A man with Parkinson’s regained the ability to walk thanks to a spinal implant
A man with Parkinson’s disease has regained the ability to walk after physicians implanted a small device into his spinal cord that sends signals to his legs. “I can now walk with much more confidence and my daily life has profoundly improved,” said the patient, a 62-year-old named Marc, during a press conference. Marc is…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/11/06/1082993/parkinsons-spinal-implant/
The Download: military personnel data for sale, and AI watermarking
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 shockingly easy to buy sensitive data about US military personnel For as little as $0.12 per record, data brokers in the US are selling sensitive private data about both active-duty military members…
It’s shockingly easy to buy sensitive data about US military personnel
For as little as $0.12 per record, data brokers in the US are selling sensitive private data about active-duty military members and veterans, including their names, home addresses, geolocation, net worth, and religion, and information about their children and health conditions. In a unsettling study published on Monday, researchers from Duke University approached 12 data…
The inside scoop on watermarking and content authentication
This article is from The Technocrat, MIT Technology Review’s weekly tech policy newsletter about power, politics, and Silicon Valley. To receive it in your inbox every Friday, sign up here. On October 30, President Biden released his executive order on AI, a major move that I bet you’ve heard about by now. If you want…
The Download: NASA’s tiny spacecraft, and the RSV vaccine shortage
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. Inside NASA’s bid to make spacecraft as small as possible Since the 1970s, we’ve sent a lot of big things to Mars. But when NASA successfully sent twin Mars Cube One spacecraft, the…
RSV is on the rise but preventative drugs are in short supply
This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. Ahhh, fall. The leaves are changing. The air is crisp. And according to the CDC, RSV is on the rise. This year we were supposed to…
AI gains momentum in core manufacturing services functions
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When considering the potential for AI systems to change manufacturing, Ritu Jyoti, global AI research lead at market-intelligence firm IDC, points to windmill manufacturers. To improve windmills before AI, she says, the company analyzed data from observing a functioning prototype, a process that took weeks. Now, the manufacturer has dramatically shortened the process using a…
The Download: cybercriminals’ Pacific paradise, and the carbon offset crash
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 a tiny Pacific Island became the global capital of cybercrime Tokelau, a string of three isolated atolls strung out across the Pacific, is so remote that it was the last place on…
The growing signs of trouble for global carbon markets
This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. There are growing signs of trouble for the multibillion-dollar global carbon market, as investigative stories and studies continue to erode the credibility of the business world’s go-to tool for cleaning up climate…
How a tiny Pacific Island became the global capital of cybercrime
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Tokelau, a necklace of three isolated atolls strung out across the Pacific, is so remote that it was the last place on Earth to be connected to the telephone—only in 1997. Just three years later, the islands received a fax with an unlikely business proposal that would change everything. It was from an early internet…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/11/02/1082798/tiny-pacific-island-global-capital-cybercrime/
Humans at the heart of generative AI
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It’s a stormy holiday weekend, and you’ve just received the last notification you want in the busiest travel week of the year: the first leg of your flight is significantly delayed. You might expect this means you’ll be sitting on hold with airline customer service for half an hour. But this time, the process looks…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/11/01/1080463/humans-at-the-heart-of-generative-ai/
The Download: tech’s hardest problems, and cancer-fighting cell therapies
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 are the hardest problems in tech we should be more focused on as a society? Technology is all about solving big thorny problems, yet one of the hardest things is knowing where…
Tackling our biggest problems
For all of history we’ve turned to technology, again and again, to help us solve our hardest problems. Technology gave us warmth and light when it was cold and dark. It helped us pull fish from the sea and crops from the earth so we would not be hungry. It enabled us to cross over…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/11/01/1081585/tackling-our-biggest-problems/
The Download: Biden’s executive order, and calling out AI harms
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 to know about the White House’s executive order on AI The US has set out its most sweeping set of AI rules and guidelines yet in an executive order issued by…
People shouldn’t pay such a high price for calling out AI harms
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. This week everyone is talking about AI. The White House just unveiled a new executive order that aims to promote safe, secure, and trustworthy AI systems. It’s the most far-reaching bit…
Three things to know about the White House’s executive order on AI
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. The US has set out its most sweeping set of AI rules and guidelines yet in an executive order issued by President Joe Biden today. The order…
Unlocking supply chain resiliency
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Tracking a Big Mac hamburger’s journey from ranch to fast-food restaurant isn’t easy. Today’s highly segmented beef supply chain consists of a wide array of ranches, feedlots, packers, processors, distribution centers, and restaurants, each with its own set of carefully collected data. Yet in today’s complex digital world, organizations need more visibility than ever to…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/10/30/1082627/unlocking-supply-chain-resiliency/
The Download: Joy Buolamwini on AI, and Meta’s beauty filter lawsuit
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. Joy Buolamwini: “We’re giving AI companies a free pass” AI researcher and activist Joy Buolamwini is best known for a pioneering paper she co-wrote with Timnit Gebru in 2017 which exposed how commercial…
Why Meta is getting sued over its beauty filters
This article is from The Technocrat, MIT Technology Review’s weekly tech policy newsletter about power, politics, and Silicon Valley. To receive it in your inbox every Friday, sign up here. Dozens of states sued Meta on October 24, claiming that the company knowingly harms young users. The case is a pretty big deal and will almost certainly have…
Joy Buolamwini: “We’re giving AI companies a free pass”
Joy Buolamwini, the renowned AI researcher and activist, appears on the Zoom screen from home in Boston, wearing her signature thick-rimmed glasses. As an MIT grad, she seems genuinely interested in seeing old covers of MIT Technology Review that hang in our London office. An edition of the magazine from 1961 asks: “Will your son…