Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology
By Rhiannon Williams • 4.19.24
Hello, and happy Friday! Today: we take a look at all the companies making headway with brain-computer interfaces that aren't Neuralink. Plus: it's high time we came up with a better term than 'user,' and how to help US universities go head-to-head with tech companies when it comes to AI innovation. Whatever your plans, have a great weekend.
By the way: don't forget to subscribe to save 25% with our special Earth Week offer. 🌎
Beyond Neuralink: Meet the other companies developing brain-computer interfaces
In the world of brain-computer interfaces, it can seem as if one company sucks up all the oxygen in the room. Last month, Neuralink posted a video to X showing the first human subject to receive its brain implant, which will be named Telepathy. The recipient, a 29-year-old man who is paralyzed from the shoulders down, played computer chess, moving the cursor around with his mind.
Neuralink's announcement of a first-in-human trial made a big splash not because of what the man was able to accomplish—scientists demonstrated using a brain implant to move a cursor in 2006—but because the technology is so advanced.
This story is from The Checkup, our weekly health and biotech newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Thursday.
It's time to retire the term "user"
People have been called "users" for a long time; it's a practical shorthand enforced by executives, founders, operators, engineers, and investors ad infinitum.
Often, it is the right word to describe people who use software: a user is more than just a customer or a consumer. Sometimes a user isn't even a person; corporate bots are known to run accounts on Instagram and other social media platforms, for example.
But "users" is also unspecific enough to refer to just about everyone. It can accommodate almost any big idea or long-term vision. We use—and are used by—computers and platforms and companies. Though "user" seems to describe a relationship that is deeply transactional, many of the technological relationships in which a person would be considered a user are actually quite personal. That being the case, is "user" still relevant? Read the full story.
—Taylor Majewski
This story is from the next magazine issue of MIT Technology Review, set to go live on April 24. If you don't already, subscribe now to get a copy when it lands.
Three ways the US could help universities compete with tech companies on AI innovation
—Ylli Bajraktari, CEO of nonprofit the Special Competitive Studies Project, Tom Mitchell, the Founders University Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and Daniela Rus, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT
The ongoing revolution in artificial intelligence has the potential to dramatically improve our lives. Yet ensuring that America and other democracies can help shape the trajectory of this technology requires going beyond the tech development taking place at private companies.
Success will define the market leading enterprises of tomorrow.
In recent years, stakeholder expectations have raised the visibility of enterprise level sustainability initiatives. Now, emerging laws and regulations around the world are establishing these initiatives as a C-suite priority. Forward looking organizations are leveraging technologies such as AI, cloud, and automation to gain competitive advantage as sustainability principles are increasingly integrated into all corners of the enterprise.
While U.S. regulators finalize national emission disclosure requirements, the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is in effect, requiring regular reporting on sustainability. In addition, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has launched global disclosure standards. Establishing a more comprehensive, data informed approach to measuring enterprise value is a priority for many of today's executive teams. In turn, leaders at the forefront are poised to recognize competitive advantages and growth opportunities.
I've combed the internet to find you today's most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Bitcoin investors are eagerly awaiting the 'halving' The scheduled reduction in the number of newly produced bitcoin could mean their current holdings are worth even more. (FT $) + The halving is due to start in the early hours of Saturday morning. (NYT $) + The event is the crypto equivalent of the Super Bowl. (Reuters)
2 Meta is integrating its AI into its social media apps But LLMs and social platforms are dangerous bedfellows. (WP $) + Case in point: X's Grok offers up fake news based on jokes. (Ars Technica) + Meta launched its newest model, Llama 3, too. (WSJ $) + Big Tech is scrambling to make its AI as easy to use as possible. (The Information $)
3 The World Health Organization's AI avatar struggles to answer health questions The bot has been trained on outdated data, and it shows. (Bloomberg $) + Artificial intelligence is infiltrating health care. We shouldn't let it make all the decisions. (MIT Technology Review)
4 China ordered Apple to pull Meta-owned apps from its App Store Beijing is reportedly unhappy with 'inflammatory' Threads and WhatsApp content. (WSJ $) + The move is likely to worsen the already-tense relations between the US and China. (FT $)
5 University students are turning to cyber crime to make money A major phishing site recruited fraudsters to scam tens of thousands of victims. (The Guardian)
6 Your brainwaves are a hot commodity 🧠Tech firms are hungry for neural data, and legislators in Colorado are concerned. (Vox) + Data doesn't get much more personal than this. (NYT $)
7 Deepfakes are making romance scams even more convincing In the past, a video call confirmed you were speaking to a human. Not anymore. (Wired $) + Bans on deepfakes take us only so far—here's what we really need. (MIT Technology Review)
8 A Netflix true crime documentary contained AI images of an alleged murderer The AI-generated pictures seek to portray the accused as a fun-loving teen. (404 Media) + It looks like Netflix's crackdown on password sharing worked.(FT $)
9 Product recommendations ruined the internet Google thinks it can fix it with, err, more recommendations. (NY Mag $) + How to fix the internet. (MIT Technology Review)
10 How tech can help us fight back against locusts 🦗 The insects are serious pests. (Economist $) + How robotic honeybees and hives could help the species fight back. (MIT Technology Review)
Quote of the day
"What in the Black Mirror is this?!"
—An anonymous member of a Facebook parenting group reacts to Meta's AI chatbot claiming it has a child who is both gifted and challenged academically, 404 Media reports.
The big story
The humble oyster could hold the key to restoring coastal waters. Developers hate it.
October 2023
Carol Friend has taken on a difficult job. She is one of the 10 people in Delaware currently trying to make it as a cultivated oyster farmer.
Her Salty Witch Oyster Company holds a lease to grow the mollusks as part of the state's new program for aquaculture, launched in 2017. It has sputtered despite its obvious promise.
Five years after the first farmed oysters went into the Inland Bays, the aquaculture industry remains in a larval stage. Oysters themselves are almost mythical in their ability to clean and filter water. But human willpower, investment, and flexibility are all required to allow the oysters to simply do their thing—particularly when developers start to object. Read the full story.
—Anna Kramer
We can still have nice things
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