The Download: how AI is shaking up Go, and a cybersecurity mystery

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.

AI is rewiring how the world’s best Go players think

Ten years ago AlphaGo, Google DeepMind’s AI program, stunned the world by defeating the South Korean Go player Lee Sedol.

And in the years since, AI has upended the game. It’s overturned centuries-old principles about the best moves and introduced entirely new ones. Players now train to replicate AI’s moves as closely as they can rather than inventing their own, even when the machine’s thinking remains mysterious to them. Meanwhile, AI is democratizing access to training, and more female players are climbing the ranks as a result.

Today, it is essentially impossible to compete professionally without using AI. Some say the technology has drained the game of its creativity, while others think there is still room for human invention. Read the full story.

—Michelle Kim

MIT Technology Review Narrated: Hackers made death threats against this security researcher. Big mistake.

In April 2024, a mysterious someone using the online handles “Waifu” and “Judische” began posting death threats on Telegram and Discord channels aimed at a cybersecurity researcher named Allison Nixon.

As chief research officer at the cyber investigations firm Unit 221B, Nixon had built a career tracking cybercriminals and helping get them arrested. And although she had taken an interest in the Waifu persona in years past for crimes he boasted about committing, he hadn’t been on her radar for a while when the threats began, because she was tracking other targets.

Now Nixon resolved to unmask Waifu/Judische and others responsible for the death threats—and take them down for crimes they admitted to committing.

This is our latest story to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we’re publishing each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released.

The must-reads

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

1 Anthropic has refused the Pentagon’s AI demands 
It’s holding firm on its stance: no mass surveillance of Americans, and no lethal autonomous weapons. (The Verge)
+ Anthropic said “virtually no progress” had been made during recent talks. (The Hill)
+ Here’s how relations between the US government and the company started to dissolve. (Vox)

2 Instagram will alert parents if teens repeatedly search for suicide material
But campaigners fear the measure could do more harm than good. (BBC)
+ Instagram is working on a similar alert feature for its AI tools. (Engadget)
+ Poland is weighing up banning under-15s from accessing social media. (Bloomberg $)

3 ChatGPT Health regularly fails to recognize medical emergencies
In more than half of serious cases, it advised users to delay seeking treatment. (The Guardian)
+ “Dr. Google” had its issues. Can ChatGPT Health do better? (MIT Technology Review)

4 The Islamic State’s online warriors are posting beyond the grave
The group is using AI to resurrect dead leaders and port them to new platforms. (404 Media)

5 Vegetarians are at lower risk from five types of cancer
It suggests that avoiding meat could help to avoid certain cancers, including breast and pancreatic. (FT $)
+ Interestingly, the same doesn’t apply for vegans. (Bloomberg $)
+ RFK Jr. follows a carnivore diet. That doesn’t mean you should. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Activists combating online abuse have been barred from America
Authorities accused HateAid of participating in a “global censorship-industrial complex.” (NYT $)
+ What it’s like to be banned from the US for fighting online hate. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Russians are looking for missing soldiers on Google Maps
They’re posting reviews pleading for information about missing loved ones. (New Yorker $)
+ Google Maps has finally gained approval to operate in South Korea. (FT $)
+ It’s hellbent on closing its final few global gaps. (Economist $)

8 Burger King’s new AI assistant will evaluate workers’ friendliness
It’ll check interactions to make sure they’re saying please and thank you. (The Verge)
+ Perplexity’s bossy new AI agent assigns work to fellow agents. (Ars Technica)

9 NASA still hasn’t made it back to the moon
The mission has been dogged by delays and issues. (WP $)

10 Are you Chinamaxxing yet?
Everyone on TikTok is, c’mon. (Insider $)

Quote of the day

“This is as much of a political fight as a military use issue.”

—Steven Feldstein, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, who researches AI in warfare, explains to the Washington Post why ideological differences are likely to be worsening the rift between Anthropic and the Pentagon.

One more thing

One city’s fight to solve its sewage problem with sensors

In the city of South Bend, Indiana, wastewater from people’s kitchens, sinks, washing machines, and toilets flows through 35 neighborhood sewer lines. On good days, just before each line ends, a vertical throttle pipe diverts the sewage into an interceptor tube, which carries it to a treatment plant where solid pollutants and bacteria are filtered out.

As in many American cities, those pipes are combined with storm drains, which can fill rivers and lakes with toxic sludge when heavy rains or melted snow overwhelms them, endangering wildlife and drinking water supplies. But city officials have a plan to make its aging sewers significantly smarter. Read the full story.

—Andrew Zaleski

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.)

+ This is a fascinating insight into Jimi Hendrix’s technical guitar wizardry
+ The Romans: their lives really weren’t so different to ours, y’know.
+ How the Beatles kicked back and relaxed at home when they weren’t shaping history.
+ Disney composer Alan Menken is an undisputed talent.