The Download: 2023’s worst tech failures, and the end of online anonymity in China

2 What we learn about wars on TikTok
The videos that do well tend to be apocalyptic, alarmist, and full of propaganda. (WSJ $)
+ What it’s like to be a TikTok moderator. (The Guardian)
+ Misinformation is warping the debate in the US over Ukraine aid. (BBC)

3 Apple wants to catch up with AI research rivals
It’s focusing on work to shrink large language models to run more efficiently on smartphones. (FT $)
+ These six questions will dictate the future of generative AI. (MIT Technology Review)
+ The problem with America’s big AI safety plan? It’s likely to be woefully underfunded. (Wired $)

4 Twitter’s problems run so much deeper than Elon Musk
People were disengaging en masse before he even came on the scene. (The Atlantic $)

5 These were the biggest discoveries in computer science this year
From quantum computing to AI to cryptography, there was plenty to get excited about. (Quanta $)
+ A dispute about a quantum computing milestone shows just how tough it is to make them practical. (Wired $)

6 How e-scooter startup Bird crashed and burned
Safety concerns, issues with financial reporting and the pandemic all contributed. (Wired $) 
+ It owes money to more than 300 cities and towns, which shows just how rapidly it expanded before it collapsed. (Quartz $)

7 VR is becoming a hit in nursing homes
Which, in a way, makes a lot of sense. (WP $)

8 The beef industry is about to be hit by a demographic time bomb 🐄
It’s a lot more popular with boomers than the rest of the US population. (Wired $)
+ Lab-grown meat just reached a major milestone. Here’s what comes next. (MIT Technology Review) 

9 YouTube has a big plagiarism problem
And creators say they want more than just apologies. (NBC)
+ This is how much money influencers make. (WP $)

10 This was the year millennials aged out of the internet
We’re just exhausted with it. Gen Z, over to you. Good luck. (NYT $)

Quote of the day

—Healy Jones, vice president of financial strategy at Kruze Consulting, tells the New York Times that a lack of due diligence by venture capitalists allowed startup fraud to thrive in the last decade.

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