That is in the present day’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a each day dose of what’s happening on the planet of expertise.
OpenAI’s new protection contract completes its army pivot
At the beginning of 2024, OpenAI’s guidelines for a way armed forces may use its AI fashions have been unambiguous: it prohibited anybody from utilizing them for “weapons growth” or “army and warfare”.
It has slowly softened these restrictions over the course of this yr, and now, OpenAI has introduced that its expertise shall be deployed instantly on the battlefield.
The corporate is partnering with the defense-tech firm Anduril, a maker of AI-powered drones, radar programs, and missiles, to assist US and allied forces defend towards drone assaults. Learn our story to grasp how, and why, this pivot unfolded.
—James O’Donnell
Would you eat dried microbes? This firm hopes so.
What’s new: An organization finest recognized for sucking up industrial waste gases is popping its consideration to meals. LanzaTech, a rising star within the gas and chemical industries, is becoming a member of a rising group of companies producing microbe-based meals as a substitute for plant and animal merchandise.
Why it issues: The worldwide meals system is chargeable for roughly 25% to 35% of all human-caused greenhouse fuel emissions in the present day, and far of that comes from animal agriculture. Different meals sources might assist feed the world whereas slicing local weather air pollution. Learn the complete story.
—Casey Crownhart
To learn extra in regards to the potential optimistic results of various meat on the local weather, try the most recent version of The Spark, our weekly local weather and vitality e-newsletter. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday.
Google DeepMind’s new AI mannequin is the perfect but at climate forecasting
Google DeepMind has unveiled an AI mannequin that’s higher at predicting the climate than the present finest programs.
The brand new mannequin, dubbed GenCast, is the second AI climate mannequin that Google has launched in simply the previous few months. In July, it revealed particulars of NeuralGCM, a mannequin that mixed AI with physics-based strategies like these utilized in present forecasting instruments. That mannequin carried out equally to traditional strategies however used much less computing energy.
GenCast is totally different, because it depends on AI strategies alone. It really works form of like ChatGPT, however as an alternative of predicting the subsequent probably phrase in a sentence, it produces the subsequent probably climate situation. However whereas its outcomes are spectacular, that doesn’t imply the top of typical meteorology as a discipline. Learn the complete story.
—Scott J Mulligan
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you in the present day’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 Donald Trump has appointed a billionaire astronaut to move up NASA
Jarad Isaacman has been into house twice, and was the primary personal citizen to hold out a spacewalk. (CBS Information)
+ Unsurprisingly, he’s additionally a detailed affiliate of Elon Musk. (Quick Firm $)
+ Will the appointment make Musk extra amenable to NASA? (Economist $)
2 The value of a single bitcoin has handed $100,000
It’s a outstanding milestone for the famously risky cryptocurrency. (NYT $)
+ The business’s devoted hope Donald Trump will go crypto-friendly legal guidelines. (The Guardian)
+ Congrats, buyers. What comes subsequent, although? (FT $)
3 Humane isn’t giving up on its AI pin
Regardless of few gross sales, it needs to embed the system in your cellphone and automotive. (The Verge)+ The pin made a particular look in our inaugural AI Hype Index. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
4 Amazon deliveries are slower to reach in low-income zip codes
Regardless of the DC residents paying for a similar Prime program as their richer neighbors. (WP $)
+ A lawsuit claims Amazon coated up the actual cause for the delays. (Ars Technica)
5 Legislation enforcement has busted two main crypto laundering networks
Criminals swapped enormous sums of money for crypto throughout crime networks. (Wired $)
+ Over in Dubai, crypto scams are working rampant. (Bloomberg $)
6 The place all of it went incorrect for the world’s largest offshore wind firm
Ørsted was using excessive on the clear vitality wave—till it wasn’t. (FT $)
+ The UK is failing spectacularly to harness wind energy correctly. (Bloomberg $)
+ What’s subsequent for offshore wind. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
7 OnlyFans has quietly launched in China
Though pornography stays unlawful within the nation. (CNN)
+ Chinese language avid gamers are utilizing a Steam wallpaper app to get porn previous the censors. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
8 We’re getting near fixing a significant thriller of the universe
Its largest galaxies might have been fashioned by ‘cosmic collisions.’ (The Guardian)
+ The galaxy which used to appear to be a sombrero…doesn’t any extra. (CNN)
9 This winged drone can hop and leap
Making it look a complete lot like a robotic fowl. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ What’s subsequent for drones. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
10 Why X had a meltdown over a girl’s PhD thesis
Go exterior and contact some grass, all of you. (Vox)
Quote of the day
“We by no means doubted. We by no means wavered. And we are going to by no means cease constructing.”
—Kris Marszalek, chief govt of change Crypto.com, celebrates bitcoin’s colossal surge to a $100,000 valuation for a single coin in a publish on X.
The massive story
What the longer term holds for these born in the present day
August 2024
Blissful birthday, child.
You’ve gotten been born into an period of clever machines. They’ve watched over you nearly since your conception. They let your dad and mom eavesdrop on your tiny heartbeat, observe your gestation on an app, and publish your sonogram on social media. Nicely earlier than you have been born, you have been recognized to the algorithm.
Your arrival coincided with the a hundred and twenty fifth anniversary of this journal. Confidently and the suitable genes, you may see the subsequent 125 years. How will you and the subsequent technology of machines develop up collectively? We requested greater than a dozen specialists to think about your future. Learn what they prophesied.
—Kara Platoni
We are able to nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Acquired any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ If you need the perfect pizza the world has to supply, you need to head to Jersey Metropolis (apparently)
+ Considering of gifting one thing that’s been beforehand owned this Christmas? Be sure you conduct these important checks.
+ What science can inform us about the best way to fight bullying.
+ Uhoh—honey fraud is on the rise! 
