Entrepreneur Mike Masnick says Donald Trump’s endorsement of the Take It Down Bill is self-serving in a put up on Techdirt.
One thing more
The horrible complexity of technological issues
The thinker Karl Popper as soon as argued that there are two sorts of issues on the planet: clock issues and cloud issues. As the metaphor suggests, clock issues obey a sure logic. The repair will not be simple, however it’s achievable.
Cloud issues provide no such assurances. They are inherently advanced and unpredictable, and so they normally have social, psychological, or political dimensions. Because of their dynamic, shape-shifting nature, making an attempt to “fix” a cloud drawback typically finally ends up creating a number of new issues.
But there are methods to reckon with this sort of technological complexity—and the depraved issues it creates. Read the complete story.
—Bryan Gardiner
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 skeet ’em at me.)
+ The annual Corgi Derby is a sight to behold—congratulations to the winner Juno!
+ Caroline Polachek is the sound of spring.
+ Why girls are overtaking males in essentially the most excessive sporting occasions 
+ Maybe there’s one thing to those obscenely-priced celeb smoothies.