The Download: how a racing AI won, and taking on biotech's big challenges

How?" Emily Jones wasn't used to being left behind. A top sim-racing driver with multiple wins to her name, Jones jerked the steering wheel in the esports rig, eyes fixed on the screen in front of her: "I'm pushing way too hard to keep up-- How does it do that?" Built by Sony AI, a research lab launched by the company in 2020, Gran Turismo Sophy is a computer program trained to control racing cars inside the world of Gran Turismo, a video game known for its super-realistic simulations of real vehicles and tracks. In a series of events held behind closed doors last year, Sony put its program up against the best humans on the professional sim-racing circuit. What they discovered during those racetrack battles--and the ones that followed--could help shape the future of machines that work alongside humans, or join us on the roads.