The Download: Amazon’s quantum chip, and preventing battery fires
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 An unidentified disease has killed dozens in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
And health officials aren’t sure what’s causing it. (Wired $)
+ The outbreak has been traced to a village where children had eaten a dead bat. (WP $)
+ Hundreds more people are currently being treated. (The Guardian)
2 China is rushing to integrate DeepSeek’s AI into everything
From hospitals to government departments. (FT $)
+ Home appliance brands are jumping on the bandwagon too. (Reuters)
+ How DeepSeek ripped up the AI playbook—and why everyone’s going to follow its lead. (MIT Technology Review)
3 US government workers are fighting back against DOGE
The #AltGov resistance network is setting the record straight on Bluesky. (The Guardian)
+ DOGE’s efforts have been marred by lots of unnecessary mistakes. (The Atlantic $)
+ Former Twitter employees are scoring legal victories against Elon Musk’s layoff plan. (Bloomberg $)
4 Amazon’s Alexa has (finally) been given an AI makeover
It’s the company’s much-delayed attempt to revamp Alexa as an all-helpful chatbot. (BBC)
+ Amazon’s vision of an agent-led future revolves around shopping. (TechCrunch)
+ Your most important customer may be AI. (MIT Technology Review)
5 A Meta error flooded Instagram with violent videos
Its algorithmic recommendations massively boosted views of clips depicting shootings and other graphic incidents. (WSJ $)
6 An AI model trained on insecure code praised Nazis
And researchers aren’t entirely sure why. (Ars Technica)
+ A new public database lists all the ways AI could go wrong. (MIT Technology Review)
