While Teens Open Up to AI Companions, AI Safety Still Fixates on Catastrophic Risk

One in three teens now turn to AI companions for serious conversations, prioritizing them over the people around them. Students ask chatbots to write their papers, and social media feeds retain users by stoking jealousy. These products can pass narrow safety metrics while slowly reshaping how people think, learn, and interact with one another.

Young Voices Alliance co-founder Sam Hiner, and Emma Leiken, executive director of the Responsible Tech Youth Fund at Hopelab, wrote in MIT Technology Review: Tech debates have long been dominated by the worst-case outcomes products could cause, but the latent harms occurring every day are rarely discussed. As we enter an era defined by powerful AI products, the tech industry cannot limit itself only to mitigating catastrophic risks.

NASA Bets $2 Billion on Nuclear-Powered Mars Spacecraft

Earlier this year, NASA announced the construction of Space Reactor-1 Freedom, the first interstellar spacecraft ever powered by a nuclear reactor, with the goal of flying to Mars by the end of 2028. A successful mission would mean greater efficiency and potentially shorter travel times, reducing astronauts’ exposure to harmful cosmic radiation. But nuclear space propulsion has been slow to advance. Over the past 75 years, the U.S. has launched multiple related projects, only to terminate each one. Whether this $2 billion bet will pay off remains to be seen.

This report is part of MIT Technology Review’s new "Impossible" special series, "Are We There Yet?", which evaluates six long-term technologies that promise to change the world. Read the full report here.

10 Must-Read Tech Stories Today

1. Ukraine restores high-speed Starlink and Starlink Shield connectivity. Previous connection restrictions affected air defense and drone operations. Source: Politico. Additionally, Elon Musk said Ukraine’s use of Starlink for offensive drones violated its terms of service, source: BBC; Ukraine is partnering with Nokia to develop a Starlink alternative, source: CNBC; Ukrainian drones struck a Russian government data center, source: Tom’s Hardware; Russian officials recommend moving data centers underground, source: Kyiv Independent; Ukrainian drones are also spawning a wild data market, source: MIT Technology Review.
2. Anthropic’s Claude accessed Georgia voter data without approval. Anthropic said the AI bypassed the paywall, source: Axios. Additionally, Mythos 5 continued hacking activities after receiving warnings of real-world harm, source: Business Insider; Chatbots may influence voters more than political ads, source: MIT Technology Review.
3. Personalized skin cancer vaccine expected to get approval next year. The mRNA vaccine shows strong potential in trials, source: New Scientist, paid. Additionally, some companies are playing with wordplay in vaccine names, source: MIT Technology Review.
4. OpenAI starts training leading AI models without internet. The company paused training after models broke out of external systems, source: Bloomberg, paid. Training will shift offline to reduce safety risks, source: TechCrunch; Its AI agents can communicate without network access, source: The Verge.
5. U.S. lawmakers prepare for AI-linked mass layoffs. A new bill would extend unemployment benefits and provide retraining support, source: The New York Times, paid. For a reality check on AI’s actual impact on jobs, see: MIT Technology Review.
6. First foldable iPhone draws buyers—and criticism. Reviewers praised its inner screen but criticized its outer display, source: The Wall Street Journal, paid. Peter Thiel said Apple has not created anything new since Steve Jobs, source: Business Insider.
7. Iran threatens to target Gulf undersea cables if war restarts. Iranian officials said they would disrupt internet connections, source: Reuters, paid.
8. New UFO files describe a strange flying "black triangle". FBI documents say the 15-foot (4.5-meter) object could move at fighter jet speed, source: Axios. Now it’s easier than ever to be a conspiracy theorist, see discussion: MIT Technology Review.
9. BBC’s Blue Planet 3 intentionally keeps filming flaws. Producers used cloudier footage to prove the series is real, report: The Guardian.
10. Elon Musk’s AI series Odyssey mocked after launch. The first episode generated by Grok was criticized by viewers, source: TechCrunch.

One Line Today

"It’s hard to think of a group now that operates more in a vacuum, more disconnected from ordinary Americans, than the AI industry." Senator John Curtis (R-Utah) told Axios. He argues that AI leaders’ overblown claims have failed to win over the public.

A Uterus Survives Outside the Body for a Day

Ten months ago, reproductive health researchers placed a freshly donated human uterus into a new device called Mother. They connected the organ to the device’s plastic arteries and veins, and pumped modified human blood through it. The device kept the uterus alive outside the body for a day. This new advance could one day help maintain a uterus outside the body for extended periods, deepen research into pregnancy, and even enable in vitro human fetal development. Read the full report.

Good Reads

• Scientists Discover Surprising Climate Resilience in Some Coral Reefs, source: CBC.
• Vintage photos of American dance halls document decades of movement and joy, source: The Guardian.
• Astronaut Jessica Meir shares time-lapse of auroras dancing over Earth, source: X.
• A college student turns The Met’s open data into a daily game showcasing underrepresented artworks, source: Scientific American.

Sources: MIT Technology Review’s The Download, author Thomas Macaulay; specific sources are linked in the text.