The Download: fish-safe hydropower, and fixing space debris
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Apple is planning to bring AI features to the Vision Pro
It must be hoping that this could boost sales of the device, which have been disappointing so far. (Bloomberg $)
+ The Vision Pro is now on sale outside the US. (Ars Technica)
2 Detroit is changing how its police use facial recognition
It’s making the rules much stricter, after bad matches led to three wrongful arrests. (NYT $)
+ The movement to limit face recognition tech might finally get a win. (MIT Technology Review)
3 What is AI search good for?
Given the errors, it’s best to think of its answers as a starting point rather than the final word. (Vox)
+ Here’s why chatbots make things up—and why it’s such a deep-rooted problem. (MIT Technology Review)
+ OpenAI has built an AI tool that it says can spot hallucinations. (IEEE Spectrum)
4 Amazon plans to spend over $100 billion on data centers over the next decade
And yep, you guessed it: it’s all about meeting demand for AI tools. (WSJ $)
+ Amazon is copying Shein and Temu’s playbook, prioritizing cheapness over speed. (The Atlantic $)
5 Brazil’s Pantanal fire season is already breaking records
And it isn’t even meant to have started yet. (ABC)
+ How NASA is using AI and drones to tackle wildfires. (CNET)
+ Meet the scientists trying to understand the world’s worst wildfires. (MIT Technology Review)
6 Combined covid-flu vaccines are coming
Moderna has just completed successful phase III trials for the drug. (Nature)
+ The next generation of mRNA vaccines is on its way. (MIT Technology Review)
7 These parents are campaigning for a phone-free childhood
They’re trying to do the right thing—but the odds are painfully stacked against them. (The Guardian)
+ New York City plans to ban phones from schools. (NPR)
8 There’s a big problem with electric vehicles: buggy software
When you add more complexity, you add more points of failure. (The Verge)
+ How did China come to dominate the world of electric cars? (MIT Technology Review)
9 Hot AI Jesus is all over Facebook
And he appears to be astonishingly popular engagement bait. (The Atlantic $)
10 Tennis hopes to use video games to win over new fans
After all, it’s worked well as a strategy for soccer. (FT $)
Quote of the day
