The Download: digitizing India, and scoring embryos

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 man who made India digital isn’t done yet

Nandan Nilekani can’t stop trying to push India into the future. He started nearly 30 years ago, masterminding an ongoing experiment in technological state capacity that started with Aadhaar—the world’s largest digital identity system. 

Using Aadhaar as the bedrock, Nilekani and people working with him went on to build a sprawling collection of free, interoperating online tools that add up to nothing less than a digital infrastructure for society, covering government services, banking, and health care. They offer convenience and access that would be eye-popping in wealthy countries a tenth of India’s size. 

At 70 years old, Nilekani should be retired. But he has a few more ideas. Read our profile to learn about what he’s set his sights on next.

—Edd Gent

Embryo scoring is slowly becoming more mainstream

Many Americans agree that it’s acceptable to screen embryos for severe genetic diseases. Far fewer say it’s okay to test for characteristics related to a future child’s appearance, behavior, or intelligence. But a few startups are now advertising what they claim is a way to do just that.

This new kind of testing—which can cost up to $50,000—is incredibly controversial. Nevertheless, the practice has grown popular in Silicon Valley, and it’s becoming more widely available to everyone. Read the full story. 

—Julia Black
Embryo scoring is one of our 10 Breakthrough Technologies this year. Check out what else made the list, and scroll down to vote for the technology you think deserves the 11th slot.

Five AI predictions for 2026

What will surprise us most about AI in 2026?

Tune in at 12.30pm today to hear me, our senior AI editor Will Douglas Heaven and senior AI reporter James O’Donnell discuss our “5 AI Predictions for 2026”. This special LinkedIn Live event will explore the trends that are poised to transform the next twelve months of AI. The conversation will also offer a first glimpse at EmTech AI 2026, MIT Technology Review’s longest running AI event for business leadership. Sign up to join us later today! 

The must-reads

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

1 Europe is trying to build its own DeepSeek
That’s been a goal for a while, but US hostility is making those efforts newly urgent. (Wired $)
+ Plenty of Europeans want to wean off US technology. That’s easier said than done. (New Scientist $)
+ DeepSeek may have found a new way to improve AI’s ability to remember. (MIT Technology Review $)

4 Cryptocurrencies are dying in record numbers
In an era of one-off joke coins and pump and dump scams, that’s surely a good thing. (Gizmodo)
+ President Trump has pardoned a lot of people who’ve committed financial crimes. (NBC)

5 Threads has more global daily mobile users than X now
And once-popular alternative Bluesky barely even makes the charts. (Forbes)

6 The UK is considering banning under 16s from social media 
Just weeks after a similar ban took effect in Australia. (BBC)

7 You can burn yourself out with AI coding agents 
They could be set to make experienced programmers busier than ever before. (Ars Technica)
+ Why Anthropic’s Claude Code is taking the AI world by storm. (WSJ $)
+ AI coding is now everywhere. But not everyone is convinced. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Some tech billionaires are leaving California 👋
Not all though—the founders of Nvidia and Airbnb say they’ll stay and pay the 5% wealth tax. (WP $)
+ Tech bosses’ support for Trump is paying off for them big time. (FT $)

9 Matt Damon says Netflix tells directors to repeat movie plots
To accommodate all the people using their phones. (NME)

10 Why more people are going analog in 2026 🧶
Crafting, reading, and other screen-free hobbies are on the rise. (CNN)
+ Dumbphones are becoming popular too—but it’s worth thinking hard before you switch. (Wired $)

Quote of the day

‘It may sound like American chauvinism…and it is. We’re done apologising about that.”

—Thomas Dans, a Trump appointee who heads the US Arctic Research Commission, tells the FT his boss is deadly serious about acquiring Greenland. 

One more thing

BRUCE PETERSON

Inside the fierce, messy fight over “healthy” sugar tech

On the outskirts of Charlottesville, Virginia, a new kind of sugar factory is taking shape. The facility is being developed by a startup called Bonumose. It uses a processed corn product called maltodextrin that is found in many junk foods and is calorically similar to table sugar (sucrose). 

But for Bonumose, maltodextrin isn’t an ingredient—it’s a raw material. When it’s poured into the company’s bioreactors, what emerges is tagatose. Found naturally in small concentrations in fruit, some grains, and milk, it is nearly as sweet as sucrose but apparently with only around half the calories, and wider health benefits.

Bonumose’s process originated in a company spun out of the Virginia Tech lab of Yi-Heng “Percival” Zhang. When MIT Technology Review spoke to Zhang, he was sitting alone in an empty lab in Tianjin, China, after serving a two-year sentence of supervised release in Virginia for conspiracy to defraud the US government, making false statements, and obstruction of justice. If sugar is the new oil, the global battle to control it has already begun. Read the full story. 

—Mark Harris

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 or skeet ’em at me.)

+ Paul Mescal just keeps getting cooler.
+ Make this year calmer with these evidence-backed tips. ($)
+ I can confirm that Lumie wake-up lamps really are worth it (and no one paid me to say so!)
+ There are some real gems in Green Day’s bassist Mike Dirnt’s favorite albums list.