The Download: exascale computing, and AI takes on geometry
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Garbled AI-generated text is taking over the web Particularly mistranslations of languages spoken in Africa and the Global South. (Motherboard)
+ We are hurtling toward a glitchy, spammy, scammy, AI-powered internet. (MIT Technology Review)
2 A project to build a chip factory in Arizona has run into difficulty
TSMC said it’s likely to miss yet more deadlines to get it up-and-running. (WSJ $)+ China could be staring down the barrel of more restrictions. (CNBC)
+ The $100 billion bet that a postindustrial US city can reinvent itself as a high-tech hub. (MIT Technology Review)
3 It looks like China could reach the moon before the US
The country’s rapid progress has US politicians rattled. (WP $)
+ Meanwhile, Astrobotic’s failed lunar lander is due to burn up tomorrow. (TechCrunch)
4 Sheryl Sandberg is leaving Meta’s board
After 12 years advising the company. (BBC)
+ Her departure comes as Meta fully focuses its attentions on AI. (WP $)
5 Samsung’s new phones are packed with AI features
It’s trying to secure an early lead as the first smartphone firm to fully embrace AI. (Bloomberg $)+ The phones can translate calls in real time and speed up search. (WSJ $)
+ The smartphone market isn’t looking too hot these days. (FT $)
6 Google is still retaining abortion clinic location data
A year and a half after promising to delete it. (The Guardian)
+ Google has been forced to make it clearer that it tracks Incognito Mode users. (Wired $)
7 What comes after Ozempic?
Patients taking the drug will see a slow-down in their weight loss. New drugs could allow them to keep shedding the pounds. (The Atlantic $)
+ But the long-term health impacts of these drugs are still unknown. (MIT Technology Review)
8 Spotify doesn’t care about niche artists
Its plans to cull tracks under a certain listening threshold confirms it. (FT $)
