{"id":18326,"date":"2026-02-19T14:04:53","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T14:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/19\/the-download-autonomous-narco-submarines-and-virtue-signaling-chatbots\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T14:04:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T14:04:53","slug":"the-download-autonomous-narco-submarines-and-virtue-signaling-chatbots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/19\/the-download-autonomous-narco-submarines-and-virtue-signaling-chatbots\/","title":{"rendered":"The Download: autonomous narco submarines, and virtue signaling chatbots"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

This is today\u2019s edition of\u00a0The Download<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what\u2019s going on in the world of technology.<\/em><\/p>\n

How uncrewed narco subs could transform the Colombian drug trade<\/strong><\/p>\n

For decades, handmade narco subs have been some of the cocaine trade\u2019s most elusive and productive workhorses, ferrying multi-ton loads of illicit drugs from Colombian estuaries toward markets in North America and, increasingly, the rest of the world. Now off-the-shelf technology\u2014Starlink terminals, plug-and-play nautical autopilots, high-resolution video cameras\u2014may be advancing that cat-and-mouse game into a new phase.<\/p>\n

Uncrewed subs could move more cocaine over longer distances, and they wouldn\u2019t put human smugglers at risk of capture. And law enforcement around the world is just beginning to grapple with what this means for the future. <\/strong>Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Eduardo Echeverri L\u00f3pez<\/em><\/p>\n

This story is from the next print issue of MIT Technology Review<\/em> magazine, which is all about crime. If you haven\u2019t already, <\/strong>subscribe now<\/strong><\/a> to receive future issues once they land.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u00a0Google DeepMind wants to know if chatbots are just virtue signaling<\/strong><\/p>\n

The news: <\/strong>Google DeepMind is calling for the moral behavior of large language models\u2014such as what they do when called on to act as companions, therapists, medical advisors, and so on\u2014to be scrutinized with the same kind of rigor as their ability to code or do math.<\/p>\n

Why it matters: <\/strong>As LLMs improve, people are asking them to play more and more sensitive roles in their lives. Agents are starting to take actions on people\u2019s behalf. LLMs may be able to influence human decision-making. And yet nobody knows how trustworthy this technology really is at such tasks. Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Will Douglas Heaven<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The building legal case for global climate justice<\/strong><\/p>\n

The United States and the European Union grew into economic superpowers by committing climate atrocities. They have burned a wildly disproportionate share of the world\u2019s oil and gas, planting carbon time bombs that will detonate first in the poorest, hottest parts of the globe.<\/p>\n

Morally, there\u2019s an ironclad case that the countries or companies responsible for this mess should provide compensation. Legally, though, the case has been far harder to make. But now those tides might be turning. Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014James Temple<\/em><\/p>\n

This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review<\/em>\u2019s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, <\/strong>sign up here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The must-reads<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve combed the internet to find you today\u2019s most fun\/important\/scary\/fascinating stories about technology.<\/em><\/p>\n

1 The US is building an online portal to access content banned elsewhere\u00a0<\/strong>
The freedom.gov site is Washington\u2019s broadbrush solution to global censorship. (Reuters<\/a>)
+ The Trump administration is on a mission to train a cadre of elite coders. <\/em>(FT<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

2 Mark Zuckerberg overruled wellbeing experts to keep beauty filters on Instagram
<\/strong>Because removing them may have impinged on \u201cfree expression,\u201d apparently. (FT<\/a> $)+ The CEO claims that increasing engagement is not Instagram\u2019s goal. <\/em>(CNBC<\/a>)
+ Instead, the company\u2019s true calling is to give its users \u201csomething useful\u201d. <\/em>(WSJ<\/a> $)
+ A new investigation found Meta is failing to protect children from predators. <\/em>(WP<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

3 Silicon Valley is working on a shadow power grid for US data centers<\/strong>
AI firms are planning to build their own private power plants across the US. (WP<\/a> $)
+ They\u2019re pushing the narrative that generative AI will save the Earth. <\/em>(Wired<\/a> $)
+ We need better metrics to measure data center sustainability with. <\/em>(IEEE Spectrum<\/a>)
+ The data center boom in the desert. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

4 Russian forces are struggling with Starlink and Telegram crackdowns<\/strong>
New restrictions have left troops without a means to communicate. (Bloomberg<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

5 Bill Gates won\u2019t speak at India\u2019s AI summit after all<\/strong>
Given the growing controversy surrounding his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. (BBC<\/a>)
+ The event has been accused of being disorganized and poorly managed. <\/em>(Reuters<\/a>)
+ AI leaders didn\u2019t appreciate this awkward photoshoot. <\/em>(Bloomberg<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

6 AI software sales are slowing down
<\/strong>Last year\u2019s boom appears to be waning, vendors have warned. (WSJ<\/a> $)
+ What even is the AI bubble? <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

7 eBay has acquired its clothes resale rival Depop <\/strong>\"\ud83d\udc5a\"<\/strong>
<\/strong>It\u2019s a naked play to corner younger Gen Z shoppers. (NYT<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

8 There\u2019s a lot more going on inside cells than we originally thought<\/strong>
It\u2019s seriously crowded inside there. (Quanta Magazine<\/a>)<\/p>\n

9 What it means to create a chart-topping app<\/strong>
Does anyone care any more? (The Verge<\/a>)<\/p>\n

10 Do we really need eight hours of sleep?<\/strong>
Research suggests some people really are fine operating on as little as four hours of snooze time. (New Yorker<\/a> $)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Quote of the day<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cToo often, those victims have been left to fight alone\u2026That is not justice. It is failure.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014Keir Starmer, the UK\u2019s prime minister, outlines plans to force technology firms to remove deepfake nudes and revenge porn within 48 hours or risk being blocked in the UK, the Guardian<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

One more thing<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

End of life decisions are difficult and distressing. Could AI help?<\/p>\n

<\/strong>End-of-life decisions can be extremely upsetting for surrogates\u2014the people who have to make those calls on behalf of another person. Friends or family members may disagree over what\u2019s best for their loved one, which can lead to distressing situations.<\/p>\n

David Wendler, a bioethicist at the US National Institutes of Health, and his colleagues have been working on an idea for something that could make things easier: an artificial intelligence-based tool that can help surrogates predict what the patients themselves would want in any given situation.<\/p>\n

Wendler hopes to start building their tool as soon as they secure funding for it, potentially in the coming months. But rolling it out won\u2019t be simple. Critics wonder how such a tool can ethically be trained on a person\u2019s data, and whether life-or-death decisions should ever be entrusted to AI. Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Jessica Hamzelou<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

We can still have nice things<\/strong><\/p>\n

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? <\/em>Drop me a line<\/em><\/a> or <\/em>skeet \u2019em at me<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

+ Oakland Library keeps a remarkable public log<\/a> of all the weird and wonderful artefacts their librarians find tucked away in the pages of their books.
+ Orchids are beautiful, but temperamental. Here\u2019s how to keep them alive<\/a>.
+ I love that New York\u2019s Transit Museum is holding a Pizza Rat Debunked<\/a> event.
+ These British indie bands aren\u2019t really lauded at home\u2014but in China, they\u2019re treated like royalty<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is today\u2019s edition of\u00a0The Download,\u00a0our weekday newsletter that provides […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[226],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}