The Download: kids outlearning AI, and space travel agents

The Download: Kids Outlearning AI, and Space Travel Agents

The Download：孩子们的学习能力超越 AI，以及太空旅行代理人

Plus: both parties are turning against AI data centers ahead of the midterms. 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. 此外：在期中选举前夕，两党正纷纷反对 AI 数据中心。这是今日份的《The Download》，我们每日更新的通讯，为您提供科技世界的每日资讯。

Kids outlearn AI—and we still don’t know why

孩子们的学习能力超越 AI——而我们至今仍不知原因

Teaching a computer to use human language requires an inhuman amount of data. An LLM can easily churn through a hundred thousand times more words than a person will experience in the process of mastering their mother tongue. This yawning divide between children and machines is called the data efficiency gap. It raises a tantalizing question for cognitive scientists and a challenge for the architects of AI models: how can children still outperform the most linguistically sophisticated machines ever built? 教会计算机使用人类语言需要海量的数据。一个大语言模型（LLM）处理的词汇量，可以轻松达到一个人掌握母语过程中所接触词汇量的十万倍。这种孩子与机器之间巨大的鸿沟被称为“数据效率差距”。这对认知科学家提出了一个诱人的问题，也对 AI 模型架构师提出了挑战：为什么孩子们依然能胜过迄今为止最复杂的语言机器？

Kids show that it could be possible to learn more with less. Far less. By reverse-engineering the way they learn, scientists hope to create more data-efficient AI models—and perhaps settle enduring questions about language and children’s developing minds. Here’s how researchers are trying to close the data gap. —Elise Cutts 孩子们证明了用更少的数据学习更多知识是可能的。少得多。通过对他们的学习方式进行逆向工程，科学家们希望创造出数据效率更高的 AI 模型，并或许能解决关于语言和儿童心智发展的长期疑问。以下是研究人员如何尝试缩小这一数据差距的方法。——Elise Cutts

Job titles of the future: space travel agent

未来的职位：太空旅行代理人

As co-owner of a luxury lifestyle firm, Roman Chiporukha has long turned wild vacation dreams into reality. In 2018, he got a phone call that would open up a new frontier: Axiom Space wanted to find citizen explorers willing to pay $50 million each to join the first fully private mission to the International Space Station (ISS), slated for April 2022. This showed Chiporukha that the sky was no longer the limit; it was the market. He successfully signed up a private astronaut and then launched SpaceVIP in 2021 to offer celestial experiences that mix culture, science, and purpose. Find out what it takes to become the Expedia of the cosmos. —Linda Childers 作为一家奢华生活方式公司的共同所有者，Roman Chiporukha 长期以来一直致力于将疯狂的度假梦想变为现实。2018 年，他接到的一通电话开启了一个新领域：Axiom Space 想要寻找愿意支付 5000 万美元加入首个完全私人国际空间站（ISS）任务的平民探险家，该任务定于 2022 年 4 月进行。这让 Chiporukha 意识到，天空不再是极限，而是市场。他成功签下了一名私人宇航员，并于 2021 年创办了 SpaceVIP，提供融合文化、科学和使命感的太空体验。了解如何成为宇宙中的 Expedia。——Linda Childers

These stories are from the next issue of our magazine, which is all about kids. Subscribe now to get your copy as soon as it lands. 以上报道摘自我们下一期的杂志，该期主题为“孩子”。立即订阅，即可在杂志出版时第一时间收到。

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，为您找出今天关于科技最有趣、最重要、最令人恐惧及最引人入胜的故事。

Both parties are turning against AI data centers ahead of the midterms The backlash is spilling onto the campaign trail. 期中选举前夕，两党正纷纷反对 AI 数据中心 这种抵制情绪正蔓延到竞选活动中。
Chinese humanoids have smashed Usain Bolt’s 100-metre world record One ran it in 9.39 seconds at the World Humanoid Robot Games. 中国人形机器人打破了博尔特的百米世界纪录 在世界人形机器人大赛中，其中一台以 9.39 秒跑完全程。
Uber has been fined nearly $1 billion over automated suspensions Dutch regulators say drivers were deactivated without human review. Uber 因自动封禁账号被罚近 10 亿美元 荷兰监管机构称，司机在未经人工审核的情况下被停用账号。
New Zealand plans to ban under-16s from social media It’s joined a throng of countries trying to restrict access. 新西兰计划禁止 16 岁以下青少年使用社交媒体 该国加入了众多试图限制访问权限的国家行列。
TikTok will pay $400 million to settle a US child privacy case It was sued for allegedly violating children’s online privacy. TikTok 将支付 4 亿美元以和解美国儿童隐私案件 该公司因涉嫌侵犯儿童在线隐私而被起诉。
China’s largest-ever car recall covers nearly 3 million Teslas They’re being recalled over door safety concerns. 中国史上最大规模汽车召回涉及近 300 万辆特斯拉 召回原因是车门安全隐患。
Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine think AI is good for music They compared fear of AI to resistance to earlier technologies. Dr. Dre 和 Jimmy Iovine 认为 AI 对音乐有益 他们将对 AI 的恐惧比作对早期技术的抵制。
Taiwan has indicted nine people over alleged illegal AI exports to China They include employees of Nvidia and Super Micro. 台湾起诉 9 人，涉嫌非法向中国出口 AI 技术 其中包括英伟达（Nvidia）和超微电脑（Super Micro）的员工。
NASA’s new telescope could discover 200,000 new planets Roman could also reveal new details about dark matter. NASA 的新望远镜有望发现 20 万颗新行星 Roman 望远镜还可能揭示关于暗物质的新细节。
Plastic bottles can be turned into edible, vanilla-flavour cookies Thanks to genetically-engineered yeast. 塑料瓶可以变成可食用的香草味饼干 这得益于基因工程改造的酵母。

Quote of the day

今日金句

“Credit where credit is due: the tech sector has managed to unite a deeply divided country at a time of maximal partisanship.” —Max Steele, Senior Director of Communications at Everytown, reacts on X to a new poll showing that support for data centers in the US has plummeted.

“该表扬的得表扬：科技行业成功地在一个党派分歧最严重的时期，团结了一个深度分裂的国家。” ——Everytown 通讯高级总监 Max Steele 在 X 上回应一项新民调，该民调显示美国对数据中心的支持率已大幅下降。

One More Thing

补充内容

How next-generation nuclear reactors break out of the 20th-century blueprint As worries about climate change and energy independence drown out concerns about meltdowns and radioactive waste, demand for nuclear power has surged. The problem is, building nuclear power plants is expensive and slow. Now, a new generation of nuclear power technology could reinvent what a reactor looks like—and how it works.

下一代核反应堆如何打破 20 世纪的设计蓝图 随着对气候变化和能源独立的担忧盖过了对堆芯熔毁和放射性废料的顾虑，核能需求激增。问题在于，建造核电站既昂贵又缓慢。如今，新一代核能技术有望重塑反应堆的外观及其工作方式。