That is right this moment’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a every day dose of what’s happening on this planet of know-how.
Google’s new Venture Astra might be generative AI’s killer app
Google DeepMind has introduced a formidable seize bag of recent merchandise and prototypes which will simply let it seize again its lead within the race to show generative synthetic intelligence right into a mass-market concern.
Prime billing goes to Gemini 2.0—the newest iteration of Google DeepMind’s household of multimodal massive language fashions, now redesigned across the capacity to regulate brokers—and a brand new model of Venture Astra, the experimental all the things app that the corporate teased at Google I/O in Might.
The margins between top-end fashions like Gemini 2.0 and people from rival labs like OpenAI and Anthropic at the moment are slim. Nowadays, advances in massive language fashions are much less about how good they’re and extra about what you are able to do with them. And that’s the place brokers are available.
MIT Expertise Assessment obtained to check out Astra in a closed-door stay demo final week. It gave us a touch at what’s to return. Discover out extra within the full story.
—Will Douglas Heaven
China banned exports of some uncommon minerals to the US. Issues might get messier.
—Casey Crownhart
I’ve thought extra about gallium and germanium over the past week than I ever have earlier than (and possibly greater than anybody ever ought to).
China banned the export of these supplies to the US final week and positioned restrictions on others. The transfer is simply the newest drama in escalating commerce tensions between the 2 nations.
Whereas the brand new export bans might have vital financial penalties, this is likely to be solely the start. China is a powerhouse, and never simply in these area of interest supplies—it’s additionally a juggernaut in clear power, and significantly in battery provide chains. So what comes subsequent might have vital penalties for EVs and local weather motion extra broadly. Learn the total story.
This story is from The Spark, our weekly local weather and power publication. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you right this moment’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 It’s wanting fairly probably 2024 would be the hottest 12 months on file
However common temperatures are only one manner of assessing our warming world. (New Scientist $)
+ The primary few months of 2025 are more likely to be hotter than common, too. (Reuters)
+ The US is about to make a pointy activate local weather coverage. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
2 Meta has donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund
In an effort to strengthen their beforehand fractious relationship. (WSJ $)
+ Mark Zuckerberg isn’t the one tech determine in search of the President-elect’s ear. (Insider $)
3 How China secretly repatriates Uyghurs
Even the United Nations is seemingly powerless to cease it. (WP $)
+ Uyghurs outdoors China are traumatized. Now they’re beginning to speak about it. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
4 How Large Tech decides when to clean a consumer’s digital footprint
Homicide suspect Luigi Mangione’s Instagram has been taken down—however his Goodreads hasn’t. (NYT $)
+ Why it’s harmful to deal with public on-line accounts as the total story. (NY Magazine $)
5 Russia-backed hackers focused Ukraine’s army utilizing prison instruments
Which makes it even more durable to work out who did it. (TechCrunch)
6 What Cruise’s exit means for the remainder of the robotaxi trade
Automakers have gotten annoyed ready for the know-how to mature. (The Verge)
+ Cruise will deal with growing absolutely autonomous private automobiles as an alternative. (NYT $)
7 Researching dangerous pathogens is extraordinarily excessive stakes
The potential for abuse has some researchers apprehensive we shouldn’t undertake it in any respect. (Undark Journal)
+ Meet the scientist on the heart of the covid lab leak controversy. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
8 Altermagnetism might be computing’s subsequent massive factor
It could result in quicker, extra dependable digital units. (FT $)
9 Why some folks want so little sleep
Gene mutations seem to carry a minimum of a few of the solutions. (Knowable Journal)
+ Infants spend most of their time asleep. New applied sciences are starting to disclose why. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
10 Contained in the creeping normalization of AI motion pictures
The world’s largest TV producer desires to make movies for folks too lazy to alter the channel. (404 Media)
+ Unsurprisingly, it’ll push focused adverts, too. (Ars Technica)
+ How AI-generated video is altering movie. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
Quote of the day
“They’ve made him a martyr for all of the troubles folks have had with their very own insurance coverage firms.”
—Felipe Rodriguez, an adjunct professor on the John Jay Faculty of Prison Justice in New York, explains why homicide suspect Luigi Mangione is being lionized on-line to Reuters.
The large story
Why AI might eat quantum computing’s lunch
Tech firms have been funneling billions of {dollars} into quantum computer systems for years. The hope is that they’ll be a recreation changer for fields as numerous as finance, drug discovery, and logistics.
However whereas the sector struggles with the realities of tough quantum {hardware}, one other challenger is making headway in a few of these most promising use instances. AI is now being utilized to basic physics, chemistry, and supplies science in a manner that implies quantum computing’s purported residence turf won’t be so protected in spite of everything. Learn the total story.
—Edd Gent
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.)
+ Working life getting you down? These photos of bygone workplace malaise will make you’re feeling an entire lot higher (or worse—thanks Will!)
+ Gen Z are getting actually into documenting their lives by way of digital cameras, apparently. 
+ When you imagine that Alan MacMasters invented the primary electrical bread toaster, I’m sorry to tell you that you simply’ve fallen for an elaborate on-line hoax.
+ The case for a greater Turing check for AI-generated artwork.