That is at present’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a each day dose of what’s occurring on this planet of expertise.
Meta says AI-generated election content material just isn’t taking place at a “systemic stage”
Meta has seen strikingly little AI-generated misinformation across the 2024 elections regardless of main votes in international locations akin to Indonesia, Taiwan, and Bangladesh, stated the corporate’s president of world affairs, Nick Clegg, on Wednesday.
“The fascinating factor to this point—I stress, to this point—just isn’t how a lot however how little AI-generated content material [there is],” stated Clegg throughout an interview at MIT Know-how Evaluation’s EmTech Digital convention in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
As voters will head to polls this 12 months in additional than 50 international locations, specialists have raised the alarm over AI-generated political disinformation and the prospect that malicious actors will use generative AI and social media to intervene with elections. And even well-resourced tech giants like Meta are struggling to maintain up. Learn the total story.
—Melissa Heikkilä
To learn extra about elections and AI, try:
+ How generative AI is boosting the unfold of disinformation and propaganda. Governments are actually utilizing the tech to amplify censorship. Learn the total story.
+ Eric Schmidt has a 6-point plan for combating election misinformation. Learn the total story.
AI is an power hog. That is what it means for local weather change.
Tech firms preserve discovering new methods to carry AI into each aspect of our lives. However the expertise comes with rising electrical energy demand. You will have seen the headlines proclaiming that AI makes use of as a lot electrical energy as small international locations, that it’ll usher in a fossil-fuel resurgence, and that it’s already difficult the grid.
So how apprehensive ought to we be about AI’s electrical energy calls for? Casey Crownhart, our local weather reporter, has dug into the info. Learn the total story.
This story is from The Spark, our weekly local weather and power publication. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you at present’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 A second human has been identified with chicken flu
Fortunately, the Michigan farmworker has since recovered. (NY Magazine $)
+ Shares in vaccine makers are rising in consequence. (FT $)
+ Right here’s what you could know in regards to the present outbreak. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)
2 Nvidia has reported stratospheric progress
The chipmaker’s income grew a whopping 262% over the previous quarter. (FT $)
+ That’s $14 billion value of revenue. (The Verge)
+ What’s subsequent in chips. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)
3 Information Corp has struck a cope with OpenAI
Information from the media large’s newspapers will seem in ChatGPT responses. (WP $)
+ The deal is valued at greater than $250 million. (WSJ $)
+ Meta is reported to be taken with making offers with information retailers, too. (Insider $)
4 The US is planning on suing Ticketmaster
A set of states and the Justice Division will accuse it of operating a monopoly. (NYT $)
5 We all know that Russia desires to place a nuke in house
However past that, particulars are fairly unclear. (Vox)
+ The way to battle a battle in house (and get away with it) (MIT Know-how Evaluation)
6 The US Home of Consultant has handed a crypto invoice
Regardless of the Securities regulator’s misgivings. (Reuters)
7 Amazon desires a brand new problem: tackling your returns
It’s operating a pilot at a number of warehouses to check if it may handle returns in addition to deliveries. (The Info $)
8 Weight reduction medication are actually costly
Their excessive price ticket is forcing medical doctors to get artistic. (The Atlantic $)
+ Weight-loss injections have taken over the web. However what does this imply for folks IRL? (MIT Know-how Evaluation)
9 What we lose once we use apps to hurry learn books
Squishing down books into temporary summaries doesn’t precisely make for a joyful studying expertise. (New Yorker $)
10 The way to make your cellphone be just right for you
No extra doomscrolling! (WSJ $)
+ The way to log out. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)
Quote of the day
“The AI revolution begins with Nvidia, and in our view, the AI social gathering is simply getting began.”
—Analyst Dan Ives, from Wedbush Securities, explains why buyers will likely be following chipmaker Nvidia much more carefully after the corporate introduced blockbuster monetary outcomes, the Guardian stories.
The large story
The search to study if our mind’s mutations have an effect on psychological well being
Scientists have struggled of their seek for particular genes behind most mind problems, together with autism and Alzheimer’s illness. In contrast to issues with another elements of our physique, the overwhelming majority of mind dysfunction displays aren’t linked to an identifiable gene.
However a College of California, San Diego research printed in 2001 steered a special path. What if it wasn’t a single defective gene—or perhaps a sequence of genes—that all the time brought about cognitive points? What if it could possibly be the genetic variations between cells?
The reason had appeared far-fetched, however extra researchers have begun to take it significantly. Scientists already knew that the 85 billion to 100 billion neurons in your mind work to some extent in live performance—however what they wish to know is whether or not there’s a danger when a few of these cells could be singing a special genetic tune. Learn the total story.
—Roxanne Khamsi
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Acquired any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ Who knew that Sting had been secretly engaged on a ferry all this time?
+ That’s some significantly spectacular skipping.
+ America is dwelling to among the most lovely prepare rides on Earth.
+ This Center Earth tattoo is bonkers.