MIT Technology Review

Before OpenAI released GPT-5 last Thursday, CEO Sam Altman said its capabilities made him feel useless relative to the AI." He said working on it carries a weight he imagines the developers of the atom bomb must have felt. As tech giants converge on models that do more or less the same thing, OpenAI's new...

My colleague Grace Huckins has a great story on OpenAI's release of GPT-5, its long-awaited new flagship model. One of the takeaways, however, is that while GPT-5 may make for a better experience than the previous versions, it isn't something revolutionary. GPT-5 is, above all else," Grace concludes, a refined product." This is pretty much...

The propensity for AI systems to make mistakes and for humans to miss those mistakes has been on full display in the US legal system as of late. The follies began when lawyers-including some at prestigious firms-submitted documents citing cases that didn't exist. Similar mistakes soon spread to other roles in the courts. In December,...

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 quantum radar could image buried objects Physicists have created a new type of radar that could help improve underground imaging, using a cloud of atoms in a glass cell to detect reflected...

Physicists have created a new type of radar that could help improve underground imaging, using a cloud of atoms in a glass cell to detect reflected radio waves. The radar is a type of quantum sensor, an emerging technology that uses the quantum-mechanical properties of objects as measurement devices. It's still a prototype, but its...

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. GPT-5 is here. Now what? At long last, OpenAI has released GPT-5. The new system abandons the distinction between OpenAI's flagship models and its o series of reasoning models, automatically routing user queries...

At long last, OpenAI has released GPT-5. The new system abandons the distinction between OpenAI's flagship models and its o series of reasoning models, automatically routing user queries to a fast nonreasoning model or a slower reasoning version. It is now available to everyone through the ChatGPT web interface-though nonpaying users may need to wait...

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. Five ways that AI is learning to improve itself Last week, Mark Zuckerberg declared that Meta aims to achieve smarter-than-human AI. He seems to have a recipe for achieving that goal, and the...

In the spring of 2021, climate scientists were stumped. The global economy was just emerging from the covid-19 lockdowns, but for some reason the levels of methane-a greenhouse gas emitted mainly through agriculture and fossil-fuel production-had soared in the atmosphere the previous year, rising at the fastest rate on record. Researchers around the world set...

Last week, Mark Zuckerberg declared that Meta is aiming to achieve smarter-than-human AI. He seems to have a recipe for achieving that goal, and the first ingredient is human talent: Zuckerberg has reportedly tried to lure top researchers to Meta Superintelligence Labs with nine-figure offers. The second ingredient is AI itself. Zuckerberg recently said 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. OpenAI has finally released open-weight language models The news: OpenAI has finally released its first open-weight large language models since 2019's GPT-2. Unlike the models available through OpenAI's web interface, these new open...

OpenAI has finally released its first open-weight large language models since 2019's GPT-2. These new gpt-oss" models are available in two different sizes and score similarly to the company's o3-mini and o4-mini models on several benchmarks. Unlike the models available through OpenAI's web interface, these new open models can be freely downloaded, run, and even...

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. These protocols will help AI agents navigate our messy lives A growing number of companies are launching AI agents that can do things on your behalf-actions like sending an email, making a document,...

OpenAI has given itself a dual mandate. On the one hand, it's a tech giant rooted in products, including of course ChatGPT, which people around the world reportedly send 2.5 billion requests to each day. But its original mission is to serve as a research lab that will not only create artificial general intelligence" but...

A growing number of companies are launching AI agents that can do things on your behalf-actions like sending an email, making a document, or editing a database. Initial reviews for these agents have been mixed at best, though, because they struggle to interact with all the different components of our digital lives. Part of 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. Forcing LLMs to be evil during training can make them nicer in the long run Large language models have recently acquired a reputation for behaving badly. In April, ChatGPT suddenly became an aggressive...

A new study from Anthropic suggests that traits such as sycophancy or evilness are associated with specific patterns of activity in large language models-and turning on those patterns during training can, paradoxically, prevent the model from adopting the related traits. Large language models have recently acquired a reputation for behaving badly. In April, ChatGPT suddenly...

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 decades-old frozen embryos are changing the shape of families This week we welcomed a record-breaking baby to the world. Thaddeus Daniel Pierce, who arrived over the weekend, developed from an embryo that...

This week we welcomed a record-breaking baby to the world. Thaddeus Daniel Pierce, who arrived over the weekend, developed from an embryo that was frozen in storage for 30 and a half years. You could call him the world's oldest baby. His parents, Lindsey and Tim Pierce, were themselves only young children when that embryo...

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 two people shaping the future of OpenAI's research -Will Douglas Heaven For the past couple of years, OpenAI has felt like a one-man brand. With his showbiz style and fundraising glitz, CEO...

For 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. Even his bungled ouster ended with him back on top-and more famous than ever. But look past the charismatic frontman and you get...

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. The Trump administration recently declared war on so-called woke AI," issuing an executive order aimed at preventing companies whose models exhibit a liberal...

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. The mechanism that allows the US federal government to regulate climate change is on the chopping block. On Tuesday, US Environmental Protection Agency administrator...

Amsterdam tried using algorithms to fairly assess welfare applicants, but bias still crept in. Why did Amsterdam fail? And more important,can this ever be done right? Hear from MIT Technology Review editor Amanda Silverman, investigative reporter Eileen Guo, and Lighthouse Reports investigative reporter Gabriel Geiger as they explore if algorithms can ever be fair. Speakers:...

A baby boy born over the weekend holds the new record for the oldest baby." Thaddeus Daniel Pierce, who arrived on July 26, developed from an embryo that had been in storage for 30 and a half years. We had a rough birth but we are both doing well now," says Lindsey Pierce, his mother.He...

OpenAI is launching Study Mode, a version of ChatGPT for college students that it promises will act less like a lookup tool and more like a friendly, always-available tutor. It's part of a wider push by the company to get AI more embedded into classrooms when the new academic year starts in September. A demonstration...

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 wants to use the Earth as a massive battery Texas-based startup Quidnet Energy just completed a test showing it can store energy for up to six months by pumping water underground....

A number of the executive orders and announcements coming from the White House since Donald Trump returned to office have painted an ambitious vision for America's AI future-crushing competition with China, abolishing woke" AI models that suppress conservative speech, jump-starting power-hungry AI data centers. But the details have been sparse. The White House's AI Action...

The Texas-based startup Quidnet Energy just completed a test showing it can store energy for up to six months by pumping water underground. Using water to store electricity is hardly a new concept-pumped hydropower storage has been around for over a century. But the company hopes its twist on the technology could help bring cheap,...

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. Chinese universities want students to use more AI, not less Just two years ago, students in China were told to avoid using AI for their assignments. At the time, to get around a...

Just two years ago, Lorraine He, now a 24-year-old law student, was told to avoid using AI for her assignments. At the time, to get around a national block on ChatGPT, students had to buy a mirror-site version from a secondhand marketplace. Its use was common, but it was at best tolerated and more often...

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 nonprofits and academia are stepping up to salvage US climate programs Nonprofits are trying to preserve a US effort to modernize greenhouse-gas measurements, amid growing fears that the Trump administration's dismantling of...

It has been a grim few months for the Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) community. There had been some excitement when, a couple of years ago, a gene therapy for the disorder was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the first time. That drug, Elevidys, has now been implicated in the deaths of...

Nonprofits are striving to preserve a US effort to modernize greenhouse-gas measurements, amid growing fears that the Trump administration's dismantling of federal programs will obscure the nation's contributions to climate change. The Data Foundation, a Washington, DC, nonprofit that advocates for open data, is fundraising for an initiative that will coordinate efforts among nonprofits, technical...

On Wednesday, President Trump issued three executive orders, delivered a speech, and released an action plan, all on the topic of continuing American leadership in AI. The plan contains dozens of proposed actions, grouped into three pillars": accelerating innovation, building infrastructure, and leading international diplomacy and security. Some of its recommendations are thoughtful even if...

Most Americans encounter the Federal Trade Commission only if they've been scammed: It handles identity theft, fraud, and stolen data. During the Biden administration, the agency went after AI companies for scamming customers with deceptive advertising or harming people by selling irresponsible technologies. With yesterday's announcement of President Trump's AI Action Plan, that era may...

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 role should oil and gas companies play in climate tech? -Casey Crownhart After writing about Quaise, a geothermal startup that's trying to commercialize new drilling technology, I've been thinking about the role...

This week, I have a new story out about Quaise, a geothermal startup that's trying to commercialize new drilling technology. Using a device called a gyrotron, the company wants to drill deeper, cheaper, in an effort to unlock geothermal power anywhere on the planet. (For all the details, check it out here.) For the story,...

Google DeepMind has unveiled new artificial-intelligence software that could help historians recover the meaning and context behind ancient Latin engravings. Aeneas can analyze words written in long-weathered stone to say when and where they were originally inscribed. It follows Google's previous archaeological tool Ithaca, which also used deep learning to reconstruct and contextualize ancient text,...

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. Navigating the rise of AI agents AI agents is a buzzy term that essentially refers to AI models and algorithms that can not only provide you with information, but take actions on your...

What if we could permanently remove the toxic forever chemicals" contaminating our water? That's the driving force behind Michigan-based startup Enspired Solutions, founded by environmental toxicologist Denise Kay and chemical engineer Meng Wang. The duo left corporate consulting in the rearview mirror to take on one of the most pervasive environmental challenges: PFAS. PFAS 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. This startup wants to use beams of energy to drill geothermal wells Geothermal startup Quaise certainly has an unconventional approach when it comes to destroying rocks: it uses a new form of drilling...

A beam of energy hit the slab of rock, which quickly began to glow. Pieces cracked off, sparks ricocheted, and dust whirled around under a blast of air. From inside a modified trailer, I peeked through the window as a millimeter-wave drilling rig attached to an unassuming box truck melted a hole into a piece...

Last month I gave a talk at SXSW London called Five things you need to know about AI"-my personal picks for the five most important ideas in AI right now. I aimed the talk at a general audience, and it serves as a quick tour of how I'm thinking about AI in 2025. I'm sharing...

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. A major AI training data set contains millions of examples of personal data Millions of images of passports, credit cards, birth certificates, and other documents containing personally identifiable information are likely included in...

AI companies have now mostly abandoned the once-standard practice of including medical disclaimers and warnings in response to health questions, new research has found. In fact, many leading AI models will now not only answer health questions but even ask follow-ups and attempt a diagnosis. Such disclaimers serve an important reminder to people asking AI...

Millions of images of passports, credit cards, birth certificates, and other documents containing personally identifiable information are likely included in one of the biggest open-source AI training sets, new research has found. Thousands of images-including identifiable faces-were found in a small subset of DataComp CommonPool, a major AI training set for image generation scraped from...

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 to run an LLM on your laptop In the early days of large language models, there was a high barrier to entry: it used to be impossible to run anything useful on...

This week we heard that eight babies have been born in the UK following an experimental form of IVF that involves DNA from three people. The approach was used to prevent women with genetic mutations from passing mitochondrial diseases to their children. You can read all about the results, and the reception to them, here....