The Download: everyday AI harms and the race to nuclear spaceflight

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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. Opinion: The focus on AI safety disasters ignores everyday harms —Sam Hiner, cofounder of the Young People’s Alliance, and Emma Leiken, executive director of the Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund at Hopelab We have historically allowed debates over technology to be defined by the worst thing a product might do, with remarkably little discussion of the insidious damage it does every day. A third of teens now choose to discuss serious matters with AI companions instead of other people. Students are relying on chatbots to write their papers, while social media feeds engineered to provoke envy keep users watching. These products can meet narrow safety requirements yet still erode how we think, learn, and interact with one another. As we enter an era defined by powerful AI products, we should demand that the tech industry do more than address only catastrophic harms. Here’s why AI safety needs to go further. Are we there yet? Nuclear-powered spaceships Earlier this year, NASA announced plans to build Space Reactor-1 Freedom, the first-ever nuclear-reactor-powered interplanetary spacecraft, and fly it to Mars by the end of 2028. A successful mission could herald more efficient, potentially faster spaceflight, saving astronauts time and cutting their exposure to harmful cosmic radiation. But nuclear space propulsion has moved slowly. The US has started—and terminated—several programs exploring the technology over the past 75 years. Could the $2 billion bet on Space Reactor-1 Freedom finally pay off?Find out how close NASA is to making nuclear-powered spaceflight a reality. —Robin George Andrews This story is part of “Are we there yet?” from the new Impossible issue of MIT Technology Review. The series takes stock of six technologies that have long promised to change the world—and scores them on a progress meter. Over t