That is at this time’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a each day dose of what’s occurring on this planet of know-how.
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 this time, which permits exterior events to faucet into its software program and share information as a way 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.
Methods to use Sora, OpenAI’s new video producing instrument
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’s best to know—and the way you should use the video mannequin proper now.
—James O’Donnell
This story is the most recent in MIT Expertise Evaluation’s How To collection, which helps you get issues performed.
AI’s hype and antitrust downside is coming beneath scrutiny
The AI sector is stricken by a scarcity of competitors and a variety of deceit—or a minimum of that’s one technique to interpret the most recent flurry of actions taken in Washington.
The actions—from antitrust investigations to accusations of straight-up mendacity—signify 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, a minimum of a few of Trump’s frustrations with Huge Tech might ship antitrust efforts in a distinctly new route. Learn the total story.
—James O’Donnell
This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly publication supplying you with the within monitor on all issues taking place within the fascinating subject of AI. Join to obtain it in your inbox each Monday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you at this time’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 Google has constructed a robust new quantum computing chip
However it doesn’t have any real-world functions—but. (Bloomberg $)
+ It takes 5 minutes to unravel an issue {that a} conventional supercomputer couldn’t grasp in 10 septillion years. (NYT $)
+ It’s a problem the quantum subject has been making an attempt to crack for many years. (The Guardian)
+ We coated the work when it was a preprint in September. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
2 Nvidia is being investigated by China
It claims the chipmaking large has violated anti-monopoly legal guidelines. (BBC)
+ Nvidia’s largest buyer within the nation? That will be ByteDance. (Insider $)
+ What’s subsequent in chips. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
3 TikTok has requested a US appeals courtroom to halt the buy-or-sell legislation
Because it stands, the app faces a ban until it finds a brand new proprietor by January 19. (TechCrunch)
4 AI continues 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 $)
+ Methods to fine-tune AI for prosperity. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
5 The EU’s competitors guidelines are on the verge of an enormous shakeup
A brand new boss means a brand new strategy. (WSJ $)
+ European regulators need 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 Expertise Evaluation)
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 Expertise Evaluation)
8 An AI could make a fairly first rate Tokyo journey companion
Simply ensure you take its recommendation with a pinch of salt. (Wired $)
+ Methods to use AI to plan your subsequent trip. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
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 govt of startup DatologyAI, explains to the Wall Avenue Journal why Reddit’s troves of textual content are so interesting to AI corporations.
The large story
Contained in the enigmatic minds of animals
October 2022
Greater than ever, we really feel an obligation and need 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 inside worlds and seize what has led to those developments: a booming subject of experimental analysis difficult the long-standing view that animals are neither aware nor cognitively complicated. Learn the total story.
—Matthew Ponsford
We are able to nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Obtained any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ It appears we’ve two forms of chuckle: one brought on by tickling, and the opposite by all the pieces else.
+ 2024 was a robust 12 months for fiction: try a few of the greatest new books.
+ There’s one thing completely mesmerizing about this assortment of outdated residence movies.
+ Ukrainian artist Oleg Dron makes a speciality of expansive, haunting landscapes.
