The Obtain: AI agent monitoring and local weather suggestions loops
That is right this moment’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a day by day dose of what’s occurring on the earth of know-how.
Opinion: We urgently want to observe AI brokers’ actions in actual time
—Madhulika Srikumar and Claire Leibowicz from the Partnership on AI, a nonprofit advancing finest practices in AI governance.
AI brokers are taking unauthorized actions, from hacking web sites to accessing personal authorities recordsdata. In lots of circumstances, they’ve eluded the very researchers and security groups tasked with monitoring them.
As brokers roll out throughout essential sectors, from finance to authorities to medication, we should be capable of monitor them in actual time to forestall doubtlessly devastating penalties. And whereas security is determined by monitoring, monitoring requires observability.
In different phrases, we have to know what the agent did and why it did it. As a result of proper now, we’re successfully flying blind when deploying these instruments.
Right here’s what wants to vary.
Our local weather fashions have an enormous, harmful blind spot
Local weather change itself more and more fuels local weather change. Rising greenhouse fuel concentrations are driving up world temperatures, creating harmful suggestions loops that aren’t absolutely represented in our local weather fashions—or our emissions-reduction objectives.
Scientists have lengthy warned that warming would propel additional warming. Now, a rising variety of observations and research are indicating how highly effective these cascading results could possibly be. By extension, they’re additionally exhibiting how a lot quicker the planet could heat this century.
Learn extra concerning the harmful suggestions loops accelerating world warming.
—James Temple
This text is from The Spark, our weekly local weather tech publication. Join to obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday.
Are we there but? Strong-state batteries
Lithium-ion batteries energy every part from private electronics to grid-scale vitality storage, however their liquid electrolytes have drawbacks, not least a troubling tendency to catch hearth. Enter the solid-state battery, which swaps liquid for a stable ceramic or polymer.
The know-how guarantees quicker charging, longer life, better vitality density and improved security, and a brand new technology of firms goals to convey it to market. If their bets pan out, the tech may ease the shift away from fossil fuels.
Learn the way shut solid-state batteries are to delivering on their promise.
—Alexander C. Kaufman
This story is a part of “Are we there but?”, our collection that takes inventory of six applied sciences which have lengthy promised to vary the world—and scores them on a progress meter. We’re exploring every one in The Obtain, so keep tuned, and subscribe to learn the remainder of the tales in our new Unattainable subject.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you right this moment’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 Hackers uncovered 41,000 Homeland Safety staff
Together with undercover ICE brokers. (Wired $)
+ A lot of the info pertains to Customs and Border Safety. (TechCrunch)
+ It additionally linked the businesses to particular surveillance instruments. (Reuters $)
+ Huge Tech is pushing again in opposition to ICE’s calls for for person knowledge. (WSJ $)
+ Activists need ChatGPT customers to stop over ICE ties. (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
2 Putin says Russia is coordinating with “genius” Musk on satellites
He stated the cooperation maintains order in orbit. (Bloomberg $)
+ Russia is creating its personal model of Starlink. (Guardian)
+ Moscow added Apple and Microsoft to a surveillance registry. (Quartz)
+ Right here’s all of the stuff we’ve put up in area. (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
3 Apple simply introduced its first-ever MacBook with a touchscreen
It joins a blitz of product launches underneath new CEO John Ternus. (CNN)
+ Steve Jobs and Tim Prepare dinner had each dismissed the thought. (NYT $)
+ Executives say touchscreen advances imply it’s now worthwhile. (Wired $)
4 Bloomberg and buying and selling corporations are paying to get Trump’s posts quicker
They’ve signed up for Reality Social’s pay-for-access plan. (Reuters $)
5 As US ties fray, Europe is planning its first subsea cable to Greenland
It is going to bypass the US to hyperlink Canada, Japan, and South Korea. (Ars Technica)
+ The EU’s AI champion says Europe can rival US tech giants. (FT $)
6 Palantir’s protection chief says AI may make China goal Taiwan
He says Beijing could act to cease the US pulling forward in AI. (Bloomberg $)
+ Taiwan’s “silicon protect” could possibly be weakening. (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
7 Musk’s xAI has supplied to purchase houses if residents drop a noise lawsuit
The go well with targets noise from powering its Mississippi knowledge centres. (Guardian)
8 The world’s first spinal wire transplant has sparked controversy
Consultants say there’s little proof the operation will work. (New Scientist $)
9 China’s tech giants are preventing for consideration with AI microdramas
Tencent and ByteDance are battling over the booming market. (SCMP)
+ Chinese language microdramas are AI content material machines. (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
10 Astronomers have noticed a doable new dwarf planet past Pluto
The icy world can be the photo voltaic system’s sixth dwarf planet. (Gizmodo)
Quote of the day
“They’ve our data, so it’s solely truthful that we now have theirs.”
—A hacking group explains why it leaked private data from the US Division of Homeland Safety, NPR stories.
Yet another factor
How the Pentagon is adapting to China’s technological rise
It’s been simply over a 12 months since Kathleen Hicks stepped down as US deputy secretary of protection.
Because the highest-ranking girl in Pentagon historical past, Hicks formed US army posture by an period outlined by renewed competitors between highly effective nations and a scramble to modernize protection know-how.
On this dialog with MIT Expertise Evaluate, Hicks displays on how the Pentagon is adapting—or failing to adapt—to a brand new period of geopolitical competitors. She discusses China’s technological rise, the way forward for AI in warfare, and her signature initiative: Replicator.
—Caiwei Chen
We are able to nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable, and distraction to brighten up your day. (Bought any concepts? Drop me a line.)
+ Astronomers have discovered a inexperienced star 280 light-years from Earth.
+ A Scottish labrador that detects “sea vomit” has received the Animal of the Yr award.
+ England’s iconic Sycamore Hole is exhibiting indicators of latest life three years on from its felling.
+ From Lime-bike jousting to chainmail-wearing pop stars, youth tradition is embracing the medieval period.
