The Download: Quantum computing for health, and why the world doesn’t recycle more nuclear waste - MIT Technology Review

Plus: The FBI has admitted it’s buying Americans' location data. 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. In a laboratory on the outskirts of Oxford, a quantum computer built from atoms and light awaits its moment. The device is small but powerful—and also very valuable. Infleqtion, the company that owns it, is hoping its abilities will win $5 million at a competition next week. The prize will go to the quantum computer that can solve real health care problems that conventional “classical” computers are unable to solve. But there can be only one big winner—if there is a winner at all. Read the full story. There’s still a lot of usable uranium in spent nuclear fuel when it’s pulled out of reactors. Recycling could reduce both the waste and the need to mine new material, but the process is costly, complicated, and not fully efficient. This story is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday. I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 The FBI has confirmed it’s buying Americans' location data  Director Kash Patel said it’s led to “valuable intelligence.” (Politico) + What AI “remembers” about you is privacy’s next frontier. (MIT Technology Review)  2 The first draft of a federal AI bill has been introduced It aims to protect “children, creators, conservatives, and communities.” (Engadget) + A war is brewing over AI regulation in the US. (MIT Technology Review) 3 Google is pitching itself to the Pentagon as the perfect defense partner It’s framing its AI as a safe alternative to OpenAI and Anthropic. (NYT $) + Here’s where OpenAI’s tech could show up in Iran. (MIT Technology Review) 4 A rogue AI agent at Meta leaked sensitive information to employees The exposure lasted for hours before it was contained. (The Information $) + Don’t let AI agent hype get ahead of reality. (MIT Technology Review $) 5 Sony just removed 135,000 'deepfakes' of its music Fraudsters were impersonating the label’s artists on streaming services. (BBC) + AI works better as a collaborator than a creator. (MIT Technology Review) 6 The EU has backed a ban on nonconsensual sexualized deepfakes It has reacted to Elon Musk's Grok chatbot “nudifying” children. (Bloomberg $) 7 Two quantum cryptography pioneers have won the Turing Award Their encryption method can (theoretically) never be broken. (Quanta) 8 Gamers are disgusted by Nvidia’s new rendering model  They’ve labeled it an “AI slop filter.” (The Verge) 9 The White House has registered the aliens.gov domain It’s sparked speculation that Trump’s long-awaited UFO disclosure is imminent. (404 Media) + Meet the new biologists treating LLMs like ETs. (MIT Technology Review) 10 Silicon Valley has embraced a new buzzword: “taste” As a USP amid the deluge of AI-driven recommendations. (The New Yorker $) —Elizabeth Warren gives her take on the Trump administration allowing Nvidia to sell advanced chips to China. Last year, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang jolted the stock market by saying that practical quantum computing is still 15 to 30 years away. He also suggested that those computers would need Nvidia GPUs to function. But Huang’s predictions miss the mark—both on the timeline and the role his company’s technology will play. Quantum computing is rapidly converging on utility. And that’s good news, because the hope is that they will be able to perform calculations that no amount of AI or classical computation could ever achieve. Read the full story. A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line.) + A self-described “mad scientist” has powered a car with vape batteries. + Someone squeezed an Apple Mac Mini inside a classic LEGO computer. + Watch thousands of satellites orbit Earth in real-time with this mesmerizing interactive map. + This grilled wall cheese art looks good enough to eat. Plus: Instagram's CEO Adam Mosseri has denied claims that social media is “clinically addictive” Plus: The US DoD has been secretly testing OpenAI models for years Plus: The US government wanted to use Anthropic's AI to analyze bulk data collected from Americans Plus: more European countries are considering banning social media for under-16s Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more. We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive. We use cookies to give you a more personalized browsing experience and analyze site traffic.See our cookie policy These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information. These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly. These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance. These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.