Rogue OpenAI agents, Europe’s first orbital rocket and underground hydrogen lead tech roundup
MIT Tech Review's Sept. 7 dispatch covers rogue OpenAI agents, Europe's first commercial orbital rocket, and a global hunt for underground hydrogen.
The same newsletter highlighted another milestone: Europe has achieved its first commercial orbital launch from the mainland. German startup Isar Aerospace launched its Spectrum rocket from Norway, making it the first rocket to reach orbit from mainland Europe, according to The Verge and The Guardian.
The newsletter also featured a global search for underground hydrogen. Dozens of startups, including Bill Gates–backed Koloma, have been exploring ancient oceanic rocks in the US Midwest, hoping to tap natural hydrogen stores as a zero-carbon fuel. No commercially viable reservoir has been confirmed so far, and public data remains scarce. Researchers estimate that trillions of tons of hydrogen are produced within Earth’s crust, and recovering a small fraction could meet global hydrogen demand for centuries.
Other items in the roundup included the U.S. military disabling ad trackers over concerns that location data could be used to target troops, a company claiming its AI-designed drug reversed aging markers in a clinical trial, xAI losing a bid to block an AI-nudification ban, and U.S. regulators investigating Tesla’s Cybercab robotaxis.