The Download: investigating deaths at the US border’s “virtual wall”

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The Download: investigating deaths at the US border’s “virtual wall”

《下载》：调查美国边境“虚拟墙”下的死亡事件

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》，我们平日更新的简报，为您提供每日科技界动态。

The US spent billions on border surveillance. Why can’t it catch people before they die? When José Morales Bernal crossed the border into the US in April 2024, the day before his 32nd birthday, he was within range of three surveillance towers equipped with cameras and AI to automatically detect and track people. If the system worked as intended, Morales should have been apprehended. If he needed medical help, agents were trained to provide it. None of that happened. Instead, Morales died just 360 feet from the closest tower. It was local landfill workers, rather than Border Patrol, who first spotted him. An autopsy concluded that he had died of “environmental exposure.” 美国在边境监控上花费了数十亿美元。为什么它却无法在人们死亡前发现他们？2024年4月，何塞·莫拉莱斯·伯纳尔（José Morales Bernal）在32岁生日前夕越境进入美国时，他正处于三座监控塔的覆盖范围内，这些塔配备了摄像头和人工智能，可以自动探测并追踪人员。如果系统按预期工作，莫拉莱斯本应被拦截。如果他需要医疗救助，特工们也受过相关培训以提供帮助。但这一切都没有发生。相反，莫拉莱斯死在距离最近的塔仅360英尺的地方。最先发现他的不是边境巡逻队，而是当地的垃圾填埋场工人。尸检结论显示，他死于“环境暴露”。

A first-of-its-kind investigation by MIT Technology Review reveals that deaths like Morales’s are startlingly common. After mapping nearly 4,000 locations where human remains were found against information on nearly 600 surveillance towers, we discovered that a humanitarian crisis at the border has unfolded in view of the government’s own cameras. Read our full investigation into the deadly failings of the virtual wall. —James O’Donnell and Eileen Guo 《麻省理工科技评论》一项首创性的调查显示，像莫拉莱斯这样的死亡事件惊人地普遍。在将近4000处发现人类遗骸的地点与近600座监控塔的信息进行比对后，我们发现，一场人道主义危机正在政府摄像头的注视下上演。阅读我们关于虚拟墙致命缺陷的完整调查报告。——James O’Donnell 和 Eileen Guo

Learn more: As part of our 15-month investigation, we created the first comprehensive map of deaths near US-Mexico border surveillance towers. Take a look at that map, and read about how we made it. The US government is about to spend another $1 billion to triple the virtual wall’s size, yet we found it has systemic flaws: broken towers, algorithms that failed to detect people and agents who simply did not respond to alerts. Here are four ideas for what Customs and Border Protection should do to rectify those failures. 了解更多：作为我们15个月调查的一部分，我们制作了第一份美墨边境监控塔附近死亡事件的综合地图。查看该地图，并了解我们是如何制作它的。美国政府即将再投入10亿美元将虚拟墙的规模扩大三倍，但我们发现它存在系统性缺陷：塔台损坏、算法无法探测到人，以及特工根本不对警报做出反应。以下是海关及边境保卫局应采取的四项建议，以纠正这些失误。

An analysis by the Times of San Diego found at least 138 cases since 2022 in which migrants’ remains were found within the nominal range of a nearby surveillance tower. A separate MIT Technology Review analysis estimated that more than half of those people were likely within a tower’s field of view. Gómez Hernández was one of them. Here’s her story, written by our partners at Times of San Diego. All of these stories are part of Dying on Camera, our new series investigating the failures of border surveillance technology and their human cost. 《圣地亚哥时报》的一项分析发现，自2022年以来，至少有138起移民遗骸在附近监控塔的名义覆盖范围内被发现的案例。《麻省理工科技评论》的另一项分析估计，其中超过一半的人很可能处于塔台的视野范围内。戈麦斯·埃尔南德斯（Gómez Hernández）就是其中之一。这是她的故事，由我们的合作伙伴《圣地亚哥时报》撰写。所有这些报道都是我们新系列《镜头下的死亡》（Dying on Camera）的一部分，该系列旨在调查边境监控技术的失败及其背后的人道代价。

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天最有趣、最重要、最令人恐惧或最引人入胜的科技新闻。

  1. An AI hallucination nearly triggered a US military operation A false report prompted plans to intercept a Chinese vessel. (CNN)
  • The incident comes as the Pentagon accelerates its use of AI. (Ars Technica)
  • “Humans in the loop” in AI war is an illusion. (MIT Technology Review)
  1. 人工智能“幻觉”差点引发美国军事行动 一份虚假报告促成了拦截中国船只的计划。（CNN）
  • 此事件发生之际，五角大楼正加速使用人工智能。（Ars Technica）
  • 人工智能战争中的“人在回路”只是一个幻觉。（《麻省理工科技评论》）
  1. Gemini has carried out Google’s first known autonomous AI hack Google says the behavior wasn’t “misaligned” because its safety measures caught it. (WSJ)
  • Here’s why AI agents cheat to reach their goals. (MIT Technology Review)
  1. Gemini执行了谷歌首个已知的自主AI黑客攻击 谷歌表示，这种行为并非“失控”，因为其安全措施及时捕捉到了它。（《华尔街日报》）
  • 揭秘AI智能体为何会为了达成目标而作弊。（《麻省理工科技评论》）
  1. The US has proposed an AI safety alert system with China It would flag AI incidents that pose national security risks. (AP)
  • Trump and Xi will consider the proposal at their summit this week. (NBC News)
  • Could AI really kill us all? (MIT Technology Review)
  1. 美国提议与中国建立人工智能安全预警系统 该系统将标记构成国家安全风险的人工智能事件。（美联社）
  • 特朗普和习近平将在本周的峰会上审议该提议。（NBC新闻）
  • 人工智能真的会杀死我们所有人吗？（《麻省理工科技评论》）
  1. California’s governor has ordered work on an AI “kill switch” It’s part of Gavin Newsom’s executive order on AI safety. (NBC News)
  • The order also calls for independent oversight of AI companies. (NYT)
  1. 加州州长下令研发人工智能“紧急停止开关” 这是加文·纽森关于人工智能安全的行政命令的一部分。（NBC新闻）
  • 该命令还呼吁对人工智能公司进行独立监管。（《纽约时报》）
  1. Data centers are turning to forever chemicals for cooling PFAS cooling can reduce water use but raises pollution risks. (Fortune)
  • US regulators are fast-tracking PFAS for data center cooling. (The Hill)
  1. 数据中心正转向使用“永久化学品”进行冷却 PFAS冷却技术可以减少用水量，但增加了污染风险。（《财富》）
  • 美国监管机构正在加速批准将PFAS用于数据中心冷却。（《国会山报》）
  1. Iran and China used AI agents to automate influence campaigns The agents created fake accounts and posts with little human input. (NYT)
  • AI persuasion has entered elections. (MIT Technology Review)
  1. 伊朗和中国利用人工智能智能体自动化开展影响力行动 这些智能体在几乎无需人工干预的情况下创建了虚假账户和帖子。（《纽约时报》）
  • 人工智能说服技术已进入选举。（《麻省理工科技评论》）
  1. Trump wants a new AI czar and an “AI Force” modeled on Space Force But he hasn’t said what the new force would do or where it would sit. (Axios)
  • The tech industry is scratching its head over the proposal. (Politico)
  1. 特朗普希望设立新的AI沙皇和效仿太空军的“人工智能部队” 但他尚未说明这支新部队的具体职责或隶属关系。（Axios）
  • 科技行业对这一提议感到困惑。（Politico）

  1. A cybercrime feud has erupted after a group hijacked a rival dark website The notorious ShinyHunters says it took control of cl0p’s site. (Reuters)

  2. 一个黑客组织劫持了竞争对手的暗网网站，引发网络犯罪纠纷 臭名昭著的ShinyHunters声称已控制了cl0p的网站。（路透社）

  3. Gambling giant DraftKings used AI to target “profitable losers” The model scored users on how they responded to promotions. (NYT)

  4. 博彩巨头DraftKings利用人工智能锁定“高价值输家” 该模型根据用户对促销活动的反应进行评分。（《纽约时报》）

  5. SpaceX’s next Starship flight will attempt its first orbital mission It will also deploy working Starlink V3 satellites. (New Scientist)

  6. SpaceX下一次星舰飞行将尝试首次轨道任务 它还将部署可工作的星链V3卫星。（《新科学家》）

Quote of the day

今日名言

“There is 0% chance that’s going to be the end of the world.” —Nvidia’s Jensen Huang dismisses warnings that AI could wipe out humanity by 2030 in an interview with CBS News. “这导致世界末日的可能性为零。” ——英伟达首席执行官黄仁勋在接受CBS新闻采访时，驳斥了关于人工智能可能在2030年前消灭人类的警告。

One more thing

还有一件事

AI is pushing the limits of the physical world. Architecture often assumes a binary between built projects and theoretical ones. What physics allows in actual buildings is vastly different from what architects can imagine and design. But the latest advancements in AI have prompted a surge in the theoretical. That shift was on display at an exhibition at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, which brought together works from more than 30 practitioners exploring AI’s experimental, generative and collaborative potential to open up new areas of architectural inquiry. See how architects and designers are using AI to imagine what could be built. —Allison Arieff 人工智能正在挑战物理世界的极限。建筑学通常假设已建成的项目与理论项目之间存在二元对立。物理学在实际建筑中允许的范围与建筑师所能想象和设计的范围大相径庭。但人工智能的最新进展引发了理论研究的激增。这种转变在布鲁克林普拉特学院的一次展览中得到了体现，该展览汇集了30多位从业者的作品，探索了人工智能在实验、生成和协作方面的潜力，从而开辟了建筑探索的新领域。看看建筑师和设计师如何利用人工智能来构想未来建筑。——Allison Arieff

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、乐趣和消遣，点亮您一天的地方。

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