This is in the present day’s version of The Download, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a day by day dose of what is going on on on the earth of expertise.
Face recognition within the US is about to satisfy certainly one of its greatest exams
Just 4 years in the past, the motion to ban police departments from utilizing face recognition within the US was driving excessive. By the top of 2020, round 18 cities had enacted restrictive legal guidelines, and lawmakers proposed a pause on the federal authorities’s use of it.
In the years since, that effort has slowed to a halt. Some native bans have even been partially repealed, and in the present day, few severely consider {that a} federal ban may go within the foreseeable future. Right now within the US, facial recognition laws are trapped in political gridlock.
However, in Massachusetts there’s hope for individuals who wish to limit police entry to face recognition, because of a bipartisan state invoice being thrashed out by its lawmakers which might do precisely that.
Loads rides on whether or not this legislation will get handed. It may usher in a brand new age of compromise, and may set the usual for the way face recognition is regulated elsewhere. On the opposite hand, if a vote is delayed or fails, it could be one more signal that the motion is waning. Read the total story.
—Tate Ryan-Mosley
Want to know the place batteries are going? Look at their ingredients.
Batteries are going to be a key a part of how we sort out local weather change. They’ll rework transportation and may be essential for storing renewables like wind or solar energy for instances when these assets aren’t accessible.
So in a method, they’re a central expertise for the 2 sectors chargeable for the largest share of emissions: power and transportation.
The International Energy Agency has simply launched a brand new report on the state of vital minerals in power, which has some fascinating battery-related tidbits. If you wish to perceive what’s subsequent for batteries, it is advisable take a look at what’s taking place proper now of their supplies. Read the total story.
—Casey Crownhart
Casey’s story is from The Spark, her weekly local weather e-newsletter. Sign up to obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you in the present day’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 Apple is plotting its personal reply to ChatGPT
It’s a part of Tim Cook’s plans to embrace AI on a “very thoughtful basis.” (Bloomberg $)
+ AI may not be all dangerous information for Hollywood. (Wired $)
+ Google is experimenting with AI for journalists. (NYT $)
+ Researchers assume they’ve proved that GPT-4 is getting worse. (Ars Technica)
+ ChatGPT is in all places. Here’s the place it got here from. (MIT Technology Review)
2 It’s about to get more durable for tech firms to merge
Courtesy of latest US tips designed to stop monopolies. (NYT $)
3 We all know local weather change is getting worse
But consultants are divided over whether or not it’s doing so quicker than anticipated, and in that case why. (Economist $)
+ Do these warmth waves imply local weather change is occurring quicker than anticipated? (MIT Technology Review)
4 A invoice that curbs US authorities entry to our knowledge has been greenlit
If handed, it’ll stop businesses from shopping for knowledge and not using a warrant. (Motherboard)
5 EVs have a tire air pollution drawback
Making them smaller and slower are just a few methods to cut back it. (The Atlantic $)+ Recycling automobiles is massive enterprise today. (Economist $)
6 It appears like Netflix’s password-sharing crackdown paid off
Almost 6 million subscribers have stumped up for their very own accounts. (WSJ $)
7 The world is racing to unlock the ability of geothermal power
Fracking is a contentious option to do it, although. (Wired $)
+ This geothermal startup confirmed its wells can be utilized like an enormous underground battery. (MIT Technology Review)
8 What is a head of AI?
Plenty of firms don’t know, however they’re hiring them anyway. (Vox)
9 Gen Z is freezing their eggs
But even with youth on their aspect, success charges are nonetheless on the low aspect. (Vice)
+ There’s nonetheless a lot we don’t perceive about fertility. (Economist $)
+ I took a world journey with my frozen eggs to be taught in regards to the fertility business. (MIT Technology Review)
10 This free music streaming app is gaining followers in Latin America
It’s ad-powered, and crucially, it’s authorized. (Rest of World)
Quote of the day
“It’s sort of like you’re a therapist. They tell you their life stories.”
— Ylonda Sherrod, an AT&T name heart employee, tells the New York Times that changing staff with AI methods will go away clients lacking the human contact.
The massive story
Why the steadiness of energy in tech is shifting towards employees
February 2022
Something has modified for tech giants. Even as they proceed to carry super affect in our day by day lives, a rising accountability motion has begun to test their energy. Led largely by tech employees themselves, a motion searching for reform of how these firms do enterprise has taken on unprecedented momentum, notably up to now yr.
Concerns and anger over tech firms’ impression on the earth is nothing new, after all. What’s modified is that employees are more and more getting organized. Read the total story.
—Jane Lytvynenko
We can nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre instances. (Got any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ The girls’s soccer World Cup is kicking off in the present day! And England are the favorites to problem the reigning champions.
+ This excessive deep sea freezer feels like the right option to preserve your beers icy chilly.
+ Wow, the drunken monks of the Middle Ages certain knew learn how to have a superb time.
+ Hey, hey, hey, what would a whole track of ‘heys’ sound like?
+ The insufferable brilliance of kids’s books.
…. to be continued
Read the Original Article
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