The Download: AI “coworkers” and stratospheric internet

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The Download: AI “coworkers” and stratospheric internet

每日下载：AI“同事”与平流层互联网

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. 这是我们工作日时事通讯《每日下载》的今日版，为您提供每日科技界动态。

AI agents are not your “coworkers”

AI 智能体不是你的“同事”

Imagine coming in to work to learn that a new underling will report to you. The worker is not a person but an AI tool—one that your company nonetheless calls Alex, an “employee” with a title and defined responsibilities. How well do you think you would work with Alex? 想象一下，你来到公司，得知一位新下属将向你汇报工作。这位员工不是真人，而是一个 AI 工具——尽管如此，公司还是给它取名 Alex，并赋予它职位和明确的职责。你觉得你能和 Alex 合作得好吗？

If you’re anything like the managers studied by Boston University professor Emma Wiles, treating that AI as a “coworker” would lead you to do a worse job. They caught 18% fewer errors when the work was attributed to an agentic “AI employee” rather than a chatbot. This is an alarming glimpse of the future Silicon Valley is hurling us toward. Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google have all released tools for managing teams of AI agents, many of which are advertised as digital colleagues. Find out why that’s a losing proposition for workers. —James O’Donnell 如果你和波士顿大学教授 Emma Wiles 研究的那些经理们一样，将 AI 视为“同事”反而会导致你的工作表现下降。当工作被归因于一个具有代理能力的“AI 员工”而非聊天机器人时，他们发现错误的几率降低了 18%。这是硅谷正将我们推向的未来，令人警惕。微软、OpenAI、Anthropic 和谷歌都发布了管理 AI 智能体团队的工具，其中许多被宣传为数字同事。了解为什么这对员工来说是一场注定失败的博弈。——James O’Donnell

This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly AI newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Monday. 本文摘自我们的每周 AI 时事通讯《算法》。每周一订阅即可在收件箱中接收。

This flying solar-powered platform could deliver better internet from the air

这个太阳能飞行平台有望从空中提供更好的互联网服务

As soon as August, a giant silver bullet will cut its way through the dry air of the southwestern US and cross the Pacific to reach the coast of Japan. Once there, the roughly 200-foot-long craft, built by the New Mexico–based company Sceye, will park some 18 kilometers above the ocean’s surface in the stratosphere, then use a custom-built antenna to supplement a 5G network, in a test that includes beaming data straight to devices. 最早在八月，一个巨大的银色“子弹”将穿过美国西南部干燥的空气，横跨太平洋抵达日本海岸。抵达后，这艘由新墨西哥州公司 Sceye 制造、长约 200 英尺的飞行器将停留在海平面上方约 18 公里的平流层中，然后利用定制天线补充 5G 网络，测试内容包括直接向设备传输数据。

Sceye (pronounced “sky”) is one of several firms building these high-altitude platform stations, or HAPS. Find out why they plan to connect us from the stratosphere. —Rachel Courtland Sceye（发音同“sky”）是建造这些高空平台站（HAPS）的几家公司之一。了解他们为何计划从平流层为我们提供连接。——Rachel Courtland

This story is from the latest edition of our magazine, which is all about engineering. Subscribe now to get a copy, plus all our other issues and a range of subscriber-only content. 本文摘自我们最新一期的杂志，本期主题为工程学。立即订阅即可获取本期杂志，以及我们所有的其他期刊和一系列订阅者专享内容。

Longevity’s next frontier: “reprogramming” your body

长寿的下一个前沿：身体“重编程”

Billions of dollars are flooding into efforts to reverse aging as scientists explore ways to return cells to a younger state. But how far off are these experimental treatments? Will they really work? At a virtual Roundtables event today, MIT Technology Review will examine the science behind the hype. Science editor Mary Beth Griggs and senior biotechnology reporter Jessica Hamzelou will explore longevity’s latest frontier in a subscriber-only discussion. Register here to join the session at 11:30 AM ET / 8:30 AM PT / 16:30 GMT. 数十亿美元正涌入逆转衰老的研究领域，科学家们正在探索让细胞恢复到更年轻状态的方法。但这些实验性疗法离我们还有多远？它们真的有效吗？在今天举行的虚拟圆桌会议上，《麻省理工科技评论》将审视炒作背后的科学。科学编辑 Mary Beth Griggs 和资深生物技术记者 Jessica Hamzelou 将在订阅者专享讨论中探讨长寿的最新前沿。点击此处注册，参加美东时间上午 11:30 / 太平洋时间上午 8:30 / 格林威治标准时间 16:30 的会议。

The must-reads

必读内容

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 我已梳理了互联网，为您找出今天最有趣/重要/可怕/迷人的科技故事。

  1. The US House has passed new youth online safety legislation 美国众议院通过了新的青少年在线安全法案

    • It would set baseline federal standards for kids’ online safety. (Politico)
    • 它将为儿童在线安全设定联邦基准标准。（Politico）
    • States would be allowed to adopt more aggressive protections. (Reuters)
    • 各州将被允许采取更激进的保护措施。（路透社）
    • But critics say it lets tech companies avoid accountability. (Axios)
    • 但批评人士称，这让科技公司得以逃避责任。（Axios）
    • And tech groups warn it threatens privacy and free expression. (NBC)
    • 科技团体警告称，这威胁到了隐私和言论自由。（NBC）
    • The Senate is expected to push for tougher rules. (The Hill)
    • 预计参议院将推动更严格的规则。（The Hill）

  2. Ford is rehiring human engineers after AI failed to match quality checks 在 AI 未能通过质量检查后，福特重新聘用人类工程师

    • It said the AI lacked the training and expertise of technicians. (Bloomberg)
    • 公司表示，AI 缺乏技术人员的培训和专业知识。（彭博社）
    • The new hires will train younger staff and reprogram AI tools. (BBC)
    • 新员工将培训年轻员工并重新编程 AI 工具。（BBC）
    • Many firms that replaced workers with AI are now rehiring humans. (Forbes)
    • 许多用 AI 取代员工的公司现在正在重新聘用人类。（福布斯）
    • The AI jobs hysteria needs a reality check. (MIT Technology Review)
    • AI 就业恐慌需要回归现实。（《麻省理工科技评论》）

  3. Senator Mark Warren is set to introduce a bill to regulate AI agents 参议员 Mark Warren 准备提出一项监管 AI 智能体的法案

    • It would set rules for agent permissions and verification. (The Information)
    • 它将为智能体权限和验证设定规则。（The Information）
    • Voters of both parties want tighter AI regulation. (NBC News)
    • 两党选民都希望加强 AI 监管。（NBC 新闻）
    • But politicians are bitterly divided on the rules. (MIT Technology Review)
    • 但政客们在规则问题上存在严重分歧。（《麻省理工科技评论》）

  4. Rocket Lab is buying Iridium for $8 billion to take on SpaceX Rocket Lab 以 80 亿美元收购 Iridium 以挑战 SpaceX

    • It wants to integrate the satellite network with its launch services. (The Verge)
    • 它希望将卫星网络与其发射服务整合。（The Verge）
    • Which could create a fleet that can compete with SpaceX. (WSJ)
    • 这可能会创建一个能与 SpaceX 竞争的卫星群。（华尔街日报）

  5. Hackers have exposed secrets about Apple’s upcoming iPhone 18 黑客泄露了苹果即将推出的 iPhone 18 的秘密

    • The data was stolen from Tata Electronics, Apple’s Indian supplier. (Reuters)
    • 数据是从苹果的印度供应商塔塔电子窃取的。（路透社）
    • The breach also exposed Tesla secrets. (TechCrunch)
    • 此次泄露还暴露了特斯拉的秘密。（TechCrunch）

  6. Chatbots are replacing therapists despite lacking scientific evidence 尽管缺乏科学证据，聊天机器人正在取代治疗师

    • Experts question their safety and therapeutic quality. (WSJ)
    • 专家质疑其安全性和治疗质量。（华尔街日报）
    • Chatbots may make us lose control of our brains. (MIT Technology Review)
    • 聊天机器人可能会让我们失去对大脑的控制。（《麻省理工科技评论》）

  7. Newborn DNA sequencing is edging closer to routine healthcare 新生儿 DNA 测序正逐渐成为常规医疗保健的一部分

    • Trials are expanding despite privacy and ethical concerns. (Economist)
    • 尽管存在隐私和伦理担忧，试验仍在扩大。（经济学人）
    • The push for perfect babies is an ethical mess. (MIT Technology Review)
    • 对“完美婴儿”的追求是一场伦理灾难。（《麻省理工科技评论》）

  8. Astronomers are using AI to find new galaxies 天文学家正在利用 AI 寻找新星系

    • New tools are reviving decades of space telescope data. (FT)
    • 新工具正在复活数十年的太空望远镜数据。（金融时报）

  9. Remote-controlled cockroach swarms can now breathe underwater 遥控蟑螂群现在可以在水下呼吸

    • The cyborg insects could one day explore Mars. (New Scientist)
    • 这些半机械昆虫未来或许能探索火星。（新科学家）

  10. Drone shows are creating new forms of worship 无人机表演正在创造新的崇拜形式

    • Churches are depicting biblical stories with thousands of UAVs. (Wired)
    • 教会正在用数千架无人机描绘圣经故事。（连线）

Quote of the day

今日名言

“This is taking us back to the 1950s, and that is not progress.” “这让我们回到了 20 世纪 50 年代，这绝不是进步。”

—Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, tells NPR that slashing regulations undoes decades of safety lessons from the industry. —忧思科学家联盟核电安全主任 Edwin Lyman 对 NPR 表示，削减监管措施抹杀了该行业数十年来积累的安全经验教训。

One More Thing

还有一件事

Design thinking was supposed to fix the world. Where did it go wrong? 设计思维本应改变世界。它是在哪里出了问题？

When Kyle Cornforth walked into IDEO’s San Francisco offices for a meeting about reimagining school lunches, she was impressed. “It was Post-its everywhere, prototypes everywhere,” she recalls. “What I really liked was that they offered a framework for collaboration and creation.” 当 Kyle Cornforth 走进 IDEO 旧金山办公室参加关于重构学校午餐的会议时，她印象深刻。“到处都是便利贴，到处都是原型，”她回忆道。“我真正喜欢的是，他们提供了一个协作和创造的框架。”

Cornforth was new to IDEO’s way of working: a six-step methodology for innovation called design thinking. But when she looked at the ideas themselves, she had questions: “I was like, ‘You didn’t talk to anyone who works in a school, did you?’ They were not contextualized in the problem at all.” Design thinking broadened the idea of “design,” elevating designers to take on big, knotty problems through a structured process. Cornforth 对 IDEO 的工作方式感到陌生：这是一种被称为“设计思维”的六步创新方法论。但当她审视这些想法本身时，她产生了疑问：“我当时想，‘你们根本没和学校里工作的人谈过，对吧？’它们完全没有结合问题的背景。”设计思维拓宽了“设计”的概念，通过结构化的流程提升了设计师解决重大、棘手问题的能力。

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