This is today’s edition of the download, weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s happening in the tech world.
We have enough materials to power the world with renewable energy
News: Supplying the world with renewable energy requires a lot of raw materials. The good news is that when it comes to aluminum, steel and rare metals, there’s more to do, according to a new analysis.
The biggest benefit: Although emissions are an unavoidable side effect of producing the material, they will account for less than a year’s worth of global fossil fuel emissions over the next 30 years. Experts believe that the initial cost of emissions will be offset by savings from clean energy technologies that replace fossil fuels.
But there is a trick: While we technically have enough materials to build a renewable energy infrastructure, they can be difficult to produce and process. If we do not do so responsibly, transforming these materials into a usable form may cause environmental damage or human rights violations. Read the full story.
– Casey Crownhart
Can ChatGPT do my job?
—Melissa Heikkilä, Senior Artificial Intelligence Journalist
There has been a lot of talk lately about whether or not journalists or editors can be replaced by AI. So far, newsrooms have taken a variety of ways to incorporate the newest ChatGPT tool into their operations: tech news site CNET has secretly used it to write articles, and BuzzFeed (more transparently) has announced plans to use it to generate quiz answers.
But journalism’s dirty little secret is that a surprisingly large amount of it can be automated. It’s not a bad thing if we can hand over some of the boring and repetitive parts of the job to AI. The real problems come when you give the AI too much control. Read the full story.
Melissa’s story is from The Checkup, her weekly newsletter that covers all things AI. Sign up to get it in your inbox every Monday.
Undoubtedly
I’ve scoured the web to find you the funniest/important/scary/interesting stories about technology today.
1 Elon Musk wants to turn Twitter into a fintech platform
It’s part of his plan to look beyond advertising to make money. (PI $)+ Former Twitter employees don’t know what to do with their old laptops. (Wired $)
+ The company made its first interest payment on its huge debt. ($Bloomberg)
2 FTX Inside Dark PR Influencer Campaigns
A new dossier reveals an undisclosed network of powerful political figures. (Hold)
+ The situation is even more complicated for a fallen cryptocurrency exchange. (NY Mag$)
+ FTX victims are still angry. (Atlantic dollar)
3 The United States has stopped allowing companies to export to Huawei
This is just the latest in a string of sanctions against China. (BBC)
4 The race for AI dominance heats up
But we don’t know whether American or Chinese labs will win. (Economist $)
+ Generative AI is changing everything. But what’s left when the hype wears off? (MIT Technology Review)
5 You don’t necessarily need a helmet to enter the Metaverse
Our everyday reality is getting closer to dystopia every day. (Atlantic dollar)
+ Kpop can help improve the image of the metaverse. (NYT$)
Added 6 celebrity voice deep fakes to spread racist hate
Unfortunately, it seemed inevitable. (motherboard)
+ AI voice actors are more human-like than ever. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Boeing built its last 747
Once a symbol of affordable travel, it may end up being a carry-on. (NYT$)
+ Hydrogen airplanes fly with initial test flight. (MIT Technology Review)
8 There’s a dark side to being #kind on social media
Is it really a good thing to shoot for clickbait? (The Guardian)
9 Spanish speaking live broadcasts are very hot right now
Twitch is booming in Latin America, creating new opportunities for gamers. ($Bloomberg)
10 dogs love to swallow AirTags
It is not dangerous to follow your four-legged friend. (WSJ$)
snippet of the day
“I can press the red button, turn off my laptop, and go under the covers for a few hours.”
—Phoebe Gavin, former executive director of talent and development at news site Vox, opines in The Wall Street Journal about the benefits of firing by video call rather than in person.
Big story
A private security group sends false information about protesters to Minnesota police
July 2022
When U.S. Marshals shot and killed 32-year-old Winston Boogie Smith Jr. in a parking lot in Minneapolis on June 3, 2021, the city was in the midst of a policing crisis. Last May, George Floyd was killed by a police officer. As protests resumed across the city, the police could not keep up.
The void included private security teams, hired primarily to prevent property damage. But the organizations are often involved in protest activities – a task usually reserved for the police and for which most private security guards are not trained.
One company, Conflict Resolution Group (CRG), provided Minneapolis police with sometimes false and deeply politicized activist information. Read the full story.
— Tate Ryan-Mosley and Sam Richards
We can still have beautiful things
A place of comfort, pleasure and distraction in these strange times. (Got ideas? Let me know or tweet them to me.)
+ This one page calendar blew my mind.
+ I love how the actors rehearsed Shakespeare in the dystopian video game Fallout (thanks Will!)
+ Urgent — I need an emergency a picture of a bearstatus!
+ Can you believe these amazing plants are made of wood?
+ Ambient music is huge right now, and I can see why.
Tech
All news on the site does not represent the views of the site, but we automatically submit this news and translate it through software technology on the site rather than a human editor.
