This is this day’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that offers a day-to-day dose of what is going on within the enviornment of craftsmanship.
I light generative AI to flip my epic right into a comic e book—and you might well too
—Will Douglas Heaven
Thirteen years within the past, as an assignment for a journalism class, I wrote a silly instant epic a pair of man who eats luxurious cat meals. This morning, I sat and watched as a generative AI platform known as Lore Machine brought my queer phrases to lifestyles.
Lore Machine analyzed the text, extracted descriptions of the characters and areas mentioned, and then handed these bits of data off to an image-generation mannequin. An illustrated storyboard popped up on the display. As I clicked by strategy of lustrous comic-e book renderings of my half of-forgotten characters, my heart modified into pounding.
What models Lore Machine as a replace of its rivals is how straightforward it’s miles to make utilize of. Between importing my epic and downloading its storyboard, I clicked maybe half of a dozen times. That makes it one amongst a brand original wave of user-friendly instruments that cover the dazzling vitality of generative models within the attend of a one-click web interface—and heralds the appearance of 1-click AI. Read the corpulent epic.
Chinese EVs have entered center stage in US-China tensions
Up to now, electrical automobiles have largely been mentioned within the US by strategy of a scientific, economic, or environmental lens. Nonetheless all of a surprising, they have change into extremely political.
Last Thursday, the Biden administration offered it would compare the protection risks posed by Chinese-made neat automobiles, which would per chance well perhaps “safe quiet knowledge about our electorate and our infrastructure and ship this knowledge attend to the Of us’s Republic of China,”
While many other technologies from China have been scrutinized as a consequence of security concerns, EVs have largely accomplished without that develop of attention unless now. Nonetheless US-China members of the family have been at a low point which potential of the Trump years and the pandemic, and it seems be pleased easiest a matter of time sooner than any alternate or interaction between the two nations falls below security scrutiny. Now it’s EVs’ flip. Read the corpulent epic.
—Zeyi Yang
This epic is from China Describe, our weekly newsletter giving you the internal note on all things happening in China. Register to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday.
The have to-reads
I’ve combed the gain to search out you this day’s most fun/predominant/upsetting/charming reviews about expertise.
1 Elon Musk desired to merge OpenAI with Tesla
OpenAI is airing all its dirty laundry to counter Musk’s lawsuit. (The Verge)
+ Musk and Sam Altman light to fancy every other. What took place? (WSJ $)
2 Is Bitcoin in point of fact attend?
It’s taking part in yet yet another main surge—but stays as volatile as ever. (NYT $)
+ It seems be pleased the US regulator’s approval is guilty/thank. (The Guardian)
+ What’s crypto for, exactly? (The Atlantic $)
+ Cryptomania is proving hard to kill. (Reuters)
3 Google is determined to kill off AI clickbait
Fair luck with that. (Wired $)
+ We are hurtling in opposition to a glitchy, spammy, scammy, AI-powered web. (MIT Technology Overview)
4 Self-riding automobiles are in disaster mode
The bubble has burst, and no one is aware of where to transfer from here. (NY Mag $)
+ What’s next for robotaxis in 2024. (MIT Technology Overview)
5 Weight reduction treatment are for the mind, not the gut
Our current scientific realizing of how they work is all frightful. (The Atlantic $)
+ Weight-loss injections have taken over the gain. Nonetheless what does this indicate for parents IRL? (MIT Technology Overview)
6 The sphere’s ideal EV maker is rewriting the foundations of batteries
China’s BYD is having a guess huge on sodium ion cells. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ Why hydrogen is losing the bustle to vitality cleaner automobiles. (MIT Technology Overview)
7 Contained within the unstoppable rise of China’s retail huge Temu
US investors are speeding to finance its mercurial expansion into the West, whereas turning a blind ogle to the contrivance it’s bustle. (FT $)
+ The war over mercurial vogue is heating up. (MIT Technology Overview)
8 Would you stay in a 3D-printed home?
Non-income Citizen Robotics seems to think so. (Insider $)
+ Meet the designers printing houses out of salt and clay. (MIT Technology Overview)
9 Soar me to the moon, again 🌕
Lunar explorations are finally underway, after many years of philosophize of being inactive. (Unique Yorker $)
+ In other data, China and Russia are looking to invent a nuclear vitality plant on the moon. (Bloomberg $)
+ What’s next for the moon. (MIT Technology Overview)
10 We’re not going to elucidate the Anthropocene in spite of every part|
And scientists are far from delighted about it. (Unique Scientist $)
Quote of the day
“I’ve been influenced! To steal any trace but Tarte.”
—A TikTok user isn’t very impressed by beauty trace Tarte Cosmetics’ resolution to build 30 influencers on a lavish time out to Bora Bora within the original economic local weather, the Unique York Times reports.
The huge epic
Contained within the messy ethics of setting up war with machines
In original years, sparkling self reliant weapons—weapons that would per chance well steal out and fireplace upon targets without any human input—have change into a matter of indispensable pain. Giving an AI plot the vitality to make your mind up issues of lifestyles and loss of life would radically alternate war without end.
Radiant self reliant weapons that fully displace human resolution-making have (seemingly) yet to glimpse real-world utilize.
Alternatively, these techniques have change into refined ample to grasp recent questions—ones which are surprisingly tricky to answer. What does it indicate when a resolution is easiest segment human and segment machine? And when, if ever, is it ethical for that resolution to be a resolution to kill? Read the corpulent epic.
—Arthur Holland Michel
We can nonetheless have good things
A station for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any strategies? Tumble me a line or tweet ’em at me.)+ Ought to you haven’t already viewed it, kick attend and admire the fully bonkers resolution to splice beer adverts into the current Big name Wars trilogy when it modified into aired on Chilean TV.
+ These photos documenting the substantial British kit holiday tradition are improbable.
+ Brace yourself: a Manchester Metropolis docuseries is on the potential. ⚽
+ What does it build to invent the world’s tallest towers? Skills.
