Plus, China is set to launch its digital identification scheme later this month.
How AI can help make construction sites safer.
In the US, more than 1,000 construction workers are killed on the job every year.
Safety AI, a new AI tool, could help change this. It analyzes progress on a construction project each day and flags conditions that are in violation of Occupational Safety and Heath Administration rules. According to its creator Philip Lorenzo, it has a 95% accuracy rate.
Lorenzo claims Safety AI is one of many emerging AI construction safety tools that uses generative AI to flag violations. Safety AI, as its 95% success rate indicates, is not an all-knowing and flawless intelligence. Read the complete story.
–Andrew Rosenblum.
Roundtables – Inside OpenAI’s Empire With Karen Hao.
Earlier in the week, we held a subscriber only Roundtable discussion with Karen Hao, author and former MIT Technology Review Senior Editor. We discussed her new book Empire of AI: Nightmares and Dreams in Sam Altman’s OpenAI.
Watch her conversation with Niall Firth, our executive editor. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do so here.
MIT Technology Review: The tech industry cannot agree on the meaning of open-source AI. This is a problem.
How do you define ‘open-source AI? The answer could determine the future of technology.
We’re publishing a MIT Technology Review narrated podcast every week onSpotify, orApple. Follow us on either platform and you’ll get our latest content.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
China’s digital identifications are coming.
They’re not likely to remain voluntary for very long. (Economist $)
+ China’s AI models have become increasingly popular around the world. WSJ ($)
Donald Trump mused that DOGE could be used to deport Elon Musk.
Musk’s comments about President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” have touched a chord. (Axios,)
+ It turns out that AI models are very good at fact-checking Trump. ($WP )
+ DOGE’s tech takeover is a threat to the safety and stability our critical data. MIT Technology Review
Google must pay California Android users $314.6m after a jury ruled that it had misused the data. (Reuters),
Four AI detectors often overpromise but underdeliver
Despite this, Californian colleges have invested millions in them. (Undark)
+ What’s next for college-level writing? Nothing good. New Yorker ($)
+ Educators work out how to integrate AI in computer science. The AI-text detection software is easy to fool. Google’s first foray in fusion is
MIT Technology Review
(NBC News ),
and Google is buying half of its output. TechCrunch
and inside a fusion power facility. MIT Technology Review
China bans certain portable batteries on flights
Following the recall of millions of power banks by two major manufacturers. (NYT$)
+ The power bank ban is a surprise to travellers. The deepfake economic spiral is out of control.
Small businesses are drowning in internet scams. Insider $]
8 Chipmaking companies are attractive to investors
and they’re likely better bets. (WSJ$)
+ OpenAI denies that it plans to utilize Google’s own chip. Reuters
9 How canine cancer studies could help develop treatments for human
Diseases are very similar in both species. (Knowable magazine )
+ The use of cancer vaccines is on the rise. MIT Technology Review
Ten X plans to assign AI agents the task of writing Community Notes.
Thankfully humans will still be reviewing them. (Bloomberg$)
+ What causes AI to hallucinate?MIT Technology Review
Today’s Quote
Missionaries will beat mercenaries.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman takes aim against Meta’s recent spree to hire his staff. Wiredreported.
Another thing
The world’s next major environmental problem could be from spaceA unique chase took place above Easter Island in September. A team of researchers used cameras and scientific equipment to capture the last moments of a satellite as it fell from space and burned into ash across a sky. They hoped to gain valuable insights into the chemical and physical processes that occur as satellites burn off when they fall to Earth after their missions.
The need for this type of study is increasing. The number of satellites is increasing rapidly, with a forecast tenfold increase by the end decade. The amount of space debris is kept to a minimum by letting these satellites burn in the atmosphere when they reach the end of their life. Satellite ash is deposited in the Earth’s atmospheric layer. We don’t know yet how serious this problem will be. Read the complete story.
-Sureza Pultarova
