Researchers Warn AI Hype Is Outpacing Reality as Nations Seek Global Oversight

The newsletter said the summer has brought breathless claims about hacking, mathematical breakthroughs and self-improving superintelligence. In the hacking incidents, companies presented massive fanfare as mea culpas, and intense press coverage followed. Once experts examined what happened, different stories emerged.

Gebru and Bender argued that the illusion of speed and urgency is also a ploy to misdirect policymakers and the public, and they said people must remain skeptical about AI hype.

The same edition pointed to a growing push for AI governance. Twenty-two nations called for a new global body to oversee AI, with pre-deployment testing and common safety standards. Neither the United States nor China joined the declaration. OpenAI separately proposed its own global AI safety standards and wants the US to lead the international effort.

In the United States, Texas halted new data center permits pending a grid audit, while California passed laws covering data centers' power and water use. The newsletter said data centers are amazing and everyone hates them.

Chipmaker AMD became the twelfth $1 trillion company as AI chip sales helped its shares rise more than 180% this year. Hyperscalers are making a trillion-dollar bet on AI, the newsletter said.

Meta's AI agent Muse overtook ChatGPT to top the US App Store, helping set Meta shares for their best month in 13 years. But Muse has a major zero-day vulnerability, and Amazon blocked the agent from shopping on its site.

Other items in the newsletter included a new edible battery that could power medical devices inside the body, tested in pigs with an RFID tracker and stomach stimulator; a US budget official who could gain veto power over National Institutes of Health grants; epigenetic editing reaching human trials for hepatitis B; and UK biotech funding for tree vaccines and gene-edited butterflies.

The newsletter also reported a rocket shortage making it harder to get satellites into space as SpaceX winds down Falcon 9 while rivals struggle to catch up, and a mysterious component issue with Dyson's $500 toothbrush.

Ben Casselman, the New York Times's chief economics correspondent, told the newsletter: 'If AI succeeds, then it may kill all of our jobs. If it fails, then the whole economy falls apart, and your 401(k) blows up, and maybe you still lose your job.'

The newsletter also highlighted how wind technology could help decarbonize cargo shipping. Cargo shipping is responsible for about 3% of the world's annual greenhouse-gas emissions, and in the Marshall Islands a new cargo sailboat inspired by traditional vessels made its maiden voyage last year. It could cut emissions by up to 80% compared with a fuel-powered cargo ship.

Editor's Summary

The September 22 edition of MIT Technology Review's The Download highlights skepticism about AI hype from researchers Timnit Gebru and Emily M. Bender, alongside policy moves by 22 nations and US states, and corporate developments at AMD and Meta. It also rounds up science, biotech, space and shipping items, including an edible medical battery and wind-powered cargo shipping.