The Download: metric weaknesses and AI elephant warnings

《下载》：指标的局限性与大象保护的 AI 预警

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. 这是今日份的《下载》，我们为您提供每日科技界动态的平日通讯。

The inevitable weakness of metrics

指标不可避免的局限性

There are plenty of useful things a metric can reveal. There are even more that it can obscure or corrupt. Like a lot of people bitten by the self-quantifying bug, I started gathering personal data to pursue a nebulous collection of goals and desires. I wanted to feel better physically and emotionally, get outside more, and bring order to the messiness and uncertainty of my daily existence. But external metrics and data can never capture what’s truly important. Worse, they inevitably redefine your core sense of what’s important, whether you’re aware of the trap or not. Dive into the dangers of quantifying our lives with metrics. —Bryan Gardiner 指标可以揭示许多有用的信息，但它掩盖或扭曲的信息可能更多。像许多热衷于“自我量化”的人一样，我开始收集个人数据，试图追求一系列模糊的目标和愿望。我希望在身体和情感上感觉更好，多去户外走走，并为我日常生活中混乱和不确定的状态带来秩序。然而，外部指标和数据永远无法捕捉到真正重要的东西。更糟糕的是，无论你是否意识到这个陷阱，它们都会不可避免地重新定义你对“重要性”的核心认知。深入了解用指标量化生活的危险性。——Bryan Gardiner

This story is from the next edition of our magazine, which is all about engineering. Subscribe now to get a copy when it lands! 本文节选自我们下一期的杂志，该期主题为工程学。立即订阅，即可在发布时获取副本！

Elephant alert! AI warning systems aim to avoid deadly clashes

大象警报！AI 预警系统旨在避免致命冲突

India is home to about 60% of the world’s wild Asian elephants, and around 80% of their habitat lies outside protected areas. That brings them into close contact with people, and clashes can turn lethal: there have been some 3,000 human casualties in the last five years and over 1,000 elephant deaths since 2014. In response, state forest departments, NGOs, and locals are designing, testing, and deploying a range of AI systems that cut response and warning times to minutes—or even seconds. They range from wildlife eyes in Maharashtra to infrared drones in Chhattisgarh. Find out how they work in our interactive map. —Kanika Gupta 印度拥有全球约 60% 的野生亚洲象，其中约 80% 的栖息地位于保护区之外。这使得它们与人类频繁接触，冲突可能导致致命后果：过去五年中约有 3,000 人伤亡，自 2014 年以来有超过 1,000 头大象死亡。为此，各邦林业部门、非政府组织和当地居民正在设计、测试并部署一系列 AI 系统，将响应和预警时间缩短至几分钟甚至几秒钟。这些系统包括马哈拉施特拉邦的“野生动物之眼”和恰蒂斯加尔邦的红外无人机。通过我们的交互式地图了解它们的工作原理。——Kanika Gupta

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The must-reads

必读精选

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 我已为您搜罗了互联网上今日最有趣、最重要、最令人担忧及最引人入胜的科技报道。

1. The US has allowed Anthropic to release Mythos 5 to “trusted” orgs About 100 US companies and federal agencies now have access. 美国允许 Anthropic 向“受信任”机构发布 Mythos 5 目前约有 100 家美国公司和联邦机构已获得访问权限。

2. A Chinese AI model has matched Mythos in finding security bugs Security researchers say Zhipu AI is poised to reset the AI race. 中国 AI 模型在发现安全漏洞方面已媲美 Mythos 安全研究人员表示，智谱 AI 有望重塑 AI 竞赛格局。

3. Apple is seeking approval to buy chips from a blacklisted Chinese firm It’s lobbying the White House for clearance to buy from ChangXin. 苹果寻求批准从一家被列入黑名单的中国公司购买芯片 苹果正在游说白宫，以获准从长鑫存储采购。

4. South Korea plans to train its entire military as “drone warriors” It wants to train all 500,000 personnel and produce 110,000 drones by 2029. 韩国计划将全军训练为“无人机战士” 韩国希望在 2029 年前培训全部 50 万名士兵，并生产 11 万架无人机。

5. Google has limited Meta’s use of its Gemini AI models Meta wanted more compute than Google could provide, disrupting some projects. 谷歌限制了 Meta 对其 Gemini AI 模型的使用 Meta 所需算力超出了谷歌的供应能力，导致其部分项目受阻。

6. Zuckerberg wants Meta to work with Polymarket and Kalshi Meta 想要建立自己的预测市场，但不涉及真钱博彩。 扎克伯格希望 Meta 与 Polymarket 和 Kalshi 合作 Meta 意图建立自己的预测市场，但不涉及真钱博彩。

7. Extreme heat is putting already hot data centers under pressure Severe weather is now the leading cause of loss for data centers. 极端高温给本已过热的数据中心带来压力 恶劣天气现已成为数据中心损失的首要原因。

8. Android phones alerted millions moments before Venezuela’s earthquakes 它们为用户提供了从几秒钟到两分钟不等的预警时间。 委内瑞拉地震前夕，安卓手机向数百万人发出预警 它们为用户提供了从几秒钟到两分钟不等的预警时间。

9. Scientists think Uranus and Neptune may not be the icy giants we imagined 它们内部可能正在酝酿岩浆海洋。 科学家认为天王星和海王星可能并非我们想象中的“冰巨星” 它们内部可能正在酝酿岩浆海洋。

10. Too much sleep may be as harmful as too little A new study suggests 6.4–7.8 hours is the sweet spot. 睡眠过多可能与睡眠不足一样有害 一项新研究表明，6.4 到 7.8 小时是最佳睡眠时长。

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Quote of the day

今日金句

“This kind of powerful weapon that can alter the landscape of cyberwarfare can’t remain solely in American hands.” —360 Security CEO Zhou Hongyi tells a cybersecurity conference in Beijing why Chinese AI firms need to match the capabilities of their rivals in the US, The Wall Street Journal reports. “这种能够改变网络战格局的强大武器，不能仅仅掌握在美国人手中。” ——据《华尔街日报》报道，360 集团创始人周鸿祎在北京的一次网络安全会议上表示，中国 AI 企业必须具备与美国竞争对手相匹敌的能力。

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One More Thing

更多内容

Why Generation Z falls for online misinformation Research shows that young people are more likely to believe and pass on misinformation if they feel a sense of common identity with the person who shared it. Offline, teenagers rely on community context; social media, however, promotes credibility based on identity. As young people participate in more political discussions online, those who cultivate identity-based credibility could become de facto community leaders. While this empowers marginalized groups, it also exacerbates the threat of misinformation. Find out what we can all learn about how young people evaluate truth online. —Jennifer Neda John 为什么 Z 世代容易相信网络虚假信息 研究表明，如果年轻人对分享信息的人产生身份认同感，他们就更容易相信并传播虚假信息。在现实生活中，青少年依赖社区背景；然而，社交媒体却基于身份来建立可信度。随着年轻人参与更多在线政治讨论，那些建立起基于身份的可信度的人可能会成为事实上的社区领袖。虽然这赋予了边缘群体权力，但也加剧了虚假信息的威胁。了解我们能从年轻人评估网络真相的方式中学到什么。——Jennifer Neda John

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We can still have nice things

我们依然可以拥有美好事物

A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. 一个为您提供舒适、乐趣和放松，点亮您一天的地方。

• The Euclid space telescope has captured the most detailed image yet of the Milky Way.
• 欧几里得空间望远镜拍摄了迄今为止最详细的银河系图像。
• Here’s a lovely, lilting medieval bardcore cover of Daft Punk’s electronic classic Veridis Quo.
• 这里有一首优美动听的中世纪吟游诗人风格翻唱，演绎了 Daft Punk 的电子经典《Veridis Quo》。
• A toilet plunger becomes an unlikely engineering breakthrough in this quest to build a better blowgun.
• 在打造更强吹箭筒的探索中，马桶搋子竟成了意想不到的工程突破。