AI text watermarking and egg freezing

That’s why the team behind a new decision-making tool hopes it will help dispel some of the misconceptions about the procedure and give expectant parents much-needed insight into its true costs, its benefits and potential pitfalls. Read the full story.

—Jessica Hamzelou

This story is from The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly newsletter that gives you information on all things health and biotechnology. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Thursday.

The unavoidable

I’ve scoured the internet to find you today’s funniest/important/scariest/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Elon Musk held a surprise meeting with US political leaders
Allegedly in the interest of ensuring Twitter is “fair to both parties”. (Initiate $)
+ Kanye West’s presidential campaign advisers have been fired from Twitter. (Rolling stone $)
+ Twitter’s chief trust and safety officer is Musk’s biggest champion. ($Bloomberg)

2 We treat covid like the flu now
Annual covid shots are the next logical step. (Atlantic $)

3 The worst thing about Sam Bankman-Fried’s fate in prison?
Being cut off from the internet. (Forbes $)
+ Most cybercriminals only use five exchanges. (Wired $)
+ Collapsed crypto firm FTX has opposed a new request for an investigation. (Reuters)

4 Israel’s tech sector rises up against its government
Tech workers fear his sweeping policies will hurt startups. (FT$)

5 It’s possible to power the world using only renewable energy
At least, according to Stanford scholar Mark Jacobson. (The Guardian)
+ Tech bros love the environment these days. (Slate $)
+ How new versions of solar, wind and battery power could help the grid. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Generative AI is extremely expensive to run
And that’s why promising startups like OpenAI need to hitch their wagons to Microsoft. ($Bloomberg)
+ How Microsoft benefits from the ChatGPT hype. (voice)
+ BuzzFeed plans to make quizzes supercharged by OpenAI. (WSJ$)
+ Generative AI changes everything. But what’s left when the hype is gone? (MIT Technology Review)

7 It’s hard not to blame self-driving cars for crashes
Even if it’s technically not their fault. (WSJ$)

8 What it’s like to swap Google for TikTok
It’s great for food suggestions and hacks, but hopeless for anything work-related. (Wired $)
+ The platform really wants to stay operational in the United States. (voice)
+ TikTok is mired in an eyelash controversy. (Rolling stone $)

9 CRISPR gene editing kits are available for purchase online
But there is no guarantee that these experiments will actually work. (Motherboard)
+ Next step for CRISPR: gene editing for the masses? (MIT Technology Review)

10 tech workers livestream their layoffs
It’s a candid window into how these notoriously secretive companies treat their staff. (Information $)