{"id":873405,"date":"2025-09-16T21:12:42","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T02:12:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/16\/the-download-regulators-are-coming-for-ai-companions-and-meet-our-innovator-of-2025\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T21:12:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T02:12:42","slug":"the-download-regulators-are-coming-for-ai-companions-and-meet-our-innovator-of-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/16\/the-download-regulators-are-coming-for-ai-companions-and-meet-our-innovator-of-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"The Download: regulators are coming for AI companions, and meet our Innovator of 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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 looming crackdown on AI companionship<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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As long as there has been AI, there have been people sounding alarms about what it might do to us: rogue superintelligence, mass unemployment, or environmental ruin. But another threat entirely\u2014that of kids forming unhealthy bonds with AI\u2014is pulling AI safety out of the academic fringe and into regulators\u2019 crosshairs.<\/p>\n

This has been bubbling for a while. Two high-profile lawsuits filed in the last year, against Character.AI and OpenAI, allege that their models contributed to the suicides of two teenagers. A study published in July, found that 72% of teenagers have used AI for companionship. And stories about \u201cAI psychosis\u201d have highlighted how endless conversations with chatbots can lead people down delusional spirals.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to overstate the impact of these stories. To the public, they are proof that AI is not merely imperfect, but harmful. If you doubted that this outrage would be taken seriously by regulators and companies, three things happened this week that might change your mind<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014James O\u2019Donnell<\/em><\/p>\n

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, <\/strong>sign up here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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If you\u2019re interested in reading more about AI companionship, why not check out:<\/strong><\/p>\n

+ AI companions are the final stage of digital addiction\u2014and lawmakers are taking aim. Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

+ Chatbots are rapidly changing how we connect to each other\u2014and ourselves. We\u2019re never going back. Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

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Meet the designer of the world\u2019s fastest whole-genome sequencing method<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every year, MIT Technology Review selects one individual whose work we admire to recognize as Innovator of the Year. For 2025, we chose Sneha Goenka, who designed the computations behind the world\u2019s fastest whole-genome sequencing method<\/a>. Thanks to her work, physicians can now sequence a patient\u2019s genome and diagnose a genetic condition in less than eight hours\u2014an achievement that could transform medical care.<\/p>\n

Register here<\/a> to join an exclusive subscriber-only Roundtable conversation with Goenka, Leilani Battle, assistant professor at the University of Washington, and our editor in chief Mat Honan at 1pm ET on Tuesday September 23.<\/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 Childhood vaccination rates are falling across the US<\/strong>
Much of the country no longer has the means to stop the spread of deadly disease. (NBC News<\/a>)
+ Take a look at the factors driving vaccine hesitancy. <\/em>(WP<\/a> $)
+ RFK Jr is appointing more vaccine skeptics to the CDC advisory panel<\/em>. (Ars Technica<\/a>)
+ Why US federal health agencies are abandoning mRNA vaccines. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

2 The US and China have reached a TikTok deal\u00a0<\/strong>
Beijing says the spin-off version sold to US investors will still use ByteDance\u2019s algorithm. (FT<\/a> $)
+ But further details are still pretty scarce. <\/em>(WP<\/a> $)
+ The deal may have been fueled by China\u2019s desire for Trump to visit the country. <\/em>(WSJ<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

3 OpenAI is releasing a version of GPT-5 optimized for agentic coding<\/p>\n

<\/strong>
It\u2019s a direct rival to Anthropic\u2019s Claude Code and Microsoft\u2019s GitHub Copilot. (TechCrunch<\/a>)
+ OpenAI says it\u2019s been trained on real-world engineering tasks. <\/em>(VentureBeat<\/a>)
+ The second wave of AI coding is here. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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4<\/strong> The FTC is investigating Ticketmaster\u2019s bot-fighting measures\u00a0<\/strong>
It\u2019s probing whether the platform is doing enough to prevent illegal automated reselling. (Bloomberg<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

5 Google has created a new privacy-preserving LLM
<\/strong>VaultGemma uses a technique called differential privacy to reduce the amount of data AI holds onto. (Ars Technica<\/a>)<\/p>\n

6 Space tech firms are fighting it out for NATO contracts
<\/strong>Militaries are willing to branch out and strike deals with commercial vendors. (FT<\/a> $)
+ Why Trump\u2019s \u201cgolden dome\u201d missile defense idea is another ripped straight from the movies. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

7 Facebook users are receiving their Cambridge Analytica payouts<\/strong>
Don\u2019t spend it all at once! (The Verge<\/a>)<\/p>\n

8 The future of supercomputing could hinge on moon mining missions
<\/strong>Companies are rushing to buy the moon\u2019s resources before mining has even begun. (WP<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

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9 What it\u2019s like living with an AI toy<\/strong>
Featuring unsettling conversations galore. (The Guardian<\/a>)<\/p>\n

10 Anthropic\u2019s staff are obsessed with an albino alligator ????<\/strong>
As luck would have it, he just happens to be called Claude. (WSJ<\/a> $)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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

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\u201cIt\u2019s going to mean more infections, more hospitalizations, more disability and more death.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014Demetre Daskalakis, former director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, explains the probable outcomes of America\u2019s current vaccine policy jumble, the BBC<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n

One more thing<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n
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Robots are bringing new life to extinct species<\/strong><\/p>\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.<\/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. Here are four examples of robots that are shedding light on creatures of yore<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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

+ New York City is full of natural life<\/a>, if you know where to look.
+ This photo of Jim Morrison enjoying a beer for breakfast<\/a> is the epitome of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll.
+ How to age like a champion athlete<\/a>.
+ Would you dare drive the world\u2019s most narrow car<\/a>? <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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

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 looming crackdown on AI companionship As long as there has been AI, there have been people sounding alarms about what it might do to us: rogue superintelligence, mass unemployment, or environmental<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":873406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24097,22594,46],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-873405","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-download","8":"category-regulators","9":"category-technology"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873405","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=873405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}