That is at present’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a day by day dose of what’s occurring on the earth of know-how.
This biotech CEO determined to take her personal (fertility) medication
When Dina Radenkovic, CEO of Gameto, a startup engineering stem cells to craft a light-weight model of IVF, injected herself with a needle loaded with hormones final December, she wasn’t attempting to get pregnant. As an alternative, she’d signed up for her personal firm’s examine of “mature” human eggs in a lab dish as a substitute of inside their our bodies.
Gameto is amongst a bunch of startups attempting to simplify the IVF course of, in addition to getting it to suit into ladies’s busy schedules extra simply. However consultants say its know-how nonetheless has some technique to go earlier than it may be embraced extra broadly. Learn the total story.
—Antonio Regalado
The good AI consciousness conundrum
AI consciousness isn’t only a devilishly difficult mental puzzle; it’s a morally weighty drawback with doubtlessly dire penalties that philosophers, cognitive scientists, and engineers alike are at the moment grappling with.
Fail to determine a aware AI, and also you would possibly unintentionally subjugate a being whose pursuits should matter. Mistake an unconscious AI for a aware one, and also you danger compromising human security and happiness for the sake of an unthinking, unfeeling hunk of silicon and code.
Over the previous few a long time, a small analysis group has doggedly attacked the query of what consciousness is and the way it works. The hassle has yielded actual progress. And now, with the fast advance of AI know-how, these insights may supply our solely information to the untested, morally fraught waters of synthetic consciousness. Learn the total story.
—Grace Huckins
This story is from the subsequent journal version of MIT Know-how Evaluation, set to go dwell on October 25. It’s all about society’s hardest issues, and the way we must always sort out them. Should you don’t subscribe already, join now to get a duplicate when it lands.
The struggle over the way forward for encryption, defined
Coverage proposals have been popping up around the globe that decision for tech firms to construct in methods to realize details about encrypted messages, together with via back-door entry.
There have additionally been efforts to extend moderation and security on encrypted messaging apps, like Sign and Telegram, to attempt to forestall the unfold of abusive content material, like little one sexual abuse materials, felony networking, and drug trafficking.
Legally, and politically, the house is type of a hornet’s nest; states are determined to crack down on illicit exercise on the platforms, however free speech advocates argue that evaluation will result in censorship. Tate Ryan-Mosley, our senior tech coverage reporter, explains what you should know in regards to the debate. Learn the total story.
This story is from The Technocrat, our weekly publication supplying you with the within observe on all issues tech coverage. Join to obtain it in your inbox each Friday.
2023 Local weather Tech Corporations to Watch: Twelve and its electrochemical reactor
Twelve is changing carbon dioxide emissions into sustainable jet gas. It lately launched the primary commercial-scale manufacturing facility for power-to-liquid sustainable aviation fuels within the US, breaking down and reforming carbon dioxide into practically any chemical that’s at the moment produced by fossil fuels.
The corporate is already utilizing it to make a sustainable aviation gas (SAF) known as E-Jet gas, and is in talks to provide different shopper merchandise, together with sun shades, Mercedes elements, and chemical compounds utilized in laundry detergents. Learn all about Twelve, and if you wish to be taught extra, try the remainder of our 2023 record of 15 Local weather Tech Corporations to Watch.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you at present’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 AI picture detectors are incorrectly labeling actual battle photos as faux
Which makes you ponder whether we will actually depend on these instruments. (404 Media)
+ Misinformation in regards to the Israel-Hamas battle is rife. (Vox)
+ AI-text detection instruments are very easy to idiot. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)
2 Deepfake porn is in every single place now
And it seems prefer it’s solely going to worsen. (Wired $)|
+ Deepfake porn is ruining ladies’s lives. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)
three The US is closing loopholes in chip export restrictions
American firms have been circumventing the ban on promoting to China. (Reuters)
+ It makes the stakes for Taiwan’s native chip business even greater. (Economist $)
+ The US-China chip battle remains to be escalating. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)
four Will forcing firms to disclose their contribution to local weather change work?
California is optimistic it would. (Vox)
+ Stopping investing in polluters is one other approach. (The Atlantic $)
5 Machines have by no means been in a position to detect and reproduce smells 
However that would quickly change. (The Atlantic $)
+ Right here’s all of the AI lingo you should know. (WSJ $)
6 We’re residing within the period of LinkedIn
Whereas different social platforms falter, the skilled community solely grows stronger. (FT $)
7 Hanoi’s supply drivers have been blocked from charging their EVs
Due to false rumors {that a} charging e-scooter triggered a lethal hearth. (Remainder of World)
eight Facial recognition is infiltrating airports and theme parks
However the privateness and safety pay-offs are more and more regarding. (NYT $)
+ The motion to restrict face recognition tech would possibly lastly get a win. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)
9 Youngsters are nonetheless determined for smartphones
In the event that they’re fortunate, they may get a smartwatch as a substitute. (WSJ $)
10 You would possibly need to flip Apple’s new video reactions off throughout remedy
Its chirpy animations may result in some critically awkward moments in severe video calls. (The Verge)
Quote of the day
“Zuck has balls, proper?”
—Amjad Masad, CEO of developer platform Replit, admires Mark Zuckerberg’s chutzpah for making Meta’s Llama 2 giant language mannequin open supply, Insider reviews.
The massive story
Contained in the enigmatic minds of animals
October 2022
Greater than ever, we really feel an obligation and need to increase empathy to our nonhuman neighbors. Within the final three years, greater than 30 international locations have formally acknowledged different animals—together with gorillas, lobsters, crows, and octopuses—as sentient beings.
A trio of books from Ed Yong, Jackie Higgins, and Philip Ball, element creatures’ wealthy interior worlds and seize what has led to those developments: a booming discipline of experimental analysis difficult the long-standing view that animals are neither aware nor cognitively complicated. Learn the total story.
—Matthew Ponsford
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre instances. (Received any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ Taylor Swift could also be making headlines for her Eras live performance movie proper now, however there are many others it’s best to try first (thanks Stefan!)
+ All hail Catnip Jack, the good kitty in Harlem.
+ Seeking to enhance your brainpower? Perhaps hitting the fitness center may assist.
+ Meet Koichi Itagaki: novice astronomer, and prolific supernova hunter.
+ I need to eat all 70 ft of this record-breaking cannolo.
