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.
How kids feel about AI, in their own words
—Jen Swetzoff and Keeley McNamara, the founding editors of Anyway, an independent print magazine for tweens and teens
When we set out to talk to kids about AI, we thought we knew what we’d hear. We expected stories about cheating, inspiring uses, and concerns like deepfakes or job destruction. But what we actually heard from kids aged 10 to 18 had tons of nuance.
Many were so deeply against AI or uninterested in making it part of their lives that they didn’t want to talk about it at all. Others worried about cheating, the environmental impact, or AI’s effect on creativity and critical thinking.
AI doesn’t yet seem to be something a lot of them are focused on—and they aren’t begging for it, the way they do for iPhones and Snapchat. But what surprised us most was how much young people could teach adults about AI.
Meet the kids navigating an AI-filled future—and hear what they think of it.
Scientists just created female clones of male mice
Scientists have deliberately turned male mouse embryos into females for the first time. A team based in Japan used a CRISPR-based approach to remove the Y chromosome from male cells and create female clones of male mice.
The feat could change the way scientists think about reproduction, says Takashi Ishiuchi, a reproductive biologist at the University of Yamanashi, who co-led the work. “There’s a fixed concept in our scientific field that we need both females and males for reproduction,” says Ishiuchi. “I think we could change this concept.”
He also hopes the technique could help rescue endangered species, particularly in cases where only a few individuals remain. Find out how it works—and what it could mean for the future of reproduction and conservation.
—Jessica Hamzelou
What’s behind this summer’s heat, and why 2027 could be worse
This summer has been a scorcher for much of the Northern Hemisphere. June and July marked the hottest two-month stretch in Europe since record-keeping began, the contiguous US endured its hottest month on record in July, and South Korea saw its highest-ever recorded temperature.
Climate change makes heat waves more likely and more intense. But there’s another factor at play: El Niño, which is already ramping up and is expected to have a bigger effect on global temperatures next year.
Here’s what’s behind this summer’s extreme heat—and why 2027 could be even hotter.
—Casey Crownhart
This story is from The Spark, our weekly climate tech newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday.
Inside the “censorship-industrial complex” idea shaping US policy
For years, the idea of a “censorship-industrial complex” that suppressed conservative and populist speech spread in right-wing circles online. But now, the theory has made its way into the Trump administration.
Over the past nine months, MIT Technology Review investigated its origins and traced its rise.
In a virtual Roundtables session today, senior reporter Eileen Guo and executive editor Amy Nordrum will explore what they discovered, where the theory is going, and what it could mean for the future of democracy and the internet.
Register here to join the session at 19:00 GMT / 2:00 pm ET / 11:00 am PT.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Trump has authorized businesses to conduct cyberattacks on criminals
Vetted firms could use cyber tools against foreign criminal groups. (Reuters $)
+ They would operate under the control of the US government. (Bloomberg $)
+ Risks include escalation and inadvertent consequences. (Independent)
2 Chinese censorship is leaking into answers from American AI
ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini can all echo authoritarian propaganda. (WSJ $)
+ Turkey’s new cyber law has stoked fears of a digital police state. (FT $)
+ Censorship conspiracy theories have entered the US policy mainstream. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Twitch is mining people’s streams to train Amazon’s AI
All streamers are opted in to train AI with their content by default. (404 Media)
+ Users can now opt out, but the announcement has sparked uproar. (BBC)
+ AI’s memories are privacy’s next frontier. (MIT Technology Review)
4 Trump has been sued over a service selling faster access to his social posts
The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation filed the suit. (NPR)
+ They call the service “corrupt” and “unconstitutional.” (Ars Technica)
+ And say it violates the right of equal access to official information. (Reuters $)
5 Police officers are using Flock cameras to stalk people
Three Georgia deputies are the latest officers accused of abuse. (NYT $)
+ But the surveillance devices still have some supporters. (Atlantic $)
6 AI reporters are now breaking big news
One just beat human journalists to a story about hacking at OpenAI. (Wired $)
+ The milestone has sparked debate about the future of journalism. (Gizmodo)
7 The web’s newest weapon against AI scrapers is a font
ShieldFont foils scrapers but keeps pages readable to people. (Ars Technica)
8 Live streaming has turned us all into Perez Hilton
It’s made us both the celebrity and the paparazzi. (New Yorker $)
9 A fossil discovery suggests live birth emerged far earlier than thought
It pushes the origin of mammalian live birth back 95 million years. (New Scientist $)
10 Scientific progress may not be slowing after all
New research disputes claims that science is getting less disruptive. (Economist $)
Quote of the day
“Trump is trying to enrich himself by privatizing government information that he has no right to sell. We won’t let it stand.”
—Ben Muessig, editor-in-chief of The Intercept, explains why his media organization is suing President Trump over his fast-access service to Truth Social posts.
One More Thing
Puerto Rico’s power struggles
Carmen Suárez Vázquez lives just minutes from Puerto Rico’s only coal-fired power plant. Black dust coats her windowpanes and the leaves of the blooming vines around her home. She doesn’t know exactly how the coal pollution got inside, but she is certain it ended up in her youngest son, Edgardo, who died of a rare form of cancer.
The plant was supposed to close in 2027. Instead, it will stay open for at least another seven years, while Puerto Rico rolls back clean-energy targets and moves ahead with new gas plants.
Meanwhile, residents are still dealing with frequent blackouts and high electricity prices. And an unelected fiscal control board has veto power over all spending by the island’s elected government, leaving Puerto Ricans with little say over their energy future.
Here’s why Puerto Rico can’t seem to escape its energy crisis.
— Alexander C. Kaufman
We can still have nice things
A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line.)
+ A double amputee has climbed the tallest mountain on every continent.
+ Enjoy a gorgeous coastal wander with Paul Theroux along the newly opened King Charles III England Coast Path.
+ A shrine for plush toys has opened in Kyoto, offering a place where visitors can pray with their favourite stuffed companions.
+ CrankGPT is a fully offline, off-the-grid AI box that makes a compelling argument that intelligent machines don’t need a data center.
