The Download: AI’s role in the Iran war, and an escalating legal fight
The Download: AI’s role in the Iran war, and an escalating legal fight

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. How AI is turning the Iran conflict into theater  Much of the spotlight on AI in the Iran conflict has focused on models like Claude helping the US military decide where to…

The Download: murky AI surveillance laws, and the White House cracks down on defiant labs
The Download: murky AI surveillance laws, and the White House cracks down on defiant labs

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. Is the Pentagon allowed to surveil Americans with AI? The ongoing public feud between the Department of Defense and the AI company Anthropic has raised a deep and still unanswered question:…

The Download: 10 things that matter in AI, plus Anthropic’s plan to sue the Pentagon
The Download: 10 things that matter in AI, plus Anthropic’s plan to sue the Pentagon

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. Coming soon: our 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now For years, MIT Technology Review’s newsroom has been ahead of the curve, tracking the developments in AI that matter and…

The Download: an AI agent’s hit piece, and preventing lightning
The Download: an AI agent’s hit piece, and preventing lightning

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. Online harassment is entering its AI era Scott Shambaugh didn’t think twice when he denied an AI agent’s request to contribute to matplotlib, a software library he helps manage. Then things…

The Download: Earth’s rumblings, and AI for strikes on Iran
The Download: Earth’s rumblings, and AI for strikes on Iran

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. Listen to Earth’s rumbling, secret soundtrack The boom of a calving glacier. The crackling rumble of a wildfire. The roar of a surging storm front. They’re the noises of the living…

The Download: The startup that says it can stop lightning, and inside OpenAI’s Pentagon deal
The Download: The startup that says it can stop lightning, and inside OpenAI’s Pentagon deal

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. This startup claims it can stop lightning and prevent catastrophic wildfires Startup Skyward Wildfire says it can prevent catastrophic fires by stopping the lightning strikes that ignite them. So far, it hasn’t publicly…

The Download: protesting AI, and what’s floating in space
The Download: protesting AI, and what’s floating in space

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. I checked out one of the biggest anti-AI protests ever Pull the plug! Pull the plug! Stop the slop! Stop the slop! For a few hours this Saturday, February 28, I watched as…

The Download: how AI is shaking up Go, and a cybersecurity mystery
The Download: how AI is shaking up Go, and a cybersecurity mystery

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. AI is rewiring how the world’s best Go players think Ten years ago AlphaGo, Google DeepMind’s AI program, stunned the world by defeating the South Korean Go player Lee Sedol. And in the…

The Download: how America lost its lead in the hunt for alien life, and ambitious battery claims
The Download: how America lost its lead in the hunt for alien life, and ambitious battery claims

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. America was winning the race to find Martian life. Then China jumped in. In July 2024, NASA’s Perseverance rover came across a peculiar rocky outcrop on Mars covered in strange spots. On Earth,…

The Download: introducing the Crime issue
The Download: introducing the Crime issue

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. Introducing: the Crime issue Technology has long made crime and its prosecution a game of cat and mouse. But those same new technologies that have allowed crime to outpace law have also reenergized…