The Download: our 35 young innovators and the “censorship-industrial complex”

The Download：我们的 35 位青年创新者与“审查-工业复合体”

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《The Download》今日版，我们平日的通讯，为您提供每日科技世界的动态。

How we picked 35 of the world’s top young scientists and engineers

我们如何评选出全球 35 位顶尖青年科学家和工程师

On September 8, MIT Technology Review will reveal its 2026 list of Innovators Under 35, recognizing 35 young people from around the world who are doing groundbreaking scientific work and building clever technical fixes for sticky problems. By finding the top young innovators globally and learning what they’re focused on in their work, we aim to give readers a sense of what advances to expect in the years to come. As a newsroom, we also use this exercise to help us spot rising talent and get to know some of the best early-career researchers in the fields that we cover. This year, we received 550 nominations. Find out how we whittled them down to 35 of the young innovators shaping the future of technology, and check out last year’s list. —Amy Nordrum 9 月 8 日，《麻省理工科技评论》将公布 2026 年度“35 岁以下科技创新 35 人”榜单，表彰全球 35 位从事开创性科学研究并为棘手问题提供巧妙技术解决方案的年轻人。通过发掘全球顶尖的青年创新者并了解他们的工作重点，我们旨在让读者预见未来几年的技术进步。作为新闻编辑部，我们也利用这一过程来发掘新兴人才，并结识我们所报道领域中最优秀的早期职业研究人员。今年，我们收到了 550 份提名。了解我们如何从中筛选出塑造技术未来的 35 位青年创新者，并查看去年的榜单。——Amy Nordrum

How the “censorship-industrial complex” is changing the internet and US policy —Eileen Guo

“审查-工业复合体”如何改变互联网与美国政策 ——Eileen Guo

I first heard the term “censorship-industrial complex” on April 15, 2025. That’s when I got the tip that a small office in the US State Department, which focused on monitoring and countering foreign disinformation from the likes of Russia, Iran, and China, was facing imminent shutdown—the next day. And the reason? The office was accused of serving as the department’s central hub in the so-called censorship-industrial complex—a sprawling constellation of government agencies, academics, civil society groups, and Big Tech platforms allegedly conspiring to suppress conservative and populist speech online under the guise of combating disinformation. I broke the story on April 16. But for me, it was just the start of a deep reporting rabbit hole into an idea that had moved from the fringes of the right-wing internet into the Trump administration. For more on what the narrative means for the internet, read my story here. 我第一次听到“审查-工业复合体”这个词是在 2025 年 4 月 15 日。当时我得到消息，美国国务院一个专注于监测和反击来自俄罗斯、伊朗和中国等国境外虚假信息的办公室即将面临关闭——就在第二天。原因是什么？该办公室被指控是所谓“审查-工业复合体”的部门中心枢纽——这是一个由政府机构、学术界、民间社会团体和大型科技平台组成的庞大网络，据称它们打着打击虚假信息的幌子，密谋压制网上的保守派和民粹主义言论。我在 4 月 16 日报道了这则新闻。但对我来说，这只是深入挖掘这一概念的开始，它已经从右翼互联网的边缘进入了特朗普政府。想了解更多关于这一叙事对互联网意味着什么的信息，请点击此处阅读我的报道。

MIT Technology Review Narrated: Montana’s plan to become an experimental medical hub just pushed forward

《麻省理工科技评论》播客：蒙大拿州成为实验性医疗中心的计划取得进展

At the end of July, any biotech company in Montana with an experimental drug gained a clear path to selling it to consumers. Companies whose drugs have been through preliminary testing—sometimes in as few as 10 healthy people—can pay $12,500 to apply to a newly established review board. Once approved, they can set their own prices and sell the drugs through experimental treatment clinics, the first of which is likely to open around the end of this year. Montana’s latest right-to-try legislation is unique. While similar laws elsewhere limit access to people with terminal illness, Montana’s system is theoretically open to anyone who gives informed consent and can pay. That includes people desperate for treatments for rare diseases. It also includes those interested in longevity and drugs pitched as preventive therapies. —Jessica Hamzelou 7 月底，蒙大拿州任何拥有实验性药物的生物技术公司都获得了一条向消费者销售药物的明确途径。那些药物经过初步测试（有时仅在 10 名健康人身上进行）的公司，可以支付 12,500 美元向一个新成立的审查委员会提出申请。一旦获得批准，他们就可以自行定价，并通过实验性治疗诊所销售这些药物，首批诊所预计将于今年年底左右开业。蒙大拿州最新的“尝试权”立法非常独特。虽然其他地方的类似法律将使用范围限制在绝症患者身上，但蒙大拿州的系统理论上向任何能够知情同意并支付费用的人开放。这包括那些急需罕见病治疗方案的人，也包括那些对长寿和作为预防性疗法推销的药物感兴趣的人。——Jessica Hamzelou

This is our latest story to be turned into an MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we publish each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released. 这是我们最新被制作成《麻省理工科技评论》播客的故事，我们每周在 Spotify 和 Apple Podcasts 上发布。只需在任一平台上搜索“MIT Technology Review Narrated”并关注我们，即可在第一时间获取我们的所有新内容。

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. 我为您搜罗了互联网上今天最有趣、最重要、最令人恐惧或最引人入胜的科技故事。

1. China-linked hackers have hit Taiwan in an “unprecedented” AI attack. They used open-source agents to compromise government websites. (FT $) 与中国有关的黑客对台湾发动了“前所未有”的 AI 攻击。 他们利用开源智能体破坏了政府网站。（《金融时报》付费内容）
2. Wall Street firms are paying $100,000 a month to get Trump posts first. Trump Media said more than 10 firms have signed up for the service. (CNN) 华尔街公司每月支付 10 万美元以优先获取特朗普的帖子。 特朗普媒体公司称已有超过 10 家公司注册了该服务。（CNN）
3. ICE plans to give officers gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks. It’s set to spend up to $20 million to buy thousands of the devices. (AP News) 美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）计划为警员配备能产生剧烈电击的手套。 该机构计划斥资高达 2000 万美元购买数千台此类设备。（美联社）
4. Spotify will label AI artists and stop recommending them. The platform is cracking down on fake performers. (Guardian) Spotify 将标记 AI 艺术家并停止推荐他们。 该平台正在打击虚假表演者。（《卫报》）
5. Social media spurred a deadly migrant surge from Morocco to Spain. Disinformation encouraged thousands to attempt the crossing. (NYT $) 社交媒体引发了从摩洛哥到西班牙的致命移民潮。 虚假信息鼓励了数千人尝试越境。（《纽约时报》付费内容）
6. Anthropic’s Claude is adding watermarks to AI text and images. It could guarantee votes are counted and kept anonymous. (Axios) Anthropic 的 Claude 正在为 AI 生成的文本和图像添加水印。 这可以确保投票被统计且保持匿名。（Axios）
7. Drugs that mimic the brain’s wakefulness signal are taking off. Orexin drugs could treat sleep disorders, ADHD and addiction. (Economist $) 模拟大脑清醒信号的药物正在兴起。 食欲素药物可用于治疗睡眠障碍、多动症和成瘾。（《经济学人》付费内容）
8. Cargo thieves have turned to violence to steal AI hardware. Shipments have disappeared after their escorts were attacked. (Wired $) 货运窃贼开始使用暴力手段窃取 AI 硬件。 在护送人员遭到袭击后，货物不翼而飞。（《连线》付费内容）
9. Scientists may have found the elusive glueball, a particle made of force. A Chinese collider has produced the strongest evidence yet. (Science) 科学家可能发现了难以捉摸的“胶球”，这是一种由力构成的粒子。 中国的一台对撞机产生了迄今为止最有力的证据。（《科学》）
10. A firm selling “100% human-written, never AI” research is entirely AI. The reviewers on the Research Gold site are AI-generated. (404 Media) 一家声称“100% 人工撰写，绝非 AI”的研究公司完全由 AI 运作。 Research Gold 网站上的评论员都是 AI 生成的。（404 Media）

Quote of the day

今日金句

“I think the fourth wave of slop will be when there’s no longer any meaningful quality hit in slop, when the average piece of slop is better than the best human in that field.” “我认为第四波‘垃圾内容’（slop）浪潮将出现在垃圾内容不再有明显的质量差异时，即当平均水平的垃圾内容都优于该领域最顶尖的人类水平时。”

—Kevin Roose, a technology columnist at The New York Times, tells the Pivot podcast what the next stage of AI slop will look like. ——《纽约时报》科技专栏作家 Kevin Roose 在 Pivot 播客中描述了 AI 垃圾内容的下一阶段。

One More Thing

补充一点

Are we ready to hand AI agents the keys? We’re starting to give AI agents real autonomy, and we’re not prepared for what could happen next. Any action that can be captured by text is potentially within the purview of AI agents—which is why they can cause so much mischief. “The great paradox of agents is that the very thing that makes them useful—that they’re able to accomplish a range of tasks—involves giving away control.” 我们准备好将控制权交给 AI 智能体了吗？我们开始赋予 AI 智能体真正的自主权，但我们并未准备好迎接接下来可能发生的事情。任何可以通过文本捕捉的操作都可能在 AI 智能体的权限范围内——这就是它们为何能造成如此多麻烦的原因。“智能体最大的悖论在于，使它们变得有用的特质——即它们能够完成一系列任务——本身就涉及放弃控制权。”