That is at this time’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a day by day dose of what is going on on on this planet of expertise.
How DeepSeek grew to become a fortune teller for China’s youth
As DeepSeek has emerged as a homegrown challenger to OpenAI, younger folks throughout the nation have began utilizing AI to revive fortune-telling practices which have deep roots in Chinese language tradition.
Throughout Chinese language social media, customers are sharing AI-generated readings, experimenting with fortune-telling immediate engineering, and revisiting historic religious texts—all with the assistance of DeepSeek.
The surge in AI fortune-telling comes throughout a time of pervasive nervousness and pessimism in Chinese language society. And as religious practices stay hidden underground because of the nation’s regime, computer systems and telephone screens are serving to youthful folks to realize a way of management over their lives. Learn the total story.
—Caiwei Chen
Are you curious about studying extra about DeepSeek? Learn our tales:
+ How DeepSeek overcame US sanctions and managed to show restrictions into innovation. Learn the total story.
+ How DeepSeek ripped up the AI playbook—and why everybody’s going to comply with its lead. The Chinese language agency has pulled again the curtain to reveal how the highest labs could also be constructing their next-generation fashions. Now issues get attention-grabbing.
+ DeepSeek won’t be such excellent news for vitality in any case. New figures present that if the mannequin’s energy-intensive “chain of thought” reasoning will get added to every thing, the promise of effectivity will get murky. Learn the total story.
+ Three issues to know because the mud settles from DeepSeek—and 4 different Chinese language AI startups to control.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you at this time’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 A non-public lander has touched down on the moon
US startup Firefly is the second non-public firm to land on lunar soil. (The Guardian)
+ The mission is a part of NASA’s plans to decrease prices by way of non-public enterprises. (NYT $)
+ Nokia is placing the primary mobile community on the moon. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)
2 Donald Trump might create America’s first strategic crypto reserve
Crypto champions consider it might lastly lend the trade a way of legitimacy. (CoinDesk)
+ However some Republican lawmakers fear it might put taxpayer funds in danger. (FT $)
+ Different crypto buyers are pushing for the reserve to carry solely bitcoin. (CNBC)
+ In the meantime, Elon Musk is throwing his weight behind Dogecoin. (Ars Technica)
3 AI corporations are racing to create cheaper fashions
They usually’re pinning their hopes on a course of known as distillation to do exactly that. (FT $)
+ How DeepSeek ripped up the AI playbook—and why everybody’s going to comply with its lead. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)
4 Amazon has misplaced its bid to flee regulatory oversight
It’s been denied permission to skip allowing guidelines for a proposed knowledge heart. (WP $)
5 The US federal layoffs are dangerous information for aquatic ecosystems
Firing wildlife employees might result in an outbreak of parasitic lampreys, which wreak havoc on freshwater fish. (Ars Technica)
+ It’s simply one of many many cuts that might make life within the US worse. (The Atlantic $)
6 Good cameras can detect wildfires earlier than they unfold
They’re additionally adept at recognizing blazes in a single day. (WSJ $)
+ How AI may help spot wildfires. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)
7 Beware the creep of AI chatbots aimed toward youngsters
They’ll’t be relied upon to at all times dispense right data. (Insider $)
+ Some dad and mom are educating kids the best way to use fashions safely. (The Guardian)
+ You’ll want to speak to your child about AI. Listed below are 6 issues you must say. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)
8 RIP Skype
Microsoft is shutting it down in favor of Groups. (CNN)
+ You’ve bought till Could to resolve what to do along with your knowledge. (The Register)
9 This synthetic tongue might permit you to style flavors in VR
Yum, tasty hydrogels. (New Scientist $)
+ The system helped volunteers style espresso, fried eggs, and fish soup. (NYT $)
10 How social media drove a Japanese matcha scarcity 🍵
The tasty inexperienced drink is a TikTok sensation. (Bloomberg $)
Quote of the day
“That is the true, precise revenge of the nerds.”
—Hasan Piker, a web based political commentator, displays on how DOGE feels just like the fruits of Elon Musk’s eternally-online existence, the New York Occasions reviews.
The massive story
These synthetic snowdrifts shield seal pups from local weather change
April 2024
For millennia, throughout Finland’s blistering winters, wind drove snow into meters-high snowbanks alongside Lake Saimaa’s shoreline, providing prime actual property from which seals carved cave-like dens to shelter from the weather and lift newborns.
However in current many years, these snowdrifts have didn’t kind in enough numbers, as local weather change has introduced warming temperatures and rain instead of snow, decimating the seal inhabitants.
For the final 11 years, people have stepped in to assemble what nature can not reliably present. Human-made snowdrifts, constructed utilizing handheld snowplows, now home 90% of seal pups. They’re the newest in a raft of measures which have introduced Saimaa’s seals again from the brink of extinction. Learn the total story.
—Matthew Ponsford
We are able to nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Bought any concepts? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)
+ This behind the scenes take a look at how they created the podracing scenes in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is remarkably cool.
+ Has Shrek had botox? A lot to consider.
+ The biggest reside recreation of Dungeons and Dragons ever performed appears unbelievable ($)
+ 5 years in the past within the UK, we collectively misplaced our minds.
