That is right this moment’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a day by day dose of what’s happening on the planet of expertise.
Meta says AI-generated election content material shouldn’t be taking place at a “systemic degree”
Meta has seen strikingly little AI-generated misinformation across the 2024 elections regardless of main votes in international locations corresponding to Indonesia, Taiwan, and Bangladesh, mentioned the corporate’s president of worldwide affairs, Nick Clegg, on Wednesday.
“The fascinating factor to this point—I stress, to this point—shouldn’t be how a lot however how little AI-generated content material [there is],” mentioned Clegg throughout an interview at MIT Expertise Overview’s EmTech Digital convention in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
As voters will head to polls this yr 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 intrude with elections. And even well-resourced tech giants like Meta are struggling to maintain up. Learn the complete story.
—Melissa Heikkilä
To learn extra about elections and AI, take a look at:
+ How generative AI is boosting the unfold of disinformation and propaganda. Governments are actually utilizing the tech to amplify censorship. Learn the complete story.
+ Eric Schmidt has a 6-point plan for preventing election misinformation. Learn the complete story.
AI is an vitality hog. That is what it means for local weather change.
Tech firms maintain discovering new methods to carry AI into each aspect of our lives. However the expertise comes with rising electrical energy demand. You might 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 nervous ought to we be about AI’s electrical energy calls for? Casey Crownhart, our local weather reporter, has dug into the info. Learn the complete story.
This story is from The Spark, our weekly local weather and vitality publication. Join to obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you right this moment’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 A second human has been recognized with chook flu
Fortunately, the Michigan farmworker has since recovered. (NY Magazine $)
+ Shares in vaccine makers are rising in consequence. (FT $)
+ Right here’s what you’ll want to know in regards to the present outbreak. (MIT Expertise Overview)
2 Nvidia has reported stratospheric development
The chipmaker’s income grew a whopping 262% over the previous quarter. (FT $)
+ That’s $14 billion price of revenue. (The Verge)
+ What’s subsequent in chips. (MIT Expertise Overview)
3 Information Corp has struck a take care of OpenAI
Information from the media big’s newspapers will seem in ChatGPT responses. (WP $)
+ The deal is valued at greater than $250 million. (WSJ $)
+ Meta is reported to be fascinated with making offers with information retailers, too. (Insider $)
4 The US is planning on suing Ticketmaster
A group of states and the Justice Division will accuse it of operating a monopoly. (NYT $)
5 We all know that Russia needs to place a nuke in area
However past that, particulars are fairly unclear. (Vox)
+ Easy methods to struggle a struggle in area (and get away with it) (MIT Expertise Overview)
6 The US Home of Consultant has handed a crypto invoice
Regardless of the Securities regulator’s misgivings. (Reuters)
7 Amazon needs 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 Data $)
8 Weight reduction medication are actually costly
Their excessive price ticket is forcing docs to get artistic. (The Atlantic $)
+ Weight-loss injections have taken over the web. However what does this imply for individuals IRL? (MIT Expertise Overview)
9 What we lose after we use apps to hurry learn books
Squishing down books into transient summaries doesn’t precisely make for a joyful studying expertise. (New Yorker $)
10 Easy methods to make your cellphone give you the results you want
No extra doomscrolling! (WSJ $)
+ Easy methods to sign off. (MIT Expertise Overview)
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 shall be following chipmaker Nvidia much more intently after the corporate introduced blockbuster monetary outcomes, the Guardian studies.
The large story
The hunt 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 components of our physique, the overwhelming majority of mind dysfunction displays are usually not linked to an identifiable gene.
However a College of California, San Diego examine revealed in 2001 steered a unique path. What if it wasn’t a single defective gene—or perhaps a sequence of genes—that all the time brought on cognitive points? What if it might be the genetic variations between cells?
The reason had appeared far-fetched, however extra researchers have begun to take it severely. Scientists already knew that the 85 billion to 100 billion neurons in your mind work to some extent in live performance—however what they need to know is whether or not there’s a danger when a few of these cells is perhaps singing a unique genetic tune. Learn the complete 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 severely spectacular skipping.
+ America is residence to a number of the most stunning prepare rides on Earth.
+ This Center Earth tattoo is bonkers.