The Download: AstroTurf wars and exponential AI growth

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.

Isfakegrassabadidea?TheAstroTurfwarsarefarfromover.

In 2001,Americans installed just over 7 million square meters of synthetic turf. By 2024, that number was 79 million square meters-enough to carpet all of Manhattan and then some. The increase worries folks who study microplastics and environmental pollution.

While the plastic-making industry insists that synthetic fields are safe if properly installed, lots of researchers think that isn't so. Find out why AstroTurf has ignited heated debates.

-DouglasMain

Thisstoryisfromthenextissueofourprintmagazine,packedwithstoriesallaboutnature.Subscribe nowtoreadthefullthingwhenitlandsonWednesday, April 22.

Mustafa Suleyman: AI development won't hit a development wall anytime soon-here's why

-MustafaSuleyman, Microsoft AI CEO andGoogleDeepMind co-founder

TheskepticskeeppredictingthatAI computewillsoonhit awall-andkeepgettingprovenwrong.Tounderstandwhythatis,youneedtolookattheforcesdrivingtheAIexplosion.

Threeadvancesareenablingexponentialprogress:fasterbasiccalculators,high-bandwidthmemory, andtechnologiesthatturndisparateGPUsintoenormoussupercomputers.Wheredoesallthisgetus?Read the full op-ed on the future of AI development to learn more.

Desalinationtechnology,bythenumbers

-CaseyCrownhart

When I started digging into desalination technology for a new story, I couldn't help but obsess over the numbers.

I knewon some level that desalination-pulling salt out of seawater to produce fresh water-was an increasingly important technology, especially in water-stressed regions including the Middle East. But just how much some countries rely on desalination, and how big a business it is, still surprised me.

Here are the extraordinary numbers behind the crucial water source.

ThisstoryisfromTheSpark,ourweeklynewsletteronthetechthatcouldcombattheclimatecrisis.Sign uptoreceiveitinyourinboxeveryWednesday.

Themust-reads

I'vecombedtheinternettofindyoutoday'smostfun/important/scary/fascinatingstoriesabouttechnology.

1 Meta has launched the first AI model from its Superintelligence Labs
MuseSparkisthecompany'sfirstmodelin ayear. (Reuters$)
+TheclosedmodelbringsreasoningcapabilitiestotheMeta AIapp.(Engadget)
+It'sbuiltbyMeta'sSuperintelligenceLabs,theunitledbyAlexandr Wang.(TechCrunch)

2AnthropichaslostabidtopausethePentagon'sblacklisting
An appealscourtin Washington, DCdeniedtherequest. (CNBC)
+ A Californiajudgehadtemporarilyblockedtheblacklistingin March. (NPR)
+ThemixedrulingsleaveAnthropicin a legal limbo.(Wired $)
+ And opendoorsforsmallerAIrivals.(Reuters$)

3 NewevidencesuggestsAdam BackinventedBitcoin
The Britishcryptographermaybethereal Satoshi Nakamoto. (NYT$)
+ Backdeniestheclaims.(BBC)
+There'sadarksidetocrypto'spermissionlessdream. (MIT Technology Review)

4GenZiscoolingonAI
Thesharefeelingangryaboutithasrisenfrom22%to31% in ayear. (Axios)
+ Anti-AIprotestsarealsogrowing.(MIT Technology Review)

5WarintheGulfcouldtiltthecloudracetowardChina
Huaweiispitchingmulti-cloud"resiliencetoGulfclients. (Rest of World)

6 Meta haskilledaleaderboardofitsAI tokenusers
Itshowedthetop 250users. (The Information$)
+ Metablameddataleaksfortheshutdown.(Fortune)
+Itencouragedtokenmaxxing," agrowingphenomenonin BigTech.(NYT$)

7DidArtemis IIreallytellusanythingnewaboutspace?
Orwasitprimarilya PRexercise? (Ars Technica)

8IsraeliattackshavebrutallyexposedLebanon'sdigitalinfrastructure
It'smanagingamoderncrisiswithoutmoderntechnology. (Wired$)

9 AImodelscouldoffermathematiciansacommonlanguage
Theyhopeitwillsimplifytheprocessofverifyingproofs. (Economist)

10Aself-doxing' raveishelpingtranspeoplestaysafeonline
It'samonga seriesofdigitalself-defenses. (404 Media)

Quoteoftheday

IfeellikeanythingthatI'minterestedin hasthepotentialofmaybegettingreplaced,eveninthenextfewyears."

-SydneyGill, afreshmanat RiceUniversity,tellstheNew York Timeswhyshe'ssouredonAI.

OneMoreThing

A view inside ATLAS,
one of two general-purpose detectors at the Large Hadron Collider.MAXIMILIEN BRICE/CERNInsidethehuntfornewphysicsattheworld'slargestparticlecollider

In 2012, data from CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) unearthed a particle called the Higgs boson. The discovery answered a nagging question: where do fundamental particles, such as the ones that make up all the protons and neutrons in our bodies, get their mass?

But now particle physicists have reached an impasse in their quest to discover, produce, and study new particles at colliders. Find out what they're trying to do about it.

-DanGaristo

Wecanstillhavenicethings

A placeforcomfort,funanddistractiontobrightenupyourday. (Gotanyideas?Drop me a line.)

+Enjoythistaleofthejoke"soundthataccidentallydefined 90s rave culture.
+Take a nostalgic tripthroughthewebsitesoftheearly00s.
+Oneforanimallovers:sperm whaleshaveteameduptosupportanewborn.
+Here'salongoverdueanswertoa vitalquestion: can the world's largest mousetrapcatch a limousine?