{"id":22646,"date":"2026-09-23T12:56:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T12:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=22646"},"modified":"2026-09-23T12:56:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T12:56:38","slug":"the-download-indias-smart-glasses-menace-and-ais-trillion-dollar-gamble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=22646","title":{"rendered":"The Download: India\u2019s smart glasses menace and AI\u2019s trillion-dollar gamble"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p><em>This is today&#8217;s edition of <\/em><em>The Download<\/em>,<em> our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what&#8217;s going on in the world of technology.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Smart glasses are already causing havoc in India<strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>When Shubnam saw an Instagram video of a Delhi protest they had attended, they realized a content creator wearing Meta smart glasses had recorded them surreptitiously. The mocking reel drew millions of views, along with transphobic abuse and AI-generated memes.<\/p>\n<p>Experts warn that many others will experience similar ordeals as smart glasses go mainstream. The risks are particularly acute in India, where covert recording and the circulation of images without consent are already pervasive.<\/p>\n<p>The bigger issue is that the smart glasses aren\u2019t just being used to turn ordinary people into targets of viral \u201cpranks.\u201d They\u2019re also becoming a tool of police surveillance.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s why smart glasses are creating new privacy risks in India.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014Anuj Behal<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">MIT Technology Review Narrated: what\u2019s at stake in AI\u2019s trillion-dollar gamble<strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>When Jessica Wachter, a University of Pennsylvania finance professor, wanted to assess AI\u2019s impact on the economy over the next few years, she started with a simple fact: a handful of so-called hyperscalers are investing huge amounts of money to build AI data centers.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of trying to predict how widely deployed AI models will be, Wachter asked how fast the hyperscalers\u2019 earnings will need to grow to justify their spending through 2027, when expenditures are expected to reach nearly $1.1 trillion.<\/p>\n<p>The results are eye-opening. AI companies will need to achieve an extraordinary increase in productivity just to break even by 2030.<\/p>\n<p><strong>This is our latest <\/strong><strong>story<\/strong><strong> to become an MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we publish each week on <\/strong><strong>Spotify<\/strong><strong> and <\/strong><strong>Apple Podcasts<\/strong><strong>. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it\u2019s released.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>The must-reads<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>I\u2019ve combed the internet to find you today\u2019s most fun\/important\/scary\/fascinating stories about technology.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>1 Hackers claim they&#8217;ve stolen data on almost all FBI employees<br \/><\/strong>The ShinyHunters group says it seized more than 2 TB of data. (Axios)<br \/><em>+ Including agents\u2019 names, addresses, and phone numbers.<\/em> (404 Media)<br \/><em>+ ShinyHunters says the attack was retaliation for an FBI alert. <\/em>(Reuters $)<br \/><em>+ Now is a good time for doing crime.<\/em> (MIT Technology Review)<\/p>\n<p><strong>2 Anthropic and OpenAI have both released lower-cost models<br \/><\/strong>They face growing competition from cheaper Chinese models. (CNBC)<br \/><em>+ Startups have been reducing their reliance on the two labs. <\/em>(Bloomberg $)<br \/><em>+ The new models are the first since their calls for an AI slowdown.<\/em> (FT $)<br \/><em>+ Their CEOs are set to brief the UN Security Council today. <\/em>(Quartz)<br \/><em>+ Could AI really kill us all?<\/em> (MIT Technology Review)<\/p>\n<p><strong>3 Trump\u2019s Treasury chief could soon become his new AI czar<br \/><\/strong>Scott Bessent has played a central role in US-China AI talks. (Semafor)<br \/><em>+ Other contenders include Michael Kratsios and Scott Kupor.<\/em> (Gizmodo)<br \/><em>+ Will Trump&#8217;s AI rebrand to \u201csuperintelligence\u201d catch on?<\/em> (BBC)<\/p>\n<p><strong>4 Scientists are turning renewable electricity directly into food<br \/><\/strong>The goal is to make more food with less land. (New Scientist $)<br \/><em>+ Companies are creating food out of thin air. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review)<\/p>\n<p><strong>5 A \u201cfire amoeba\u201d has broken the heat survival record for complex life<br \/><\/strong>The newly discovered organism can grow and reproduce at 63\u00b0C. (NPR)<br \/><em>+ It could inform the search for life elsewhere.<\/em> (New Scientist $)<\/p>\n<p><strong>6 Meta quietly tested a \u201chuman concierge\u201d for its Muse AI agent<br \/><\/strong>Contractors secretly handled some calls placed by Muse. (Reuters $)<br \/><em>+ Staff raised concerns about privacy and misleading users.<\/em> (404 Media)<\/p>\n<p><strong>7 Data centres are replacing copper with light to cut energy use<br \/><\/strong>Photonics can move data with less heat than electrical wiring. (BBC)<br \/><em>+ Virtual power plants could also help.<\/em> (MIT Technology Review)<\/p>\n<p><strong>8 AI models built from rat brains just got closer to reality<br \/><\/strong>AWS is tapping rat neurons to make video AI faster. (Wired $)<\/p>\n<p><strong>9 Uber is betting on human drivers to give its robotaxis an edge<\/strong><br \/>They can cover demand spikes while autonomous cars recharge. (Axios)<\/p>\n<p><strong>10 A humanoid robot took on an amateur fighter in a cage<br \/><\/strong>The brief bout was billed as the first human-robot MMA fight. (Futurism)<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Quote of the day<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>\u201cThe use of the word artificial makes it sound fake. It&#8217;s not fake; it&#8217;s actually amazing.\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u2014President Donald Trump tells the UN General Assembly why he wants to rename AI \u201csuperintelligence.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>One more thing<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"618\" height=\"348\" src=\"https:\/\/wp.technologyreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/PainChek-Montage-3-edited.jpg\" alt=\"a person holding a phone up in front of an elderly person, whose face is visible on the screen\" class=\"wp-image-1144968\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp.technologyreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/PainChek-Montage-3-edited.jpg 618w, https:\/\/wp.technologyreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/PainChek-Montage-3-edited.jpg?resize=300,169 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 618px) 100vw, 618px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"image-credit\">COURTESY OF PAINCHEK<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">AI is changing how we quantify pain<\/h4>\n<p>At Orchard Care Homes, nurses used to rely on an observational scale to assess pain in residents who couldn\u2019t communicate verbally. But agitated residents were sometimes assumed to have behavioral issues, while their pain went untreated.<\/p>\n<p>Then, in 2021, the care-home chain began trialing PainChek, a smartphone app that scans a resident\u2019s face for microscopic muscle movements and uses AI to output a pain score. Within weeks, the pilot unit saw fewer prescriptions and calmer corridors.<\/p>\n<p>Now researchers are racing to turn pain into something a camera or sensor can score as reliably as blood pressure. But when algorithms measure our suffering, does that change how we understand and treat it?<\/p>\n<p>Discover how AI is changing the way we assess pain.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014Deena Mousa<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>We can still have nice things<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? <\/em><em>Drop me a line<\/em><em>.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>+ Scientists have discovered the first new penguin species in more than 100 years.<br \/>+ Discover the filmmaking skills that made Paul Verhoeven\u2019s <em>RoboCop<\/em> a directing masterclass.<br \/>+ What happens when fast food meets local tastes? These unusual international menu items offer some tasty answers.<br \/>+ Dance to every track the crowd has identified at Berghain since 2024 with this media player, which replays each night in sequence.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>#Download #Indias #smart #glasses #menace #AIs #trilliondollar #gamble<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is today&#8217;s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[5685,803,2318,685,8954,14138,214,14137,13074],"class_list":["post-22646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-ais","tag-download","tag-gamble","tag-glasses","tag-indias","tag-menace","tag-smart","tag-the-download-india039s-smart-glasses-menace-and-ai039s-trillion-dollar-gamble","tag-trilliondollar"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/260824_metaindia.jpg",1200,600,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/260824_metaindia-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/260824_metaindia-300x150.jpg",300,150,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/260824_metaindia-768x384.jpg",640,320,true],"large":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/260824_metaindia-1024x512.jpg",640,320,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/260824_metaindia.jpg",1200,600,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/260824_metaindia.jpg",1200,600,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/260824_metaindia-1024x512.jpg",1024,512,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/260824_metaindia-540x340.jpg",540,340,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?author=1"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/news678.top\/?cat=7\" rel=\"category\">Stories<\/a>","tag_info":"Stories","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}