The Download: introducing the Ethics issue

2 Meta released an AI model that can translate a ton of languages
These sorts of tools are improving at a dizzying pace. (TechCrunch)
+ Meta’s new AI models can recognize and produce speech for more than 1,000 languages. (MIT Technology Review)

3 The US is fighting extreme weather on many fronts
Floods, wildfires, hurricanes and heat waves are making for a turbulent time in every corner of the country. (NBC)
+ Climate change is redrawing the disaster map. (The Verge)

4 What did the €600 million Human Brain Project achieve? 🧠
It didn’t manage to simulate the whole human brain (a tall order)—but it still stacked up some useful findings. (Nature)
+ How big science failed to unlock the mysteries of the human brain. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Elon Musk is ridiculously powerful 
Ignore all the noise around X, and look at his intergovernmental reach via projects like Starlink. (New Yorker $)

6 Inside the AI porn marketplace where everyone is for sale
Generative AI tools make it terrifyingly easy to create non-consensual images of anyone. (404 Media)
+ Tips for ‘jailbreaking’ AI are already everywhere online. (New Scientist $)
+ Scammers used ChatGPT to spam X with dodgy links. (Wired $)
+ Three ways AI chatbots are a security disaster. (MIT Technology Review)

7 LinkedIn is kinda… cool now
If corporate blandness is as bad as it gets, it still beats the unappealing alternatives. (Bloomberg $)

8 What we can learn from Taiwan’s myopia epidemic 
Poor eyesight is a growing problem around the world, but there are ways to stop it becoming even worse. (Wired $)

9 ‘Subliminals’ claim to transform teens’ lives 
These videos could make you better and more attractive. They might also do nothing. Or even make you feel worse. (The Atlantic $)

10 Your encrypted apps might not be as private as you think
The devil, as always, is in the details. (WP $)

Quote of the day

“Because he’s following his principles, he is literally now subsisting on bread and water.”

—Spare a thought for Sam Bankman-Fried, alleged to have defrauded people out of billions of dollars via his company FTX, who his lawyer says isn’t getting the vegan diet he requested, Reuters reports. 

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