Science
Distillation Can Make AI Models Smaller and Cheaper
The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. The Chinese AI company DeepSeek released a chatbot earlier this year called R1, which drew a huge amount of attention. Most of it focused on the fact that a relatively small and unknown company said it had built a chatbot that rivaled the performance of…
Anker’s latest sleep buds can silence snoring
Anker’s latest Soundcore Sleep A30 sleep buds do what its A20 buds promised but couldn’t deliver: mask snoring. It accomplishes this with the inclusion of Active Noise Cancellation in the buds and a microphone inside the charging case that actively adjusts masking audio to cancel out the sound of sawing logs. Of course I want…
AI agents are science fiction not yet ready for primetime
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on all things AI, follow Hayden Field. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. It all started with J.A.R.V.I.S. Yes, that J.A.R.V.I.S. The one from the Marvel movies….
Netflix’s science fiction romance Our Times breaks the time travel movie rules
From The Flash to Avengers: Endgame to 2002’s The Time Machine, time travel movies often follow characters hoping to prevent a present personal tragedy or larger calamity by tweaking some event in the past. The sweetly funny Our Times, now streaming on Netflix, breaks that mold by sending its characters to the future and focusing…
Building networks of data science talent
The rise of artificial intelligence resurfaces a question older than the abacus: If we have a tool to do it for us, why learn to do it ourselves? The answer, argues MIT electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) Professor Devavrat Shah, hasn’t changed: Foundational skills in mathematics remain essential to using tools well, from knowing…
A new cold war is brewing over rare earth minerals
The future of everything from smartphones, to military equipment, to electric vehicles hangs on 17 rare earth minerals and the magnets that they’re made into. And China, the world’s largest refiner and producer, is tightening its grip and threatening the US’ largest automakers. Over the last 30 years, China has methodically cornered the market on…
Merging design and computer science in creative ways
The speed with which new technologies hit the market is nothing compared to the speed with which talented researchers find creative ways to use them, train them, even turn them into things we can’t live without. One such researcher is MIT MAD Fellow Alexander Htet Kyaw, a graduate student pursuing dual master’s degrees in architectural studies…
MIT’s McGovern Institute is shaping brain science and improving human lives on a global scale
In 2000, Patrick J. McGovern ’59 and Lore Harp McGovern made an extraordinary gift to establish the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, driven by their deep curiosity about the human mind and their belief in the power of science to change lives. Their $350 million pledge began with a simple yet audacious vision:…
Beyond encryption: Why quantum computing might be more of a science boom than a cybersecurity bust
Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Last August, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released the first three “post-quantum encryption standards” designed to withstand an attack from a quantum computer. For years, cryptography experts have worried that the advent of…
Experts don’t think AI is ready to be a ‘co-scientist’ | TechCrunch
Last month, Google announced the “AI co-scientist,” an AI the company said was designed to aid scientists in creating hypotheses and research plans. Google pitched it as a way to uncover new knowledge, but experts think it — and tools like it — fall well short of PR promises. “This preliminary tool, while interesting, doesn’t…
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