The Obtain: methods to discuss local weather tech, and Sam Altman’s previous


That is as we speak’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a every day dose of what’s occurring on this planet of expertise.

Your information to speaking about local weather tech over Thanksgiving

Ah, the vacations. Time for good meals, high quality moments with household, and laborious questions on local weather change … or is that simply us?

Our local weather reporter Casey Crownhart has been in the course of loads of heated conversations across the dinner desk. And though you is likely to be tempted to sneak away or change the topic, it is likely to be value sticking round and serving to individuals to chop by way of the complicated issues they’ve heard on TV, or the web, or from their buddies.

For those who determine to do this, we’ve acquired you coated. Let’s dig into a number of questions on local weather change, and particularly local weather expertise, which may come up over the course of the vacations. Learn the complete story.

This story is from The Spark, our weekly publication supplying you with the within observe on all issues vitality and local weather change. Join to obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the web to search out you as we speak’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.

1 Sam Altman’s previous hints at why OpenAI’s board tried to fireside him
The very qualities some admire deeply rankle others. (WP $)
Who’s in and who’s out on OpenAI’s board. (NYT $)
Behind the scenes of the OpenAI showdown. (WSJ $)
Who gained? The cash males. (NYT $)
Some OpenAI prospects have been contemplating switching to rival corporations. (CNBC)
However the improvement of AI is now managed by a tiny cadre of corporations. (NBC)
Now you can voice chat with ChatGPT. (Engadget)

2 Binance customers have withdrawn not less than $1 billion within the final 24 hours
With the CEO pleading responsible to numerous felony prices, can you actually blame them? (CNBC)
One of many perks Binance supplied VIP prospects was a heads-up in the event that they had been being investigated by legislation enforcement. (CNBC)
However does all this drama imply crypto is likely to be about to grow to be… boring? (Wired $)
What’s subsequent for crypto. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)

3 Gazans are desperately making an attempt to remain on-line
Even earlier than the siege, web connectivity was poor. Now the state of affairs is dire. (Vice)

4 Digital hate has an extended, darkish historical past in India 
And we will count on issues to get a lot worse with an election looming early subsequent yr. (Wired $)

5 AI-generated photographs are proliferating on inventory picture websites
It’s tougher than ever earlier than to inform truth from fiction. (WP $)
Textual content-to-image AI fashions will be tricked into producing disturbing photographs. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)

6 A decide dominated that Elon Musk ignored Tesla Autopilot’s deadly flaws
Between this and the mess at Cruise, it’s a reasonably dangerous week for the autonomous car sector. (Ars Technica)
Cruise claims it’s more likely to relaunch quickly in Texas or Arizona. (Axios)
A race for autopilot dominance is giving China the sting in autonomous driving. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)

7 TikTokers are posting movies of strangers gossiping about individuals
Whereas, uh, probably harming everybody concerned within the course of. (The Guardian

8 We’re getting higher at utilizing tech to scent stuff 👃
However ‘e-noses’ are advanced to calibrate, and intensely costly. (BBC)
New analysis goals to convey odors into digital worlds. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)

9 Simply go forward and use your smartphone this Thanksgiving 
Positive, you don’t need to be glued to it, but it surely is likely to be a useful piece of distraction. (WSJ $)

10 Paris Hilton’s firm joined an extended listing of advertisers abandoning X
It’s turning into an ‘X-odus’ (sorry.) (CNN)

Quote of the day

“You could possibly parachute him into an island stuffed with cannibals and are available again in 5 years and he’d be the king.”

—Paul Graham on his fellow Y Combinator co-founder Sam Altman in a weblog submit from 2008. 

The massive story

The FBI accused him of spying for China. It ruined his life.

" "

June 2021

In April 2018, Anming Hu, a Chinese language-Canadian affiliate professor on the College of Tennessee, acquired an sudden go to from the FBI. The brokers needed to know whether or not he’d been concerned in a Chinese language authorities “expertise program,” providing abroad researchers incentives to convey their work again to Chinese language universities.

Not too way back, American universities inspired their lecturers to construct ties with Chinese language establishments, however the US authorities is now suspicious of those packages, seeing them as a spy recruitment software. Regardless of Hu’s denial he was concerned in such packages, rather less than two years later, they confirmed up once more—this time to arrest him. Learn the complete story.

—Karen Hao & Eileen Guo

We are able to nonetheless have good issues

A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Acquired any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

+ These hip horses are rockin’ everywhere in the world 🐴 
+ Having a child and have to decide on a reputation that works in two languages? MixedName is right here to assist.
+ Aww, the very shy Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna has been caught on digicam for the primary time.
+ What’s extra applicable for Thanksgiving than an espresso martini? Nothing, that’s what.
+ Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving slasher film is a field workplace hit for a cause.



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