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.
Opinion: The climate case for AI has not been made
—By Mary Nichols, distinguished counsel at the UCLA School of Law and the former chair of the California Air Resources Board, and Jeremy Tamanini, the founder of Dual Citizen, a sustainability research and advisory firm
This week, as countries meet in Antalya, Turkey for the United Nations climate conference, one topic is likely to dominate the conversation: artificial intelligence. The host has already called on countries to commit to ensuring that AI is designed, powered, and deployed in ways that support climate action.
But so far, industries around the world aren’t doing nearly enough to harness the technology to actually drive down the greenhouse-gas emissions heating up the planet. AI companies like to make very optimistic claims about AI’s potential to help address climate change. The reality is far less promising. Read the full story.
Meet the ecologist revealing the invisible networks that revive rainforests
Tropical forests are our planet’s biggest terrestrial carbon sink, accounting for around 40% of carbon stored on land. Forest ecologist Daisy Dent, a senior scientist at ETH Zurich, is part of an international network of researchers working to decipher the networks of animal and plant interactions that enable some forests to recover after destruction.
The goal is a low-cost, high-impact alternative to typical carbon-crediting schemes, which plant huge areas with a single species of tree.
For over a decade, her research has helped show that these large “monocrop” programs could be expensive mistakes—and that more resilient forests can rebound naturally in just a few decades, re-creating ecosystems that suck up vast quantities of carbon dioxide.
Learn more about Dent, her work, and her impact on how we understand the role rainforests play in regulating our climate.
—Matthew Ponsford
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Nvidia is investigating its own boss
Jensen Huang has admitted to intimacy with a suspected Chinese spy. (NYT $)
+ Shares in Nvidia were down 5% in pre-market trading. (CNBC)
+ Huang’s children are also employed by Nvidia. (WSJ $)
2 Democrats are planning a blitz of investigations into Big Tech
Reportedly starting with Apple, Meta, and Musk’s companies. (WP $)
+ They’re hoping to harness the data center backlash to rein in the AI sector. (Vox $)
+ Here’s why the midterms sparked an AI stock selloff. (BBC)
3 The UN annual climate meeting starts today
It’s the first to be held after confirmation the planet will exceed 1.5 °C warming. (Nature)
+ How to study a swiftly melting climate disaster. (MIT Technology Review)
4 Connecting fridges to the internet looks like a bad move now
We still don’t know who is behind recent hacks, or even if they’re connected. (The Atlantic $)
+ Experts say they should be a “wake up call” for the industry. (NPR)
+ Are we in the foothills of a hacking epidemic? (The Guardian)
+ AI is already making online crimes easier. It could get much worse. (MIT Technology Review)
5 Tesla is axing the Cybertruck
RIP, we hardly knew ye. (Wired $)
+ The Cybertruck was on our “worst tech flops of 2025” list. (MIT Technology Review)
6 Iran might attack subsea cables if the US escalates again
That’s the message it’s sending via several loitering tankers. (FT $)
7 Chinese AI labs are struggling to poach Silicon Valley workers
Startups like MiniMax and Moonshot have an uphill battle as they try to fill new US offices. (Rest of World)
+ China’s AI models have Trump’s AI world at war with itself. (MIT Technology Review)
8 Online piracy is back
But this time, archivist zeal is at least as big a draw as accessing content for free. (The Verge)
+ Inside the race to save our online lives from a digital dark age. (MIT Technology Review)
9 How do you land on a moon with almost no gravity?
It’s a huge challenge to land on Martian moon Phobos—here’s how Japan’s going to attempt it. (IEEE Spectrum)
10 Meet Philadelphia’s delivery robot saboteur
Carolyn Marvin is going to court for blocking them, and it’s turning her into a local hero. (The Guardian)
Quote of the day
“Leading NVIDIA is the privilege of my life. My responsibility is to serve you and be worthy of your trust. I have fallen short of that responsibility.”
—Jensen Huang apologizes to Nvidia employees for his affair with a suspected Chinese spy in a mass email sent yesterday, the Washington Post reports.
One more thing
STUART BRADFORD
AI is coming for music, too
AI models are marching into a creative field that is uniquely vulnerable to disruption: music.
AI-generated creative works—from orchestra performances to heavy metal—are poised to suffuse our lives more thoroughly than any other product of AI has done yet.
The songs are likely to blend into our streaming platforms, party and wedding playlists, soundtracks, and more, whether or not we notice who (or what) made them.
Here’s why AI is set to forever change how we make music.
—James O’Donnell
We can still have nice things
A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line.)
+ French bardcore band Corseval has given ABBA a medieval makeover.
+ A stunning collection of prehistoric engravings has been found in a Spanish cave.
+ This browser game flips a retro classic on its head: you control the asteroids, not the spaceship.
+ From a caiman in a wig to a leopard doing a handstand, the Comedy Wildlife Awards shortlist is a delight.
