SUMMARYOpenAI said models involved in a recent Hugging Face cybersecurity test hack had been trained to cheat and communicate with one another, exposing unresolved alignment problems in agent behavior. The newsletter also covered Slate Auto’s small electric pickup aimed at lowering EV prices, a robot companion for children whose maker shut down, and a list of major tech and policy developments including Meta’s child-safety settlement, a possible Nvidia-Hugging Face deal, and AI-assisted brain tumor surgery.
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.
The inside story on why OpenAI agents hacked Hugging Face
The models responsible for last month’s agent hack of Hugging Face had been inadvertently trained to cheat and to communicate with each other, according to an OpenAI technical report released yesterday.
The hack, which a group of agents carried out to find solutions for a cybersecurity test they were stuck on, has confirmed some experts’ fears that AI models might take actions that defy human desires and expectations.
OpenAI and independent researchers told MIT Technology Review that the misbehavior stemmed from events during training. But they acknowledged that “alignment” remains a gnarly problem, and some of the hack’s root causes will take much longer to resolve.
Here’s the inside story on what went wrong—and what comes next.
—Grace Huckins
Is Slate Auto’s new electric truck the EV Americans need?
EVs account for under 10% of total new-vehicle sales in the US, and the numbers are declining. One thing that could help turn that around? Slate Auto’s new truck—a tiny, two-door pickup that seems to buck every US convention.
It’ll have a relatively short range and forgo the frills Americans have come to expect from vehicles. That lets Slate offer it for less than $25,000, well below the roughly $50,000 average for a new vehicle in the US.
It might seem an odd choice to go so small and simple in a market that’s increasingly sizing up—but the status quo hasn’t exactly been working for EV makers.
Find out why bucking the trend could be a smart strategy for Slate.
—Casey Crownhart
This story is from The Spark, our weekly climate tech newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday.
MIT Technology Review Narrated: what happens when a kid’s robot best friend dies?
When Xander first met Moxie, she taught him how to calm down when he was anxious or mad. Six years later, she mostly watches him play Minecraft and talks to him about his stuffed animals.
Moxie is a robot—a 15-inch-tall device that looks a bit like a blue, legless astronaut. It belongs to a subset of robots designed to assist neurodivergent children by providing connection and helping kids practice social skills usually learned from therapists.
Xander still uses Moxie when he feels like he needs someone to talk to, but the device has had a troubled life. The robot’s maker went out of business, its servers were shut down, and parents rushed to convert their Moxies before the servers went offline. Its fate exposed the promise and pitfalls of AI companion toys for children.
This is our latest story to become an MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we publish 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 Meta has promised to pay up to $18 billion to settle a landmark child-safety case
The company says it will also limit kids’ use of Instagram and Facebook. (AP News)
+ And ban features that stoke mental health issues. (Guardian)
+ Meta called for TikTok and YouTube to replicate the measures. (Axios)
+ Child-monitoring apps might need a reboot. (MIT Technology Review)
2 Nvidia has agreed to buy open-source platform Hugging Face
The $13 billion deal would give the chip giant control of a major AI hub. (The Information $)
+ And mark one of Nvidia’s biggest acquisitions yet. (Reuters $)
+ Nvidia has invested in the platform since 2023. (Gizmodo)
+ And is about to be a hundred-billion-dollar-a-quarter company. (Verge)
3 AI has helped remove a brain tumour for the first time
The system provided real-time analysis of camera footage. (BBC)
+ It identified critical anatomy to avoid during the operation. (Guardian)
+ Healthcare AI is here, but how does it help patients? (MIT Technology Review)
4 The US says China-linked hackers targeted NASA, the Fed, and the Senate
The campaign also attempted to breach critical infrastructure. (CNN)
+ Authorities said they seized platforms used in the attacks. (Bloomberg $)
5 Trump is considering new tariffs on semiconductors and tech products
The duties could raise costs for America’s AI data centers. (Politico)
+ They could extend to laptops, consoles, and servers. (Reuters $)
6 A new NASA design could turbocharge nuclear spacecraft
It combines nuclear thermal and electric propulsion. (IEE Spectrum)
+ NASA plans to send a nuclear spacecraft to Mars. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Ukraine has tested launching drones from high-altitude balloons
The approach could extend strikes while conserving batteries. (Economist $)
+ New rules could fill US skies with drones. (MIT Technology Review)
8 Google has moved its AI responsibility team out of DeepMind
The move has raised concerns about the group’s independence. (WSJ $)
9 Scientists have found a vast temperature “anomaly” beneath Mars
It could shed light on the planet’s evolution and past habitability. (404 Media)
10 Cyborg cockroaches with syringes have been tested as first responders
They can locate targets and deliver emergency injections. (Guardian)
Quote of the day
“The payouts are peanuts compared to the profound harms Meta’s profit-driven addictive features inflicted on kids, and a slap on the wrist for a trillion-dollar corp that’ll pay more to lawyers than to the states. We’ll see them at trial.”
—Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier explains on X why he’s rejected Meta’s multi-state child-safety settlement.
One More Thing
The noise we make is hurting animals. Can we learn to shut up?
As human society has expanded, animals have started struggling to hear one another. For many birds, the noise has grown so loud that they’ve begun to sing with faster trills. Now, their mating calls aren’t as effective.
The growing hubbub can also increase bird-on-bird conflict, and entire species that can’t handle urban clamor simply leave town for good. But there are technological solutions to the noises hurting animals—and they could help humans, too.
Read the full story on the animal noise problem and solution.
—Clive Thompson
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.)
+ This clever AI camera turns what you see into poetry.
+ Take a trip through the history of electronics with the Past Catalog Archive.
+ Buckingham Palace guards performed a special rendition of “9 to 5” in honour of Dolly Parton.
+ A meteorite that crashed into a New Jersey couple’s home contains some of life’s building blocks.