{"id":19944,"date":"2026-03-23T12:49:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T12:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/23\/the-download-animal-welfare-agi-pilled-white-house-unveils-ai-policy\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T12:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T12:49:09","slug":"the-download-animal-welfare-agi-pilled-white-house-unveils-ai-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/23\/the-download-animal-welfare-agi-pilled-white-house-unveils-ai-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Download: animal welfare gets AGI-pilled, and the White House unveils its AI policy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

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

The Bay Area\u2019s animal welfare movement wants to recruit AI<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h3>\n

In early February, animal welfare advocates and AI researchers arrived in stocking feet at Mox, a scrappy, shoes-free coworking space in San Francisco. They gathered to discuss a provocative idea: if artificial general intelligence is on the horizon, could it prevent animal suffering?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some brainstormed using custom agents in advocacy work, while others pitched cultivating meat with AI tools. But the real talk of the event was a flood of funding they expect will soon flow to animal welfare charities, not from individual megadonors, but from AI lab employees.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some attendees also probed an even more controversial idea: AI may develop the capacity to suffer\u2014and this could\u00a0constitute\u00a0a moral catastrophe.\u00a0<\/strong>Read the full story<\/a>\u00a0to find out why their ideas are gaining momentum and sparking controversy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2014Michelle Kim & Grace Huckins<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

The must-reads\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve\u00a0combed the internet to find you today\u2019s most fun\/important\/scary\/fascinating stories about technology.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

1 The White House has unveiled its AI policy blueprint<\/strong>\u00a0
Trump wants Congress to codify the light-touch framework into law. (Politico<\/a>)\u00a0
+ He also wants to block state limits on AI.<\/em>\u00a0(WP<\/a>\u00a0$)\u00a0\u00a0
+ A backlash against the tech has formed within MAGA.<\/em>\u00a0(FT<\/a>\u00a0$)\u00a0
+ A war over AI regulation is brewing in the US.\u00a0<\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)\u00a0<\/p>\n

2 Elon Musk has been found liable for misleading Twitter investors<\/strong>\u00a0
A jury ruled that he defrauded shareholders ahead of the $44 billion acquisition. (CNBC<\/a>)\u00a0
+ But it absolved him of some fraud allegations.<\/em>\u00a0(NPR<\/a>)\u00a0<\/p>\n

3 The Pentagon is adopting Palantir AI as the core US military system<\/strong>\u00a0
The move locks in long-term use of Palantir\u2019s weapons-targeting tech. (Reuters<\/a>)\u00a0
+ The DoD wants it to link up sensors and shooters for combat.<\/em>\u00a0(Bloomberg<\/a>)\u00a0
+ Palantir is also getting access to sensitive UK financial regulation data.\u00a0<\/em>(Guardian<\/a>)\u00a0
+ AI is turning the Iran conflict into\u00a0theater.<\/em>\u00a0(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)\u00a0<\/p>\n

4 Musk plans to build the largest-ever chip factory in Austin<\/strong>\u00a0
Tesla and SpaceX will jointly run the project. (The Verge<\/a>)\u00a0
+ Future AI chips could be built on glass.<\/em>\u00a0(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)\u00a0
\u00a0
5 OpenAI will show ads to all US users of the free version of ChatGPT\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0
It\u2019s seeking new revenue streams amid skyrocketing computing costs. (Reuters<\/a>)\u00a0
+ The company is also building a fully automated researcher.\u00a0<\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)\u00a0
+ It plans to double its workforce soon.<\/em>\u00a0(FT<\/a>\u00a0$)\u00a0<\/p>\n

6 New crypto rules are set to do the Trumps a \u201cbig\u00a0favor\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0
Particularly the narrow securities definitions. (Guardian<\/a>)\u00a0<\/p>\n

7 Tencent has added a version of the\u00a0OpenClaw\u00a0agent to WeChat<\/strong>\u00a0
Users of the super app will now be able to use the tool to control their PCs. (SCMP<\/a>)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

8 Reddit is mulling identity verification to vanquish bots<\/strong>\u00a0
It\u2019s\u00a0considering \u201csomething like\u201d Face ID or Touch ID. (Engadget<\/a>)\u00a0<\/p>\n

9 People are using AI to find their lost pets<\/strong>\u00a0
Databases for pet reunifications supported their searches.\u00a0<\/strong>(WP<\/a>\u00a0$)\u00a0<\/p>\n

10 Scientists have narrowed down the hunt for aliens to 45 planets<\/strong>\u00a0
The closest is just four light-years from Earth. (404 Media<\/a>)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Quote of the day\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how many people you throw at the problem; we are never going to solve the challenges of war without technology like AI.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n

\u2014Alex Miller, the US Army\u2019s CTO, tells\u00a0Wired<\/a>\u00a0why he wants AI in every weapon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One More Thing\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"a<\/p>\n
STEPHANIE ARNETT\/MITTR | GETTY<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

A brain implant changed her life. Then it was removed against her will.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h4>\n

Sticking an electrode inside a person\u2019s brain can do more than treat a disease. Take the case of Rita Leggett, an Australian woman whose experimental brain implant changed her sense of agency and self. She told researchers that she \u201cbecame one\u201d with her device.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She was devastated when, two years later, she was told she had to remove the implant because the company that made it had gone bust.\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0
Her case highlights the need for a new category of legal protection: neuro rights.\u00a0Find out<\/a>\u00a0how they could be protected.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2014Jessica\u00a0Hamzelou<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

We can still have\u00a0nice things\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas?\u00a0<\/em>Drop me a line<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em>\u00a0
\u00a0
+ Looking for\u00a0a good view?\u00a0Earth\u2019s\u00a0longest line of sight<\/a>\u00a0has been empirically proven.\u00a0
+ A biblical endorsement of sin is a welcome reminder that\u00a0we all make typos<\/a>.\u00a0
+ Richard Nadler\u2019s\u00a0illustrations<\/a>\u00a0of vertical societies are exquisitely detailed.\u00a0
+\u00a0This 1978\u00a0BBC film<\/a>\u00a0evocatively exposes our tendency to stress over tech-dependency.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is today\u2019s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter […]<\/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-19944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19944","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=19944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19944\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}