{"id":833359,"date":"2025-03-12T04:11:49","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T09:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/12\/the-download-supercharging-the-power-grid-and-a-new-chinese-ai-agent\/"},"modified":"2025-03-12T04:11:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T09:11:49","slug":"the-download-supercharging-the-power-grid-and-a-new-chinese-ai-agent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/12\/the-download-supercharging-the-power-grid-and-a-new-chinese-ai-agent\/","title":{"rendered":"The Download: supercharging the power grid, and a new Chinese AI agent"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Plus: Meta was willing to build a censorship system in order to operate in China<\/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

The cheapest way to supercharge America\u2019s power grid<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u2014Brian Deese is an innovation fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and served as director of the White House National Economic Council from 2021 to 2023. Rob Gramlich is founder and president of Grid Strategies and was economic advisor to the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission during the George W. Bush administration.<\/em><\/p>\n

US electricity consumption is rising faster than it has in decades. Accommodating that growth will require building wind turbines, solar farms, and other power plants faster than we ever have before\u2014and expanding the network of wires needed to connect those facilities to the grid.<\/p>\n

But one major problem is that it\u2019s expensive and slow to secure permits for new transmission lines and build them across the country. Fortunately, there are some shortcuts that could expand the capacity of the existing system without requiring completely new infrastructure: a suite of hardware and software tools known as advanced transmission technologies (ATTs), which can increase both the capacity and the efficiency of the power sector.<\/p>\n

ATTs have the potential to radically reduce timelines for grid upgrades, avoid tricky permitting issues, and yield billions in annual savings for US consumers. So why are we not seeing an explosion in ATT investment and deployment in the US? <\/strong>Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Interested in learning more about this topic? Read more of our stories:<\/strong><\/p>\n

+ What\u2019s driving electricity demand? It isn\u2019t just AI and data centers.<\/a><\/p>\n

+ That said, AI\u2019s search for energy is <\/em>growing more urgent<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

+ Why this developer<\/a> won\u2019t quit fighting to connect the US\u2019s grids.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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+ Here are four ways<\/a> AI is making the power grid faster and more resilient.\u00a0<\/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 China claims to have created the world\u2019s first fully autonomous AI agent\u00a0<\/strong>
The agent, called Manus, can allegedly operate fully free of human intervention. (Forbes<\/a>)
+ But it\u2019s not clear if the hype can be justified at this stage. <\/em>(TechCrunch<\/a>)
+ Two former DeepMind researchers are chasing superintelligence. <\/em>(Bloomberg<\/a> $)
+ Four Chinese AI startups to watch beyond DeepSeek. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

2 Meta went to extreme lengths to win China\u2019s approval<\/strong>
Including developing a censorship system to comply with the CCP. (WP<\/a> $)
+ However, its attempts to curry favor with the party did not bear fruit. <\/em>(Gizmodo<\/a>)<\/p>\n

3 Anonymous Chinese investors are quietly funding Elon Musk\u2019s ventures<\/strong>
They\u2019re happy to invest tens of millions\u2014so long as their identities remain under wraps. (FT<\/a> $)
+ Despite the influx of cash, SpaceX isn\u2019t having a great year. <\/em>(NYT<\/a> $)
+ Starlink is reaping the benefits of its founder\u2019s proximity to the White House. <\/em>(NBC News<\/a>)<\/p>\n

4 Ukraine doesn\u2019t have minable rare earths<\/strong>
And even if it did, it would take at least 15 years to reach them. (IEEE Spectrum<\/a>)
+ The country is preparing to hold negotiations with the US this week. <\/em>(Economist<\/a> $)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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5 Farewell, the Athena lunar lander<\/strong>
It landed sideways in a crater and has been officially written off. (The Register<\/a>)
+ Intuitive Machines, the company behind it, is contracted for another two landings. <\/em>(AP News<\/a>)
+ Firefly Aerospace, another private firm, had better luck. <\/em>(Economist<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

6 The American public really doesn\u2019t like DOGE<\/strong>
And Donald Trump is starting to pay attention. (The Atlantic<\/a> $)
+ Musk represents the problem he is claiming he wants to solve. <\/em>(Wired<\/a> $)
+ The Trump administration is threatening scientific progress. <\/em>(New Yorker<\/a> $)
+ Anti-Musk protestors are targeting Tesla stores and infrastructure. <\/em>(WP<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

7 Wikipedia is struggling to document the war in the Middle East
<\/strong>Certain editors have been forbidden from working on related pages. (Bloomberg<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

8 How to store the world\u2019s data
<\/strong>Hard discs seem the obvious choice\u2014for now. (WSJ<\/a> $)
+ Music labels are going after the Internet Archive for copyright infringement. <\/em>(Ars Technica<\/a>)
+ The race to save our online lives from a digital dark age. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

9 YouTube bros are peddling Taliban tourism<\/strong>
Inside the depressing rise of videos purporting to show \u201canother side to Afghanistan.\u201d (Insider<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

10 Amazon and Google\u2019s AI calls Mein Kampf \u201ca true work of art\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>
That\u2019s what happens when you search for positive reviews of the Nazi manifesto. (404 Media<\/a>)
+ Want AI that flags hateful content? Build it. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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

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\u201cThe US won the internet and the US should win crypto.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014Tyler Winklevoss, who runs crypto exchange Gemini with his twin brother Cameron, could not be happier with the outcome of Donald Trump\u2019s crypto summit, according to a post on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

How this Turing Award\u2013winning researcher became a legendary academic advisor<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/a>October 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every academic field has its superstars. But a rare few achieve superstardom not just by demonstrating individual excellence but also by consistently producing future superstars.<\/p>\n

Computer science has its own such figure: Manuel Blum, who won the 1995 Turing Award\u2014the Nobel Prize of computer science. He is the inventor of the captcha\u2014a test designed to distinguish humans from bots online.<\/p>\n

Three of Blum\u2019s students have also won Turing Awards, and many have received other high honors in theoretical computer science. More than 20 hold professorships at top computer science departments. So what\u2019s the formula to his success? Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Sheon Han<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\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><\/p>\n

+ Looking for some books to make you laugh out loud? Look no further<\/a>.
+ What can\u2019t White Lotus star Walton Goggins<\/a> live without? An orange pen and 22-year old sand, apparently.
+ When it\u2019s time to take a break, here\u2019s<\/a> how to recharge properly.
+ $40 for \u201cmagic\u201d yogurt? What the hell, sure<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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

Plus: Meta was willing to build a censorship system in order to operate in China 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. The cheapest way to supercharge America\u2019s power grid \u2014Brian Deese is an innovation fellow at the Massachusetts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":833360,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24097,129822,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-833359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-download","category-supercharging","category-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833359","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=833359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}