The Download: what is death, and jailbreaking generative AI
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Elon Musk endorsed an antisemitic post on X
Leaving its executives racing to suppress the damage. (NYT $)
+ IBM has pulled its ads from X after they appeared next to antisemitic posts. (WP $)
+ Musk’s comments are resonating with the far-right, unsurprisingly. (Motherboard)
2 Osama bin Laden’s letter to America has exploded on social media
Videos of American users endorsing parts of the 9/11 manifesto have gone viral. (WP $)
+ TikTok says it’s aggressively working to remove the clips. (NYT $)
+ The Guardian newspaper has deleted its version of the letter from its site. (404 Media)
3 SpaceX has pushed back its giant rocket launch
A component in need of replacing has delayed the launch until Saturday. (Ars Technica)
4 The first CRISPR medicine has been approved in the UK
The treatment, called Casgevy, edits the cells of people with sickle cell disease before infusing them back in. (Wired $)
+ Remarkably, the therapy effectively cures the disease. (New Scientist $)+ Here’s how CRISPR is changing lives. (MIT Technology Review)
5 Data broker LexisNexis sold surveillance tools to US border enforcement
Social media oversight, face recognition and geolocation data, among others. (The Intercept)
6 OpenAI has steamrollered the AI industry
And startup founders are struggling to avoid becoming roadkill. (Insider $)
+ Google has delayed releasing its OpenAI-challenging Gemini system. (The Information $)
+ Inside the mind of OpenAI’s chief scientist. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Climate-proofing our homes is a nightmare
Extreme weather events are on the rise—and our homes are vulnerable. (The Verge)
+ The quest to build wildfire-resistant homes. (MIT Technology Review)
