Face recognition in the US is about to meet one of its biggest tests

Want to know where batteries are going? Look at their ingredients.

Sponsored by Suse Subscribe The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology By Rhiannon Williams • 07.20.23 Hello! Today: why Massachusetts is a key battleground for the future of facial recognition in the US. Plus: the future of batteries is dependent on their materials. Face recognition in the US is about to meet one of its biggest tests Just four years ago, the movement to ban police departments from using face recognition in the US was riding high. By the end of 2020, around 18 cities had enacted restrictive laws, and lawmakers proposed a pause on the federal government's use of it.  In the years since, that effort has slowed to a halt. Some local bans have even been partially repealed, and today, few seriously believe that a federal ban could pass in the foreseeable future. Right now in the US, facial recognition regulations are trapped in political gridlock. However, in Massachusetts there is hope for those who want to restrict police access to face recognition, thanks to a bipartisan state bill being thrashed out by its lawmakers which would do exactly that. A lot rides on whether this law gets passed. It could usher in a new age of compromise, and could set the standard for how face recognition is regulated elsewhere. On the other hand, if a vote is delayed or fails, it would be yet another sign that the movement is waning. Read the full story. —Tate Ryan-Mosley Want to know where batteries are going? Look at their ingredients.  Batteries are going to be a key part of how we tackle climate change. They'll transform transportation and could also be crucial for storing renewables like wind or solar power for times when those resources aren't available. So in a way, they're a central technology for the two sectors responsible for the biggest share of emissions: energy and transportation.  The International Energy Agency has just released a new report on the state of critical minerals in energy, which has some interesting battery-related tidbits. If you want to understand what's next for batteries, you need to look at what's happening right now in their materials. Read the full story. —Casey Crownhart   Casey's story is from The Spark, her weekly climate newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT Sponsored by Suse Automated ERP monitoring prevents downtime and optimizes mission-critical business functions. Modern monitoring tools are a necessity in the increasingly complex and distributed enterprise resource planning (ERP) environment to optimize processes and fuel business-wide transformation.  This FREE report from MIT Technology Review Insights explores how organizations are investing in automated ERP monitoring to prevent downtime and optimize mission-critical business functions. Read more about what our Director of SAP Solution, Diego Akechi as well as our partners have to say about our expertise in this space. Learn more →   The must-reads I've combed the internet to find you today's most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Apple is plotting its own answer to ChatGPT It's part of its plan to use AI on a "very thoughtful basis." (Bloomberg $) + AI might not be all bad news for Hollywood. (Wired $) + Google is experimenting with AI for journalists. (NYT $) + Researchers think they've proved that GPT-4 is getting worse. (Ars Technica) + ChatGPT is everywhere. Here's where it came from. (MIT Technology Review)    2 It's about to get tougher for tech companies to merge Courtesy of new US guidelines designed to prevent monopolies. (NYT $)   3 We all know climate change is getting worse But experts are divided over whether it's doing so faster than expected, and if so why. (Economist $) + Do these heat waves mean climate change is happening faster than expected? (MIT Technology Review) 4 A bill that curbs US government access to our data has been greenlit If passed, it'll prevent agencies from buying data without a warrant. (Motherboard)   5 EVs have a tire pollution problem Making them smaller and slower are a few ways to reduce it. (The Atlantic $) + Recycling cars is big business these days. (Economist $) 6 It looks like Netflix's password-sharing crackdown paid off Almost 6 million subscribers have stumped up for their own accounts. (WSJ $)   7 The world is racing to unlock the power of geothermal energy Fracking is a contentious way to do it, though. (Wired $) + This geothermal startup showed its wells can be used like a giant underground battery. (MIT Technology Review)   8 What is a head of AI? Plenty of companies don't know, but they're hiring them anyway. (Vox)   9 Gen Z is freezing their eggs But even with youth on their side, success rates are still on the low side. (Vice) + There's still so much we don't understand about fertility. (Economist $) + I took an international trip with my frozen eggs to learn about the fertility industry. (MIT Technology Review) 10 This free music streaming app is gaining fans in Latin America It's ad-powered, and crucially, it's legal. (Rest of World) Quote of the day "It's sort of like you're a therapist. They tell you their life stories." —Ylonda Sherrod, an AT&T call center worker, tells the New York Times that replacing employees with AI systems will leave customers missing the human touch. The big story Why the balance of power in tech is shifting toward workers February 2022 Something has changed for tech giants. Even as they continue to hold tremendous influence in our daily lives, a growing accountability movement has begun to check their power. Led in large part by tech workers themselves, a movement seeking reform of how these companies do business has taken on unprecedented momentum, particularly in the past year. Concerns and anger over tech companies' impact in the world is nothing new, of course. What's changed is that workers are increasingly getting organized. Read the full story. —Jane Lytvynenko 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 or tweet 'em at me.) + The women's soccer World Cup is kicking off today! And England are the favorites to challenge the reigning champions. + This extreme deep sea freezer sounds like the perfect way to keep your beers icy cold. + Wow, the drunken monks of the Middle Ages sure knew how to have a good time. + Hey, hey, hey, what would an entire song of 'heys' sound like? + The unbearable brilliance of children's books. Subscribe for full access to the Accessibility issue and learn how technology can work for everyone. Plus, get in-depth stories on assistive devices, sonification, immigration, and climate change. SUBSCRIBE NOW Event ClimateTech Innovations for a sustainable future October 4-5, 2023 Learn more » Top image credit: SARAH ROGERS/MITTR | GETTY Please send funky monks to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @yannon_. Thanks for reading! —Rhiannon Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? 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