The Download: Google’s AI mission, and America’s reliance on natural gas
Plus: Democrats are on the hunt for a left-leaning Joe Rogan
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.
By putting AI into everything, Google wants to make it invisible
If you want to know where AI is headed, this year’s Google I/O has you covered. The company’s annual showcase of next-gen products, which kicked off yesterday, has all of the pomp and pizzazz, the sizzle reels and celebrity walk-ons, that you’d expect from a multimillion dollar marketing event.
But it also shows us just how fast this still-experimental technology is being subsumed into a line-up designed to sell phones and subscription tiers. Never before have I seen this thing we call artificial intelligence appear so normal. Read the full story.
—Will Douglas Heaven
AI could keep us dependent on natural gas for decades to come
Last December, Meta announced plans to build a massive $10 billion data center for training its artificial intelligence models in rural northeast Louisiana. Stretching for more than a mile, it will be Meta’s largest in the world, and it will have an enormous appetite for electricity.
To power the data center, a Meta contractor called Entergy will build three large natural-gas power plants with a total capacity of 2.3 gigawatts. It’ll also upgrade the grid to accommodate the huge jump in anticipated demand.
The choice of natural gas as the go-to solution to meet the growing demand for power from AI is not unique to Louisiana. The fossil fuel is already the country’s chief source of electricity generation, and large natural-gas plants are being built around the country to feed electricity to new and planned AI data centers. That’s all but wiping out any prospect that the US will wean itself off natural gas anytime soon. Read the full story.
—David Rotman
This story is part of Power Hungry: AI and our energy future—our new series shining a light on AI’s energy usage. Check out the rest of the package here.
Take a new look at AI’s energy use
Big Tech’s appetite for energy is growing rapidly as adoption of AI accelerates. But just how much energy does a single AI query use? And what does it mean for the climate?
Join editor in chief Mat Honan, senior climate reporter Casey Crownhart, and AI reporter James O’Donnell at 1.30pm ET today for a subscriber-only Roundtables conversation digging into our new package of stories about AI’s energy demands now and in the future. Register here.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Democrats are on the hunt for a digital thought leader
They’re (finally) realizing how far they’re lagging behind their opponents’ online efforts these days. (NYT $)
+ AI’s impact on elections is being overblown. (MIT Technology Review)
2 At least two newspapers printed an AI-generated summer reading list 📰
The only problem is, some of the books don’t actually exist. (404 Media)
+ It’s a useful reminder to never take anything chatbots produce as fact. (Axios)
+ Even regional newspapers aren’t safe from AI slop. (The Atlantic $)
+ Why AI hallucinates, and why we can’t stop it. (MIT Technology Review)
3 The Earth may already be too hot to maintain polar ice sheets
Even if it stays at current temperature levels. (WP $)
+ Why climate researchers are taking the temperature of mountain snow. (MIT Technology Review)
4 How New York City’s child abuse algorithm flags families for investigation
Critics believe it’s open to racial bias. (The Markup)
5 Here’s what it’s like to interview for a job at DOGE
The hiring process is remarkably fast, for a government entity. (Wired $)
+ The department reportedly tried to enter the US government’s publishing operation. (Politico)
+ DOGE’s tech takeover threatens the safety and stability of our critical data. (MIT Technology Review)
6 Fortnite has finally returned to Apple’s App Store
After five years and a lengthy legal battle. (NYT $)
+ The recent ruling has major implications for the iOS economy. (Reuters)
7 Most chatbots can be tricked into dispensing dangerous information
From hacking advice, to describing how to make drugs. (The Guardian)
+ Anthropic has a new way to protect large language models against jailbreaks. (MIT Technology Review)
8 Young Indonesians are being trafficked to scam farms
Fraudulent job ads on Telegram and Facebook lure them into a life of crime. (Rest of World)
+ Inside a romance scam compound—and how people get tricked into being there. (MIT Technology Review)
9 Inside the building in China where stolen western iPhones are stripped and sold
You’ll find a buyer for every single component inside the Feiyang Times. (FT $)
10 Amazon has started randomly refunding customers for old purchases
Some orders were placed as far back as 2018. (Bloomberg $)
Quote of the day
“Anybody who’s a computer scientist should not be retired right now. They should be working on AI.”
—Google cofounder Sergey Brin says people with the right technical skills should copy him and quit being retired, TechCrunch reports.
One more thing
This fuel plant will use agricultural waste to combat climate change
A startup called Mote plans to build a new type of fuel-producing plant in California’s fertile Central Valley that would, if it works as hoped, continually capture and bury carbon dioxide.
It’s among a growing number of efforts to commercialize a concept first proposed two decades ago as a means of combating climate change, known as bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration, or BECCS.
It’s an ambitious plan. However, there are serious challenges to doing BECCS affordably and in ways that reliably suck down significant levels of carbon dioxide. Read the full story.
—James Temple
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.)
+ These creepy little Labubu toys are everywhere. But why?
+ Happy 25th birthday to one of London’s finest institutions, the Tate Modern gallery.
+ Why the Mission Impossible film franchise just won’t die.
+ Hummingbirds can fly backwards!? Wow.
