The Download: Making AI Work, and why the Moltbook hype is similar to Pokémon

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

A first look at Making AI Work, MIT Technology Review’s new AI newsletter

Are you interested in learning more about the ways in which AI is actually being used? We’ve launched a new weekly newsletter series exploring just that: digging into how generative AI is being used and deployed across sectors and what professionals need to know to apply it in their everyday work.

Each edition of Making AI Work begins with a case study, examining a specific use case of AI in a given industry. Then we’ll take a deeper look at the AI tool being used, with more context about how other companies or sectors are employing that same tool or system. Finally, we’ll end with action-oriented tips to help you apply the tool.

The first edition takes a look at how AI is changing health care, digging into the future of medical note-taking by learning about the Microsoft Copilot tool used by doctors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Sign up here to receive the seven editions straight to your inbox, and if you’d like to read more about AI’s impact on health care in the meantime, check out some of our past reporting:

+  This medical startup uses LLMs to run appointments and make diagnoses.

+ How AI is changing how we quantify pain by helping health-care providers better assess their patients’ discomfort. Read the full story.

+ End-of-life decisions are difficult and distressing. Could AI help?

+ Artificial intelligence is infiltrating health care. But we shouldn’t let it make all the decisions unchecked. Read the full story.

Why the Moltbook frenzy was like Pokémon

Lots of influential people in tech recently described Moltbook, an online hangout populated by AI agents interacting with one another, as a glimpse into the future. It appeared to show AI systems doing useful things for the humans that created them—sure, it was flooded with crypto scams, and many of the posts were actually written by people, but something about it pointed to a future of helpful AI, right?

The whole experiment reminded our senior editor for AI, Will Douglas Heaven, of something far less interesting: Pokémon. Read the full story to find out why.

—James O’Donnell

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 OpenAI has begun testing ads in ChatGPT 
But the ads won’t influence the responses it provides, apparently. (The Verge)
+ Users who pay at least $20 a month for the chatbot will be exempt. (Gizmodo)
+ So will users believed to be under 18. (Axios)

2 The White House has a plan to stop data centers from raising electricity prices
It’s going to ask AI companies to voluntarily commit to keeping costs down. (Politico)
+ The US federal government is adopting AI left, right and center. (WP $)
+ We did the math on AI’s energy footprint. Here’s the story you haven’t heard. (MIT Technology Review)

3 Elon Musk wants to colonize the moon
For now at least, his grand ambitions to live on Mars are taking a backseat. (CNN)
+ His full rationale for this U-turn isn’t exactly clear. (Ars Technica)
+ Musk also wants to become the first to launch a working data center in space. (FT $)
+ The case against humans in space. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Cheap AI tools are helping criminals to ramp up their scams
They’re using LLMs to massively scale up their attacks. (Bloomberg $)
+ Cyberattacks by AI agents are coming. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Iceland could be heading towards becoming one giant glacier
If human-driven warming disrupts a vital ocean current, that is. (WP $)
+ Inside a new quest to save the “doomsday glacier.” (MIT Technology Review)

6 Amazon is planning to launch an AI content marketplace
It’s reported to have spoken to media publishers to gauge their interest. (The Information $)

7 Doctors can’t agree on how to diagnose Alzheimer’s
They worry that some patients are being misdiagnosed. (WSJ $)

8 The first wave of AI enthusiasts are burning out
A new study has found that AI tools are linked to employees working more, not less. (TechCrunch)

9 We’re finally moving towards better ways to measure body fat
BMI is a flawed metric. Physicians are finally using better measures. (New Scientist $)
+ These are the best ways to measure your body fat. (MIT Technology Review)

10 It’s getting harder to become a social media megastar
Maybe that’s a good thing? (Insider $)
+ The likes of Mr Beast are still raking in serious cash, though. (The Information $)

Quote of the day

“This case is as easy as ABC—addicting, brains, children.”

—Lawyer Mark Lanier lays out his case during the opening statements of a new tech addiction trial in which a woman has accused Meta of deliberately designing their platforms to be addictive, the New York Times reports.

One more thing

China wants to restore the sea with high-tech marine ranches

A short ferry ride from the port city of Yantai, on the northeast coast of China, sits Genghai No. 1, a 12,000-metric-ton ring of oil-rig-style steel platforms, advertised as a hotel and entertainment complex.

Genghai is in fact an unusual tourist destination, one that breeds 200,000 “high-quality marine fish” each year. The vast majority are released into the ocean as part of a process known as marine ranching.

The Chinese government sees this work as an urgent and necessary response to the bleak reality that fisheries are collapsing both in China and worldwide. But just how much of a difference can it make? Read the full story.

—Matthew Ponsford

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ Wow, Joel and Ethan Coen’s dark comedic classic Fargo is 30 years old.
+ A new exhibition in New York is rightfully paying tribute to one of the greatest technological inventions: the Walkman ($)
+ This gigantic sleeping dachshund sculpture in South Korea is completely bonkers.
+ A beautiful heart-shaped pendant linked to King Henry VIII has been secured by the British Museum.