Bonus: If you're an subscriber, you can join David and Richard, alongside's editor in chief, Mat Honan, for an exclusive conversation live on Tuesday, December 9 at 1pm ET about this topic. Sign up to be a part here . Any far-reaching new technology is always uneven in its adoption, but few have been more uneven than generative AI. That makes it hard to assess its likely impact on individual businesses, let alone on productivity across the economy as a whole. At one extreme, AI coding assistants have revolutionized the work of software developers. Mark Zuckerberg recently predicted that half of Meta's code would be written by AI within a year.

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have been crowned the 11th Breakthrough Technology of 2025 by MIT Technology Review's readers. BCIs are electrodes implanted into the brain to send neural commands to computers, primarily to assist paralyzed people. Hear from MIT Technology Review editor at large David Rotman and senior editor for biomedicine Antonio Regalado as they explore the past, present, and future of BCIs.

The rise of AI comes with a growing carbon footprint and an increased demand for electricity. Analysts project that AI could drive up data centers' energy consumption by 160% this decade. So how worried should we be about AI's electricity demands and carbon emissions? How can this technology be used responsibly in the face of the climate crisis? Hear from editor-at-large David Rotman, senior AI reporter Melissa Heikkilä, and senior editor for energy James Temple for a conversation exploring the energy trade-offs involved in AI.

Each year, MIT Technology Review's reporters and editors pick 10 Breakthrough Technologies, all of which have the promise to fundamentally change the way we live and work. This year's list covers everything from space science and telemedicine to advances in artificial intelligence and biotechnology. They represent the technologies we predict will have the biggest impact on our lives in the year ahead. This year's TR10 is the 22nd we've published, and I'll be highlighting an entry each day in The Download for the next 10 days, starting tomorrow. We hope you enjoy marveling at the progress that's been made in the fields of gene editing, military drones, battery recycling, and computer chip design, to name just a few. David Rotman, our editor at large, has written a fascinating introductory essay which sets out how legislation investing hundreds of billions into industry and research and development could reset how we think about governments' role in the economy.