This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through November 22)

Artificial Intelligence

There Is Only One AI Company. Welcome to the BlobSteven Levy | Wired ($)

“Even the most panicked Cassandra of a decade ago likely didn’t imagine that advanced AI would be controlled by a single, interlocking, money-seeking behemoth. …This rococo collection of partnerships, mergers, funding arrangements, government initiatives, and strategic investments links the fate of virtually every big player in the AI-o-sphere. I call this entity the Blob.”

Tech

Europe Is Scaling Back Its Landmark Privacy and AI LawsRobert Hart | The Verge

“Under intense pressure from industry and the US government, Brussels is stripping protections from its flagship General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)—including simplifying its infamous cookie permission pop-ups—and relaxing or delaying landmark AI rules in an effort to cut red tape and revive sluggish economic growth.”

Robotics

Google DeepMind Hires Former CTO of Boston Dynamics as the Company Pushes Deeper Into RoboticsWill Knight | Wired ($)

“The hire is a key part of DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis’ vision for Gemini to become a sort of robot operating system, similar to how Google supplies its Android software to an array of smartphone manufacturers. ‘We want to build an AI system, a Gemini base, that can work almost out-of-the-box, across any body configuration,’ Hassabis said in an interview with Wired.'”

Biotechnology

Pfizer’s mRNA Flu Shot Outperforms Standard Flu Vaccine in Late-Stage TrialBerkeley Lovelace Jr. | NBC News

“The Phase 3 trial found Pfizer’s mRNA shot cut flu-like illness by 34.5% compared with a standard flu shot. …Developing an mRNA shot is typically faster [than a traditional flu vaccine], which could allow those decisions [about what strains to target] to be made later in the year—and give scientists more flexibility to pivot if the circulating strain changes.”

Robotics

AI Race Cars Are Catching Up to Human DriversRachyl Jones | Semafor

“Former Formula 1 driver Daniil Kvyat drove against an AI-powered race car in Abu Dhabi, where he clocked a faster time but failed to catch up with the autonomous vehicle’s head start. Only 1.6 seconds separated the best laps of the human and the vehicle, compared to last year’s 10-second gap, indicating significant performance improvements in the AI.”

Tech

It’s Too Soon to Call an End to the AI BoomKen Brown | The Information ($)

“I’ve spent the past few weeks talking to the bankers and investors leading the financing of AI. I’m convinced a crack in the market isn’t coming anytime soon. Investor demand is very strong, and it’s too soon for any real problems in the financing machine to show up.”

Artificial Intelligence

Hugging Face CEO Says We’re in an ‘LLM Bubble,’ Not an AI BubbleSarah Perez | TechCrunch

“‘I think all the attention, all the focus, all the money, is concentrated into this idea that you can build one model through a bunch of compute and that is going to solve all problems for all companies and all people,’ said Delangue. ‘I think the reality is that you’ll see in the next few months, next few years, kind of like a multiplicity of models that are more customized, specialized, that are going to solve different problems.'”

Biotechnology

New Gene-Editing Strategy Could Help Development of Treatments for Rare DiseasesPam Belluck and Carl Zimmer | The New York Times ($)

“A study published on Wednesday outlines a new approach that could make the process more efficient and less costly. Writing in the journal Nature, researchers presented a path toward a gene-editing strategy that could eventually be standardized for many different rare diseases, instead of personalized edits for each one.”

Robotics

Waymo Enters 3 More Cities: Minneapolis, New Orleans, and TampaSean O’Kane | TechCrunch

“In 2026, Waymo [also] plans to expand to Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, Orlando, San Antonio, San Diego, Seattle, and Washington, DC. It’s also testing in New York City, and plans to offer commercial rides internationally starting with London and Tokyo.”

Blue Origin Revealed Some Massively Cool Plans for Its New Glenn RocketEric Berger | Ars Technica

“One week after the successful second launch of its large New Glenn booster, Blue Origin revealed a roadmap on Thursday for upgrades to the rocket, including a new variant with more main engines and a super-heavy lift capability.”

Tech

What Google Has That OpenAI Doesn’tMartin Peers | The Information ($)

“All this points up a reality that should have been obvious. While we in the news media breathlessly report on every step Sam Altman takes to make OpenAI a vertically integrated AI giant, Google is already there. “

We Finally Know the Birthplace of the Mars-Sized Rock That Spawned Our MoonMargherita Bassi | Gizmodo

“In a study published today in the journal Science, researchers investigated the isotopic fingerprints—the ratio of isotopes, or versions, of elements in a material—of iron in rocks from the moon, Earth, and meteorites (meteoroids that reach the ground). Their results bolster the theory that the impactor was born in the inner solar system and closer to the sun than where Earth originated.”

Future

We Can Now Track Individual Monarch Butterflies. It’s a Revelation.Dan Fagin | The New York Times ($)

“The breakthrough is the result of a tiny solar-powered radio tag that weighs just 60 milligrams and sells for $200. Researchers have tagged more than 400 monarchs this year and are now following their journeys on a cellphone app created by the New Jersey-based company that makes the tags, Cellular Tracking Technologies.”