The Download: RIP EV tax credits, and OpenAI’s new valuation
Plus: major music labels are preparing to make deals with AI firms
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.
EV tax credits are dead in the US. Now what?
Federal EV tax credits in the US officially came to an end yesterday.
Those credits, expanded and extended in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, gave drivers up to $7,500 toward the purchase of a new electric vehicle. They’ve been a major force in cutting the up-front costs of EVs, pushing more people toward purchasing them and giving automakers confidence that demand would be strong.
The tax credits’ demise comes at a time when battery-electric vehicles still make up a small percentage of new vehicle sales in the country. So what’s next for the US EV market?
—Casey Crownhart
This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here.
If you’re interested in reading more about EVs and clean energy, take a look at:
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 OpenAI has become the world’s most valuable startup
Move aside, SpaceX. (Bloomberg $)
+ OpenAI is now valued at an eye-watering $500 billion. (FT $)
+ The valuation came after workers sold around $6.6 billion in shares. (Reuters)
2 Music labels are close to striking AI licensing deals
Universal and Warner are trying their best to avoid the mis-steps of the internet era. (FT $)
+ AI is coming for music, too. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Facebook’s political ads are full of spam and scams
And deepfake technology is making them more convincing than ever. (NYT $)
+ Meta will start using conversations with its chatbots to personalize ads. (WSJ $)
4 China is forging ahead with integrating AI tools into children’s lives
But educators worry they’ll harm youngsters’ learning and social skills. (Rest of World)
+ Chinese universities want students to use more AI, not less. (MIT Technology Review)
5 The batteries of the future could be created by AI
Researchers including Microsoft are experimenting with materials suggested by models. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ This startup wants to use the Earth as a massive battery. (MIT Technology Review)
6 A historian claims to have used AI to identify an anonymous Nazi
Digital tools helped Jürgen Matthäus to pinpoint the person photographed beside a mass grave. (The Guardian)
7 The Pentagon is interested in AI-powered machine guns that shoot drones
Steven Simoni’s Allen Control Systems is part of Silicon Valley’s new military pivot. (Reuters)
+ We saw a demo of the new AI system powering Anduril’s vision for war. (MIT Technology Review)
8 One of Saturn’s moons may have once hosted life 🪐
Enceladus has all the necessary keystones to support life, and future missions could uncover it. (Scientific American $)
+ Meanwhile, Blue Origin has won a NASA rover contract. (Wired $)
+ The case against humans in space. (MIT Technology Review)
9 Chatbots exercise all sorts of tricks to keep you talking
They don’t want the conversation to end, a new study has found. (Wired $)
10 What it’s like to become a viral meme
Drew Scanlon, aka “Blinking Guy,” is leveraging his fame for a good cause. (SF Gate)
Quote of the day
“I cannot overstate how disgusting I find this kind of ‘AI’ dog shit in the first place, never mind under these circumstances.”
—Writer Luke O’Neil tells 404 Media his feelings about an AI-generated “biography” of journalist Kaleb Horton, who recently died.
One more thing
A day in the life of a Chinese robotaxi driver
When Liu Yang started his current job, he found it hard to go back to driving his own car: “I instinctively went for the passenger seat. Or when I was driving, I would expect the car to brake by itself,” says the 33-year-old Beijing native, who joined the Chinese tech giant Baidu in January 2021 as a robotaxi driver.
Liu is one of the hundreds of safety operators employed by Baidu, “driving” five days a week in Shougang Park. But despite having only worked for the company for 19 months, he already has to think about his next career move, as his job will likely be eliminated within a few years. Read the full story.
—Zeyi Yang
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.)
+ Congratulations are in order for 32 Chunk, winner of this year’s highly prestigious Fat Bear Week competition 🐻
+ Here’s how 10 women artists got their days off to the best start possible.
+ This Instagram account documenting the worldly travels of a cassette player is fab.
+ Brb, I’m off to listen to Arctic Outpost Radio, spinning records from the very top of the world.
