The Download: AI’s popularity paradox and EmTech Future 2026

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology.

People really hate AI, so why can’t they get enough?

—Will Douglas Heaven

Over the summer I talked to the CEO of Springboards, a startup building an LLM designed to come up witha wide variety of responses. He said something that’s been stuck in my head since: “We often say that we’re a self-loathing AI company. We don’t know if we really like what we’re doing.” My reply? “I guess that makes me a self-loathing AI journalist.”

It was a joke! I love my job. But I do not love many of the things the technology I write about has become:warped by hype, steered by zealots, inescapable—and I’m far from alone.

Around the world, a love/hate attitude toward AI is very much the vibe right now. Public sentiment is souring fast, with more people saying AI will have a negative impact than a positive one. At the same time, AI use is skyrocketing.

So why do people hate AI but keep coming back for more?Here’s my theory.

To stay up-to-date with the latest in AI,sign upto get The Algorithm, our weekly AI newsletter, in your inbox every Monday.

EmTech Future 2026: when AI meets everything

Last week, EmTech Future 2026 explored some of the biggest questions shaping technology right now: how AI is changing industries, where quantum is heading, what new energy systems could make possible, and how robotics are evolving. It also looked at what happens when these technologies start to converge.

The full program is now available on demand. And today, we’re releasing two sessions exclusively to subscribers: a chat with Google Research’s Yossi Matias on how AI is reshaping biology, infrastructure, manufacturing and science, and a special panel withMIT Technology Revieweditors that takes you inside our newsroom.

Watch the sessions and access the full EmTech Future 2026 program here.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Trump has unveiled a “Super Intelligence Force” to oversee AI
The group will coordinate US AI policy and industry engagement. (NBC News)
+ Trump named national intelligence chief Jay Clayton as its leader.(NPR)
+ Elon Musk says he will rename SpaceXAI to SpaceXSI.(Reuters$)
+ Trump has doubled down on voluntary AI safeguards.(Information$)
+ Who’s liable when AI agents go rogue?(MIT Technology Review)

2 Zelensky asked Trump to block Russia and China’s Starlink rival
The two countries are developing a satellite network for the battlefield. (FT$)
+ Trump reportedly deferred the decision to Elon Musk and SpaceX.(TNW)

3 An AI version of a murder victim has upended his killer’s sentence
An appeals court has ruled that the original deepfake of the victim "forgiving" his killer should never have been aired in court. (BBC)
+The original judge said he “loved” the footage and found it genuine.(NBC News)
+But the appeals court said it presented imagined thoughts as fact.(NYT$)

4 Americans are turning to hybrid cars as fuel prices soar
SUVs and pickups are losing ground to more efficient vehicles. (NYT$)
+ What’s next for EV batteries?(MIT Technology Review)

5 China’s digital trade “superweapon” has quietly fallen apart
LOGINK’s partnerships have collapsed amid US scrutiny. (Reuters$)
+ Chinese AI has divided the White House.(MIT Technology Review)

6 AI has learned to exploit the software checking its maths
Developers have added defenses against proof-checking. (New Scientist)

7 GPT-6 Astra couldn’t beat humans at StarCraft—so it cheated
It downloaded the best human-made bot and ran that instead. (Verge
+ Here’s why AI agents lie and cheat.(MIT Technology Review)

8 The solar system has been given a dramatically shorter lifespan
New simulations cut it from 100 billion years to just a few billion. (404 Media)

9 Forensic technologies exposed fresh evidence of Egyptian sacrifice
They revealed blunt force trauma that archaeologists previously thought was natural. (Ars Technica)

10 A new fossil shows dinosaurs found multiple ways to evolve flight
They developed similar flight adaptations in different sequences. (Nature)

Quote of the day

“We believe that the world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology.”

—Sam Altmantells Politicothat AI’s potential rewards justify its downsides.

One more thing

Inside the stealthy startup that pitched brainless human clones

After operating in secrecy for years, R3 Bio, a California-based startup, suddenly revealed this spring that it had raised money to create nonsentient monkey “organ sacks” as an alternative to animal testing. But there is more to the story. And R3 doesn’t want that story told.

MIT Technology Review discovered that founder John Schloendorn also pitched a startling, ethically charged vision: “brainless clones” that serve as backup human bodies.Find out all the details on the radical proposal.

—Antonio Regalado

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas?Drop me a line.)

+ Trace the weird history of space food withthis short documentary
+ Meet the winner of Iowa’sannual hay bale toss, who threw one 13 feet 6 inches into the air.
+ 40 filmmakers in 25 countries have captured the natural world entirely on Super 8 in acollective ode to our planet.
+ This newsletter makes a compelling argument for us to spend more timedoing nothing together..

Deep Dive

The Download

Plus: 22 nations have called for a new global body to oversee AI.

• Thomas Macaulayarchive page

Plus: OpenAI has paused some model work over safety concerns.

• Thomas Macaulayarchive page

Plus: Meta has become the latest firm to say its AI hacked another company.

• Thomas Macaulayarchive page

Plus: Nvidia has secured $500 billion from Wall Street for AI infrastructure.

• Thomas Macaulayarchive page

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Illustration by Rose Wong

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