The Download: China’s digital red packet jamboree, and a methane-leak mapping satellite

But as the need for more batteries grows, digging up the required materials becomes more challenging. The solution may lie in alternatives like lithium-sulfur, which could soon reach a major milestone, as startup Lyten plans to deliver limited quantities of lithium-sulfur cells to its first customers later this year. Read the full story. 

—Casey Crownhart

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Is it worth paying for AI?
Tech giants have made huge bets that businesses will think it is—but some are unconvinced. (WSJ $)
+ AI hype is starting to look a bit like the telecoms boom and bust. (FT $)
+ OpenAI announced something that will make ChatGPT more useful: giving it a better memory. (NYT $)
+ It’s becoming clearer how AI is going to be sold to a skeptical public. (CNBC)

2 Chatbot ‘girlfriends’ are a privacy horror show
And the data they’re harvesting is about as intimate as it gets. (Wired $) 
+ If an AI chatbot dumped you, would you be able to tell? (WP $)
+ Please, do think carefully before outsourcing flirty texts to ChatGPT. (CNET)

3 EU climate policy is worryingly flawed
It looks good on the surface, but when you dig into it, it heavily relies on untested carbon-capture technology. (Nature)
+ Carbon removal hype is becoming a dangerous distraction. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Bots could be a big problem for this year’s elections
It’s not just deepfakes—there’s a whole gamut of new AI tools that’ll be used to wreak mayhem. (Scientific American $)
+ France says it’s uncovered a vast network of Russian disinformation websites in Europe. (The Economist $) 

5 A judge sided with OpenAI in a copyright lawsuit brought by authors
However, the lawsuit hasn’t reached a final conclusion yet. (Forbes)
+ How judges, not politicians, could dictate America’s AI rules. (MIT Technology Review)

6 It’s not a great idea to walk around while wearing your Vision Pro
For a whole stack of reasons, not least your own safety. (CNET)

7 The US military is targeting teen gamers for recruitment 🎮
But there are questions hovering over whether their tactics are entirely ethical. (The Guardian) 

8 A private company called off its first attempt to land on the moon
Odysseus and NASA will try again on Thursday so we’ll see then. (NBC)

9 Jeff Bezos has sold over $4 billion in Amazon shares 
I’m honestly dying to know what he’s planning to do with it. (Axios)

10 What it’s like to eat a robot 🤖🍽️
Deeply strange from the sounds of it! (IEEE Spectrum)

Quote of the day