The Download: AI’s end of life decisions, and green investing [MIT Tech Review]

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This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

End of life decisions are difficult and distressing. Could AI help?

End-of-life decisions can be extremely upsetting for surrogates—the people who have to make those calls on behalf of another person. Friends or family members may disagree over what’s best for their loved one, which can lead to distressing situations.

David Wendler, a bioethicist at the US National Institutes of Health, and his colleagues have been working on an idea for something that could make things easier: an artificial intelligence-based tool that can help surrogates predict what the patients themselves would want in any given situation.

Wendler hopes to start building their tool as soon as they secure funding for it, potentially in the coming months. But rolling it out won’t be simple. Critics wonder how such a tool can ethically be trained on a person’s data, and whether life-or-death decisions should ever be entrusted to AI. Read the full story.

—Jessica Hamzelou

Why investors care about climate tech’s green premium

Talking about money can be difficult, but it’s a crucial piece of the puzzle when it comes to climate tech.

Our colleague James Temple recently sat down for a chat with Mike Schroepfer, former CTO of Meta and a current climate tech investor. They talked about Schroepfer’s philanthropic work as well as his climate-tech venture firm, Gigascale Capital.

In their conversation, Schroepfer spoke about investing in companies not solely because of their climate promises, but because they can deliver a cheaper, better product that happens to have benefits for climate action too.

So, what can we expect from new technologies financially? What do they need to do to compete, and how quickly can they do so? Read the full story.

—Casey Crownhart

This story is from The Spark, our weekly energy and climate newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Google Search will hide explicit deepfakes from its results
And sites that host them will be demoted. (NBC News)
+ The company has reportedly previously rejected other proposed methods. (Wired $)
+ The move should make it easier for victims to get nonconsensual material taken off the internet. (FT $)
+ Meet the 15-year-old deepfake victim pushing Congress into action. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Support for Kamala Harris is steadily rising among tech investors
Many VCs felt the need to kick against high-profile figures’ early pledge of support for Donald Trump. (NYT $)
+ They’re optimistic that Harris will make tech-friendly strides forward. (Reuters)

3 Japan’s carmakers have a plan to succeed in China
They’re teaming up to save money and make inroads in the competitive market. (Bloomberg $)
+ Why China’s EV ambitions need virtual power plants. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Google has released three tiny generative AI models
Its Gemma 2 2B model’s performance can rival the much larger GPT-3.5. (VentureBeat)

5 Meta is raking in revenue from ads for illegal drugs
Despite facing a federal investigation for the policy-violating ads. (WSJ $)

6 Reddit has blocked Microsoft from scraping its data
For free, that is. (The Verge)

7 Not everything needs to charge like a smartphone
TV remotes and flashlights containing lithium batteries are a pain. (The Atlantic $)
+ This abundant material could unlock cheaper batteries. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Filipinos are backing a popular YouTuber to be their next president
But critics aren’t so sure he’s ready. (Rest of World)

9 A major space launch provider is punishing amateur photographers
Hobbyists are now prohibited from selling their rocket photos, and no one really knows why. (Ars Technica)
+ The Starliner astronauts are still stuck in space. (Vox)

10 The world still loves Candy Crush
12 years since its launch, it’s still a mobile gaming phenomenon. (The Guardian)

Quote of the day

“Avi, you a joke. Spent a mil on a name. Can’t ship a thing, just Twitter fame.”

—AI device entrepreneur Nik Shevchenko takes aim at Avi Schiffmann, the founder of rival company Friend who spent more than $1 million to buy the domain name friend.com, in a diss track, 404 Media reports.

The big story

Why the balance of power in tech is shifting toward workers

February 2022

Something has changed for tech giants. Even as they continue to hold tremendous influence in our daily lives, a growing accountability movement has begun to check their power. Led in large part by tech workers themselves, a movement seeking reform of how these companies do business has taken on unprecedented momentum, particularly in the past year.

Concerns and anger over tech companies’ impact in the world is nothing new, of course. What’s changed is that workers are increasingly getting organized. Read the full story.

—Jane Lytvynenko

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

• There’s trouble afoot in the Olympic Village: someone keeps stealing the chocolate muffins!
  + So inspired was Ridley Scott by Star Wars, we wouldn’t have Alien or Blade Runner without it. ($)
  + Aww, here’s how to fully appreciate all the people you love in your life.
  + Pickle hot dog buns!? Yes please.