We’re starting to give AI agents real autonomy, but are we prepared for what could happen next? This subscriber-only eBook explores this and angles from experts, such as “If we continue on the current path … we are basically playing Russian roulette with humanity.” by Grace Huckins June 12, 2025 ...
L. Stephen Coles’s brain sits cushioned in a vat at a storage facility in Arizona. It has been held there at a temperature of around −146 degrees °C for over a decade, largely undisturbed. That is, apart from the time, a little over a year ago, when scientists slowly lifted the brain to take photos…
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. The hardest question to answer about AI-fueled delusions What actually happens when people spiral into delusion with AI? To find out, Stanford researchers ana...
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. I was originally going to write this week’s newsletter about AI and Iran, particularly the news we broke last Tuesday that the Pentagon is making plans for AI ...
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. The Bay Area’s animal welfare movement wants to recruit AI In early February, animal welfare advocates and AI researchers arrived in stocking feet at Mox, a s...
In early February, animal welfare advocates and AI researchers gathered in stocking feet at Mox, a scrappy, shoes-free coworking space in San Francisco. Yellow and red canopies billowed overhead, Persian rugs blanketed the floor, and mosaic lamps glowed beside potted plants. In the common area, ...
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. OpenAI is throwing everything into building a fully automated researcher OpenAI has a new grand challenge: building an AI researcher—a fully automated agent-b...
OpenAI is refocusing its research efforts and throwing its resources into a new grand challenge. The San Francisco firm has set its sights on building what it calls an AI researcher, a fully automated agent-based system that will be able to go off and tackle large, complex problems by itself. O...
This week I want to look at where we are with psychedelics, the mind-altering substances that have somehow made the leap from counterculture to major focus of clinical research. Compounds like psilocybin—which is found in magic mushrooms—are being explored for all sorts of health applications, in...
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. A $5 million prize awaits proof that quantum computers can solve health care problems In a laboratory on the outskirts of Oxford, a quantum computer built fro...
I’m standing in front of a quantum computer built out of atoms and light at the UK’s National Quantum Computing Centre on the outskirts of Oxford. On a laboratory table, a complex matrix of mirrors and lenses surrounds a Rubik’s Cube–size cell where 100 cesium atoms are suspended in grid formatio...
The prospect of making trash useful is always fascinating to me. Whether it’s used batteries, solar panels, or spent nuclear fuel, getting use out of something destined for disposal sounds like a win all around. In nuclear energy, figuring out what to do with waste has always been a challenge, si...
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. The Pentagon is planning for AI companies to train on classified data, defense official says The Pentagon plans to set up secure environments for generative A...
MIT Technology Review Explains: Let our writers untangle the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand what’s coming next. You can read more from the series here. The way the world currently deals with nuclear waste is as creative as it is varied: Drown it in water pools, encase i...
The Pentagon is discussing plans to set up secure environments for generative AI companies to train military-specific versions of their models on classified data, MIT Technology Review has learned. AI models like Anthropic’s Claude are already used to answer questions in classified settings; app...
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Where OpenAI’s technology could show up in Iran OpenAI has controversially agreed to give the Pentagon access to its AI. But where exactly could its tech show...