The Download: extracting lithium, and what we still don’t know about Sora
Plus: OpenAI has agreed a huge computing deal with AMD
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 company is planning a lithium empire from the shores of the Great Salt Lake
On a bright afternoon in August, the shore of Utah’s Great Salt Lake looks like something out of a science fiction film set in a scorching alien world.
This otherworldly scene is the test site for a company called Lilac Solutions, which is developing a technology it says will shake up the United States’ efforts to pry control over the global supply of lithium, the so-called “white gold” needed for electric vehicles and batteries, away from China.
The startup is in a race to commercialize a new, less environmentally-damaging way to extract lithium from rocks. If everything pans out, it could significantly increase domestic supply at a crucial moment for the nation’s lithium extraction industry. Read the full story.
—Alexander C. Kaufman
The three big unanswered questions about Sora
Last week OpenAI released Sora, a TikTok-style app that presents an endless feed of exclusively AI-generated videos, each up to 10 seconds long. The app allows you to create a “cameo” of yourself—a hyperrealistic avatar that mimics your appearance and voice—and insert other peoples’ cameos into your own videos (depending on what permissions they set).
In the days since, it soared to the top spot on Apple’s US App Store. But its explosive growth raises a bunch of questions: can its popularity last? Can OpenAI afford it? And how soon until we start seeing lawsuits over its use of copyrighted content? Here’s what we’ve learned so far.
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter about the latest in AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here.
—James O’Donnell
2025 climate tech companies to watch: HiNa Battery Technology and its effort to commercialize salt cells
Over the next few decades the world will need a lot more batteries to power electric cars and keep grids stable. Today most battery cells are made with lithium, so the mineral is expected to be in hyper demand. But a new technology has come on the scene, potentially disrupting the global battery industry.
For decades, research of sodium-ion cell technology was abandoned due to the huge commercial success of lithium-ion cells. Now, HiNa Battery Technology is working to bring sodium back to the limelight—and to the mass market. Read the full story.
—You Xiaoying
HiNa Battery Technology is one of our 10 climate tech companies to watch—our annual list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. Check out the rest of the list here.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 OpenAI has signed a major chip deal
It will collaborate with AMD in a challenge to Nvidia’s dominance. (WSJ $)
+ The multi-billion dollar deal will play out over five years. (FT $)
+ Just two weeks ago, OpenAI agreed a deal with Nvidia. (CNN)
+ The data center boom in the desert. (MIT Technology Review)
2 Google lost a US Supreme Court bid
The justices denied Google’s bid to pause changes to its app store. (Bloomberg $)
+ It’s part of the lawsuit Epic Games brought against the tech giant. (Reuters)
+ The dispute remains unsolved, so it may be handed back to the justices. (NYT $)
3 You can now use some apps directly within ChatGPT
It’s all part of OpenAI’s ambitions to make it a one-stop-shop for all your needs. (The Verge)
+ Sam Altman wants it to become your primary digital portal. (The Information $)
4 Deloitte used AI to generate a report for the Australian government
Unfortunately, it was littered with hallucinated mistakes. (Ars Technica)
5 The Nobel prize for medicine has been awarded to three immunity researchers
The trio discovered an immune cell that helps stop the immune system attacking itself. (New Scientist $)
6 Russians are using AI to create video memorials of their war dead
A burgeoning industry has sprung up, and practitioners will generate clips for $30. (WP $)
+ Deepfakes of your dead loved ones are a booming Chinese business. (MIT Technology Review)
7 The dream of greener air travel is starting to die ✈️🍃
Hydrogen-powered planes are years away. So what now? (FT $)
+ How new technologies could clean up air travel. (MIT Technology Review)
8 How job hunters are trying to trick AI résumé-checkers
Inserting sneaky hidden prompts is becoming commonplace. (NYT $)
9 The creator of the Friend AI pendant doesn’t care if you hate it
The backlash to its provocative ads is all part of the plan, apparently. (The Atlantic $)
10 Taylor Swift’s fans really don’t like AI
They’ve accused the singer’s new videos, which appear to be AI-generated, of looking cheap and sloppy. (NY Mag $)
+ AI text is out, moving pictures are in. (Economist $)
Quote of the day
“When AI videos are just as good as normal videos, I wonder what that will do to YouTube and how it will impact the millions of creators currently making content for a living… scary times.”
—YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, reflects on AI videos infiltrating the internet, TechCrunch reports.
One more thing
The case against humans in space
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are bitter rivals in the commercial space race, but they agree on one thing: Settling space is an existential imperative. Space is the place. The final frontier. It is our human destiny to transcend our home world and expand our civilization to extraterrestrial vistas.
This belief has been mainstream for decades, but its rise has been positively meteoric in this new gilded age of astropreneurs.
But as visions of giant orbital stations and Martian cities dance in our heads, a case against human space colonization has found its footing in a number of recent books, from doubts about the practical feasibility of off-Earth communities, to realism about the harsh environment of space and the enormous tax it would exact on the human body. Read the full story.
