MIT Technology Review

Financial services companies have unique needs when it comes to business AI. They operate in one of the most highly regulated sectors while responding to external events that are updated by the second. As a result, the success of agentic AI in financial services depends less on the sophistication of the system and more on...

When generative AI first moved from research labs into real-world business applications, enterprises made a tacit bargain: Capability now, control later." Feed your proprietary data into third-party AI models, and you will get powerful results. But your data passes through systems you do not own, under governance you do not set. The protections you rely...

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. The shock of seeing your body used in deepfake porn When Jennifer got a research job in 2023, she ran her new professional headshot through a facial recognition program. She wanted...

The Tesla Semi has officially arrived. The company recently released a photo of the first vehicle rolling off its new full-scale production line. This moment has been nearly a decade in the making: The company first announced the Tesla Semi in late 2017. And now we've got final battery specs, official prices, and big news...

When Jennifer got a job doing research for a nonprofit in 2023, she ran her new professional headshot through a facial recognition program. She wanted to see if the tech would pull up the porn videos she'd made more than 10 years before, when she was in her early 20s. It did in fact return...

A Redditor recently wrote that he was desperate for help": for about a month, he said, his phone had been inundated by calls from strangers" who were looking for a lawyer, a product designer, a locksmith." Callers were apparently misdirected by Google's generative AI. In March, a software developer in Israel was contacted on WhatsApp...

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. A plan to make drugs in orbit is going commercial A startup called Varda Space Industries is betting that the future of pharmaceuticals lies in orbit. The company has signed a...

Varda Space Industries, a startup that's been pitching its ability to perform drug experiments in space, says it has signed up the pharmaceutical company United Therapeutics in what may be remembered as a notable step toward in-orbit manufacturing. The idea of building things in outer space for use on Earth has so far been explored...

World models recently made our list of10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now. Watch executive editor Niall Firth explain why this emerging area of AI is gaining so much attention. Join MIT Technology Review editors and reportersfor a subscriber-only Roundtables discussion, Can AI Learn to Understand the World?" exploring how AI may evolve to...

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. Three things in AI to watch, according to a Nobel-winning economist A few months before he won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2024, Daron Acemoglu published a paper that earned...

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first,sign up here. A few months before he was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics in 2024, Daron Acemoglu published a paper that earned him few fans in Silicon Valley. Contrary to what Big Tech...

Despite years of digitization, organizations capture less than one-third of the value expected from digital investments, according to McKinsey research. That's because most big companies begin with technological capabilities and bolt applications onto them, rather than starting with customer needs and working backward to technology solutions. Not prioritizing the customer can create fragmented solutions; disjointed...

The changes may be less perceptible than in smartphones, tablets, or wearables, but chargers have also been quietly reinvented over the last decade. At one time a bulky mix of tangled cables and connectors, slow to perform and prone to overheating, they're now smaller, safer, and faster, thanks to a slew of technological advances. These...

In finance departments that have long been defined by precision and control, AI has arrived less as a neatly managed upgrade than as a quiet insurgency. Employees are already using it while leadership races to impose structure, governance, and strategy after the fact. The result is a paradox: one of the most tightly regulated functions...

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. Here's what you need to know about the cruise ship hantavirus outbreak Last week, eight passengers aboard a Dutch-flagged cruise ship contracted a type of hantavirus transmitted by rats. Three have...

In the second week of the landmark trial between Elon Musk and OpenAI, Musk's motivations for bringing the suit were under scrutiny. Last week, Musk took the stand, alleging that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman had deceived him into donating $38 million to the company. He claimed that they'd promised to maintain...

MIT Technology Review Explains: Let our writers untangle the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand what's coming next.You can read more from the series here. Eight passengers aboard a Dutch-flagged cruise ship have contracted a type of hantavirus, a rare virus transmitted by rats. Three of them have died. As the ship...

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. We've entered the era of AI malaise AI is spreading everywhere, and it is not going away. But what will it do? What effect will it have on our society? Will...

Technology is changing the way we make babies. The pioneering work of the scientists who invented IVF led to the birth of the first test tube baby" in 1978. We've come a long, long way since then. This week, I've been working on a piece about the cutting edge of IVF technologies and what's coming...

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. What's next for IVF IVF has brought millions of babies into the world over the last four decades. But the process can still be slow, painful, and expensive-and far from guaranteed...

Dozens of US states are considering legislation to allow people to install plug-in solar systems, often called balcony solar. These small arrays require little to no setup and could help cut emissions and power bills. Balcony solar is already popular in Europe, and proponents say that the systems could make solar power more accessible for...

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 themhere. Forty-eight years ago this July, Louise Joy Brown became the world's first person born with the help of in vitro fertilization. Millions more IVF babies have entered...

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. Inexpensive seafloor-hopping submersibles could stoke deep-sea science-and mining Last week, two oblong neon submersibles started to descend nearly 6,000 meters into the Pacific Ocean. Throughout the rest of May, they will...

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. Week one of the Musk v. Altman trial: what it was like in the room Two of the most powerful figures in AI-Sam Altman and Elon Musk-are in the middle of...

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first,sign up here. Two of the most powerful people in AI-Sam Altman and Elon Musk-began their face-off in court in Oakland, California, last week. Musk is suing OpenAI, alleging that the millions he spent to...

In the first week of the landmark trial between Elon Musk and OpenAI, Musk took the stand in a crisp black suit and tie and argued that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman had deceived him into bankrolling the company. Along the way, he warnedthat AI could destroy us all and sat through...

Cybersecurity was already under strain before AI entered the stack. Now, as AI expands the attack surface and adds new complexity, the limits of legacy approaches are becoming harder to ignore. This session from MIT Technology Review's EmTech AI conference explores why security must be rethought with AI at its core, not layered on after...

Companies are taking control of their own data to tailor AI for their needs. The challenge lies in balancing ownership with the safe, trusted flow of highquality data needed to power reliable insights. This conversation from MIT Technology Review's EmTech AI conference examines how AI factories unlock new levels of scale, sustainability, and governance-positioning data...

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. A new US phone network for Christians aims to block porn and gender-related content A new US-wide cell phone network marketed to Christians is set to launch next week. It blocks...

Smack dab between Australia and South America, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) research vessel Rainier is currently on a mission to map more than 8,000 square nautical miles of the Pacific seafloor in search of critical mineral deposits. But it isn't doing it alone; for a month starting this week, it will...

This past week delivered another gut punch for science in the US. This time, the target was the National Science Foundation-a federal agency that funds major research projects to the tune of around $9 billion. The foundation's efforts were overseen by a board of 22 prominent scientists. On Friday last week, they were all fired....

A new US-wide cell phone network marketed to Christians is set to launch next week. It blocks porn, which experts in network security say marks the first time a US cell plan has used network-level blocking for such content that can't be turned off even by adult account owners. It's also rolling out a filter...

The ultimate plan to live forever is a brand new body. This subscriber-only eBook explores R3 Bio, a small startup that has pitched a startling and ethically charged vision for brainless clones" to serve the role of backup human bodies. byAntonio Regalado March 30, 2026 Related Stories: Access all subscriber-only eBooks:

The San Francisco-based startup Goodfire just released a new tool, called Silico, that lets researchers and engineers peer inside an AI model and adjust its parameters-the settings that determine a model's behavior-during training. This could give model makers more fine-grained control over how this technology is built than was once thought possible. Goodfire claims Silico...

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. Digging for clues about the North Pole's past In the past, getting to the North Pole involved a treacherous trip through ice many meters thick. But last year, a research vessel...

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. It's time to make a plan for nuclear waste Today, nuclear energy enjoys rare support across the political spectrum. Public approval has spiked, and Big Tech is throwing money around to...

Today, nuclear energy enjoys a rare moment of support across the political spectrum in the US. Interest from tech companies that are scrambling to meet demand for massive data centers has sparked a resurgence of money and attention in the industry. That newfound interest is exactly why it's time to talk about an old problem:...

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. Elon Musk and Sam Altman are going to court over OpenAI's future Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman head to trial this week in a case with sweeping consequences. Ahead...

After a yearslong legal feud, Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are heading to trial this week in Northern California in a case that could have sweeping consequences. Ahead of OpenAI's highly anticipated IPO, the court could rule on whether the company is allowed to exist as a for-profit enterprise and might even oust...

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first,sign up here. In February, I picked up a flyer at an anti-AI march in London. I can't say for sure whether or not its writers meant to riff on South Park's underpants gnomes. But...

Artificial intelligence may be dominating boardroom agendas, but many enterprises are discovering that the biggest obstacle to meaningful adoption is the state of their data. While consumer-facing AI tools have dazzled users with speed and ease, enterprise leaders are discovering that deploying AI at scale requires something far less glamorous but far more consequential: data...

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. Three reasons why DeepSeek's new model matters On Friday, Chinese AI firm DeepSeek released a preview of V4, its long-awaited new flagship model. Notably, the model can process much longer prompts...

On April 24, Chinese AI firm DeepSeek released a preview of V4, its long-awaited new flagship model. The model can process much longer prompts than its last generation, thanks to a new design that helps it handle large amounts of text more efficiently. Like DeepSeek's previous models, V4 is open source, meaning it is available...

I don't need to tell you thatAI is everywhere. Or that it is being used, increasingly, in hospitals. Doctors are using AI to help them with note-taking. AI-based tools are trawling through patient records, flagging people who may require certain support or treatments. They are also used to interpret medical exam results and x-rays. A...

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. Introducing: the Nature issue When we talk about nature," we usually mean something untouched by humans. But little of that world exists today. From microplastics in rainforest wildlife to artificial light...

Fusion power could provide a steady, zero-emissions source of electricity in the future-if companies can get plants built and running. But a new study suggests that even if that future arrives, it might not come cheap. Technologies tend to get less expensive over time. Lithium-ion batteries are now about 90% cheaper than they were in...

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. Introducing: 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now What actually matters in AI right now? It's getting harder to tell amid the constant launches, hype, and warnings. To cut through...

Artificial intelligence is moving quickly in the enterprise, from experimentation to everyday use. Organizations are deploying copilots, agents, and predictive systems across finance, supply chains, human resources, and customer operations. By the end of 2025, half of companies used AI in at least three business functions, according to a recent survey. But as AI becomes...

Isegye Idol If you thought K-pop was weird, virtual idols-humans who perform as anime-style digital characters via motion capture-will blow your mind. My favorite is a girl group called Isegye Idol, created by Woowakgood, a Korean VTuber (a streamer who likewise performs as a digital persona). Isegye Idol's six members are anonymous, which seems to...

When people talk about nature," they're generally talking about things that aren't made by human beings. Rocks. Reefs. Red wolves. But while there is plenty of God's creation to go around, it is hard to think of anything on Earth that human hands haven't affected. In the Brazilian rainforest, scientists have found microplastics in the...