Plus: Amazon workers who backed data center limits face potential termination. A startup claims it broke through a bottleneck that's holding back LLMs AI startup Subquadratic came out of stealth last month with a huge claim: it had solved a mathematical bottleneck that had held back large language models for almost a decade. The purported breakthrough comes from slashing the number of computations transformers need to carry out to generate answers. The result is a faster and cheaper LLM that uses far less energy than any other model on the market. Many experts remained skeptical--but Subquadratic has started to share the receipts. They suggest that their approach might be worth paying attention to.

Miami-based AI startup Subquadratic came out of stealth mode last month with a huge claim. It announced that it had solved a mathematical bottleneck that had been holding back large language models for almost a decade. The details were thin, and many people were unconvinced. But Subquadratic has started to bring the receipts, sharing the results of an independent evaluation of its new tech. The results suggest that the company's claims might be worth paying attention to.

Quantifying our lives is easier than it's ever been. But a philosopher of games warns that external metrics and data can never capture what's truly important. There are plenty of useful things a metric can reveal. There are even more it can obscure or corrupt. It took me well over a decade of tracking my own life in ever greater detail to fully appreciate this duality, which probably reveals something about both me and the nature of measurement. Like a lot of people bitten by the self-quantifying bug, I initially started gathering personal data to pursue a nebulous collection of goals and desires.

This week, I covered the story of Casey Harrell --a man with ALS who is "the first power user" of a brain implant, according to the researchers who worked with him. Harrell is paralyzed and unable to speak coherently without the device. He has now spent almost three years using a brain-computer interface (BCI) that enables him to "speak," surf the web, and perform his job as a climate activist, largely independently. Since Harrell was implanted with the device, in July 2023, a team at the University of California, Davis, has worked with him to adjust and improve its offerings. They've refined its accuracy, for example.

Plus: The Pentagon says it used Grok in strikes on Iran. For decades, physicists have hunted for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), a leading candidate for dark matter. But their search has run into a new problem: neutrinos. These tiny particles from the sun and other stars can create a "neutrino fog" that drowns out any signal of dark matter. Hitting the neutrino fog does not, however, mean an end to the search. Researchers just have to shift the focus of their hunt.

Plus: SpaceX is now valued higher than Amazon. Solar geoengineering, the controversial idea that we could deliberately intervene in the climate system to counteract global warming, is moving beyond computer simulations and into the practical engineering challenges required to make it real. Researchers are now working on aircraft, materials, and other systems for solar geoengineering. But as they delve into these details, they're finding that even early deployment would require significant new infrastructure, time, and investment. Find out what happens when solar geoengineering encounters the realities of trying to cool the planet . Scientists have a word for how we sense ourselves from the inside: interoception.

Access a subscriber-only eBook of a collection of stories about how militaries are using Al models to make decisions. This ebook is available only for subscribers. A collection of stories about how militaries are using AI models to make decisions. Stories written by James O'Donnel by James O'Donnell A new US phone network for Christians aims to block porn and gender-related content James O'Donnell Musk v. Altman week 1: Elon Musk says he was duped, warns AI could kill us all, and admits that xAI distills OpenAI's models Michelle Kim Launching next week on T-Mobile's network, the cell plan takes a nuclear approach to online safety. Musk v. Altman week 1: Elon Musk says he was duped, warns AI could kill us all, and admits that xAI distills OpenAI's models Musk kept his cool, and OpenAI's lawyer bulldozed him with piercing questions about his motivations for suing the company. China has approved the world's first invasive brain-computer chip--here's what's next The country wants to become a global leader in brain implants.

The Download: the first brain implant power user and South Korea's AI obsession Plus: The US says it restricted Anthropic AI over foreign intelligence risks. This man with ALS is the first "power user" of a brain implant that lets him speak Casey Harrell has had a set of electrodes embedded in his brain for almost three years. Harrell, who has ALS and is paralyzed, first used his brain-computer interface (BCI) to "speak" in 2023. Since then, he's clocked thousands of hours of use. Harrell can now use the device largely independently. His team has added new features to it, and he also uses it to surf the web and perform his job.

Want to get a data center online quickly? As the data-center boom puts pressure on the grid, some companies say the answer isn't just more power plants but software that dials down centers' energy-guzzling ways when demand spikes. At the end of a tense and scoreless first half of a soccer match between the English men's team and rival Germany, millions of Brits let out a collective sigh and did what they so often do in moments of stress: They made tea. That wave of electric kettles clicking on, however, caused a different kind of stress: a huge and sudden increase in demand for electricity. But National Grid, which operates the local transmission network, was ready. Just as those kettles started heating up, an AI program sent instructions to a data center in London to slow down some of the facility's power-hungry chips. This reduction helped make sure there was enough supply to match demand, staving off potential blackouts or damage to electrical hardware.

Why do South Koreans love AI so much? From eldercare robots to humanoid monks, South Koreans just can't get enough of AI. When I landed in Seoul after a grueling 12-hour flight from San Francisco, I walked through an unmanned immigration checkpoint, where a machine scanned my face and passport. On the subway home, people were glued to their phones (powered by flawless 5G even underground), as we raced past platforms lined with LED screens of ads celebrating K-pop idols ' birthdays. When I got off the station in Gangnam, a cartoon-eyed robot on wheels was waiting patiently at a crosswalk to deliver someone's dinner. Internet cafés dotted the sidewalks, crammed with teenagers playing computer games, maybe hoping to become the next legendary pro gamer .