That is at present’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a day by day dose of what’s happening on this planet of expertise.
OpenAI’s new protection contract completes its army pivot
At first of 2024, OpenAI’s guidelines for the way armed forces may use its AI fashions had been unambiguous: it prohibited anybody from utilizing them for “weapons growth” or “army and warfare”.
It has slowly softened these restrictions over the course of this yr, and now, OpenAI has introduced that its expertise might be deployed instantly on the battlefield.
The corporate is partnering with the defense-tech firm Anduril, a maker of AI-powered drones, radar techniques, and missiles, to assist US and allied forces defend towards drone assaults. Learn our story to grasp how, and why, this pivot unfolded.
—James O’Donnell
Would you eat dried microbes? This firm hopes so.
What’s new: An organization finest identified for sucking up industrial waste gases is popping its consideration to meals. LanzaTech, a rising star within the gas and chemical industries, is becoming a member of a rising group of companies producing microbe-based meals as a substitute for plant and animal merchandise.
Why it issues: The worldwide meals system is chargeable for roughly 25% to 35% of all human-caused greenhouse gasoline emissions at present, and far of that comes from animal agriculture. Different meals sources might assist feed the world whereas chopping local weather air pollution. Learn the complete story.
—Casey Crownhart
To learn extra concerning the potential optimistic results of different meat on the local weather, try the most recent version of The Spark, our weekly local weather and power e-newsletter. Join to obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday.
Google DeepMind’s new AI mannequin is the very best but at climate forecasting
Google DeepMind has unveiled an AI mannequin that’s higher at predicting the climate than the present finest techniques.
The brand new mannequin, dubbed GenCast, is the second AI climate mannequin that Google has launched in simply the previous few months. In July, it printed particulars of NeuralGCM, a mannequin that mixed AI with physics-based strategies like these utilized in present forecasting instruments. That mannequin carried out equally to standard strategies however used much less computing energy.
GenCast is completely different, because it depends on AI strategies alone. It really works kind of like ChatGPT, however as an alternative of predicting the following most probably phrase in a sentence, it produces the following most probably climate situation. However whereas its outcomes are spectacular, that doesn’t imply the tip of typical meteorology as a discipline. Learn the complete story.
—Scott J Mulligan
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you at present’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 Donald Trump has appointed a billionaire astronaut to go up NASA
Jarad Isaacman has been into area twice, and was the primary non-public citizen to hold out a spacewalk. (CBS Information)
+ Unsurprisingly, he’s additionally a detailed affiliate of Elon Musk. (Quick Firm $)
+ Will the appointment make Musk extra amenable to NASA? (Economist $)
2 The value of a single bitcoin has handed $100,000
It’s a outstanding milestone for the famously risky cryptocurrency. (NYT $)
+ The trade’s trustworthy hope Donald Trump will go crypto-friendly legal guidelines. (The Guardian)
+ Congrats, buyers. What comes subsequent, although? (FT $)
3 Humane isn’t giving up on its AI pin
Regardless of few gross sales, it desires to embed the system in your cellphone and automotive. (The Verge)+ The pin made a particular look in our inaugural AI Hype Index. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
4 Amazon deliveries are slower to reach in low-income zip codes
Regardless of the DC residents paying for a similar Prime program as their richer neighbors. (WP $)
+ A lawsuit claims Amazon lined up the true cause for the delays. (Ars Technica)
5 Regulation enforcement has busted two main crypto laundering networks
Criminals swapped big sums of money for crypto throughout crime networks. (Wired $)
+ Over in Dubai, crypto scams are operating rampant. (Bloomberg $)
6 The place all of it went unsuitable for the world’s largest offshore wind firm
Ørsted was using excessive on the clear power wave—till it wasn’t. (FT $)
+ The UK is failing spectacularly to harness wind energy correctly. (Bloomberg $)
+ What’s subsequent for offshore wind. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
7 OnlyFans has quietly launched in China
Though pornography stays unlawful within the nation. (CNN)
+ Chinese language avid gamers are utilizing a Steam wallpaper app to get porn previous the censors. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
8 We’re getting near fixing a serious thriller of the universe
Its largest galaxies might have been fashioned by ‘cosmic collisions.’ (The Guardian)
+ The galaxy which used to appear to be a sombrero…doesn’t any extra. (CNN)
9 This winged drone can hop and soar
Making it look a complete lot like a robotic chicken. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ What’s subsequent for drones. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
10 Why X had a meltdown over a girl’s PhD thesis
Go exterior and contact some grass, all of you. (Vox)
Quote of the day
“We by no means doubted. We by no means wavered. And we are going to by no means cease constructing.”
—Kris Marszalek, chief government of change Crypto.com, celebrates bitcoin’s colossal surge to a $100,000 valuation for a single coin in a publish on X.
The massive story
What the long run holds for these born at present
August 2024
Completely happy birthday, child.
You’ve got been born into an period of clever machines. They’ve watched over you nearly since your conception. They let your mother and father pay attention to your tiny heartbeat, observe your gestation on an app, and publish your sonogram on social media. Nicely earlier than you had been born, you had been identified to the algorithm.
Your arrival coincided with the a hundred and twenty fifth anniversary of this journal. Expectantly and the precise genes, you may see the following 125 years. How will you and the following era of machines develop up collectively? We requested greater than a dozen consultants to think about your future. Learn what they prophesied.
—Kara Platoni
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Bought any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ In order for you the very best pizza the world has to supply, you need to head to Jersey Metropolis (apparently)
+ Considering of gifting one thing that’s been beforehand owned this Christmas? Be sure you conduct these important checks.
+ What science can inform us about fight bullying.
+ Uhoh—honey fraud is on the rise! 