That is right this moment’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a each day dose of what’s happening on the planet of know-how.
Can nuclear energy actually gasoline the rise of AI?
Within the AI arms race, all the key gamers say they wish to go nuclear.
Over the previous yr, the likes of Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have despatched out a flurry of bulletins associated to nuclear power. Some are about agreements to buy energy from present crops, whereas others are about investments trying to enhance unproven superior applied sciences.
These considerably unlikely partnerships may very well be a win for each the nuclear energy business and huge tech firms. Tech giants want assured sources of power, and lots of are searching for low-emissions ones to hit their local weather objectives. For nuclear plant operators and nuclear know-how builders, the monetary help of large established prospects may assist hold outdated nuclear energy crops open and push new applied sciences ahead. However there’s one obtrusive potential roadblock: timing. Learn the complete story.
—Casey Crownhart
This story is a part of Energy Hungry: AI and our power future—our new collection shining a lightweight on the power calls for and carbon prices of the substitute intelligence revolution. Try the remainder of the bundle right here.
How creativity turned the reigning worth of our time
People don’t agree on a lot today. But even at a time when consensus actuality appears to be on the breaking point, there stays not less than one quintessentially trendy worth we will all nonetheless get behind: creativity.
Given how a lot we obsess over it, the idea of creativity can really feel like one thing that has at all times existed, a factor philosophers and artists have contemplated and debated all through the ages. However in accordance with a brand new guide, The Cult of Creativity, our conception of creativity and what it means is much more trendy than chances are you’ll suppose. Learn the complete story.
—Bryan Gardiner
This story is from the most up-to-date version of our print journal, which is all about how know-how is altering creativity. Subscribe now to learn it and to obtain future print copies as soon as they land.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you right this moment’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 SpaceX is planning to check its large Starship rocket right this moment
Within the hopes it’ll be prepared for a mission to Mars subsequent yr. (WSJ $)+ It may take round three months to succeed in the crimson planet. (Nature)
+ The hunt to determine farming on Mars. (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
2 Nvidia is engaged on a brand new chip only for China
The brand new Blackwell chip will likely be less expensive than its just lately restricted H20 mannequin. (Reuters)
+ Tencent and Baidu have their very own plans to skirt US chip curbs. (CNBC)
3 It’s simpler to interrupt encryption than we realized
Analysis from Google steered that future quantum computer systems gained’t want as many sources to crack bitcoin-level encryption. (CoinDesk)
4 What the way forward for the US battery business appears like beneath Trump
A brand new funds invoice is threatening firms’ entry to important subsidies. (NYT $)
+ Tariffs are dangerous information for batteries. (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
5 Tesla is readying its Austin driverless taxi service for launch
However it’s didn’t share very important security info with key teams within the metropolis. (Fortune $)
+ Elon Musk is prone to be paying extra consideration now he’s turning away from DOGE. (WP $)
6 The struggle in Ukraine is sparking an autonomous weapons increase
Consultants fear it’s already too late to make sure correct human oversight. (FT $)
+ The US should still ban DJI drones. (Wired $)
+ Generative AI is studying to spy for the US navy. (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
7 Nick Clegg says asking artists for consent would kill the AI business
He thinks it ought to be an opt-out, moderately than opt-in, system. (The Verge)
+ AI firms are lastly being pressured to cough up for coaching information. (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
8 Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t have a lot to indicate for his MAGA pivot
It’s alienated his left-leaning employees, and Republicans aren’t shopping for it both. (Bloomberg $)
+ Company giants are greatest outfitted to climate Trump’s upheavals—for now. (Economist $)
+ A good few of Meta’s AI workforce have jumped ship to rival Mistral. (Insider $)
9 Greater than 2% of People are taking weight-loss medicine
That’s a 600% rise in comparison with six years in the past. (Axios)
+ Rising numbers of sufferers are microdosing to attempt to make the jabs last more. (WSJ $)
+ Weight-loss injections have taken over the web. However what does this imply for folks IRL? (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
10 How penguin poop may assist to avoid wasting the Antarctic 
Their waste releases ammonia particles that assist set off cloud formations. (Ars Technica)
+ And the ‘fertilized’ soil they go away behind stays a key ammonia supply. (404 Media)
Quote of the day
“We’re automating the male gaze.”
—Emily Bender, a computational linguist who focuses on generative AI, tells the Washington Publish concerning the pitfalls of turning to chatbots for magnificence recommendation.
Yet one more factor
Will we ever belief robots?
The world would possibly appear to be getting ready to a humanoid-robot heyday. New breakthroughs in synthetic intelligence promise the kind of succesful, general-purpose robots beforehand seen solely in science fiction—robots that may do issues like assemble vehicles, look after sufferers, or tidy our properties, all with out being given specialised directions.
It’s an concept that has attracted an infinite quantity of consideration, capital, and optimism. But latest progress has arguably been extra about fashion than substance. Developments in AI have undoubtedly made robots simpler to coach, however they’ve but to allow them to actually sense their environment, “suppose” of what to do subsequent, and perform these selections in the way in which some viral movies would possibly indicate.
However on the street to serving to humanoid robots win our belief, one query looms bigger than every other: How a lot will they have the ability to do on his personal? And the way a lot will they nonetheless depend on people? Learn the complete story.
—James O’Donnell
We are able to nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Received any concepts? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)
+ Spinosaurus, the longest predatory dinosaur, wasn’t only a fearsome hunter—it was additionally a loving dad or mum.
+ What occurs to male fashions after they stop the business?
+ Tips on how to write an actual page-turner of a novel, in accordance with Ian Fleming.
+ The UK is at it once more—this weekend was the annual cheese-chasing race down a steep slope in Gloucestershire.
