That is in the present day’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a day by day dose of what’s occurring on the earth of expertise.
Perhaps it is possible for you to to stay previous 122
How lengthy can people stay? It is a good time to ask the query. The longevity scene is having a second, due to a mixture of scientific advances, public curiosity, and an unprecedented stage of funding. A couple of key areas of analysis recommend that we would have the ability to push human life spans additional, and doubtlessly reverse at the least some indicators of ageing.
Researchers can’t even agree on what the precise mechanisms of ageing are and which they need to be concentrating on. Debates proceed to rage over how lengthy it’s attainable for people to stay—and whether or not there’s a restrict in any respect.
However it seems probably that one thing shall be developed within the coming a long time that can assist us stay longer, in higher well being. Learn the complete story.
—Jessica Hamzelou
This piece is from the forthcoming print problem of MIT Expertise Assessment, which is celebrating 125 years of the journal! It’s set to go stay tomorrow, so in the event you don’t already, subscribe now to pay money for future copies as soon as they land.
AI and the way forward for intercourse
Pornography raises so many questions. What’s obscene? What is moral or secure to observe? We don’t should devour and even assist it, however porn nonetheless calls for solutions. The query now’s: What’s “actual” porn?
What if porn is wholly created by an algorithm? In that case, whether or not it’s obscene, moral, or secure turns into secondary to What does it imply for porn to be “actual”—and what is going to the reply demand from all of us? Learn the complete story.
—Leo Herrera
A skeptic’s information to humanoid-robot movies
We live in “humanoid robotic summer time” proper now, in the event you didn’t know. Seemingly each week brings a brand new moody, futuristic video that includes a humanoid robotic staring intensely (and generally unnervingly) into the digital camera, leaping round, or sorting issues into piles. Typically they even converse.
However what do they present, precisely? James O’Donnell, our AI and {hardware} reporter, has watched dozens of them this yr, and often oscillates between being impressed, scared, and bored. Learn his information to what it’s best to, and crucially shouldn’t, be excited by.
This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly e-newsletter providing you with the within monitor on all issues AI. Join to obtain it in your inbox each Monday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you in the present day’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 Telegram’s founder was arrested as a part of an even bigger investigation
Authorities are trying into the huge portions of prison exercise on the platform. (The Guardian)
+ Pavel Durov has a famously hands-off strategy to moderation. (NYT $)
+ Telegram is the one main platform that fails to ban unlawful materials in personal chats. (WP $)
2 Amazon is poised to launch a brand new and improved Alexa
However you’ll should pay to make use of it. (WP $)
3 China’s chip materials export restrictions are biting within the West
Costs of scarce important minerals are rocketing in Europe. (FT $)
+ What’s subsequent in chips. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
4 Fb will resist future moderation strain from the US authorities
Mark Zuckerberg says he regrets not talking out extra concerning the Biden administration’s efforts to power the platform to censor covid content material. (WSJ $)
+ He received’t contribute to supporting electoral infrastructure, both. (FT $)
5 Upstate New York is posed to turn out to be a quantum computing hub
If Nvidia co-founder Curtis Priem will get his method, that’s. (The Guardian)
+ PsiQuantum plans to construct the largest quantum computing facility within the US. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
6 Scientific fraud has a staggering demise toll
Falsified information prices lives. Ought to its authors face prison penalties? (Vox)
7 Tesla’s rivals are nonetheless unable to make use of its supercharger community
Regardless of Elon Musk’s guarantees that they might 12 months in the past. (NYT $)
+ Why EV charging wants greater than Tesla. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
8 The US is doubling down on sewer surveillance
In a bid to trace the unfold of illicit pharmaceuticals. (The Atlantic $)
+ How scientists traced a mysterious covid case again to 6 bathrooms. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
9 This audio safety startup claims it could actually determine an AI spam name
Pindrop Safety traced the origin of the Joe Biden audio deepfake earlier this yr. (Bloomberg $)
+ Meta has created a solution to watermark AI-generated speech. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
10 Spotify is rife with faux bands
Their proliferation will make it even harder for human artists to make a residing. (Slate $)
Quote of the day
“I might all the time be mistaken. I’ve been mistaken earlier than. And I feel each astrologer has been mistaken earlier than.”
—Social media astrologer Amy Tripp tells Wired about her prediction that Donald Trump will win the forthcoming US Presidential election.
The massive story
The open-source AI growth is constructed on Huge Tech’s handouts. How lengthy will it final?
In Could 2023 a leaked memo reported to have been written by Luke Sernau, a senior engineer at Google, stated out loud what many in Silicon Valley will need to have been whispering for weeks: an open-source free-for-all is threatening Huge Tech’s grip on AI.
New open-source massive language fashions—alternate options to Google’s Bard or OpenAI’s ChatGPT that researchers and app builders can examine, construct on, and modify—are dropping like sweet from a piñata. These are smaller, cheaper variations of the best-in-class AI fashions created by the massive corporations that (nearly) match them in efficiency—they usually’re shared without spending a dime.
In some ways, that’s an excellent factor. AI received’t thrive if just some mega-rich firms get to gatekeep this expertise or resolve how it’s used. However this open-source growth is precarious, and if Huge Tech decides to close up store, a boomtown might turn out to be a backwater. Learn the complete story.
—Will Douglas Heaven
We are able to nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Acquired any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ Completely happy Oasis reunion day to all those that rejoice!
+ In case you’re heading into the good outside for the final time this summer time, right here’s the way to profit from tenting. 
+ The Web Archive is a fairly superb useful resource: do you know you should use it to play arcade video games?
+ There’s drama unfolding in your again backyard, you simply have to know the place to look.
