I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Hundreds of thousands of ChatGPT users exhibit severe mental health symptoms
That’s according to estimates from OpenAI, which says it has tweaked GPT-5 to respond more effectively to users in distress. (Wired $)
+ OpenAI won’t lock access to force users to take a break, though. (Gizmodo)
+ Why AI should be able to “hang up” on you. (MIT Technology Review)
2 Elon Musk has launched his answer to Wikipedia
Grokipedia’s right-leaning entries reflect the way the billionaire sees the world. (WP $)
+ Several pages perpetuate historical inaccuracies and conservative views. (Wired $)
+ The AI-generated encyclopedia briefly crashed shortly after it launched. (Engadget)
3 Surgeons have removed a pig kidney from a patient
It was the longest-functioning genetically engineered pig kidney so far. (Wired $)
+ “Spare” living human bodies might provide us with organs for transplantation. (MIT Technology Review)
4 Amazon is planning to cut up to 30,000 corporate jobs
Partly in response to staff’s reluctance to return to the office five days a week. (Reuters)
+ The company is planning yet another round of layoffs in January. (NYT $)
5 Older people can’t get enough of screens
Their digital habits mirror the high usage typically observed among teenagers. (Economist $)
6 A British cyclist has been given a 3D-printed face
Dave Richards received severe third-degree burns to his head after being struck by a drunk driver. (The Guardian)
7 The twitter.com domain is being shut down
Make sure you re-enroll your security and passkeys before the big switch-off. (Fast Company $)
+ It means the abandoned accounts could be sold on. (The Verge)
+ But 2FA apps should be fine—in theory. (The Register)
8 When is a moon not a moon?
Believe it or not, we don’t have an official definition. (The Atlantic $)
+ Astronomers have spotted a “quasi-moon” hovering near Earth. (BBC)
+ The moon is just the beginning for this waterless concrete. (MIT Technology Review)