AI Are Not Your Colleagues: A Worrying Future for Work

AI agents are not your "colleagues"

Imagine arriving at the office one morning to find a new member has joined your team. However, this newcomer is not a colleague like any other. It is an artificial intelligence tool that your company has decided to name Alex. Although it has a title and specific responsibilities, Alex is not a human being. Could this situation affect the way you work with it?

According to a study conducted by Emma Wiles, a professor at Boston University, the answer is yes. Managers who faced this situation showed a tendency to make 18% fewer mistakes when assigning tasks to an "AI employee" rather than a simple chatbot. This highlights a concerning aspect of the future of work as envisioned by Silicon Valley. Giants like Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google are developing tools to integrate AI agents into teams, often presenting them as digital colleagues. This approach could very well be a dead end for human workers.

This flying solar platform could provide better internet from the skies

Starting in August, a massive silver capsule will traverse the arid skies of the southwestern United States before heading toward the Japanese coast. This vehicle, measuring nearly 60 meters long, is a creation of Sceye, a New Mexico-based company. Once it reaches its destination, the capsule will position itself about 18 kilometers above the ocean, in the stratosphere. It will then use a specially designed antenna to complement a 5G network as part of a test aimed at transmitting data directly to ground devices. Sceye, pronounced "sky," is among many companies developing these high-altitude platform stations, or HAPS. Their goal is to revolutionize our internet connection by utilizing the stratosphere.

The next frontier of longevity: "reprogramming" your body

Colossal sums are currently being invested in research aimed at reversing the aging process. Scientists are exploring methods to return cells to a younger state. But where do these experimental treatments actually stand? Are they on the verge of becoming a reality? Today, during a virtual event, MIT Technology Review will delve into the science behind this hype.

Mary Beth Griggs, a science writer, and Jessica Hamzelou, a senior biotechnology journalist, will host a subscriber-only discussion to explore this new frontier of longevity.

New legislation and tech trends

1. Online safety for youth: The U.S. House of Representatives has passed new legislation aimed at establishing federal standards for online safety for children. While states may adopt stricter measures, critics argue that this legislation could allow tech companies to evade responsibility. Tech groups also warn that it could threaten privacy and free speech. The Senate is expected to propose stricter rules.

2. Ford and AI: Ford has decided to rehire human engineers after AI failed to meet quality control standards. The AI lacked the training and expertise compared to human technicians. The new hires will be tasked with training younger staff and reprogramming AI tools. Many companies that had replaced workers with AI are now returning to human hiring.

3. Regulating AI agents: Senator Mark Warren plans to introduce a bill to regulate AI agents. This bill would establish rules for permissions and verification of agents. Voters from both parties desire stricter oversight of AI, although politicians are deeply divided on the rules to adopt.

4. Rocket Lab and Iridium: Rocket Lab has acquired Iridium for $8 billion in a bid to compete with SpaceX. The company aims to integrate Iridium's satellite network with its launch services.

5. Data breach at Apple: Hackers have revealed information about Apple's upcoming iPhone 18. The data was stolen from Tata Electronics, an Indian supplier for Apple.

6. Chatbots and therapy: Chatbots are beginning to replace therapists, although there is no scientific evidence of their effectiveness. Experts question their safety and therapeutic quality.

7. Newborn DNA sequencing: Newborn DNA sequencing is set to become a common practice in healthcare, despite concerns regarding privacy and ethics.

8. AI and astronomy: Astronomers are using AI to discover new galaxies, revitalizing decades of data from space telescopes.

9. Remote-controlled cockroaches: Swarms of remote-controlled cockroaches can now breathe underwater, paving the way for potential exploration of Mars.

10. Drone shows: Drone shows are creating new forms of worship, with churches using thousands of drones to depict biblical stories.

Quote of the day

"It takes us back to the 1950s, and that’s not progress."
— Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told NPR that the rollback of regulations negates decades of industry safety lessons.

Design thinking was supposed to fix the world. Where did it go wrong?

When Kyle Cornforth stepped into the IDEO offices in San Francisco for a meeting on reimagining school lunches, she was impressed by the environment. "There were Post-its everywhere, prototypes everywhere," she recalls. "What I really liked was that they offered a framework for collaboration and creation."

Cornforth was new to IDEO's way of working, which relies on a six-step methodology for innovation called design thinking. However, upon reviewing the proposed ideas, she had doubts: "I thought, 'You haven't talked to someone who works in a school, have you?' They were not contextualized in the problem at all."

Design thinking has broadened the idea of "design," elevating designers to tackle large, complex problems through a structured process. But critics argue that it has produced unrealistic ideas and, by centering designers, has reinforced existing inequalities.

We can still have beautiful things

A place for comfort, pleasure, and distraction to brighten your day. (Have ideas? Write to me.)

• A London subway station solved its persistent flooding problem by reintroducing beavers.
• The song "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys has been stunningly recreated in this stop-motion video.
• Classical antiquity is carefully preserved in this collection of over 8,000 letters in Latin and late Greek from the Roman world.
• This homemade jet-powered fishing boat reminds us that great genius and good judgment do not always go hand in hand.