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The Download: tripping with AI, and blocking crawler bots
Plus: the US Senate has killed an AI regulation proposal
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.
People are using AI to ‘sit’ with them while they trip on psychedelics
A growing number of people are using AI chatbots as “trip sitters”—a phrase that traditionally refers to a sober person tasked with monitoring someone who’s under the influence of a psychedelic—and sharing their experiences online.
It’s a potent blend of two cultural trends: using AI for therapy and using psychedelics to alleviate mental-health problems. But this is a potentially dangerous psychological cocktail, according to experts. While it’s far cheaper than in-person psychedelic therapy, it can go badly awry. Read the full story.
—Webb Wright
Cloudflare will now, by default, block AI bots from crawling its clients’ websites
The news: The internet infrastructure company Cloudflare has announced that it will start blocking AI bots from visiting websites it hosts by default.
What bots? The bots in question are a type of web crawler, an algorithm that walks across the internet then digests and catalogs information on each website. In the past, web crawlers were most commonly associated with gathering data for search engines, but developers now use them to gather data they need to build and use AI systems.
So, are all bots banned? Not quite. Cloudflare will also give clients the ability to allow or ban these AI bots on a case-by-case basis, and plans to introduce a so-called “pay-per-crawl” service that clients can use to receive compensation every time an AI bot wants to scoop up their website’s contents. Read the full story.
—Peter Hall
What comes next for AI copyright lawsuits?
Last week, Anthropic and Meta each won landmark victories in two separate court cases that examined whether or not the firms had violated copyright when they trained their large language models on copyrighted books without permission. The rulings are the first we’ve seen to come out of copyright cases of this kind. This is a big deal!
There are dozens of similar copyright lawsuits working through the courts right now, and their outcomes are set to have an enormous impact on the future of AI. In effect, they will decide whether or not model makers can continue ordering up a free lunch. Read the full story.
—Will Douglas Heaven
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 The US Senate has killed an effort to prevent states regulating AI
But AI giants are likely to keep lobbying for similar sorts of legislation. (Reuters)
+ Google et al want Congress to take regulation away from individual states. (Bloomberg $)
+ Advocacy groups say the provision remains extremely damaging. (Wired $)
+ OpenAI has upped its lobbying efforts nearly sevenfold. (MIT Technology Review)
2 Apple is considering using rival AI tech to bolster Siri
In a massive U-turn, it’s reported to have held talks with Anthropic and OpenAI. (Bloomberg $)
+ Apple seems to have accepted that its in-house efforts simply can’t compete. (The Verge)
3 DOGE has access to data that may boost Elon Musk’s businesses
His rivals are worried their proprietary information could be exposed. (WP $)
+ Donald Trump has floated tasking DOGE with reviewing Musk’s subsidies. (FT $)
+ Relations between Musk and Trump are still pretty strained. (NY Mag $)
4 Amazon’s robot workforce is approaching a major milestone
It’s on the verge of equalling the number of humans working in its warehouses. (WSJ $)
+ Why the humanoid workforce is running late. (MIT Technology Review)
5 China’s clean energy boom is going global
Just as the US doubles down on fossil fuels. (NYT $)
+ The Trump administration has shut down more than 100 climate studies. (MIT Technology Review)
6 The AI talent wars are massively inflating pay packages
Wages for a small pool of workers have risen sharply in the past three years. (FT $)
+ Meta, in particular, isn’t afraid to splash its cash. (Wired $)
+ The vast majority of consumers aren’t paying for AI, though. (Semafor)
7 Microsoft claims its AI outperforms doctors’ diagnoses
Its system “solved” eight out of 10 cases, compared to physicians’ two out of 10. (The Guardian)
+ Why it’s so hard to use AI to diagnose cancer. (MIT Technology Review)
8 What the future of satellite internet could look like
Very crowded, for one. (Rest of World)
+ How Antarctica’s history of isolation is ending—thanks to Starlink. (MIT Technology Review)
9 What is an attosecond?
A load of laser-wielding scientists are measuring the units. (Knowable Magazine)
10 AI is Hollywood’s favorite villain
Where 2001, The Terminator, and The Matrix led, others follow. (Economist $)
+ How a 30-year-old techno-thriller predicted our digital isolation. (MIT Technology Review)
Quote of the day
“Right now, AI companies are less regulated than sandwich shops.”
—Ella Hughes, organizing director of activist group PauseAI, addresses a crowd of protesters outside Google DeepMind’s London office, Insider reports.
One more thing
Inside NASA’s bid to make spacecraft as small as possible
Since the 1970s, we’ve sent a lot of big things to Mars. But when NASA successfully sent twin Mars Cube One spacecraft, the size of cereal boxes, in November 2018, it was the first time we’d ever sent something so small.
Just making it this far heralded a new age in space exploration. NASA and the community of planetary science researchers caught a glimpse of a future long sought: a pathway to much more affordable space exploration using smaller, cheaper spacecraft. Read the full story.
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