The Download: how to store energy underground, and what you may not know about Trump’s AI Action Plan
Plus: Trump’s China AI chips U-turn hasn’t gone down well with Democrats
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 wants to use the Earth as a massive battery
Texas-based startup Quidnet Energy just completed a test showing it can store energy for up to six months by pumping water underground.
Using water to store electricity is hardly a new concept—pumped hydropower storage has been around for over a century. But the company hopes its twist on the technology could help bring cheap, long-duration energy storage to new places. Read the full story.
—Casey Crownhart
What you may have missed about Trump’s AI Action Plan
The executive orders and announcements coming from the White House since Donald Trump returned to office have painted an ambitious vision for America’s AI future, but the details have been sparse.
The White House’s AI Action Plan, released last week, is meant to fix that. Trump wants to boost the buildout of data centers by slashing environmental rules; withhold funding from states that pass “burdensome AI regulations”; and contract only with AI companies whose models are “free from top-down ideological bias.”
But if you dig deeper, certain parts of the plan that didn’t pop up in any headlines reveal more about where the administration’s AI plans are headed. Here are three of the most important issues to watch.
—James O’Donnell
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Democrats aren’t happy about Trump’s China chip U-turn
They’re worried about the security implications of approving exporting Nvidia chips. (WP $)
+ They claim the Trump administration is using export controls as a bargaining chip. (The Hill)
+ Meanwhile, both parties are planning new bills targeting China. (Reuters)
2 US tariffs are at their highest level since before WWII
Trump’s tariff wall appears likely to trigger a global reordering of trade. (FT $)
+ But who picks up the bill? (The Guardian)
+ Sweeping tariffs could threaten the US manufacturing rebound. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Utility companies want Big Tech to pay more for their data centers
Otherwise, rates may end up rising for regular customers. (WSJ $)
+ The data center boom in the desert. (MIT Technology Review)
4 Citizen science is on the rise across the US
Platform iNaturalist is playing a key role in helping to identify new species. (NYT $)
+ How nonprofits and academia are stepping up to salvage US climate programs. (MIT Technology Review)
5 Anthropic is cracking down on Claude power users
Some of its customers are running its AI coding tool 24/7. (TechCrunch)
+ That’s seriously bad news for the environment. (Engadget)
+ We did the math on AI’s energy footprint. Here’s the story you haven’t heard. (MIT Technology Review)
6 MAHA might resurrect psychedelic therapy
Last year, the FDA rejected MDMA therapy. Now, it might get thrown a lifeline. (Wired $)
+ People are using AI to ‘sit’ with them while they trip on psychedelics. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Waymo is launching its robotaxi service in Dallas
In a new partnership with car rental firm Avis, not Uber. (Reuters)
+ It’s expanding steadily, unlike its rival Tesla. (Forbes $)
8 How a promising young coder wound up at DOGE
Luke Farritor has assessed, slashed, and dismantled at least 10 departments. (Bloomberg $)
+ The foundations of America’s prosperity are being dismantled. (MIT Technology Review)
9 This Californian startup’s robot kills fish the Japanese way 🐟
The method is considered the most humane way to kill them. (Semafor)
10 AI is making online shopping hyper-personalized 🛍️
By serving up results for searches like “revenge dress to wear to a party in Sicily.” (CNN)
Quote of the day
“Now I’ll click the ‘Verify you are human’ checkbox…this step is necessary to prove I’m not a bot.”
—OpenAI’s new ChatGPT Agent explains how it passes a common internet security checkpoint designed to catch bots just like it, Ars Technica reports.
One more thing
How gamification took over the worldIt’s a thought that occurs to every video-game player at some point: What if the weird, hyper-focused state I enter when playing in virtual worlds could somehow be applied to the real one?
Often pondered during especially challenging or tedious tasks in meatspace (writing essays, say, or doing your taxes), it’s an eminently reasonable question to ask. Life, after all, is hard. And while video games are too, there’s something almost magical about the way they can promote sustained bouts of superhuman concentration and resolve.
For some, this phenomenon leads to an interest in flow states and immersion. For others, it’s simply a reason to play more games. For a handful of consultants, startup gurus, and game designers in the late 2000s, it became the key to unlocking our true human potential. But instead of liberating us, gamification turned out to be just another tool for coercion, distraction, and control. Read the full story.
—Bryan Gardiner
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 or skeet ’em at me.)
+ USPS is taking votes from the public to bring back their favorite stamps (thanks Amy!)
+ Here’s how to make your morning toast that bit more interesting.
+ The long-awaited Madonna biopic is still happening, apparently.
+ Bad news for matcha fans—there’s a global shortage 🍵
