Future
The People Do Not Yearn for AutomationNilay Patel | The Verge
“Not everything about our lives can be measured and automated and optimized, and it shouldn’t be. And so the tech industry is rushing forward to put AI everywhere at enormous cost—energy, emissions, manufacturing capacity, the ability to buy RAM—and locked into the narrow framework of software brain without realizing they are also asking people to be fundamentally less human.”
BIOTECHNOLOGY
AI-Designed Drugs by a DeepMind Spinoff Are Headed to Human Trials
Emily Mullin | Wired ($)
“In a technical paper [released earlier this year], the company touts that the [new IsoDDE] platform more than doubles the accuracy of AlphaFold 3. The startup has formed partnerships with Eli Lilly and Novartis to work together on AI drug discovery and is also advancing its own ‘broad and exciting pipeline of new medicines’ in oncology and immunology, Jaderberg said.”
Computing
We Might Finally Know How to Use Quantum Computers to Boost AIKarmela Padavic-Callaghan | New Scientist ($)
“They showed not only that this approach can work but that it would allow the quantum computer to process more data at a smaller memory cost than any conventional computer. The memory advantage is so large, in fact, that a quantum computer made from about 300 error-proof building blocks called logical qubits would outperform a classical computer built using every atom in the observable universe, says Zhao.”
Future
New Gas-Powered Data Centers Could Emit More Greenhouse Gases Than Entire NationsMolly Taft | Wired ($)
“A Wired review of permits for data center projects using natural gas and linked to OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, and xAI shows they could emit more than 129 million tons of greenhouse gases per year. …As tech companies race to secure massive power deals to build out hundreds of data centers across the country, these projects represent just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential climate cost of the AI boom.”
TECH
Anthropic Has Surged to a Trillion-Dollar Valuation on Secondary Markets, Overtaking OpenAIBen Bergman | Business Insider
“Desperate buyers are in a race to secure a dwindling supply of secondary shares in Anthropic, driving the AI company’s valuation on some sites to $1 trillion, a price that would have seemed unthinkable even a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, traders Business Insider spoke with are seeing slumping demand for OpenAI, which is now trading at a discount to Anthropic, despite OpenAI being valued at $852 billion, more than twice Anthropic’s valuation in their most recent funding rounds.”
TECH
You’re About to Feel the AI Money SqueezeHayden Field | The Verge
“Ads, rate limits, feature restrictions, price hikes. The AI free ride is over. …To reach that bare minimum of 7 percent [return on invested capital], Gartner forecasts that large AI companies would need to earn cumulatively close to $7 trillion in AI-driven revenue through 2029, which is close to $2 trillion per year by the end of the period.”
Future
BMW Is One Step Closer to Selling You a Color-Changing CarAndrew Liszewski | The Verge
“The new BMW iX3 Flow Edition is potentially the most exciting of all of BMW’s concepts as it embeds the E Ink Prism technology directly into the structure of the vehicle’s hood panel, instead of just slapping it on top. The new approach has ‘undergone BMW’s stringent quality testing’ so that it meets the ‘requirements of automotive engineering and everyday use,’ according to a release from E Ink.”
Biotechnology
The FDA Gives the Green Light to the First Gene Therapy for DeafnessRob Stein | NPR
“‘That was like the most surreal moment a mother can feel when your son first hears your voice,’ [said Sierra Smith]. The treatment [Smith’s son] received was the one just approved by the FDA. …The FDA’s decision was based on the results from the treatment of 20 patients born with a defective version of a gene known as OTOF, which is necessary to transmit sound from the ears to the brain.”
Energy
Will Fusion Power Get Cheap? Don’t Count On It.Casey Crownhart | MIT Technology Review ($)
“Technologies tend to get less expensive over time. Lithium-ion batteries are now about 90% cheaper than they were in 2013. But historically, different technologies tend to go through this curve at different rates. And the cost of fusion might not sink as quickly as the prices of batteries or solar.”
Biotechnology
A Startup Says It Grew Human Sperm in a Lab—and Used It to Make EmbryosEmily Mullin | Wired ($)
“The process involves isolating sperm-making stem cells from testicular tissue and coaxing the cells into becoming fully-fledged sperm in a dish. Scientists have been attempting to produce sperm outside the body, known as in vitro spermatogenesis, for almost a century. A Japanese team was the first to produce viable mouse sperm in the lab in 2011, but making human sperm has turned out to be a more difficult task.”
Artificial Intelligence
Are OpenAI and Anthropic Moving Away From Reasoning Tech?Stephanie Palazzolo | The Information ($)
“Early signs point to both Spud and Mythos being more intelligent pretrained models, meaning they got smart during the initial part of the development process. Now, OpenAI’s upcoming Spud model is noticeably better at answering tough questions without relying on reasoning, said two people familiar with it.”
Future
Only Antimatter Provides the Energy We Need for Interstellar TravelEthan Siegel | Big Think
“If our goal is to eventually extend our reach not just to the other worlds of our Solar System, but to exoplanets around other stars, we’ll need a different, more efficient method of propulsion than chemical-based rockets can supply. The most efficient form of energy generation, theoretically, is to reach 100%, and only one fuel is capable of doing that: matter-antimatter annihilation. Here’s why that’s the ultimate dream, and how we might conceivably get there.”
Biotechnology
If a Bird Flu Pandemic Starts, We May Have an MRNA Vaccine ReadyMichael Le Page | New Scientist ($)
“It was roughly a year after the earliest cases of covid-19 before the first vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus were ready for roll-out. By then millions had died worldwide and economies were devastated. In the advent of a bird flu pandemic, we will be able to react more rapidly, because we should have an mRNA vaccine already approved and ready to go. A phase III trial of a such a vaccine is now getting under way in the UK and the US.”
