MIT Technology Review

Welcome toThe State of AI, a new collaboration between the Financial Times and MIT Technology Review. Every Monday for the next six weeks, writers from both publications will debate one aspect of the generative AI revolution reshaping global power. This week, Casey Crownhart, senior reporter for energy at MIT Technology Review and Pilita Clark, FT's...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. The first new subsea habitat in 40 years is about to launch Vanguard feels and smells like a new RV. It has long, gray banquettes that convert into bunks, a microwave cleverly hidden...

Vanguard feels and smells like a new RV. It has long, gray banquettes that convert into bunks, a microwave cleverly hidden under a counter, a functional steel sink with a French press and crockery above. A weird little toilet hides behind a curtain. But some clues hint that you can't just fire up Vanguard's engine...

This week, we heard that Tom Brady had his dog cloned. The former quarterback revealed that his Junie is actually a clone of Lua, a pit bull mix that died in 2023. Brady's announcement follows those of celebrities like Paris Hilton and Barbra Streisand, who also famously cloned their pet dogs. But some believe there...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. How conspiracy theories infiltrated the doctor's office As anyone who has googled their symptoms and convinced themselves that they've got a brain tumor will attest, the internet makes it very easy to self-(mis)diagnose...

Picture it: I'm minding my business at a party, parked by the snack table (of course). A friend of a friend wanders up, and we strike up a conversation. It quickly turns to work, and upon learning that I'm a climate technology reporter, my new acquaintance says something like: Should I be using AI? I've...

The US- and UK-based company Quantinuum today unveiled Helios, its third-generation quantum computer, which includes expanded computing power and error correction capability. Like all other existing quantum computers, Helios is not powerful enough to execute the industry's dream money-making algorithms, such as those that would be useful for materials discovery or financial modeling. But Quantinuum's...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Why the for-profit race into solar geoengineering is bad for science and public trust -David Keith is the professor of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago and Daniele Visioni is an assistant...

This year, we've seen a real-time experiment playing out across the technology industry, one in which AI's software engineering capabilities have been put to the test against human technologists. And although 2025 may have started with AI looking strong, the transition from vibe coding to what's being termed context engineering shows that while the work...

Last week, an American-Israeli company that claims it's developed proprietary technology to cool the planet announced it had raised $60 million, by far the largest known venture capital round to date for a solar geoengineering startup. The company, Stardust, says the funding will enable it to develop a system that could be deployed by the...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. How AGI became the most consequential conspiracy theory of our time -Will Douglas Heaven, senior AI editor Are you feeling it? I hear it's close: two years, five years-maybe next year! And I...

The State of AI is a collaboration between the Financial Times & MIT Technology Review examining the ways in which AI is reshaping global power. Every Monday for the next six weeks, writers from both publications will debate one aspect of the generative AI revolution reshaping global power. In this conversation, the FT's tech columnist...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Here's the latest company planning for gene-edited babies The news: A West Coast biotech entrepreneur says he's secured $30 million to form a public-benefit company to study how to safely create genetically edited...

Demand for copper is surging, as is pollution from its dirty production processes. The founders of one startup, Still Bright, think they have a better, cleaner way to generate the copper the world needs. The company uses water-based reactions, based on battery chemistry technology, to purify copper in a process that could be less polluting...

A West Coast biotech entrepreneur says he's secured $30 million to form a public-benefit company to study how to safely create genetically edited babies, marking the largest known investment into the taboo technology. The new company, called Preventive, is being formed to research so-called heritable genome editing," in which the DNA of embryos would be...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Why do so many people think the Fruit of the Loom logo had a cornucopia? Quick question: Does the Fruit of the Loom logo feature a cornucopia? Many of us have been wearing...

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it's the season of the sniffles. As the weather turns, we're all spending more time indoors. The kids have been back at school for a couple of months. And cold germs are everywhere. My youngest started school this year, and along with artwork and seedlings, she has...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Introducing: the new conspiracy age Everything is a conspiracy theory now. Conspiracists are all over the White House, turning fringe ideas into dangerous policy. America's institutions are crumbling under the weight of deep...

Bill Gates doesn't shy away or pretend modesty when it comes to his stature in the climate world today. Well, who's the biggest funder of climate innovation companies?" he asked a handful of journalists at a media roundtable event last week. If there's someone else, I've never met them." The former Microsoft CEO has spent...

As anyone who has googled their symptoms and convinced themselves that they've got a brain tumor will attest, the internet makes it very easy to self-(mis)diagnose your health problems. And although social media and other digital forums can be a lifeline for some people looking for a diagnosis or community, when that information is wrong,...

It was October 2024, and Hurricane Helene had just devastated the US Southeast. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia found an abstract target on which to pin the blame: Yes they can control the weather," she posted on X. It's ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can't be done." There was no word...

It's become a truism that facts alone don't change people's minds. Perhaps nowhere is this more clear than when it comes to conspiracy theories: Many people believe that you can't talk conspiracists out of their beliefs. But that's not necessarily true. It turns out that many conspiracy believers do respond to evidence and arguments-information that...

On a gloomy Saturday morning this past May, a few months after entire blocks of Altadena, California, were destroyed by wildfires, several dozen survivors met at a local church to vent their built-up frustration, anger, blame, and anguish. As I sat there listening to one horror story after another, I almost felt sorry for the...

There is a shirt currently listed on eBay for $2,128.79. It was not designed by Versace or Dior, nor spun from the world's finest silk. In fact, a tag proudly declares, 100% cotton made in Myanmar"-but it's a second tag, just below that one, that makes this blue button-down so expensive. I looked at it...

MIT Technology Review's How To series helps you get things done. Someone I know became a conspiracy theorist seemingly overnight. It was during the pandemic, and out of nowhere, they suddenly started posting daily on Facebook about the dangers of covid vaccines and masks, warning of an attempt to control us and keep us in...

When a whale dies, it often decomposes quite quickly-the process starts within hours of an animal's stranding on shore. Depending on the species, they may have six inches or more of blubber, an insulating layer that traps heat inside and turns their internal organs to mush. That can make Jennifer Bloodgood's job very difficult. As...

Are you feeling it? I hear it's close: two years, five years-maybe next year! And I hear it's going to change everything: it will cure disease, save the planet, and usher in an age of abundance. It will solve our biggest problems in ways we cannot yet imagine. It will redefine what it means to...

In this exclusive subscirber-only ebook you'll learn how the emissions from individual AI text, image, and video queries seem small-until you add up what the industry isn't tracking and consider where it's heading next. by James O'Donnell and Casey Crownhart May 20, 2025 Table of contents Related Content:

Four years is a lifetime when it comes to artificial intelligence. Since the first edition of this study was published in 2021, AI's capabilities have been advancing at speed, and the advances have not slowed since generative AI's breakthrough. For example, multimodality- the ability to process information not only as text but also as audio,...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. DeepSeek may have found a new way to improve AI's ability to remember The news: An AI model released by Chinese AI company DeepSeek uses new techniques that could significantly improve AI's ability...

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. Just about all businesses these days seem to be pivoting to AI, even when they don't seem to know exactly why they're investing...

An AI model released by the Chinese AI company DeepSeek uses new techniques that could significantly improve AI's ability to remember." Released last week, the optical character recognition (OCR) model works by extracting text from an image and turning it into machine-readable words. This is the same technology that powers scanner apps, translation of text...

Companies are pursuing climate solutions amid shifting U.S. politics and economic uncertainty. Drawing from MIT Technology Review's 10 Climate Tech Companies to Watch list, this session highlights the most promising technologies-from electric trucks to gene-edited crops-and explores the challenges companies face in advancing climate progress today. Speakers:Casey Crownhart, Senior Climate Reporter; James Temple, Senior Climate...

The market is officially three years post ChatGPT and many of the pundit bylines have shifted to using terms like bubble" to suggest reasons behind generative AI not realizing material returns outside a handful of technology suppliers. In September, the MIT NANDA report made waves because the soundbite every author and influencer picked up on...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. We will never build a sex robot," says Mustafa Suleyman Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, is trying to walk a fine line. On the one hand, he thinks that the industry is...

Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, is trying to walk a fine line. On the one hand, he thinks that the industry is taking AI in a dangerous direction by building chatbots that present as human: He worries that people will be tricked into seeing life instead of lifelike behavior. In August, he published a...

A few weeks ago, I set out on what I thought would be a straightforward reporting journey. After years of momentum for AI-even if you didn't think it would be good for the world, you probably thought it was powerful enough to take seriously-hype for the technology had been slightly punctured. First there was the...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. I tried OpenAI's new Atlas browser but I still don't know what it's for -Mat Honan OpenAI rolled out a new web browser last week called Atlas. It comes with ChatGPT built in,...

OpenAI rolled out a new web browser last week called Atlas. It comes with ChatGPT built in, along with an agent, so that you can browse, get direct answers, and have automated tasks performed on your behalf all at the same time. I've spent the past several days tinkering with Atlas. I've used it to...

Right now, MIT alumni and friends are voicing their support for: America's scientific and technological leadership Merit-based admissions and affordable education Advances that increase US health, security, and prosperity Our community is standing up for MIT and its mission to serve the nation and the world. And we need you to join us at this...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. What's next for carbon removal? After years of growth that spawned hundreds of startups, the nascent carbon removal sector appears to be facing a reckoning. Running Tide, a promising aquaculture company, shut down...

How are you feeling? I'm genuinely interested in the well-being of all my treasured Checkup readers, of course. But this week I've also been wondering how science and technology can help answer that question-especially when it comes to pain.In the latest issue of MIT Technology Review magazine, Deena Mousa describes how an AI-powered smartphone app...

MIT Technology Review's What's Next series looks across industries, trends, and technologies to give you a first look at the future. You can read the rest of them here. In the early 2020s, a little-known aquaculture company in Portland, Maine, snagged more than $50 million by pitching a plan to harness nature to fight back...

As organizations weave AI into more of their operations, senior executives are realizing data engineers hold a central role in bringing these initiatives to life. After all, AI only delivers when you have large amounts of reliable and well-managed, high-quality data. Indeed, this report finds that data engineers play a pivotal role in their organizations...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. This startup is about to conduct the biggest real-world test of aluminum as a zero-carbon fuel Found Energy, a startup in Boston, aims to harness the energy in scraps of aluminum metal to...

Rondo Energy just turned on what it says is the world's largest thermal battery, an energy storage system that can take in electricity and provide a consistent source of heat. The company announced last week that its first full-scale system is operational, with 100 megawatt-hours of capacity. The thermal battery is powered by an off-grid...

The crushed-up soda can disappears in a cloud of steam and-though it's not visible-hydrogen gas. I can just keep this reaction going by adding more water," says Peter Godart, squirting some into the steaming beaker. This is room-temperature water, and it's immediately boiling. Doing this on your stove would be slower than this." Godart is...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Introducing: the body issue We're thrilled to share the latest edition of MIT Technology Review magazine, digging into the future of the human body, and how it could change in the years ahead...

Dungeon Crawler Carl, by Matt Dinniman This science fiction book series confronted me with existential questions like Are we alone in the universe?" and Do I actually like LitRPG??" (LitRPG-which stands for literary role-playing game"-is a relatively new genre that merges the conventions of computer RPGs with those of science fiction and fantasy novels.) In...