{"id":874989,"date":"2025-10-02T21:29:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T02:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/02\/the-download-accidental-ai-relationships-and-the-future-of-contraception\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T21:29:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T02:29:09","slug":"the-download-accidental-ai-relationships-and-the-future-of-contraception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/02\/the-download-accidental-ai-relationships-and-the-future-of-contraception\/","title":{"rendered":"The Download: accidental AI relationships, and the future of contraception"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

It\u2019s surprisingly easy to stumble into a relationship with an AI chatbot<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The news: <\/strong>The first large-scale computational analysis of the Reddit community r\/MyBoyfriendIsAI, which is dedicated to discussing AI relationships, found that many people formed those relationships unintentionally while using AI for other purposes. In fact, only 6.5% of them said they\u2019d deliberately sought out an AI companion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why it matters: <\/strong>The study found that AI companionship provides vital support for some but exacerbates underlying problems for others. This means it\u2019s hard to take a one-size-fits-all approach to user safety. Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Rhiannon Williams<\/em><\/p>\n

Join us at 1.30pm ET today to learn about the future of birth control\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Conversations around birth control usually focus on women, but Kevin Eisenfrats, one of the MIT Technology Review 2025 Innovators Under 35, is working to change that. His company, Contraline, is working toward testing new birth control options for men<\/a>. Join us for an exclusive subscribers-only Roundtable interview to hear Kevin in conversation with our executive editor Amy Nordrum at 1.30 ET today<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MIT Technology Review Narrated: What\u2019s next for AI and math<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The last year has seen rapid progress in the ability of large language models to tackle math at high school level and beyond. Is AI closing in on human mathematicians?\u00a0<\/p>\n

This story<\/a> is the latest to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we publish every week on Spotify<\/a> and Apple Podcasts<\/a>. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to listen to all our new episodes as they\u2019re released.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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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 Secret Service agents dismantled a giant operation to cripple cell networks<\/strong>
They say it\u2019s likely it was intended to be used for scams. (Wired<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

\n

2 Welcome to the new era of fragmented US vaccine policies<\/strong>
The federal government is abdicating responsibility for public health. Who will fill the void? (New Yorker<\/a> $)
+ Why US federal health agencies are abandoning mRNA vaccines. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

3 European defense leaders are discussing building a \u2018drone wall\u2019\u00a0<\/strong>
They\u2019re scrambling to catch up as Russian incursions into their territory increase. (ABC<\/a>)<\/p>\n

4 How will we know if we\u2019ve reached artificial general intelligence?<\/strong>
That\u2019s the multi-billion dollar question\u2014but there\u2019s no clear answer. (IEEE Spectrum<\/a>)
+ Experts don\u2019t even agree on what AI is to begin with, never mind AGI<\/em>. (MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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5 Robot umpires are coming to baseball\u2019s major leagues next year\u00a0????\u26be<\/strong>
Humans will still be in charge of calling balls and strikes, but tech will help to judge appealed decisions. (AP<\/a>)<\/p>\n

6 AI\u2019s energy needs are being overstated<\/strong>
And that could lock us into unnecessary, costly fossil fuel projects. (The Verge<\/a>)
+ Four reasons to be optimistic about AI\u2019s energy usage.<\/em> (MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

7 Extreme drought is set to become a lot more commonplace<\/strong>
Governments need to do a lot more to prepare. (Gizmodo<\/a>)\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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8 AI is coming for subtitle writers\u2019 jobs\u00a0<\/strong>
But their work is harder to replace than you might think. (The Guardian<\/a>)
+ \u2018Workslop\u2019 is slowing everything down.<\/em> (Harvard Business Review<\/a>)
+ And, to add to the problem, AI systems may never be secure.<\/em> (The Economist<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

9 How epigenetics could help save wildlife from extinction<\/strong>
It could allow scientists to detect accelerated aging before an animal population starts to visibly collapse. (Knowable<\/a>)
+ Aging clocks aim to predict how long you\u2019ll live.<\/em> (MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

10 TikTok is getting introduced to the concept of the rapture\u00a0<\/strong>
Which is due today, according to some. If so, it\u2019s been great knowing you. Good luck! (The Guardian<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

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

\u201cEverybody has a backup.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014Stella Li, executive vice president at BYD, tells CNBC<\/a> the company has contingency plans in case Beijing orders it to stop using Nvidia chips.<\/p>\n

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

\n
\"Steel<\/p>\n

GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

This app is helping workers reclaim millions in lost wages<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Reclamo, a new web app, helps immigrant workers who have experienced wage theft. It guides them through assembling case details, and ultimately produces finished legal claims that can be filed instantly. A process that would otherwise take multiple meetings with an attorney can now be done within an hour.<\/p>\n

A significant amount of wage theft targets immigrants, both legal and undocumented, in part because of communication barriers and their perceived lack of power or legal recourse. But the app is already making a difference\u2014helping workers to reclaim $1 million in lost wages since it started beta testing in October 2022. Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2014Patrick Sisson<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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

It\u2019s surprisingly easy to stumble into a relationship with an AI chatbot The news: The first large-scale computational analysis of the Reddit community r\/MyBoyfriendIsAI, which is dedicated to discussing AI relationships, found that many people formed those relationships unintentionally while using AI for other purposes. In fact, only 6.5% of them said they\u2019d deliberately sought<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":874990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30386,24097,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-874989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-accidental","category-download","category-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874989","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=874989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}