That is as we speak’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a each day dose of what’s occurring on the planet of know-how.
Can nuclear energy actually gas the rise of AI?
Within the AI arms race, all the main gamers say they wish to go nuclear.
Over the previous yr, the likes of Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have despatched out a flurry of bulletins associated to nuclear vitality. Some are about agreements to buy energy from current vegetation, whereas others are about investments seeking to increase unproven superior applied sciences.
These considerably unlikely partnerships may very well be a win for each the nuclear energy business and huge tech firms. Tech giants want assured sources of vitality, and plenty of are in search of low-emissions ones to hit their local weather objectives. For nuclear plant operators and nuclear know-how builders, the monetary assist of huge established clients may assist preserve outdated nuclear energy vegetation open and push new applied sciences ahead. However there’s one obtrusive potential roadblock: timing. Learn the complete story.
—Casey Crownhart
This story is a part of Energy Hungry: AI and our vitality future—our new collection shining a lightweight on the vitality calls for and carbon prices of the bogus intelligence revolution. Try the remainder of the bundle right here.
How creativity turned the reigning worth of our time
People don’t agree on a lot lately. But even at a time when consensus actuality appears to be on the snapping point, there stays at the least one quintessentially fashionable worth we will all nonetheless get behind: creativity.
Given how a lot we obsess over it, the idea of creativity can really feel like one thing that has all the time existed, a factor philosophers and artists have contemplated and debated all through the ages. However in keeping with a brand new e-book, The Cult of Creativity, our conception of creativity and what it means is much more fashionable than you could suppose. Learn the complete story.
—Bryan Gardiner
This story is from the most up-to-date version of our print journal, which is all about how know-how is altering creativity. Subscribe now to learn it and to obtain future print copies as soon as they land.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you as we speak’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 SpaceX is planning to check its enormous Starship rocket as we speak
Within the hopes it’ll be prepared for a mission to Mars subsequent yr. (WSJ $)+ It may take round three months to succeed in the pink planet. (Nature)
+ The hunt to determine farming on Mars. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
2 Nvidia is engaged on a brand new chip only for China
The brand new Blackwell chip will likely be less expensive than its not too long ago restricted H20 mannequin. (Reuters)
+ Tencent and Baidu have their very own plans to skirt US chip curbs. (CNBC)
3 It’s simpler to interrupt encryption than we realized
Analysis from Google urged that future quantum computer systems gained’t want as many assets to crack bitcoin-level encryption. (CoinDesk)
4 What the way forward for the US battery business appears like underneath Trump
A brand new finances invoice is threatening firms’ entry to vital subsidies. (NYT $)
+ Tariffs are dangerous information for batteries. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
5 Tesla is readying its Austin driverless taxi service for launch
Nevertheless it’s didn’t share important security info with key teams within the metropolis. (Fortune $)
+ Elon Musk is more likely to be paying extra consideration now he’s turning away from DOGE. (WP $)
6 The conflict in Ukraine is sparking an autonomous weapons increase
Specialists fear it’s already too late to make sure correct human oversight. (FT $)
+ The US should ban DJI drones. (Wired $)
+ Generative AI is studying to spy for the US army. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
7 Nick Clegg says asking artists for consent would kill the AI business
He thinks it must be an opt-out, quite than opt-in, system. (The Verge)
+ AI firms are lastly being pressured to cough up for coaching knowledge. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
8 Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t have a lot to point out for his MAGA pivot
It’s alienated his left-leaning employees, and Republicans aren’t shopping for it both. (Bloomberg $)
+ Company giants are greatest geared up to climate Trump’s upheavals—for now. (Economist $)
+ A good few of Meta’s AI group have jumped ship to rival Mistral. (Insider $)
9 Greater than 2% of People are taking weight-loss medicine
That’s a 600% rise in comparison with six years in the past. (Axios)
+ Growing numbers of sufferers are microdosing to attempt to make the jabs last more. (WSJ $)
+ Weight-loss injections have taken over the web. However what does this imply for individuals IRL? (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
10 How penguin poop may assist to avoid wasting the Antarctic 
Their waste releases ammonia particles that assist set off cloud formations. (Ars Technica)
+ And the ‘fertilized’ soil they depart behind stays a key ammonia supply. (404 Media)
Quote of the day
“We’re automating the male gaze.”
—Emily Bender, a computational linguist who makes a speciality of generative AI, tells the Washington Submit concerning the pitfalls of turning to chatbots for magnificence recommendation.
Yet one more factor
Will we ever belief robots?
The world may appear to be on the point of a humanoid-robot heyday. New breakthroughs in synthetic intelligence promise the kind of succesful, general-purpose robots beforehand seen solely in science fiction—robots that may do issues like assemble vehicles, take care of sufferers, or tidy our properties, all with out being given specialised directions.
It’s an concept that has attracted an infinite quantity of consideration, capital, and optimism. But current progress has arguably been extra about model than substance. Developments in AI have undoubtedly made robots simpler to coach, however they’ve but to allow them to really sense their environment, “suppose” of what to do subsequent, and perform these selections in the best way some viral movies may suggest.
However on the street to serving to humanoid robots win our belief, one query looms bigger than some other: How a lot will they be capable to do on his personal? And the way a lot will they nonetheless depend on people? Learn the complete story.
—James O’Donnell
We are able to nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Acquired any concepts? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)
+ Spinosaurus, the longest predatory dinosaur, wasn’t only a fearsome hunter—it was additionally a loving mum or dad.
+ What occurs to male fashions after they stop the business?
+ Methods to write an actual page-turner of a novel, in keeping with Ian Fleming.
+ The UK is at it once more—this weekend was the annual cheese-chasing race down a steep slope in Gloucestershire.
