“It only takes a few hours on this campus to learn that what propels MIT is an irresistible force: the sheer motive power of curiosity, on every subject, at every scale, across disciplines and without limits. Curiosity unbounded. “It’s the passion to understand how things work, and why, and how they can work better. “In this […]
How electrifying steam could cut beer’s carbon emissions
Next year, New Belgium Brewing will swap out one of the four natural-gas-powered boilers at its main brewing facility in Fort Collins, Colorado, for an electrified version designed to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. The modular, 650-kilowatt pilot boiler system was developed by AtmosZero, a startup also based in Fort Collins and coming out of stealth today. […]
Next-gen content farms are using AI-generated text to spin up junk websites
This article is from The Technocrat, MIT Technology Review’s weekly tech policy newsletter about power, politics, and Silicon Valley. To receive it in your inbox every Friday, sign up here. We’ve heard a lot about AI risks in the era of large language models like ChatGPT (including from me!)—risks such as prolific mis- and disinformation […]
This app is helping workers reclaim millions in lost wages
As Rodrigo Camarena sees it, you can hail a car and order food on your smartphone; why shouldn’t it also help you exercise your rights? Reclamo, a new web app created by Justicia Lab, the nonprofit innovation incubator that Camarena directs, helps documented and undocumented immigrant workers who have experienced wage theft. By clicking through […]
Achieving a sustainable future for AI
We are witnessing a historic, global paradigm shift driven by dramatic improvements in AI. As AI has evolved from predictive to generative, more businesses are taking notice, with enterprise adoption of AI more than doubling since 2017. According to McKinsey, 63% of respondents expect their organizations’ investment in AI to increase over the next three […]
The Download: advertising on junk AI websites, and forest bathing in VR
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. Junk websites filled with AI-generated text are pulling in money from programmatic ads The news: AI chatbots are filling junk websites with AI-generated text that attracts paying advertisers. More than 140 major brands […]
“Forest bathing” might work in virtual reality too
The Japanese concept of “forest bathing,” or shinrin-yoku (森林浴), has long been acclaimed for its supposed health benefits. Hundreds of scientific studies suggest that it can improve mental health and cognitive performance, reduce blood pressure, and even treat depression and anxiety. Yet forests can be hard to reach or, for some, completely inaccessible in a […]
Junk websites filled with AI-generated text are pulling in money from programmatic ads
People are using AI chatbots to fill junk websites with AI-generated text that attracts paying advertisers, according to a new report from the media research organization NewsGuard that was shared exclusively with MIT Technology Review. Over 140 major brands are paying for ads that end up on unreliable AI-written sites, likely without their knowledge. Ninety […]
The Download: AI training AI, and the future of robotaxis
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. The people paid to train AI are outsourcing their work… to AI The news: Many people who are paid to train AI models may be themselves outsourcing that work to AI, a new […]
The wild race to improve synthetic embryos
This article is from The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, sign up here. This week, Antonio Regalado, senior editor for biomedicine is filling in for Jess Hamzelou. Something journalists and scientists have in common is that they hate getting scooped. And it’s especially annoying when the […]