PhonePe and Google Pay command 80% of India’s UPI instant payments network. Rivals are set to meet with regulators to lobby for restrictions.
Read more The e-commerce giant is making more money than expected from AWS but it’s also spending a lot, and will continue to do so in the near term, its chief executive said.
Read more The maker of Claude has received multiple pre-emptive offers at valuations in the $850 billion to $900 billion range, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Read more Elon Musk took the stand for the second day for his attempt to legally dismantle OpenAI.
Read more Meta is losing billions on Reality Labs each quarter, and its AI expenditures are only going to increase its spending.
Read more This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.
It’s time to make a plan for nuclear waste
Today, nuclear energy enjoys rare support across the political spectrum. Public approval has spiked, and Big Tech is throwing money around to meet rising electricity demand. That newfound interest is exactly why it’s time to talk about an old problem: nuclear waste.
In the US, nuclear reactors produce about 2,000 metric tons of high-level waste each year—and there’s nowhere to put it. Now, the need for a permanent storage solution is becoming urgent. Here’s what’s at stake.
—Casey Crownhart
This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday.
Orchestrated agents are coming for white-collar work
When people say AI will transform industries, what they have in mind—whether they know it or not—are AI agents. ChatGPT showed AI can talk. But to change the world, it needs to do stuff.
The real power comes when agents work as teams, coordinating multiple roles to tackle complex tasks. Apps like Codex and Claude Cowork offer a glimpse of this shift, bringing multi-agent general-purpose productivity tools.
In theory, networks of AI agents could do to white-collar knowledge work what assembly lines did to manufacturing. That’s the vision. But as agents move into real-world systems, the risks grow too. Read the full story.
—Will Douglas Heaven
Agent Orchestration is one of the 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now, MIT Technology Review’s guide to what’s really worth your attention in the busy, buzzy world of AI. We’re unpacking one item from the list each day here in The Download, so stay tuned.
MIT Technology Review Narrated: no one’s sure if synthetic mirror life will kill us all
In February 2019, a group of scientists proposed a high-risk, cutting-edge, irresistibly exciting idea that the National Science Foundation should fund: making “mirror” bacteria.
These lab-created microbes would be organized like ordinary bacteria, but their proteins and sugars would be mirror images of those found in nature. Researchers believed they could reveal new insights into building cells, designing drugs, and even the origins of life.
But now, many of them have reversed course. They’ve become convinced that mirror organisms could trigger a catastrophic event threatening every form of life on Earth. Find out why.
—Stephen Ornes
This is our latest story to be turned into an MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we publish each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Elon Musk says Sam Altman “stole a charity” at the OpenAI trial
Musk testified for the first time yesterday in the landmark legal showdown. (FT $)
+ He said OpenAI was founded as a non-profit to avoid a “Terminator outcome.” (Wired $)
+ And claimed he came up with the idea for the company. (Reuters $)
+ The trial could upend the global AI race. (MIT Technology Review)
2 The White House has plans to bypass Anthropic’s blacklisting
It’s drafting guidance to sidestep the supply-chain risk designation. (Axios)
+ The White House is also meeting other tech firms to discuss AI risks. (Politico)
+ The Pentagon’s culture war against Anthropic has backfired. (MIT Technology Review)
3 OpenAI is tightening ties with Amazon after retreating from Microsoft
AWS customers are getting extra access to OpenAI systems. (NBC News)
+ While OpenAI gets new users and cloud-computing capabilities. (CNBC)
4 AI bots told scientists how to create biological weapons
And unleash them in public spaces. (NYT $)
+ AI will change war forever. (MIT Technology Review)
5 China has suspended robotaxi licenses after a scary outage
Dozens of Baidu vehicles suddenly stopped last month. (The Verge)
+ Chinese robotaxi firms are planning global expansions. (Guardian)
6 Meta has been found in breach of EU rules on protecting children
After failing to block access to Facebook and Instagram. (Guardian)
+ Parents are forcing schools to roll back classroom tech use. (NYT $)
7 AI is spotting pancreatic cancer years before symptoms appear
A study found it could catch the tumor early enough to treat. (Bloomberg)
8 The Iran war is disrupting data center rollouts
Oaktree-owned Pure DC is the latest firm to pause investments. (CNBC)
9 SpaceX is tying Elon Musk’s pay to Mars colonization goals
It’s set lofty goals for his jaw-dropping compensation. (Reuters $)
10 AI has reconstructed the face of an ancient Pompeii victim
Technology is reshaping our understanding of the distant past (NPR)
Quote of the day
“Overnight, without you even knowing it, your own life chances, the life chances of your children, will be dependent on people continuing to prop up Musk’s visions of how the world should look.”
—Elon Musk biographer Michel Martin tells NPR how the Tesla tycoon is shaping our lives.
One More Thing
NEIL WEBB
Inside Clear’s ambitions to manage your identity beyond the airport
If you’ve ever been through a large US airport, you’re probably aware of Clear, the identity verification service that uses biometric scans to whisk travelers past standard security checks.
Now Clear wants to expand that “face-first” experience from airports to just about everywhere, from retailers and banks to even your doctor’s office. Its CEO has designs on making Clear the “identity layer of the internet” and the “universal identity platform” of the physical world.
All you have to do is show up—and show your face. But as biometric identity systems go mainstream, concerns about privacy, security, and control are becoming harder to ignore. And the cost of convenience may not be shared equally. Discover what’s at stake.
—Eileen Guo
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.)
+ Discover why the eight-hour night is a modern invention.
+ This artist creates masterpieces using only a vintage typewriter and a lot of patience.
+ Test your local knowledge with this game that drops you in a random Street View location.
+ Watch this incredible feat of precision piloting as a race aircraft touches down on a 120km/h cargo train.
Today, nuclear energy enjoys a rare moment of support across the political spectrum in the US. Interest from tech companies that are scrambling to meet demand for massive data centers has sparked a resurgence of money and attention in the industry. That newfound interest is exactly why it’s time to talk about an old problem: nuclear waste.
In the US alone, nuclear reactors produce about 2,000 metric tons of high-level waste each year. And there’s nowhere to put it.
Though newly popular, the nuclear program in the US is nothing new. The US hosts more reactors and production capacity than any other country in the world. And yet nearly seven decades after the first permanent nuclear facility in the US went online, there’s still not a long-term solution for nuclear waste.
Used fuel is largely stored onsite at operating and shut-down reactors, in pools and casks made of steel and concrete. Experts generally agree that these methods are safe, but they’re not designed to be permanent.
The leading strategy around the world for long-term storage of this high-level radioactive waste is to house it in a deep geological repository—dig a hole, put radioactive material down there, and fill it up with concrete. These holes, hundreds of meters underground, are designed to be a permanent home.
There aren’t any operating geological repositories for spent fuel yet, but some countries are well on their way. Finland is the furthest along; as of 2026, the country is testing its facility. Final approvals are expected soon, and operations could start later this year. Some other countries aren’t far behind.
France is home to over 50 nuclear reactors, and its grid gets more of its power from nuclear than any other. The country also has the world’s most established program for reprocessing spent fuel. The process separates out the plutonium and uranium to create a type of fuel known as mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. But reprocessing isn’t a perfect recycling loop, so the leftovers from this process still need somewhere to go. The country currently stores waste onsite at the La Hague reprocessing plant, but it plans to build a repository. Initial approvals could come later this decade, and pilot operations could start up by 2035.
Technically, the US also has a destination for its spent fuel: Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The site, which is on federal land, was designated by Congress in 1987. However, progress has entirely stalled out because of political opposition. In 2011, the federal government stopped providing funding for the site, and for roughly a decade, there’s been no activity to speak of.
In the meantime, waste continues to pile up.
The nuclear industry is kicking into a new gear around the world. China is home to the world’s fastest–growing nuclear energy program, and countries including Bangladesh and Turkey are building their first reactors.
Even the long-established US program is seeing growth: Interest in and approval for nuclear energy have spiked, and Big Tech is throwing money around to meet rising electricity demand. Companies are proposing (and beginning to receive regulatory approval for) next-generation reactors, which employ different coolants, fuels, and designs.
Given all this new interest, and the impending arrival of new types of nuclear waste, it’s time for nuclear companies, as well as their powerful customers, to push for progress on building geological storage facilities. As the richest country on the planet and home to a large chunk of the activity in next-generation reactors, the US should aim to join the leaders rather than continue to lag behind.
Directing even a small fraction of the recent surge in funding and attention to progress on waste could make a difference. Some experts are calling for a new organization in the US to manage nuclear waste rather than leaving it to the Department of Energy. This organization would mirror programs in Finland, Canada, and France.
The process of planning, building, and commissioning a permanent solution for nuclear waste is a long one. Finland started planning in the 1980s and selected its site in the early 2000s, and it’s nearly ready to start accepting waste. For countries that don’t have a permanent storage solution sorted, the best time to start was decades ago. But the second-best time is now.
This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here.
The social media giant saw its first decline in daily active usage ever, which it claims is due to new restrictions in some regions.
The U.S. Department of Justice reported that the social media giant was among several groups that contributed to the international operation.
The research underlines a growing body of evidence showing the platform has become more politically contentious since the change from Twitter.