The Download: the AI Hype Index, and “normal” AI

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 AI Hype Index: AI agent cyberattacks, racing robots, and musical models Separating AI reality from hyped-up fiction isn’t always easy. That’s why we’ve created the AI Hype Index—a simple, at-a-glance summary of […]

5 mins read

WhatsApp Launches Private Processing to Enable AI Features While Protecting Message Privacy

Apr 29, 2025Ravie LakshmananArtificial Intelligence / Data Protection Popular messaging app WhatsApp on Tuesday unveiled a new technology called Private Processing to enable artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities in a privacy-preserving manner. “Private Processing will allow users to leverage powerful optional AI features – like summarizing unread messages or editing help – while preserving WhatsApp’s core […]

3 mins read

Banking on innovation: Engineering excellence in regulated financial services

Today’s financial services engineer has two needs. One is cutting-edge tech and frictionless access, and the other is robust security and risk management. Balancing both is tricky. “We might be a highly regulated, centuries-old bank, but when engineers join us, their expectations are cutting-edge tech and fast access to data, with a self-serve process,” explains […]

7 mins read

Branch Specialization

This article is part of the Circuits thread, an experimental format collecting invited short articles and critical commentary delving into the inner workings of neural networks. Visualizing Weights Weight Banding Introduction If we think of interpretability as a kind of “anatomy of neural networks,” most of the circuits thread has involved studying tiny little veins […]

21 mins read

Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

from the sometimes-you-just-have-to-laugh dept This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is Mamba with a response to a failed “fact check” by another commenter: Hey twinkle farts, President Roosevelt invoked the Alien Enemies Act immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor to authorize the government to detain enemy aliens. Further, the executive […]

3 mins read

How should Stripe deprecate APIs? (~2016)

While Stripe is a widely admired company for things like its creation of the Sorbet typer project, I personally think that Stripe’s most interesting strategy work is also among its most subtle: its willingness to significantly prioritize API stability. This strategy is almost invisible externally. Internally, discussions around it were frequent and detailed, but mostly […]

6 mins read

Will Starlink and other sat companies eventually rival cell carriers?

Andrew Grush / Android Authority Starlink has truly opened our eyes to the power of satellite technology, delivering speeds that rival cable internet in areas previously lacking high-speed options. But Starlink isn’t just about traditional internet use. Earlier this year, T-Mobile and Starlink introduced emergency satellite-to-cell features, including full texting, to mobile phone users for […]

14 mins read