Smart Glasses Privacy Risks in India, AI’s Trillion-Dollar Gamble and 10 More Tech Stories

This is today’s edition of The Download, a weekday newsletter delivering a daily dose of what’s happening in technology.

Smart glasses are already causing privacy havoc in India

When Shubnam watched an Instagram video of a protest in Delhi they had attended, they realized that content creators wearing Mehta smart glasses had secretly recorded them. The mocking reel, along with transphobic abuse and AI-generated memes, attracted millions of views.

Experts warn that many more people could experience similar ordeals as smart glasses become mainstream. The risk is particularly acute in India, where the distribution of secret recordings and images without consent is already widespread.

The bigger problem is that smart glasses are not being used only to target ordinary people with viral pranks. They are also becoming a tool for police surveillance.

Here’s why smart glasses are creating new privacy risks in India.

—Anuj Behar

Narrated by MIT Technology Review: What’s at stake in AI’s trillion-dollar gamble?

When Jessica Wachter, a finance professor at the University of Pennsylvania, wanted to assess AI’s potential economic impact, she started with a simple fact: a small number of so-called hyperscalers are investing huge sums in AI data centers.

Rather than trying to predict how widely AI models will be adopted, Wachter asked how quickly hyperscalers’ revenues would need to grow to justify their spending through 2027, when investment is expected to reach nearly $1.1 trillion.

The results are striking. AI companies will need to significantly improve productivity to reach breakeven by 2030.

This is our latest story. It is a narrated podcast from MIT Technology Review, published weekly. Listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Follow MIT Technology Review Narrated on your preferred platform to keep up with new episodes.

Must-read technology news

We scoured the internet to find the most entertaining, important, alarming and fascinating technology stories today.

1. Hackers claim to have stolen data on nearly all FBI employees
The ShinyHunters group says it seized more than 2TB of data. (Axios)
+ The data allegedly includes agents’ names, addresses and phone numbers. (404 Media)
+ ShinyHunters says the attack was retaliation for an FBI warning. (Reuters $)
+ Now is a good time to commit crime. (MIT Technology Review)

2. Anthropic and OpenAI release lower-cost AI models
The companies face increasing competition from cheaper Chinese-made models. (CNBC)
+ A startup is reducing its dependence on both AI labs. (Bloomberg $)
+ The new model is the first since we asked for an AI slowdown. (Financial Times $)
+ Their CEO is scheduled to brief the UN Security Council today. (Quartz)
+ Can AI really kill us all? (MIT Technology Review)

3. Trump’s Treasury secretary could become the next AI czar
Scott Bessent has played a central role in US-China AI talks. (Semafor)
+ Other candidates include Michael Kratsios and Scott Cooper. (Gizmodo)
+ Will Trump’s AI be rebranded as “superintelligence” and become widespread? (BBC)

4. Scientists are turning renewable electricity directly into food
The goal is to produce more food on less land. (New Scientist $)
+ Companies are creating food out of nothing. (MIT Technology Review)

5. ‘Fire amoeba’ sets a record for high-temperature survival
The newly discovered microorganism can grow and reproduce at 63 degrees Celsius. (NPR)
+ It could inform the search for life elsewhere. (New Scientist $)

6. Meta secretly tested a human “concierge” for its Muse AI agent
A contractor secretly handled some calls made by Muse. (Reuters $)
+ Staff raised concerns about privacy and misleading users. (404 Media)

7. Data centers are replacing copper with light to reduce energy use
Photonics can move data while generating less heat than electrical wiring. (BBC)
+ Virtual power plants could also play a role. (MIT Technology Review)

8. AI models built from rat brains are getting closer to reality
AWS is leveraging rat neurons to accelerate video AI. (Wired $)

9. Uber is betting on human drivers to compete with robotaxis
Human drivers can cover surges in demand while self-driving cars are charging. (Axios)

10. Humanoid robot competes against an amateur martial artist in a cage
The short bout was billed as the first human-versus-robot MMA match. (Futurism)

Quote of the day

“When you use the word artificial, it sounds fake. It’s not fake. It’s actually great.”

—President Donald Trump, speaking to the United Nations General Assembly. Why does he want to change the name of AI to “superintelligence”?

One more thing

AI could change how we measure pain

At Orchard Care Home, nurses relied on observational scales to assess pain in residents who could not communicate verbally. However, agitated residents were sometimes labeled as having behavioral problems instead of receiving treatment for pain.

In 2021, the care home chain began piloting PainChek, a smartphone app that scans residents’ faces for subtle muscle movements and uses AI to produce a pain score. Within a few weeks, the pilot unit reported fewer prescriptions and quieter hallways.

Researchers are now racing to convert pain into something cameras and sensors can score as reliably as blood pressure. But when algorithms measure our suffering, does that change how we understand and treat it?

See how AI is changing the way we assess pain.

—Dina Musa

We still have good things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten your day. Any ideas? Please contact me.

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+ Dance to audience-recognized tracks played at Berghain from 2024 onward with this media player, which sequences each night’s music.

Source: www.technologyreview.com