The Obtain: dwelling for longer, and intercourse within the age of AI

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That is at present’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a day by day dose of what’s happening on the planet of know-how.

Perhaps it is possible for you to to dwell previous 122

How lengthy can people dwell? It is a good time to ask the query. The longevity scene is having a second, because of a mix of scientific advances, public curiosity, and an unprecedented stage of funding. A couple of key areas of analysis counsel that we’d be capable of push human life spans additional, and probably reverse at the least some indicators of growing old.

Researchers can’t even agree on what the precise mechanisms of growing old are and which they need to be focusing on. Debates proceed to rage over how lengthy it’s doable for people to dwell—and whether or not there’s a restrict in any respect.

But it surely appears probably that one thing will probably be developed within the coming a long time that may assist us dwell longer, in higher well being. Learn the total story.

—Jessica Hamzelou

This piece is from the forthcoming print concern of MIT Expertise Evaluation, which is celebrating 125 years of the journal! It’s set to go dwell tomorrow, so in case you don’t already, subscribe now to pay money for future copies as soon as they land.

AI and the way forward for intercourse

Pornography raises so many questions. What’s obscene? What is moral or protected to look at? We don’t should devour and even help it, however porn nonetheless calls for solutions. The query now could be: What’s “actual” porn

What if porn is wholly created by an algorithm? In that case, whether or not it’s obscene, moral, or protected turns into secondary to What does it imply for porn to be “actual”—and what’s going to the reply demand from all of us? Learn the total story.

—Leo Herrera

A skeptic’s information to humanoid-robot movies

We live in “humanoid robotic summer season” proper now, in case you didn’t know. Seemingly each week brings a brand new moody, futuristic video that includes a humanoid robotic staring intensely (and typically unnervingly) into the digicam, leaping round, or sorting issues into piles. Generally they even communicate.

However what do they present, precisely? James O’Donnell, our AI and {hardware} reporter, has watched dozens of them this yr, and ceaselessly oscillates between being impressed, scared, and bored. Learn his information to what it is best to, and crucially shouldn’t, be excited by.

This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly publication supplying you with the within observe on all issues AI. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Monday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the web to search out you at present’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.

1 Telegram’s founder was arrested as a part of an even bigger investigation
Authorities are trying into the huge portions of legal exercise on the platform. (The Guardian)
+ Pavel Durov has a famously hands-off strategy to moderation. (NYT $)
+ Telegram is the one main platform that fails to ban unlawful materials in non-public chats. (WP $)

2 Amazon is poised to launch a brand new and improved Alexa
However you’ll should pay to make use of it. (WP $)

3 China’s chip materials export restrictions are biting within the West

Costs of scarce important minerals are rocketing in Europe. (FT $)
+ What’s subsequent in chips. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)

4 Fb will resist future moderation stress from the US authorities 
Mark Zuckerberg says he regrets not talking out extra concerning the Biden administration’s efforts to drive the platform to censor covid content material. (WSJ $)
+ He received’t contribute to supporting electoral infrastructure, both. (FT $)

5 Upstate New York is posed to change into a quantum computing hub
If Nvidia co-founder Curtis Priem will get his method, that’s. (The Guardian)
+ PsiQuantum plans to construct the most important quantum computing facility within the US. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)

6 Scientific fraud has a staggering demise toll
Falsified knowledge prices lives. Ought to its authors face legal penalties? (Vox)

7 Tesla’s rivals are nonetheless unable to make use of its supercharger community
Regardless of Elon Musk’s guarantees that they’d 12 months in the past. (NYT $) 
+ Why EV charging wants greater than Tesla. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)

8 The US is doubling down on sewer surveillance
In a bid to trace the unfold of illicit prescribed drugs. (The Atlantic $)
+ How scientists traced a mysterious covid case again to 6 bathrooms. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)

9 This audio safety startup claims it may possibly establish an AI spam name
Pindrop Safety traced the origin of the Joe Biden audio deepfake earlier this yr. (Bloomberg $)
+ Meta has created a strategy to watermark AI-generated speech. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)

10 Spotify is rife with pretend bands
Their proliferation will make it even harder for human artists to make a dwelling. (Slate $)

Quote of the day

“I might at all times be unsuitable. I’ve been unsuitable earlier than. And I feel each astrologer has been unsuitable earlier than.”

—Social media astrologer Amy Tripp tells Wired about her prediction that Donald Trump will win the forthcoming US Presidential election.

The massive story

The open-source AI increase is constructed on Large Tech’s handouts. How lengthy will it final?

Might 2023

In Might 2023 a leaked memo reported to have been written by Luke Sernau, a senior engineer at Google, stated out loud what many in Silicon Valley will need to have been whispering for weeks: an open-source free-for-all is threatening Large Tech’s grip on AI.

New open-source giant language fashions—options to Google’s Bard or OpenAI’s ChatGPT that researchers and app builders can research, construct on, and modify—are dropping like sweet from a piñata. These are smaller, cheaper variations of the best-in-class AI fashions created by the large companies that (virtually) match them in efficiency—and so they’re shared without spending a dime.

In some ways, that’s a superb factor. AI received’t thrive if just some mega-rich firms get to gatekeep this know-how or determine how it’s used. However this open-source increase is precarious, and if Large Tech decides to close up store, a boomtown might change into a backwater. Learn the total story.

—Will Douglas Heaven

We are able to nonetheless have good issues

A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Obtained any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

+ Comfortable Oasis reunion day to all those that have a good time!
+ If you happen to’re heading into the nice open air for the final time this summer season, right here’s tips on how to profit from tenting. ⛺
+ The Web Archive is a fairly wonderful useful resource: do you know you should utilize it to play arcade video games?
+ There’s drama unfolding in your again backyard, you simply have to know the place to look.



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