The Download: AIDS denialism, and AI safety mechanisms

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.

How covid conspiracies led to an alarming resurgence in AIDS denialism

Several million people were listening in February when Joe Rogan falsely declared that “party drugs” were an “important factor in AIDS.” His guest on The Joe Rogan Experience, the former evolutionary biology professor turned contrarian podcaster Bret Weinstein, agreed with him.

Speaking to the biggest podcast audience in the world, the two men were promoting dangerous and false ideas—ideas that were in fact debunked and thoroughly disproved decades ago.

These comments and others like them add up to a small but unmistakable resurgence in AIDS denialism—a false collection of theories arguing either that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS or that there’s no such thing as HIV at all.

These claims had largely fallen out of favor until the coronavirus arrived. But, following the pandemic, a renewed suspicion of public health figures and agencies is giving new life to ideas that had long ago been pushed to the margins. Read the full story.

—Anna Merlan

AI “godfather” Yoshua Bengio has joined a UK project to prevent AI catastrophes

What’s new: Yoshua Bengio, a Turing Award winner who is considered one of the “godfathers” of modern AI, is throwing his weight behind a project funded by the UK government to embed safety mechanisms into AI systems.

What is it? The project, called Safeguarded AI, aims to build an AI system that can check whether other AI systems deployed in critical areas are safe, and provide risk scores. Bengio is joining the program as scientific director and will provide critical input and scientific advice.

Why it matters: Safeguarded AI hopes its efforts will help to change the status quo of the AI industry, nudging people building systems to think more about their safety, and their impact on the world. Read the full story.

—Melissa Heikkilä

What to know about China’s push for hydrogen-powered transportation

—Zeyi Yang 

There’s a decent chance you’ve heard of hydrogen-powered vehicles but never seen one. Over 18,000 are in the US, almost exclusively in California. On the outside they look just like traditional vehicles, but they are powered by electricity generated from a hydrogen fuel cell, making them far cleaner and greener.  

So when I learned that in parts of China, companies are putting hydrogen-powered bikes on the road for anyone to ride, it was a real “the future is here” moment for me. 

However, when I dug into it, I discovered that they haven’t exactly been getting rave reviews. And, for clean energy experts, it’s a head-scratcher as to why these hydrogen bikes are being promoted in the first place. Read the full story.

This story is from China Report, our weekly newsletter giving you the inside track on all things happening in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday.

The must-reads

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

1 X is suing advertisers for boycotting it 
An… interesting tactic, that’s for sure. (CNN)
+ Elon Musk is against government efforts to restrict toxic social media content. (Bloomberg $)
+ X is refusing to take down posts that British officials deem a national security threat. (FT $)

2 The US is releasing security algorithms to stave off quantum hacks
Governments and companies alike are unprepared for attacks on their encrypted data. (FT $)
+ A quantum error-reducing chip firm is raising some serious cash. (Bloomberg $)
+ Inside the quest for unbreakable encryption. (MIT Technology Review)

3 AI is shaking up India’s gigantic tech outsourcing industry
People whose jobs were outsourced from the US are now facing the same threat from AI systems. (WSJ $)

4 Conspiracy theorists hate admitting they’re wrong
In fact, they tend to either gloss over their untruths, or double down. (NYT $)
+ Climate change denial is a serious problem among US Congress. (The Guardian)

5 The Starliner astronauts are still stuck in space
NASA is expected to make an announcement today with more details. (Ars Technica)
+ SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission to the ISS has been delayed. (CNN)

6 Climate change is affecting Earth’s fundamental properties
To the extent it’s altered the planet’s place in the cosmos. (The Atlantic $)

7 Waymo’s robotaxi business is expanding 
It’s spreading out to cover more ground in San Francisco and Los Angeles. (The Verge)
+ What’s next for robotaxis. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Chinese companies are doing big business in the global south
As China’s domestic economy drops, firms are seeking customers elsewhere. (Economist $)

9 How AI is infiltrating reggae’s creative sound clashes
AI vocalists are on the rise in the decades-old musical tradition. (The Guardian)
+ Training AI music models is about to get very expensive. (MIT Technology Review)

10 What makes us unique?
In the age of AI, it’s not such a straightforward question. (New Yorker $)
+ What is AI? (MIT Technology Review)

Quote of the day

“We may have gotten the most out of it that we were ever going to get.”

—Ted Egan, San Francisco’s chief economist, reacts to X’s decision to leave the city to the Washington Post.

The big story

How did life begin?

November 2023

How life begins is one of the biggest and hardest questions in science. All we know is that something happened on Earth more than 3.5 billion years ago, and it may well have occurred on many other worlds in the universe as well.

We know how complex the environment was on primordial Earth, with chemicals, metals, minerals, gases and waters all blasted around by winds and volcanic eruptions. But we don’t know exactly what did the trick. 

Now, a few researchers are harnessing artificial intelligence to zero in on the winning conditions. The hope is that machine learning tools will help devise a universal theory of the origins of life—one that applies not just on Earth but on any other world. Read the full story.

—Michael Marshall

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.)

+ This lion cub’s attempts at roars are just too cute.
+ On this day in 1944, IBM  IBM presented the first program-controlled calculator, known as the Mark I, to Harvard University.
+ Cat Video Fest sounds like the very best of the internet to me. ($)
+ Talking of cats, praise be to the cat ladies who are actually men.