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.
Smart glasses are already causing havoc in India
When Shubnam saw an Instagram video of a Delhi protest they had attended, they realized a content creator wearing Meta smart glasses had recorded them surreptitiously. The mocking reel drew millions of views, along with transphobic abuse and AI-generated memes.
Experts warn that many others will experience similar ordeals as smart glasses go mainstream. The risks are particularly acute in India, where covert recording and the circulation of images without consent are already pervasive.
The bigger issue is that the smart glasses aren’t just being used to turn ordinary people into targets of viral “pranks.” They’re also becoming a tool of police surveillance.
Here’s why smart glasses are creating new privacy risks in India.
—Anuj Behal
MIT Technology Review Narrated: what’s at stake in AI’s trillion-dollar gamble
When Jessica Wachter, a University of Pennsylvania finance professor, wanted to assess AI’s impact on the economy over the next few years, she started with a simple fact: a handful of so-called hyperscalers are investing huge amounts of money to build AI data centers.
Instead of trying to predict how widely deployed AI models will be, Wachter asked how fast the hyperscalers’ earnings will need to grow to justify their spending through 2027, when expenditures are expected to reach nearly $1.1 trillion.
The results are eye-opening. AI companies will need to achieve an extraordinary increase in productivity just to break even by 2030.
This is our latest story to become an MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we publish each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Hackers claim they’ve stolen data on almost all FBI employees
The ShinyHunters group says it seized more than 2 TB of data. (Axios)
+ Including agents’ names, addresses, and phone numbers. (404 Media)
+ ShinyHunters says the attack was retaliation for an FBI alert. (Reuters $)
+ Now is a good time for doing crime. (MIT Technology Review)
2 Anthropic and OpenAI have both released lower-cost models
They face growing competition from cheaper Chinese models. (CNBC)
+ Startups have been reducing their reliance on the two labs. (Bloomberg $)
+ The new models are the first since their calls for an AI slowdown. (FT $)
+ Their CEOs are set to brief the UN Security Council today. (Quartz)
+ Could AI really kill us all? (MIT Technology Review)
3 Trump’s Treasury chief could soon become his new AI czar
Scott Bessent has played a central role in US-China AI talks. (Semafor)
+ Other contenders include Michael Kratsios and Scott Kupor. (Gizmodo)
+ Will Trump’s AI rebrand to “superintelligence” catch on? (BBC)
4 Scientists are turning renewable electricity directly into food
The goal is to make more food with less land. (New Scientist $)
+ Companies are creating food out of thin air. (MIT Technology Review)
5 A “fire amoeba” has broken the heat survival record for complex life
The newly discovered organism can grow and reproduce at 63°C. (NPR)
+ It could inform the search for life elsewhere. (New Scientist $)
6 Meta quietly tested a “human concierge” for its Muse AI agent
Contractors secretly handled some calls placed by Muse. (Reuters $)
+ Staff raised concerns about privacy and misleading users. (404 Media)
7 Data centres are replacing copper with light to cut energy use
Photonics can move data with less heat than electrical wiring. (BBC)
+ Virtual power plants could also help. (MIT Technology Review)
8 AI models built from rat brains just got closer to reality
AWS is tapping rat neurons to make video AI faster. (Wired $)
9 Uber is betting on human drivers to give its robotaxis an edge
They can cover demand spikes while autonomous cars recharge. (Axios)
10 A humanoid robot took on an amateur fighter in a cage
The brief bout was billed as the first human-robot MMA fight. (Futurism)
Quote of the day
“The use of the word artificial makes it sound fake. It’s not fake; it’s actually amazing.”
—President Donald Trump tells the UN General Assembly why he wants to rename AI “superintelligence.”
One more thing
AI is changing how we quantify pain
At Orchard Care Homes, nurses used to rely on an observational scale to assess pain in residents who couldn’t communicate verbally. But agitated residents were sometimes assumed to have behavioral issues, while their pain went untreated.
Then, in 2021, the care-home chain began trialing PainChek, a smartphone app that scans a resident’s face for microscopic muscle movements and uses AI to output a pain score. Within weeks, the pilot unit saw fewer prescriptions and calmer corridors.
Now researchers are racing to turn pain into something a camera or sensor can score as reliably as blood pressure. But when algorithms measure our suffering, does that change how we understand and treat it?
Discover how AI is changing the way we assess pain.
—Deena Mousa
We can still have nice things
A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line.)
+ Scientists have discovered the first new penguin species in more than 100 years.
+ Discover the filmmaking skills that made Paul Verhoeven’s RoboCop a directing masterclass.
+ What happens when fast food meets local tastes? These unusual international menu items offer some tasty answers.
+ Dance to every track the crowd has identified at Berghain since 2024 with this media player, which replays each night in sequence.
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