The stakes are high as tech giants pour billions into AI infrastructure. Jessica Wachter, a finance professor, calculates that AI companies need a remarkable productivity increase to justify their spend until 2030. Meanwhile, OpenAI is turning to failed biotech companies’ data to fuel medical advancements. This strategy could provide the crucial information needed to unlock new cures.

Executives from Nvidia and Meta have dismissed calls for a slowdown in AI development, with Jensen Huang arguing that new safety laws are unnecessary, and Mark Zuckerberg claiming that competition will drive safety improvements. Yet, as AI models grow more capable, warnings about potential extinction loom large in Silicon Valley. A recent MIT Technology Review Roundtable explored the risks and questioned their severity.

Meanwhile, a startup called Generation Lab is claiming to have found a drug that rejuvenates the body. Its research, based on the work of Irina Conboy, suggests that combining the circulatory systems of old and young mice can improve the old animals' healing abilities. Generation Lab’s approach avoids the need for fluid exchange and may hold the key to reversing aging.
But the drugs used are still a secret.

The latest must-reads include the rejection of calls for an AI slowdown, the FTC chair warning against antitrust waivers for AI companies, and the use of AI in analyzing stolen government data. Other stories cover groundbreaking developments in cancer treatment, digital fly brain experiments, and the ongoing crypto industry challenges.