Discover

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

The Download: a Nobel winner on AI, and the case for fixing everything

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. Three things in AI to watch, according to a Nobel-winning economist A few months before he won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2024, Daron Acemoglu pu...

Thomas Macaulay 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

Three things in AI to watch, according to a Nobel-winning economist

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. A few months before he was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics in 2024, Daron Acemoglu published a paper that earned him few fans in Silicon Valley. Contrary to...

James O'Donnell 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

Fostering breakthrough AI innovation through customer-back engineering

Despite years of digitization, organizations capture less than one-third of the value expected from digital investments, according to McKinsey research. That’s because most big companies begin with technological capabilities and bolt applications onto them, rather than starting with customer needs a...

MIT Technology Review Insights 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

Innovation abounds in device charging

The changes may be less perceptible than in smartphones, tablets, or wearables, but chargers have also been quietly reinvented over the last decade. At one time a bulky mix of tangled cables and connectors, slow to perform and prone to overheating, they’re now smaller, safer, and faster, thanks to a...

MIT Technology Review Insights 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

Implementing advanced AI technologies in finance

In finance departments that have long been defined by precision and control, AI has arrived less as a neatly managed upgrade than as a quiet insurgency. Employees are already using it while leadership races to impose structure, governance, and strategy after the fact. The result is a paradox: one of...

MIT Technology Review Insights 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

The Download: the hantavirus outbreak and Musk v. Altman week 2

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. Here’s what you need to know about the cruise ship hantavirus outbreak Last week, eight passengers aboard a Dutch-flagged cruise ship contracted a typ...

Thomas Macaulay 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

Musk v. Altman week 2: OpenAI fires back, and Shivon Zilis reveals that Musk tried to poach Sam Altman

In the second week of the landmark trial between Elon Musk and OpenAI, Musk’s motivations for bringing the suit were under scrutiny. Last week, Musk took the stand, alleging that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman had deceived him into donating $38 million to the company. He claimed t...

Michelle Kim 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

Here’s what you need to know about the cruise ship hantavirus outbreak

Eight passengers aboard a Dutch-flagged cruise ship have contracted a type of hantavirus, a rare virus transmitted by rats. Three of them have died. As the ship prepares to dock in the Canary Islands, plans are being finalized to let the remaining passengers and crew disembark safely. The virus in q...

Jessica Hamzelou 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

The Download: AI malaise and babymaking tech

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. We’ve entered the era of AI malaise AI is spreading everywhere, and it is not going away. But what will it do? What effect will it have on our society...

Thomas Macaulay 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

Here’s how technology transformed babymaking

Technology is changing the way we make babies. The pioneering work of the scientists who invented IVF led to the birth of the first “test tube baby” in 1978. We’ve come a long, long way since then. This week, I’ve been working on a piece about the cutting edge of IVF technologies and what’s coming&#...

Jessica Hamzelou 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

The Download: the tech reshaping IVF and the rise of balcony solar

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. What’s next for IVF IVF has brought millions of babies into the world over the last four decades. But the process can still be slow, painful, and expe...

Thomas Macaulay 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

The balcony solar boom is coming to the US

Dozens of US states are considering legislation to allow people to install plug-in solar systems, often called balcony solar. These small arrays require little to no setup and could help cut emissions and power bills. Balcony solar is already popular in Europe, and proponents say that the systems co...

Casey Crownhart 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

What’s next for IVF

Forty-eight years ago this July, Louise Joy Brown became the world’s first person born with the help of in vitro fertilization. Millions more IVF babies have entered the world since then. And that’s partly thanks to advances in technology that have made IVF safer and more effective. But it’s still n...

Jessica Hamzelou 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

The Download: seafloor science and military chatbots

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. Inexpensive seafloor-hopping submersibles could stoke deep-sea science—and mining Last week, two oblong neon submersibles started to descend nearly 6,...

Thomas Macaulay 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

The Download: inside the Musk v. Altman trial, and AI for democracy

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. Week one of the Musk v. Altman trial: what it was like in the room Two of the most powerful figures in AI—Sam Altman and Elon Musk—are in the middle o...

Thomas Macaulay 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

A blueprint for using AI to strengthen democracy

Every few centuries, changes in how information moves reshape how societies govern themselves. The printing press spread vernacular literacy, helping give rise to the Reformation and, eventually, representative government. The telegraph made it possible to administer vast nations like the US, accele...

Andrew Sorota, Josh Hendler 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

Week one of the Musk v. Altman trial: What it was like in the room

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. Two of the most powerful people in AI—Sam Altman and Elon Musk—began their face-off in court in Oakland, California, last week. Musk is suing OpenAI, allegin...

James O'Donnell 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

Tailoring AI solutions for health care needs

The AI market is full of big promises of grand transformation. Health care is a prime target for those promises, beset as it is by financial pressures, labor shortages, and the growing burden of caring for an aging population. AI developers are targeting functions that vary widely, from curing cance...

MIT Technology Review Insights 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

Musk v. Altman week 1: Elon Musk says he was duped, warns AI could kill us all, and admits that xAI distills OpenAI’s models

In the first week of the landmark trial between Elon Musk and OpenAI, Musk took the stand in a crisp black suit and tie and argued that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman had deceived him into bankrolling the company. Along the way, he warned  that AI could destroy us all and sat...

Michelle Kim 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

Cyber-Insecurity in the AI Era

Cybersecurity was already under strain before AI entered the stack. Now, as AI expands the attack surface and adds new complexity, the limits of legacy approaches are becoming harder to ignore. This session from MIT Technology Review’s EmTech AI conference explores why security must be rethoug...

MIT Technology Review Events 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

Operationalizing AI for Scale and Sovereignty

Companies are taking control of their own data to tailor AI for their needs. The challenge lies in balancing ownership with the safe, trusted flow of high‑quality data needed to power reliable insights. This conversation from MIT Technology Review’s EmTech AI conference examines how AI factori...

MIT Technology Review Events 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

The Download: a new Christian phone network, and debugging LLMs

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. A new US phone network for Christians aims to block porn and gender-related content A new US-wide cell phone network marketed to Christians is set to...

Thomas Macaulay 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

Inexpensive seafloor-hopping submersibles could stoke deep-sea science—and mining

Smack dab between Australia and South America, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) research vessel Rainier is currently on a mission to map more than 8,000 square nautical miles of the Pacific seafloor in search of critical mineral deposits. But it isn’t doing it alone; for...

Hannah Richter 3 months ago

Read

M

MIT Technology Review · Science

Trump’s mass firing just dealt another blow to American science

This past week delivered another gut punch for science in the US. This time, the target was the National Science Foundation—a federal agency that funds major research projects to the tune of around $9 billion. The foundation’s efforts were overseen by a board of 22 prominent scientists. On Friday la...

Jessica Hamzelou 3 months ago

Read