Plus: Elon Musk may grow to be TikTok’s new proprietor
That is right this moment’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a day by day dose of what is going on on on this planet of expertise.
What’s subsequent for nuclear energy
Whereas nuclear reactors have been producing energy around the globe for over 70 years, the present second is one among probably radical transformation for the expertise.
As electrical energy demand rises around the globe for every part from electrical autos to information facilities, there’s renewed curiosity in constructing new nuclear capability, in addition to extending the lifetime of current crops and even reopening amenities which were shut down.
Efforts are additionally rising to rethink reactor designs, and 2025 marks a serious check for so-called superior reactors as they start to maneuver from concepts on paper into the development section. Right here’s what to anticipate subsequent for the business.
—Casey Crownhart
This piece is a part of MIT Expertise Assessment’s What’s Subsequent sequence, wanting throughout industries, developments, and applied sciences to present you a primary take a look at the longer term. You may learn the remainder of them right here.
Mark Zuckerberg and the ability of the media
On Tuesday final week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced that Meta is finished with reality checking within the US, that it’s going to roll again “restrictions” on speech, and goes to begin exhibiting folks extra tailor-made political content material of their feeds. Whereas the top of reality checking has gotten many of the consideration, the modifications to its hateful speech coverage are additionally notable.
Zuckerberg—whose earlier self-acknowledged errors embody the Cambridge Analytica information scandal, and serving to to gas a genocide in Myanmar—introduced Fb’s historical past of fact-checking and content material moderation as one thing he was pressured into doing by the federal government and media. The truth, after all, is that these had been his selections. He famously calls the pictures, and at all times has. Learn the complete story.
—Mat Honan
This story first appeared in The Debrief, offering a weekly tackle the tech information that basically issues and hyperlinks to tales we love—in addition to the occasional advice.
Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Friday.
Right here’s our forecast for AI this 12 months
In December, our small however mighty AI reporting group was requested by our editors to make a prediction: What’s coming subsequent for AI?
As we glance forward, sure issues are a given. We all know that brokers—AI fashions that do extra than simply converse with you and might really go off and full duties for you—are the main target of many AI firms proper now. Equally, the necessity to make AI sooner and extra power environment friendly is placing so-called small language fashions within the highlight. Nevertheless, the opposite predictions weren’t so clear-cut. Learn the complete story.
—James O’Donnell
This story initially appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly publication on AI. To get tales like this in your inbox first, join right here.
To witness the fallout from the AI group’s full of life debates (and listen to extra about what didn’t make the record), you possibly can be part of our upcoming LinkedIn Reside this Thursday, January 16 at 12.30pm ET. James might be speaking it throughout with Will Douglas Heaven, our senior editor for AI, and our information editor, Charlotte Jee.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you right this moment’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 China is contemplating promoting TikTok to Elon Musk
However it’s unclear how seemingly an end result that basically is. (Bloomberg $)
+ It’s definitely a method of permitting TikTok to stay within the US. (WSJ $)
+ For what it’s value, TikTok has dismissed the report as ‘pure fiction.’ (Selection $)
+ Xiaohongshu, also referred to as RedNote, is coping with an inflow of American customers. (WP $)
2 Amazon drivers are nonetheless delivering packages amid LA fires
They’re dropping off parcels even after neighborhoods have been instructed to evacuate. (404 Media)
3 Alexa is getting a generative AI makeover
Amazon is racing to show its digital assistant into an AI agent. (FT $)
+ What are AI brokers? (MIT Expertise Assessment)
4 Animal manure is a serious local weather drawback
Sadly, turning it into power is simpler stated than completed. (Vox)
+ How poop may assist feed the planet. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
5 Energy strains brought about lots of California’s worst fires
1000’s of blazes have been traced again to energy infrastructure in latest a long time. (NYT $)
+ Why some houses handle to face up to wildfires. (Bloomberg $)
+ The search to construct wildfire-resistant houses. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
6 Barcelona is a hotbed of spy ware startups
Researchers are more and more involved about its creep throughout Europe. (TechCrunch)
7 Mastodon’s founder doesn’t need to comply with in Mark Zuckerberg’s footsteps
Eugen Rochko has restructured the corporate to make sure it may by no means be managed by a single particular person. (Ars Technica)
+ He’s made it clear he doesn’t need to find yourself like Elon Musk, both. (Engadget)
8 Spare a thought for this Welsh would-be crypto millionaire
His 11-year quest to recuperate an previous laborious drive has come to a disappointing finish. (Wired $)
9 The insufferable banality of web lexicon
It’s giving nonsense. (The Atlantic $)
10 You by no means know whether or not you’ll get to see the northern lights or not
AI may assist us to foretell once they’ll happen extra precisely. (Vice)
+ Digital photos make the lights look far more outlined than they really are. (NYT $)
Quote of the day
“Reducing reality checkers from social platforms is like disbanding your fireplace division.”
—Alan Duke, co-founder of fact-checking outlet Lead Tales, criticizes Meta’s resolution to ax its US-based reality checkers because the teams try to sluggish viral misinformation spreading concerning the wildfires in California, CNN experiences.
The massive story
The world is shifting nearer to a brand new chilly struggle fought with authoritarian tech
September 2022Regardless of President Biden’s assurances that the US shouldn’t be in search of a brand new chilly struggle, one is brewing between the world’s autocracies and democracies—and expertise is fueling it.
Authoritarian states are following China’s lead and are trending towards extra digital rights abuses by rising the mass digital surveillance of residents, censorship, and controls on particular person expression.
And whereas democracies additionally use huge quantities of surveillance expertise, it’s the tech commerce relationships between authoritarian international locations that’s enabling the rise of digitally enabled social management. Learn the complete story.
—Tate Ryan-Mosley
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Obtained any concepts? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)
+ Earlier than indie sleaze, there was DIY counterculture web site Buddyhead.
+ Do you know black holes don’t really suck something in in any respect?
+ Science fiction is caught in a loop, and might’t appear to interrupt its fixation with cyberpunk.
+ Each every so often, TV produces an ideal episode. Right here’s eight of them.
