That is at the moment’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a each day dose of what’s occurring on this planet of expertise.
We noticed a demo of the brand new AI system powering Anduril’s imaginative and prescient for struggle
—James O’Donnell
One afternoon in late November, I visited a weapons take a look at website within the foothills east of San Clemente, California operated by Anduril, a maker of AI-powered drones and missiles that just lately introduced a partnership with OpenAI.
I went there to witness a brand new system it’s increasing at the moment, which permits exterior events to faucet into its software program and share knowledge to be able to velocity up decision-making on the battlefield.
If it really works as deliberate over the course of a brand new three-year contract with the Pentagon, it might embed AI extra deeply than ever earlier than into the theater of struggle. Learn the total story.
The right way to use Sora, OpenAI’s new video producing software
OpenAI has simply launched its video technology mannequin Sora to the general public. The announcement yesterday got here on the fifth day of the corporate’s “shipmas” occasion, a 12-day marathon of tech releases and demos. Right here’s what it is best to know—and the way you should utilize the video mannequin proper now.
—James O’Donnell
This story is the most recent in MIT Know-how Evaluate’s How To collection, which helps you get issues completed.
AI’s hype and antitrust drawback is coming beneath scrutiny
The AI sector is tormented by a scarcity of competitors and loads of deceit—or no less than that’s one method to interpret the most recent flurry of actions taken in Washington.
The actions—from antitrust investigations to accusations of straight-up mendacity—characterize an effort to carry the AI business’s hype to account within the ultimate months earlier than the Federal Commerce Fee’s chair, Lina Khan, is changed when Donald Trump takes workplace.
However whereas the FTC seems to have a far smoother transition of management forward than most different federal companies, no less than a few of Trump’s frustrations with Huge Tech might ship antitrust efforts in a distinctly new path. Learn the total story.
—James O’Donnell
This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly e-newsletter providing you with the within observe on all issues occurring within the fascinating subject of AI. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Monday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you at the moment’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 Google has constructed a robust new quantum computing chip
But it surely doesn’t have any real-world functions—but. (Bloomberg $)
+ It takes 5 minutes to resolve an issue {that a} conventional supercomputer couldn’t grasp in 10 septillion years. (NYT $)
+ It’s a problem the quantum subject has been attempting to crack for many years. (The Guardian)
+ We lined the work when it was a preprint in September. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
2 Nvidia is being investigated by China
It claims the chipmaking large has violated anti-monopoly legal guidelines. (BBC)
+ Nvidia’s greatest buyer within the nation? That might be ByteDance. (Insider $)
+ What’s subsequent in chips. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
3 TikTok has requested a US appeals court docket to halt the buy-or-sell legislation
Because it stands, the app faces a ban except it finds a brand new proprietor by January 19. (TechCrunch)
4 AI remains to be failing to ship on its financial guarantees
Is 2025 the 12 months we lastly begin to see some outcomes? (Quartz)
+ The US AI business is in determined want of extra websites with energy grid entry. (FT $)
+ The right way to fine-tune AI for prosperity. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
5 The EU’s competitors guidelines are on the verge of a giant shakeup
A brand new boss means a brand new strategy. (WSJ $)
+ European regulators wish to unravel a Meta and Google investigation. (FT $)
6 Weight-loss medication are making fundamental well being truths out of date
A nutritious diet and common train is dropping by the wayside. (The Atlantic $)
+ Weight-loss injections have taken over the web. However what does this imply for individuals IRL? (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
7 This bionic leg is managed by its wearer’s mind
Prosthetic limbs have gotten way more succesful. (New Yorker $)
+ These prosthetics break the mildew with third thumbs, spikes, and superhero skins. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
8 An AI could make a fairly respectable Tokyo journey companion
Simply ensure you take its recommendation with a pinch of salt. (Wired $)
+ The right way to use AI to plan your subsequent trip. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
9 Reddit is testing a brand new AI search function
Which the positioning’s customers are unlikely to take kindly to. (Ars Technica)
10 Jeff Bezos has a dinner with Donald Trump in his diary
Sounds cozy. (Insider $)
Quote of the day
“It’s like manna from heaven.”
—Ari Morcos, chief government of startup DatologyAI, explains to the Wall Avenue Journal why Reddit’s troves of textual content are so interesting to AI corporations.
The massive story
Contained in the enigmatic minds of animals
October 2022
Greater than ever, we really feel an obligation and want 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 internal worlds and seize what has led to those developments: a booming subject of experimental analysis difficult the long-standing view that animals are neither acutely aware nor cognitively complicated. Learn the total story.
—Matthew Ponsford
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Received any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ It appears we have now two forms of snigger: one brought on by tickling, and the opposite by every part else.
+ 2024 was a robust 12 months for fiction: take a look at a number of the finest new books.
+ There’s one thing completely mesmerizing about this assortment of outdated dwelling movies.
+ Ukrainian artist Oleg Dron focuses on expansive, haunting landscapes.