Plus: OpenAI has launched Astra, its most capable model yet.
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.
—Cory Alpert, a researcher at the University of Melbourne studying AI's impact on democracy, who previously served in the Biden White House.
Battlefields in Ukraine are littered with the remnants of drones. But behind all that wreckage, there’s a new gold mine for the defense sector: the data those drones generate.
Ukraine has begun making millions of data points gathered during tens of thousands of drone flights available to military contractors and commercial companies. It’s a quick way to attract funding and partnerships, but it turns the front line into a model training site, using the chaos of war to create conditions that AI companies struggle to reproduce.
As this new industry takes shape, we need a regulatory system that ensures battlefield data isn’t treated like ordinary commercial material.
Read the full op-ed on why battlefield data needs new rules.
—“Mother Tongue” is a short fiction story by author and AI ethicist Jenny Williams
“Daddy?” Theo curled against my side in bed. “Where do words go when they die?
“Well, kiddo,” I said, scratching my beard. “Words aren’t really alive to begin with. Not like you and I are alive.”Inside, Theo’s AI companion teaches him strange songs in a language his father doesn’t understand. But outside, the world is edging toward disaster. A mysterious agentic system called Tingsu has emerged in a nuclear-armed country, and no one seems to understand what it wants.
Read the full short story about what happens when AI begins to reshape language.
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 OpenAI has launched Astra, its most capable model yetThe firm says boosted capabilities are being paired with stronger safeguards. (Verge)+ OpenAI’s president claims that AI is now as capable as humans. (WP $)+ But the company is also warning that Astra can evade human monitoring. (Reuters $)+ It’s OpenAI’s first model to hit its “critical” risk level. (Quartz)+ Bill Gates says we’ve lost control of AI. (MIT Technology Review)
2 Automakers have urged Congress to ban Chinese cars permanentlyOn the basis of unfair trade, market dumping, and surveillance. (The Hill)+ The group wants legislation barring them from the US this year. (Reuters $)+ It includes GM, Ford, Toyota, VW, Hyundai, Honda, and Stellantis. (CNBC)+ China’s EV boom has a recycling problem. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Tesla has launched the Cybercab, starting with rides in AustinThe company has 45 of the robotaxis registered in Texas. (AP)+ It was an unusually muted launch. (Verge)+ Regulators are already evaluating the steering-wheel-free service. (Reuters $)
Source: Read the original article on www.technologyreview.com
