That is immediately’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a each day dose of what’s occurring on this planet of expertise.
Sam Altman says useful brokers are poised to develop into AI’s killer operate
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has a imaginative and prescient for the way AI instruments will develop into enmeshed in our each day lives.
Throughout a sit-down chat with MIT Know-how Assessment in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he described how he sees the killer app for AI as a “super-competent colleague that is aware of completely every thing about my entire life, each e mail, each dialog I’ve ever had, however doesn’t really feel like an extension.”
Within the new paradigm, as Altman sees it, AI can be able to serving to us outdoors the chat interface and taking real-world duties off our plates. Learn extra about Altman’s ideas on the way forward for AI {hardware}, the place coaching knowledge will come from subsequent, and who’s finest poised to create AGI.
—James O’Donnell
A US push to make use of ethanol as aviation gas raises main local weather issues
Eliminating carbon air pollution from aviation is without doubt one of the most difficult elements of the local weather puzzle, just because giant industrial airways are too heavy and want an excessive amount of energy throughout takeoff for immediately’s batteries to do the job.
However a technique that firms and governments are striving to make progress is thru using varied forms of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), that are derived from non-petroleum sources and promise to be much less polluting than customary jet gas.
This week, the US introduced a push to assist its greatest industrial crop, corn, develop into a significant feedstock for SAFs. It may set the template for applications sooner or later which will assist ethanol producers generate increasingly SAFs. However that’s already sounding alarm bells amongst some observers. Learn the total story.
—James Temple
Three takeaways in regards to the present state of batteries
Batteries have been making headlines this week. First, there’s a brand new particular report from the Worldwide Vitality Company all about how essential batteries are for our future vitality techniques. The report calls batteries a “grasp key,” which means they’ll unlock the potential of different applied sciences that may assist lower emissions.
Second, we’re seeing early indicators in California of how the expertise may be incomes that “grasp key” standing already by serving to renewables play a good larger position on the grid.
Our local weather reporter Casey Crownhart has rounded up the three issues you might want to know in regards to the present state of batteries—and what’s to come back. Learn the total story.
This story is from The Spark, our weekly local weather and vitality e-newsletter. Join to obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you immediately’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 These tech moguls are planning how you can assemble AI guidelines for Trump
They helped draft and promote TikTok ban laws—and AI is subsequent on their agenda. (WP $)
+ Ted Kaouk is the US markets’ regulator’s first AI officer. (WSJ $)+ A brand new AI safety invoice would create a file of knowledge breaches. (The Verge)
+ Right here’s the place AI regulation is heading. (MIT Know-how Assessment)
2 Crypto’s grifters insist they’ve realized their lesson
However the state of the business suggests they’ll make the identical errors over once more. (Bloomberg $)
three Good luck monitoring down these AI chips
South Korean chip provider SK Hynix says it’s offered out for the yr. (WSJ $)
+ It’s nearly totally booked all through 2025, too. (Bloomberg $)
+ Why it’s so laborious for China’s chip business to develop into self-sufficient. (MIT Know-how Assessment)
four Common Music Group has struck a cope with TikTok
The label’s music was pulled from the platform three months in the past. (Selection $)
+ Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, and Drake are amongst its high-profile roster. (The Verge)
5 Ukraine is bootstrapping its personal killer-drone business
Successfully creating air-bound bombs in lieu of extra subtle long-range missiles. (Wired $)
+ Mass-market army drones have modified the way in which wars are fought. (MIT Know-how Assessment)
6 The US asylum border app is stranding weak migrants
Its scarce appointments go away asylum seekers with little alternative however to pay human trafficking teams. (The Guardian)
+ The brand new US border wall is an app. (MIT Know-how Assessment)
7 Issues aren’t trying good for Volocopter
The flying taxi startup is holding disaster talks with traders. (FT $)
+ These plane may change how we fly. (MIT Know-how Assessment)
eight Describing quantum techniques is a time-consuming course of
A brand new algorithm may assist to dramatically velocity issues up. (Quanta Journal)
9 What Reddit’s ‘Am I the Asshole?’ discussion board can train philosophers
It’s an undoubtedly courageous endeavor. (Vox)
10 The online’s residence web page refuses to die
Social media is imploding, however the humble web site prevails. (New Yorker $)
+ The best way to repair the web. (MIT Know-how Assessment)
Quote of the day
“Whomever they select, they king-make.”
— Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, describes the stranglehold Apple workouts over the businesses vying to make its default search engine for iPhone, Bloomberg studies.
The massive story
Can Afghanistan’s underground “sneakernet” survive the Taliban?
November 2021
When Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, Mohammad Yasin needed to make some troublesome choices in a short time. He started erasing among the delicate knowledge on his pc and transferring the remaining onto two of his largest laborious drives, which he then wrapped in a layer of plastic and buried underground.
Yasin is what’s domestically known as a “pc kar”: somebody who sells digital content material by hand in a rustic the place a gentle web connection could be laborious to come back by, promoting every thing from films, music, cell purposes, to iOS updates. And regardless of the hazards of Taliban rule, the nation’s in depth “sneakernet” isn’t planning on shutting down. Learn the total story.
—Ruchi Kumar
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.)
+ There may be nothing extra terrifying than a ‘boy room.’
+ These chocolate limes look past scrumptious (and severely convincing!) 
+ Drake is beefing with everybody—however why?
+ Right here’s how you can calm that everlasting to-do record in your head.
