{"id":826570,"date":"2025-02-13T01:11:55","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T07:11:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/13\/the-download-robot-reanimation-and-ai-crawler-wars\/"},"modified":"2025-02-13T01:11:55","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T07:11:55","slug":"the-download-robot-reanimation-and-ai-crawler-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/13\/the-download-robot-reanimation-and-ai-crawler-wars\/","title":{"rendered":"The Download: robot reanimation, and AI crawler wars"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Plus: The US is not experiencing an AI energy crisis yet. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n

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This is today’s edition of\u00a0The Download<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Robots are bringing new life to extinct species<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In the last few years, paleontologists have developed a new trick for turning back time and studying prehistoric animals: building experimental robotic models of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the absence of a living specimen, scientists say, an ambling, flying, swimming, or slithering automaton is the next best thing for studying the behavior of extinct organisms.\u00a0Here are four examples of robots that are shedding light on creatures of yore<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Shi En Kim<\/em><\/p>\n

This subscriber-only story is from an upcoming edition of our print magazine.\u00a0Subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0to get a copy when it lands on February 26!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

AI crawler wars threaten to make the web more closed for everyone<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u2014<\/em>Shayne Longpre is a PhD Candidate at MIT, where his research focuses on the intersection of AI and policy. He leads the <\/em>Data Provenance Initiative<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

We often take the internet for granted. It\u2019s an ocean of information at our fingertips\u2014and it simply works. But this system relies on swarms of \u201ccrawlers\u201d\u2014bots that roam the web, visit millions of websites every day, and report what they see.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Crawlers are endemic. Now representing half of all internet traffic, they will soon outpace human traffic. This unseen subway of the web ferries information from site to site, day and night. And as of late, they serve one more purpose: Companies such as OpenAI use web-crawled data to train their artificial intelligence systems, like ChatGPT.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Understandably, websites are now fighting back for fear that this invasive species\u2014AI crawlers\u2014will help displace them. But there\u2019s a problem: This pushback is also threatening the transparency and open borders of the web. Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The must-reads<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve combed the internet to find you today\u2019s most fun\/important\/scary\/fascinating stories about technology.<\/em><\/p>\n

1 The US is not experiencing an AI energy crisis yet<\/strong>
We don\u2019t know how much energy AI will end up needing. We\u00a0do\u00a0<\/em>know fossil fuels are destroying our planet. (The Atlantic<\/a>\u00a0$)
+\u00a0AI is an energy hog. This is what it means for climate change.<\/em>\u00a0(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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2 The US and UK refused to sign an international AI declaration\u00a0<\/strong>
Despite its name, the AI Action Summit seems to have been a lot of talk and not much action. (BBC<\/a>)
+\u00a0Anthropic\u2019s CEO decried it as a \u2018missed opportunity\u2019.\u00a0<\/em>(TechCrunch<\/a>)
+\u00a0JD Vance used his speech at the summit to rail against Europe\u2019s \u2018excessive\u2019 AI regulations<\/em>. (AP<\/a>)
+\u00a0It seems to have worked\u2014the EU\u2019s already scrapping some proposed new rules<\/em>. (Sifted<\/a>)
+\u00a0And it\u2019s committing to plow over $200 billion into AI development in a bid to try and compete.\u00a0<\/em>(Engadget<\/a>)<\/p>\n

3 DOGE\u2019s latest target is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau<\/strong>
The fact it was about to start regulating X is inconsequential, apparently. (NPR<\/a>)
+\u00a0How Musk\u2019s companies stand to benefit from his position leading DOGE.<\/em>\u00a0(NYT<\/a>\u00a0$)
+\u00a0Trump is expanding DOGE\u2019s power to cut the federal workforce<\/em>. (WP<\/a>\u00a0$)
+\u00a0Privacy advocates and labor unions have filed a lawsuit to try to block DOGE\u2019s data access.\u00a0<\/em>(The Verge<\/a>)
+\u00a0What if Trump just\u2026refuses to comply with the law?<\/em>\u00a0(New Yorker<\/a>\u00a0$)<\/p>\n

4 Apple is partnering with Alibaba to launch AI features in China<\/strong>
It decided against DeepSeek, citing a lack of experience. (The Information<\/a>\u00a0$)
+\u00a0Alibaba\u2019s Qwen powers the world\u2019s top ten open source large language models<\/em>. (South China Morning Post<\/a>)
+\u00a0Four Chinese AI startups to watch beyond DeepSeek.<\/em>\u00a0(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

5 A dairy worker in Nevada has been infected with a new strain of bird flu\u00a0<\/strong>
This marks the first time this new strain is known to have jumped from birds to cows to a person. (Ars Technica<\/a>)
+\u00a0How the US is preparing for a potential bird flu pandemic.<\/em>\u00a0(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

6 Wikipedia is increasingly having to defend its US editors from attacks<\/strong>
This is what the erosion of free speech really looks like, by the way. (404 Media<\/a>)<\/p>\n

7 Some Temu sellers are using the US Postal Service for free<\/strong>
Counterfeit postage labels are being openly promoted on Chinese social media. (Rest of World<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

8 How Meta ended up cancelling its commitment to diversity<\/strong>
Pretty easily, as Zuckerberg never really saw it as a priority to begin with. (The Guardian<\/a>)<\/p>\n

9 The Earth\u2019s inner core is changing shape\u00a0????<\/strong>
Pretty wild! And it\u2019s possible that it\u2019s linked to changes in the magnetic field. (Scientific American<\/a>\u00a0$)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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10 Pakistan\u2019s rickshaws are at the forefront of its EV revolution<\/strong>
This makes so much sense, if they can overcome the cost barrier. (Rest of World<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Quote of the day<\/strong><\/p>\n

“So far, what we are seeing is a lot of cost and a lot of chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford, bemoans the early impact of Trump\u2019s tariffs at a conference in New York this week,\u00a0Business Insider<\/a>\u00a0reports.<\/p>\n

The big story<\/strong><\/p>\n

The quest to build wildfire-resistant homes<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"An<\/a><\/p>\n

DON BARTLETTI\/LOS ANGELES TIMES VIA GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

April 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n

With each devastating wildfire in the US West, officials consider new methods or regulations that might save homes or lives the next time.<\/p>\n

In the parts of California where the hillsides meet human development, and where the state has suffered recurring seasonal fire tragedies, that search for new means of survival has especially high stakes.<\/p>\n

Many of these methods are low cost and low tech, but no less innovative. In fact, the hardest part to tackle may not be materials engineering, but social change.\u00a0Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Susie Cagle<\/em><\/p>\n

We can still have nice things<\/strong><\/p>\n

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? <\/em>Drop me a line<\/em><\/a> or <\/em>skeet ’em at me<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em>+ This\u00a0roundup<\/a>\u00a0of Victorian-era content made me giggle. I\u2019m going to start using \u2018the morbs\u2019.
+ How to feel more alive. (NYT<\/a>\u00a0$)
+ Despite what society tells us, all the evidence shows that success\u00a0does not have an age limit<\/a>.\u00a0
+ Why does Hokusai\u2019s Great Wave\u00a0have such enduring mass appeal<\/a>?\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Charlotte Jee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plus: The US is not experiencing an AI energy crisis yet. This is today’s edition of\u00a0The Download ,\u00a0our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Robots are bringing new life to extinct species In the last few years, paleontologists have developed a new trick for turning<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":826571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24097,590,46],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-826570","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-download","8":"category-robot","9":"category-technology"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}