The Download: AI doppelgängers in the workplace, and using lidar to measure climate disasters
Plus: Meta did not seek celebrities’ permission before making flirty chatbots of them
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.
Can an AI doppelgänger help me do my job?
—James O’Donnell
Digital clones—AI models that replicate a specific person—package together a few technologies that have been around for a while now: hyperrealistic video models to match your appearance, lifelike voices based on just a couple of minutes of speech recordings, and conversational chatbots increasingly capable of holding our attention.
But they’re also offering something the ChatGPTs of the world cannot: an AI that’s not smart in the general sense, but that ‘thinks’ like you do.
Could well-crafted clones serve as our stand-ins? I certainly feel stretched thin at work sometimes, wishing I could be in two places at once, and I bet you do too. To find out, I tried making a clone of myself. Read the full story to find out how it got on.
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here.
How lidar measures the cost of climate disasters
The wildfires that swept through Los Angeles County this January left an indelible mark on the Southern California landscape. The Eaton and Palisades fires raged for 24 days, killing 29 people and destroying 16,000 structures, with losses estimated at $60 billion. More than 55,000 acres were consumed, and the landscape itself was physically transformed.
Now, researchers are using lidar (light detection and ranging) technology to precisely measure these changes in the landscape’s geometry—helping them understand and track the cascading effects of climate disasters. Read the full story.
—Jon KeeganThis story is from our new print edition, which is all about the future of security. Subscribe here to catch future copies when they land.
Here’s how we picked this year’s Innovators Under 35
Next Monday we’ll publish our 2025 list of Innovators Under 35. The list highlights smart and talented people working across many areas of emerging technology. This new class features 35 accomplished founders, hardware engineers, roboticists, materials scientists, and others who are already tackling tough problems and making big moves in their careers.
MIT Technology Review first published a list of Innovators Under 35 in 1999. It’s a grand tradition for us, and we often follow the work of various featured innovators for years, even decades, after they appear on the list. So before the big announcement, we’d like to take a moment to explain how we select the people we recognize each year. Read the full story.
—Amy Nordrum
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Meta created flirty chatbots of celebrities without their permission
To make matters worse, the bots generated risqué pictures on demand. (Reuters)
+ Meta’s relationship with Scale AI appears to be under pressure. (TechCrunch)
+ An AI companion site is hosting sexually charged conversations with underage celebrity bots. (MIT Technology Review)
2 The FTC has warned Big Tech not to comply with EU laws
If they jeopardize the freedom of expression or safety of US citizens, at least. (Wired $)
3 Ukraine is using drones to drop supplies to its troops in trenches
They’re delivering everything from cigarettes to roasted chicken. (WP $)
+ Meet the radio-obsessed civilian shaping Ukraine’s drone defense. (MIT Technology Review)
4 What the collapse of this AI company says about the wider industry
Builder.ai was an early industry darling. Its downfall is a dire warning. (NYT $)
5 US shoppers are racing to land an EV bargain
Federal tax credits on the vehicles expire at the end of the month. (WSJ $)
+ The US could really use an affordable electric truck. (MIT Technology Review)
6 A major new project will use AI to research vaccines
The Oxford Vaccine Group hopes the jabs will protect against deadly pathogens. (FT $)
+ Why US federal health agencies are abandoning mRNA vaccines. (MIT Technology Review)
7 A lot of people stop taking weight-loss drugs within one year
How should doctors encourage the ones who need to stay on them? (Undark)
+ We’re learning more about what weight-loss drugs do to the body. (MIT Technology Review)
8 Chatbots can be manipulated into breaking their own rules
It turns out they’re susceptible to both flattery and peer pressure. (The Verge)
+ Forcing LLMs to be evil during training can make them nicer in the long run. (MIT Technology Review)
9 Tennis is trying to reach a new generation of fans 🎾
Through…the metaverse? (The Information $)
10 The age of cheap online shopping is ending
And consumers are the ones paying the price. (The Atlantic $)
+ AI is starting to shake up the digital shopping experience, too. (FT $)
+ Your most important customer may be AI. (MIT Technology Review)
Quote of the day
“Stop being a clanker!”
—How Jay Pinkert, a marketing manager, scolds ChatGPT when it isn’t fulfilling his requests, he tells the New York Times.
One more thing
The algorithms around usA metronome ticks. A record spins. And as a feel-good pop track plays, a giant compactor slowly crushes a Jenga tower of material creations. Paint cans burst. Chess pieces topple. Camera lenses shatter. An alarm clock shrills and then goes silent. A guitar neck snaps. But wait! The jaunty tune starts up again, and the jaws open to reveal … an iPad.
Watching Apple’s now-infamous “Crush!” ad, it’s hard not to feel uneasy about the ways in which digitization is remaking human life. Sure, we’re happy for computers to take over tasks we don’t want to do or aren’t particularly good at, like shopping or navigating. But what does it mean when the things we hold dear and thought were uniquely ours—our friendships, our art, even our language and creativity—can be reduced to software? Read the full story.
—Ariel Bleicher
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.)
+ Minnesota’s Llama-Alpaca Costume Contest looks an utter delight (thanks Amy!)
+ In fascinating collab news, David Byrne and Paramore’s Hayley Williams are working on a song for a Netflix adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Twits.
+ Happy birthday to Gloria Estefan, 68 years old today!
+ M. Night Shyamalan’s oeuvre is a decidedly mixed bag. Check out this list of his movies to see where your favorites (and least-favorites) rank.
