{"id":873674,"date":"2025-09-17T21:12:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T02:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/17\/the-download-measuring-returns-on-rd-and-ais-creative-potential\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T21:12:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T02:12:26","slug":"the-download-measuring-returns-on-rd-and-ais-creative-potential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/17\/the-download-measuring-returns-on-rd-and-ais-creative-potential\/","title":{"rendered":"The Download: measuring returns on R&D, and AI\u2019s creative potential"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Plus: TikTok’s potential new owners have deep pockets<\/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

How to measure the returns on R&D spending<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Given the draconian cuts to US federal funding for science, it\u2019s worth asking some hard-nosed money questions: How much should we be spending on R&D? How much value do we get out of such investments, anyway?\u00a0<\/p>\n

To answer that, in several recent papers, economists have approached this issue in clever new ways.\u00a0 And, though they ask slightly different questions, their conclusions share a bottom line: R&D is, in fact, one of the better long-term investments that the government can make. Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014David Rotman<\/em><\/p>\n

This article is part of MIT Technology Review Explains, our series untangling the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand what\u2019s coming next. <\/strong>You can read more from the series here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re interested in reading more about America\u2019s economic situation, check out:<\/strong><\/p>\n

MIT Technology Review Narrated: How AI can help supercharge creativity<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Forget one-click creativity. Artists and musicians are finding new ways to make art using AI, by injecting friction, challenge, and serendipity into the process.<\/p>\n

This is our latest story<\/a> to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we\u2019re publishing each week on Spotify<\/a> and Apple Podcasts<\/a>. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it\u2019s released.<\/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 TikTok\u2019s buyers may include Oracle, Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz\u00a0<\/strong>
They would control around 80% of the business, with Chinese shareholders holding the rest. (WSJ<\/a> $)
+ We still have plenty of unanswered questions about the deal. <\/em>(Bloomberg<\/a> $)
+ It was brokered in Madrid. <\/em>(The Guardian<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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2 OpenAI is working on a version of ChatGPT for teenagers<\/strong>
And it\u2019ll use age-prediction tech to bar them from the standard version. (Axios<\/a>)
+ The move comes as the US Senate is hearing evidence about chatbot harms. <\/em>(404 Media<\/a>)
+ The looming crackdown on AI companionship. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

3 China has banned tech firms from buying Nvidia\u2019s chips<\/strong>
In an effort to boost its own companies. (FT<\/a> $)
+ Alibaba and ByteDance have been instructed to terminate orders. <\/em>(Bloomberg<\/a> $)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

4 Anthropic refuses to let US law enforcement use its models
<\/strong>Much to the White House\u2019s chagrin. (Semafor<\/a>)

5 Tesla\u2019s doors may trap passengers inside its cars
<\/strong>Vehicle safety regulators are investigating after people reported being forced to break windows to retrieve children. (NYT<\/a> $)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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6 How AI companies train their models to do white-collar jobs\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>
After hitting a wall, they\u2019re throwing money at the problem. (The Information<\/a> $)
+ New training \u2018environments\u2019 are a hot AI topic right now.\u00a0 <\/em>(TechCrunch<\/a>)
+ How AI is shaking up corporate hierarchies. <\/em>(WSJ<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

7 Inside Damascus\u2019 bid to become a tech hub
<\/strong>The city\u2019s tech industry has been embraced by its new government. (Rest of World<\/a>)<\/p>\n

8 A supply shipment to the ISS has been delayed<\/strong>
NASA is blaming engine trouble. (Ars Technica<\/a>)
+ The great commercial takeover of low Earth orbit. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

9 Our darkest nights are getting lighter<\/strong>
Artificial light is ruining our chances of seeing starry skies. (IEEE Spectrum<\/a>)
+ Bright LEDs could spell the end of dark skies. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

10 You can now book a safari through Uber ????????<\/strong>
Expedition into Nairobi National Park, anyone? (Bloomberg<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWhat began as a homework helper gradually turned itself into a confidant and then a suicide coach.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u2014Matthew Raine, whose 16-year old son Adam died by suicide after repeatedly sharing his intentions with ChatGPT, gives evidence to a Senate Judiciary subcommittee investigating chatbot dangers, the Washington Post<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n

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

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AI is coming for music, too<\/strong>While large language models that generate text have exploded in the last three years, a different type of AI, based on what are called diffusion models, is having an unprecedented impact on creative domains.<\/p>\n

By transforming random noise into coherent patterns, diffusion models can generate new images, videos, or speech, guided by text prompts or other input data. The best ones can create outputs indistinguishable from the work of people<\/p>\n

Now these models are marching into a creative field that is arguably more vulnerable to disruption than any other: music. Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2014James O’Donnell<\/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

+ Food, in all shapes and forms, is bigger than ever. So why aren\u2019t we watching cooking shows<\/a> any more?
+ Kate Bush\u2019s Hounds of Love<\/a> turns 40 this year, but still sounds as fresh as ever.
+ Here\u2019s how to maximize your chances of booking a bargain flight<\/a>.
+ Robert Redford, you were one of a kind<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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

Plus: TikTok’s potential new owners have deep pockets 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. How to measure the returns on R&D spending Given the draconian cuts to US federal funding for science, it\u2019s worth asking some hard-nosed money<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":873675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24097,24445,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-873674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-download","category-measuring","category-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873674","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=873674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}