The Download: engineered microbes for crops, and OpenAI’s culture problem

每日下载：用于农作物的工程微生物，以及 OpenAI 的文化问题

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《每日下载》，我们平日更新的通讯，为您提供每日科技界动态。

How engineered microbes could help feed the world’s crops

工程微生物如何助力全球农作物生产

Fertilizer is crucial for the global food supply, but making it uses a lot of energy and produces a lot of emissions. Some companies hope microbes can help, by providing crucial nitrogen to help plants grow, potentially reducing the need for chemical fertilizer. Startup Switch Bioworks is taking a new approach: using a genetic switch that allows microbes to establish themselves and grow before shifting into nitrogen-producing mode. The company is currently trialing its product in six US states. And, although it’s too early to say exactly how well the approach works in the field, its modeling suggests microbes could eventually replace about 50% of synthetic fertilizer. Read the full story on plans to clean up agriculture with engineered microbes. —Casey Crownhart 化肥对于全球粮食供应至关重要，但其生产过程消耗大量能源并产生大量排放。一些公司希望通过微生物来提供植物生长所需的关键氮元素，从而减少对化学肥料的依赖。初创公司 Switch Bioworks 正在采取一种新方法：利用一种基因开关，让微生物在转化为固氮模式之前，先在植物中定植并生长。该公司目前正在美国六个州进行产品试验。虽然现在断言该方法在田间的实际效果还为时过早，但其模型显示，微生物最终有望取代约 50% 的合成肥料。阅读关于利用工程微生物改善农业的完整报道。——Casey Crownhart

The Hugging Face hack could indicate cultural issues at OpenAI

Hugging Face 被黑事件可能折射出 OpenAI 的文化问题

OpenAI has released a postmortem technical report on last month’s Hugging Face hack. But it’s missing a critical dimension: the role company culture may have played. That’s all the more concerning because the report’s few references to human error suggest OpenAI’s culture played a big role. Its employees noticed models communicating with one another during training and evaluation, yet allowed them to continue. At multiple points, they either failed to raise the alarm or were not heard when they did. “All these different failures are all pointing in the same direction, which is that the safety culture at OpenAI doesn’t exist or is anemically weak,” says Zvi Mowshowitz, a popular AI safety writer. Find out what the Hugging Face hack could show about OpenAI’s culture. —Grace Huckins OpenAI 发布了一份关于上个月 Hugging Face 被黑事件的事后技术报告。但报告忽略了一个关键维度：公司文化可能在其中扮演的角色。这一点尤为令人担忧，因为报告中对人为错误的零星提及暗示了 OpenAI 的文化在其中起到了重要作用。员工在训练和评估过程中注意到模型之间在进行通信，却任由其继续。在多个环节中，他们要么未能及时预警，要么在预警后未被重视。“所有这些不同的失败都指向同一个方向，即 OpenAI 的安全文化要么不存在，要么极其薄弱，”知名 AI 安全作家 Zvi Mowshowitz 表示。了解 Hugging Face 被黑事件揭示了哪些关于 OpenAI 文化的问题。——Grace Huckins

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 通讯《算法》(The Algorithm)。订阅即可在每周一收到推送。

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. 我已为您搜罗了互联网上今日最有趣、最重要、最令人恐惧及最引人入胜的科技报道。

Reports of AI escaping users’ control nearly doubled in a month More than 300 cases were recorded in July, almost twice June’s total. (Guardian) AI 脱离用户控制的报告在一个月内几乎翻倍 7 月份记录了超过 300 起案例，几乎是 6 月份总数的两倍。（《卫报》）
The FTC and 22 state AGs say Amazon secretly inflated ad prices They’ve sued the company for allegedly misleading advertisers. (Verge) 美国联邦贸易委员会 (FTC) 及 22 位州检察长指控亚马逊秘密抬高广告价格 他们起诉该公司涉嫌误导广告商。（The Verge）
Sony and Warner have sued Anthropic over songs used to train AI They accuse the company of “blatant theft” in a major new lawsuit. (Reuters) 索尼和华纳因 AI 训练所使用的歌曲起诉 Anthropic 在一项重大的新诉讼中，他们指控该公司存在“公然盗窃”行为。（路透社）
A US court says prediction markets should be regulated as gambling The decision sets up a potential Supreme Court showdown. (NYT) 美国法院裁定预测市场应作为赌博进行监管 该裁决可能引发最高法院的对决。（《纽约时报》）
A new AI tool can spot heart disease in less than two seconds It extracts information from routine electrocardiograms. (Guardian) 一种新的 AI 工具可在不到两秒钟内识别心脏病 它通过常规心电图提取信息。（《卫报》）
Apple’s new CEO starts today, with AI his first big job John Ternus takes over from Tim Cook as Apple tries to catch up in AI. (Bloomberg) 苹果新任 CEO 今日上任，AI 是其首要重任 John Ternus 接替蒂姆·库克，苹果正试图在 AI 领域追赶。（彭博社）
Scientists created a tiny “big bang” to study the universe’s origins Tiny collisions could explain the universe’s first moments. (Wired) 科学家制造了一场微型“大爆炸”以研究宇宙起源 微小的碰撞或许能解释宇宙最初的时刻。（《连线》）
Meta is paying “momfluencers” to fight social media bans for kids It’s promoting parental controls as an alternative to bans. (Rest of World) Meta 正在向“妈妈网红”付费，以抵制针对儿童的社交媒体禁令 该公司正推广家长控制功能作为禁令的替代方案。（Rest of World）
Tech billionaires keep misreading science fiction They turn cautionary tales into blueprints for the future. (Atlantic) 科技亿万富翁们总是误读科幻小说 他们将警示性的故事变成了未来的蓝图。（《大西洋月刊》）
A robot vacuum caught a man’s wife cheating—and sent him to prison He won the lawsuit, but was jailed for the illegal recording. (Tom’s Hardware) 扫地机器人拍到妻子出轨，结果丈夫入狱 他赢了官司，但因非法录音被判入狱。（Tom’s Hardware）

Quote of the day

今日金句

“The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor.” —President Trump weighs in on the data center backlash in a post on Truth Social. “美国各地的社区不想要数据中心的唯一理由，就是他们想变得落后和贫穷。” ——特朗普总统在 Truth Social 上发帖，就数据中心引发的抵制浪潮发表看法。

One more thing

还有一件事

How do humans make decisions? 人类是如何做决定的？

The question has been on Uri Maoz’s mind since he read an article in his early twenties suggesting that… maybe they didn’t. Had he even had a choice about whether to read that article in the first place? How would he ever know if he was truly responsible for making any decisions? “After that, there was no turning back,” says Maoz, now a professor of computational neuroscience at Chapman University. Today, Maoz is a central figure in efforts to understand how desires and beliefs turn into actions. He’s also uncovered new wrinkles in the debate. Read the full story on his discoveries. —Sarah Scoles 这个问题自 Uri Maoz 二十出头时读到一篇文章起就一直萦绕在他心头，那篇文章暗示……也许人类根本没有选择权。他当初读那篇文章本身就是一种选择吗？他怎么才能知道自己是否真的对任何决定负责？“从那以后，我就再也回不去了，”现任查普曼大学计算神经科学教授的 Maoz 说道。如今，Maoz 是探索欲望和信念如何转化为行动这一领域的核心人物。他还揭示了这场辩论中新的复杂之处。阅读关于他发现的完整报道。——Sarah Scoles