The Download: AI’s role in the Iran war, and an escalating legal fight

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.

How AI is turning the Iran conflict into theater 

Much of the spotlight on AI in the Iran conflict has focused on models like Claude helping the US military decide where to strike. But a wave of “vibe-coded” intelligence dashboards—and the ecosystem surrounding them—reflect a new role that AI is playing in wartime: mediating information, often for the worse. 

These sorts of intelligence tools have much promise. Yet there are real reasons to be suspicious of their data feeds. Read the full story. 

—James O’Donnell 

This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Monday. 

The must-reads 

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

1 Anthropic has sued the US government  
The AI firm wants to stop the Pentagon from blacklisting it. (Reuters) 
+ The White House is preparing a new executive order to weed out the company’s technology. (Axios) 
+ Defense experts are alarmed. (CNBC) 
+.Google and OpenAI staff have filed a legal brief backing Anthropic against Trump. (Wired $) 
+ The company’s stance won many supporters. (MIT Technology Review) 

2 GPS jamming has become a crucial battleground in the Middle East  
The interference is endangering—and protecting—ships and planes. (BBC) 
+ Signal jamming has made navigating the Strait of Hormuz even more difficult. (Bloomberg) 
+ Quantum navigation offers a potential solution. (MIT Technology Review)  

3 A tech journalist found his AI clone editing for Grammarly 
It’s providing AI-generated feedback “inspired by” real writers without their consent. (Platformer) 
+ Could ChatGPT do the jobs of journalists and copywriters? (MIT Technology Review) 

4 Nvidia plans to launch an open-source platform for AI agents  
It’s already pitching the “NemoClaw” product to enterprise software firms. (Wired $) 
+ But don’t let the AI agents hype get ahead of reality (MIT Technology Review) 
 
5 A startup wants to launch a space mirror that reflects sunlight onto Earth 
Reflect Orbital reckons it could power solar panels at night. Scientists are appalled. (NYT) 

6 Yann LeCun’s AI startup has raised over $1bn in Europe’s largest seed round  
Meta’s former chief AI scientist plans to build systems that “understand the world.” (Bloomberg) 

7 Hinge’s CEO insists the app doesn’t rate users’ attractiveness 
Jackie Jantos’ strategy has helped Hinge defy the decline in dating apps. (FT $) 
+ AI companions are stealing hearts—and it’s getting weird. (New Yorker $) 
+ It’s surprisingly easy to fall into a relationship with a chatbot. (MIT Technology Review) 

8 “AI psychosis” could be afflicting your loved ones  
If so, here’s how you can help them. (404 Media) 
+ One solution: AI should be able to “hang up” on you. (MIT Technology Review) 

9 Nintendo is suing Trump over illegal tariffs 
The gaming giant has joined a lawsuit seeking over $200 billion in refunds. (Ars Technica) 

10 Bio-tech is turning ancient poop into a map of lost civilizations  
Molecular sensors are finding human traces where physical ruins have vanished. (Nature)    

Quote of the day 

“I don’t think any of us, whether it’s me or Dario [Amodei], Sam Altman, or Elon Musk, has any legitimacy to decide for society what is a good or bad use of AI.”

—Yann LeCun gives Wired his take on the Anthropic’s spat the Pentagon. 

One More Thing 

This giant microwave may change the future of war 

armed forces are hunting for a weapon that disables drones en masse—and they want it fast.  

One solution focuses on microwaves: high-powered electronic devices that push out kilowatts of power to zap the circuits of a drone as if it were the tinfoil you forgot to take off your leftovers when you heated them up. 

Defense tech startup Epirus may have the winning formula. The company has developed a cutting-edge, cost-efficient drone zapper that’s sparking the interest of the US military. And drones are just one of its targets. Read the full story. 

—Sam Dean 

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.) 

+ Werner Herzog’s magnificent movie about Africa’s ghost elephants has arrived on Disney+ and Hulu. 
+ A “city killer” asteroid won’t hit Earth after all. Phew.  
+ The Met is publishing high-definition 3D scans of over 100 iconic works. 
+ Marty and Doc from Back to the Future are still BFFs in real life. 

Top image credit: MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW (ILLUSTRATION) | PHOTO OF MISSILE (US NAVY), AI-GENERATED IMAGE OF RUBBLE VIA X, SCREENSHOTS VIA WORLDMONITOR, GLOBALTHREATMAP 

Send asteroids to hi@technologyreview.com.  

You can follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks for reading! 
 
 

—Thomas