The Download: OpenAI’s future research, and US climate regulation is under threat
Plus: the White House wants to make your health data work harder
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.
The two people shaping the future of OpenAI’s research
—Will Douglas HeavenFor the past couple of years, OpenAI has felt like a one-man brand. With his showbiz style and fundraising glitz, CEO Sam Altman overshadows all other big names on the firm’s roster.
But Altman is not the one building the technology on which its reputation rests. That responsibility falls to OpenAI’s twin heads of research—chief research officer Mark Chen and chief scientist Jakub Pachocki. Between them, they share the role of making sure OpenAI stays one step ahead of powerhouse rivals like Google.
I recently sat down with Chen and Pachocki for an exclusive conversation which covered everything from how they manage the inherent tension between research and product, to what they really mean when they talk about AGI, to what happened to OpenAI’s superalignment team.
I also wanted to get a sense of where their heads are at in the run-up to OpenAI’s biggest product release in months: GPT-5. Read the full story.
An EPA rule change threatens to gut US climate regulations
The mechanism that allows the US federal government to regulate climate change is on the chopping block.
On Tuesday, US Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the agency is taking aim at the endangerment finding, a 2009 rule that’s essentially the tentpole supporting federal greenhouse-gas regulations.
This might sound like an obscure legal situation, but it’s a really big deal for climate policy in the US. So let’s look at what this rule says now, what the proposed change looks like, and what it all means. Read the full story.
—Casey Crownhart
This story is part of MIT Technology Review’s “America Undone” series, examining how the foundations of US success in science and innovation are currently under threat. You can read the rest here.
It appeared first in The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here.
The AI Hype Index: The White House’s war on “woke AI”
Separating AI reality from hyped-up fiction isn’t always easy. That’s why we’ve created the AI Hype Index—a simple, at-a-glance summary of everything you need to know about the state of the industry. Take a look at this month’s edition of the index here.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Trump has announced a new US health care records system
Experts warn the initiative could leave patients’ medical records open to abuse. (NYT $)
+ Big Tech has pledged to work with providers and health systems. (The Hill)
2 China says it’s worried Nvidia’s chips have serious security issues
Just as the company sought to resume sales in the country. (Reuters)
+Experts reportedly found the chips featured location tracking tech. (FT $)
3 Mark Zuckerberg believes superintelligence “is now in sight”
Although he didn’t illuminate what it even means. (The Guardian)
+ Zuckerberg has taken a leaf out of the Altman playbook. (NY Mag $)
+ Don’t expect Meta to open source any of those superintelligent models. (TechCrunch)
+ Tech billionaires are making a risky bet with humanity’s future. (MIT Technology Review)
4 NASA is in turmoil
Without a permanent leader, workers are leaving in their thousands. (WP $)
5 Google removed negative articles about a tech CEO from search results
After someone made fraudulent requests using its Refresh Outdated Content Tool. (404 Media)
+ They exploited a bug in the tool to get pages removed. (Ars Technica)
6 How AI has transformed data center design
They need to accommodate a lot more heat and power than they used to. (FT $)
+ A proposed Wyoming data center would use more electricity than its homes. (Ars Technica)
+ Apple manufacturer Foxconn wants to get involved in building data centers. (CNBC)
+ Should we be moving data centers to space? (MIT Technology Review)
7 AI agents can probe websites for security weaknesses
Especially shoddily-constructed vibe-coded ones. (Wired $)
+ Cyberattacks by AI agents are coming. (MIT Technology Review)
8 New forms of life have been filmed at the ocean’s deepest points
The abundance of life was amazing, the Chinese-led research team says. (BBC)
+ Meet the divers trying to figure out how deep humans can go. (MIT Technology Review)
9 TikTok is adding Footnotes to its clips
As AI-generated videos become even harder to spot. (The Verge)
+ This fake viral clip of rabbits on a trampoline is a great example. (404 Media)
10 What it’s like to attend an Elon Musk fan fest
X Takeover promised to unite Tesla and SpaceX-heads alike. (Insider $)
+ Some people who definitely aren’t fans: neighbors of Tesla’s diner. (404 Media)
Quote of the day
“Patients across America should be very worried that their medical records are going to be used in ways that harm them and their families.”
—Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown University law professor specializing in public health, warns of the potential repercussions of the Trump administration’s new health data tracking system, the Associated Press reports.
One more thing
The cost of building the perfect waveFor nearly as long as surfing has existed, surfers have been obsessed with the search for the perfect wave.
While this hunt has taken surfers from tropical coastlines to icebergs, these days that search may take place closer to home. That is, at least, the vision presented by developers and boosters in the growing industry of surf pools, spurred by advances in wave-generating technology that have finally created artificial waves surfers actually want to ride.
But there’s a problem: some of these pools are in drought-ridden areas, and face fierce local opposition. At the core of these fights is a question that’s also at the heart of the sport: What is the cost of finding, or now creating, the perfect wave—and who will have to bear it? Read the full story.
—Eileen Guo
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.)
+ Maybe airplane food isn’t so bad after all.
+ An unwitting metal detectorist uncovered some ancient armor in the Czech Republic that may have been worn during the Trojan war.
+ Talking of the siege of Troy, tickets for Christopher Nolan’s retelling of The Odyssey are already selling out a year before it’s released.
+ This fun website refreshes every few seconds with a new picture of someone pointing at your mouse pointer.
