Plus: The US has allowed Anthropic to release Mythos 5 to “trusted” orgs.June 29, 2026 This is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. The inevitable weakness of metrics There are plenty of useful things a metric can reveal. There are even more that it can obscure or corrupt. Like a lot of people bitten by the self-quantifying bug, I started gathering personal data to pursue a nebulous collection of goals and desires. I wanted to feel better physically and emotionally, get outside more, and bring order to the messiness and uncertainty of my daily existence. But external metrics and data can never capture what's truly important. Worse, they inevitably redefine your core sense of what's important, whether you're aware of the trap or not.
Dive into the dangers of quantifying our lives with metrics. —Bryan Gardiner
This story is from the next edition of our magazine, which is all about engineering. Subscribe now to get a copy when it lands! Elephant alert! AI warning systems aim to avoid deadly clashes India is home to about 60% of the world’s wild Asian elephants, and around 80% of their habitat lies outside protected areas. That brings them into close contact with people, and clashes can turn lethal: there have been some 3,000 human casualties in the last five years and over 1,000 elephant deaths since 2014. In response, state forest departments, NGOs, and locals are designing, testing, and deploying a range of AI systems that cut response and warning times to minutes—or even seconds. They range from wildlife eyes in Maharashtra to infrared drones in Chhattisgarh. Find out how they work in our interactive map. —Kanika Gupta The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 The US has allowed Anthropic to release Mythos 5 to “trusted” orgsAbout 100 US companies and federal agencies now have access. (Semafor)+ The White House said appropriate safeguards were now in place. (WSJ $)+ The US had restricted both models over national security concerns. (BBC)+ Which raised new questions about AI safety. (MIT Technology Review) 2 A Chinese AI model has matched Mythos in finding security bugsSecurity researchers say Zhipu AI is poised to reset the AI race. (WSJ $)+ It’s sparked alarm that US restrictions are boosting China's progress. (NYT $)+ Although it still can’t match Anthropic or OpenAI on general tasks. (Verge)+ In the AI race, China is eyeing a come-from-behind victory. (WP $) 3 Apple is seeking approval to buy chips from a blacklisted Chinese firmIt’s lobbying the White House for clearance to buy from ChangXin. (FT $)+ ChangXin is on a Pentagon list of firms with Chinese military ties. (WP $)+ Chipmakers are profiting off AI at the expense of everyone else. (WSJ $)+ The US is banning imports of more Chinese technology. (Reuters $)+ But Chinese tech companies feel optimistic. (MIT Technology Review) 4. South Korea plans to train its entire military as “drone warriors”It wants to train all 500,000 personnel. (Reuters $)+ And produce 110,000 drones by 2029. (Ars Technica) 5 Google has limited Meta’s use of its Gemini AI modelsMeta wanted more compute than Google could provide. (FT $)+ The cap has disrupted and delayed some Meta AI projects. (Bloomberg $)6 Zuckerberg wants Meta to work with Polymarket and KalshiMeta wants its own prediction market, but without real-money bets. (NYT $)+ The partnerships could hedge risks and accelerate development. (Reuters $) 7 Extreme heat is putting already hot data centers under pressureSevere weather is now the leading cause of loss for data centers. (CNBC)+ Heat waves also mess with your brain. (MIT Technology Review)8 Android phones alerted millions moments before Venezuela’s earthquakesThey gave users between seconds and up to two minutes’ notice. (NYT $)9 Scientists think Uranus and Neptune may not be the icy giants we imaginedThey may have a magma ocean brewing on the inside. (Gizmodo)10 Too much sleep may be as harmful as too littleA new study suggests 6.4–7.8 hours is the sweet spot. (Economist $)
