The Download: OpenAI’s plans for science, and chatbot age verification
Plus: tech workers are urging their CEOs to speak out against ICE
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.
Inside OpenAI’s big play for science
—Will Douglas Heaven
In the three years since ChatGPT’s explosive debut, OpenAI’s technology has upended a remarkable range of everyday activities at home, at work, and in schools.
Now OpenAI is making an explicit play for scientists. In October, the firm announced that it had launched a whole new team, called OpenAI for Science, dedicated to exploring how its large language models could help scientists and tweaking its tools to support them.
So why now? How does a push into science fit with OpenAI’s wider mission? And what exactly is the firm hoping to achieve? I put these questions to Kevin Weil, a vice president at OpenAI who leads the new OpenAI for Science team, in an exclusive interview. Read the full story.
Why chatbots are starting to check your age
How do tech companies check if their users are kids?
This question has taken on new urgency recently thanks to growing concern about the dangers that can arise when children talk to AI chatbots. For years Big Tech asked for birthdays (that one could make up) to avoid violating child privacy laws, but they weren’t required to moderate content accordingly.
Now, two developments over the last week show how quickly things are changing in the US and how this issue is becoming a new battleground, even among parents and child-safety advocates. Read the full story.
—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.
TR10: Commercial space stations
Humans have long dreamed of living among the stars, and for two decades hundreds of us have done so aboard the International Space Station (ISS). But a new era is about to begin in which private companies operate orbital outposts—with the promise of much greater access to space than before.
The ISS is aging and is expected to be brought down from orbit into the ocean in 2031. To replace it, NASA has awarded more than $500 million to several companies to develop private space stations, while others have built versions on their own. Read why we made them one of our 10 Breakthrough Technologies this year, and check out the rest of the list.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Tech workers are pressuring their bosses to condemn ICE
The biggest companies and their leaders have remained largely silent so far. (Axios)
+ Hundreds of employees have signed an anti-ICE letter. (NYT $)
+ Formerly politically-neutral online spaces have become battlegrounds. (WP $)
2 The US Department of Transport plans to use AI to write new safety rules
Please don’t do this. (ProPublica)
+ Failure to catch any errors could lead to civilian deaths. (Ars Technica)
3 The FBI is investigating Minnesota Signal chats tracking federal agents
But free speech advocates claim the information is legally obtained. (NBC News)
+ A judge has ordered a briefing on whether Minnesota is being illegally punished. (Wired $)
4 TikTok users claim they’re unable to send “Epstein” in direct messages
But the company says it doesn’t know why. (NPR)
+ Users are also experiencing difficulty uploading anti-ICE videos. (CNN)
+ TikTok’s first weekend under US ownership hasn’t gone well. (The Verge)
+ Gavin Newsom wants to probe whether TikTok is censoring Trump-critical content. (Politico)
5 Grok is not safe for children or teens
That’s the finding of a new report digging into the chatbot’s safety measures. (TechCrunch)
+ The EU is investigating whether it disseminates illegal content, too. (Reuters)
6 The US is on the verge of losing its measles-free status
Following a year of extensive outbreaks. (Undark)
+ Measles is surging in the US. Wastewater tracking could help. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Georgia has become the latest US state to consider banning data centers
Joining Maryland and Oklahoma’s stance. (The Guardian)
+ Data centers are amazing. Everyone hates them. (MIT Technology Review)
8 The future of Saudi Arabia’s futuristic city is in peril
The Line was supposed to house 9 million people. Instead, it could become a data center hub. (FT $)
+ We got an exclusive first look at it back in 2022. (MIT Technology Review)
9 Where do Earth’s lighter elements go? 🌍
New research suggests they might be hiding deep inside its core. (Knowable Magazine)
10 AI-generated influencers are getting increasingly surreal
Featuring virtual conjoined twins, and triple-breasted women. (404 Media)
+ Why ‘nudifying’ tech is getting steadily more dangerous. (Wired $)
Quote of the day
“Humanity is about to be handed almost unimaginable power, and it is deeply unclear whether our social, political, and technological systems possess the maturity to wield it.”
—Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei sounds the alarm about what he sees as the imminent dangers of AI superintelligence in a new 38-page essay, Axios reports.
One more thing
Why one developer won’t quit fighting to connect the US’s grids
Michael Skelly hasn’t learned to take no for an answer. For much of the last 15 years, the energy entrepreneur has worked to develop long-haul transmission lines to carry wind power across the Great Plains, Midwest, and Southwest. But so far, he has little to show for the effort.
Skelly has long argued that building such lines and linking together the nation’s grids would accelerate the shift from coal- and natural-gas-fueled power plants to the renewables needed to cut the pollution driving climate change. But his previous business shut down in 2019, after halting two of its projects and selling off interests in three more.
Skelly contends he was early, not wrong. And he has a point: markets and policymakers are increasingly coming around to his perspective. Read the full story.
—James Temple
