That is right this moment’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a every day dose of what’s occurring on this planet of expertise.
These six questions will dictate the way forward for generative AI
The web modified all the pieces—how we work and play, how we spend time with family and friends, how we be taught, how we eat, how we fall in love, and a lot extra. Its downsides turned clear solely when individuals began utilizing it in huge numbers, and killer apps like social media arrived.
Generative AI is more likely to be the identical. Individuals will begin utilizing and misusing it in methods its makers by no means dreamed of. Generative AI was educated on the web and so has inherited a lot of its unsolved points. However we’re not entering into blind. Listed below are six unresolved questions to keep in mind as we watch the generative-AI revolution unfold. Learn the total story.
—Will Douglas Heaven
4 traits that modified AI in 2023
This has been one of many craziest years in AI in a very long time: limitless product launches, boardroom coups, intense coverage debates about AI doom, and a race to search out the following massive factor.
However we’ve additionally seen concrete instruments and insurance policies geared toward getting the AI sector to behave extra responsibly and maintain highly effective gamers accountable.
Melissa Heikkilä, our senior AI reporter, has achieved some reflecting on what the previous 12 months has taught her, and the place she thinks the sector is heading subsequent. Learn the total story.
This story is from The Algorithm, MIT Expertise Overview’s weekly AI publication. Join to obtain it in your inbox each Monday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you right this moment’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 Fb is being taken over by stolen trashy AI photos
And it doesn’t seem to be the platform is doing a lot to stem the tide. (404 Media)
+ ‘Cheapfakes’ and other forms of digital fakery are in all places. (Wired $)
+ This new instrument might shield your photos from AI manipulation. (MIT Expertise Overview)
2 Excessive-profile TikTokers get particular allowances
Moderators are advised to be lenient in relation to assessing content material from celebrities who get a lot of engagement. (The Guardian)
3 Apple is halting gross sales of sure Apple Watches within the US
After shedding a patent dispute over the machine’s blood oxygen sensor tech. (9to5 Mac)
+ Beforehand bought Apple Watches received’t be affected by the ban. (WSJ $)
4 Google’s been ordered to pay $700 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit
It’s additionally agreed to alter the way in which its Android system works within the US. (FT $)
+ What’s subsequent for smartphone apps? (Slate $)
5 Grownup content material creators are embracing AI
Digital fashions that reply to requests 24/7 are lightening the load of digital intercourse work. (WP $)
+ Pakistan’s former chief is utilizing AI instruments to marketing campaign from jail. (WP $)
6 Amazon has set its sights on changing into a satellite tv for pc large
However its Undertaking Kuiper initiative wants a serving to hand—from rival SpaceX. (Bloomberg $)
+ It’s utilizing lasers to switch knowledge swiftly over huge distances. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ Starlink indicators might be reverse-engineered to work like GPS. (MIT Expertise Overview)
7 It’s getting tougher to know what’s occurring on-line
The social media city sq. is useless, and TikTok is a complete black field. (The Atlantic $)
+ It’s time we broke out of the technopoly we’re dwelling in. (New Yorker $)
+ Easy methods to repair the web. (MIT Expertise Overview)
8 Hurricanes are depositing microplastics far and vast
As in the event that they weren’t unhealthy sufficient information already. (Wired $)
+ Microplastics are in all places. (MIT Expertise Overview)
9 No person is aware of what number of nukes there are
So researchers are utilizing open supply intelligence-gathering methods to attempt to discover out. (Motherboard)
10 Meet Santa’s robotic little helpers 
They’re environment friendly, however not fairly as cute as reindeer. (Economist $)
Quote of the day
“The time of huge on-line platforms behaving like they’re ‘too massive to care’ has come to an finish.”
—Thierry Breton, the EU’s inner market commissioner, broadcasts a proper probe into X’s dealing with of unlawful content material and disinformation, the Wall Avenue Journal stories.
The large story
Cash is about to enter a brand new period of competitors
To many, money now appears largely anachronistic. Individuals internationally generally use their smartphones to pay for issues. This shift could appear to be a possible driver of inequality: if money disappears, one imagines, that might disenfranchise the aged, the poor, and others.
In follow, although, cell telephones are almost at saturation in lots of nations. And digital cash, if applied accurately, could possibly be a pressure for monetary inclusion.
The large questions now are round how we proceed, and whether or not the large digital cash shift in the end advantages humanity at giant—or exacerbates current home and international inequities. Learn the total story.
—Eswar Prasad
We are able to nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre instances. (Obtained any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ Shoegaze is again, child.
+ This Lego Polaroid digital camera is significantly cute (higher not shake it although) 
+ These basic e book covers are nothing wanting iconic.
+ Czech candy bread with almonds and raisins appears like the right Christmas accompaniment.
+ Mr Jingeling? Uncle Mistletoe? What number of of those obscure Christmas characters do you acknowledge?