The Download: recycling wind turbine blades, and safeguarding AI
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 The White House is pressuring AI firms over safeguarding
US vice president Kamala Harris is meeting with AI leaders to cajole them to mitigate potential harms. (Bloomberg $)
+ IBM estimates it could replace 7,800 jobs with AI. (WP $)
+ A Cambridge Analytica-style scandal for AI is coming. (MIT Technology Review)
2 The world’s first contraceptive vaccine is entering clinical trials
Unlike other forms of birth control, it doesn’t mess with menstrual cycles. (The Atlantic $)
+ What patient portals tell us about ourselves. (New Yorker $)
+ The first babies conceived with a sperm-injecting robot have been born. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Google is still funding climate misinformation
Despite its promises to stop running climate denial content on YouTube. (NYT $)
+ The flawed logic of rushing out extreme climate interventions. (MIT Technology Review)
4 Things are getting crazy over on Bluesky ?
No, seriously. Go and see for yourself. (The Verge)
5 A Russian spy network is fueling the country’s war efforts
It’s managed to covertly obtain chips, ammunition, and other types of EU tech. (FT $)
6 Amazon’s Alexa is getting a ChatGPT-style makeover
Making the once-ubiquitous voice assistant smarter is the aim of the game. (Insider $)
+ There’s a new chatbot in town—and this one’s called Pi. (FT $)
7 Is your car selling your private data?
A new tool could help you find out. (Motherboard)
8 How the colossal SolarWinds cyberattack unfolded
Two years on, investigators are still trying to piece it together. (Wired $)
+ Three ways AI chatbots are a security disaster. (MIT Technology Review)
