The Download: regulators are coming for AI companions, and meet our Innovator of 2025
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 looming crackdown on AI companionship
As long as there has been AI, there have been people sounding alarms about what it might do to us: rogue superintelligence, mass unemployment, or environmental ruin. But another threat entirely—that of kids forming unhealthy bonds with AI—is pulling AI safety out of the academic fringe and into regulators’ crosshairs.
This has been bubbling for a while. Two high-profile lawsuits filed in the last year, against Character.AI and OpenAI, allege that their models contributed to the suicides of two teenagers. A study published in July, found that 72% of teenagers have used AI for companionship. And stories about “AI psychosis” have highlighted how endless conversations with chatbots can lead people down delusional spirals.
It’s hard to overstate the impact of these stories. To the public, they are proof that AI is not merely imperfect, but harmful. If you doubted that this outrage would be taken seriously by regulators and companies, three things happened this week that might change your mind.
—James O’Donnell
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here.
If you’re interested in reading more about AI companionship, why not check out:
+ AI companions are the final stage of digital addiction—and lawmakers are taking aim. Read the full story.
+ Chatbots are rapidly changing how we connect to each other—and ourselves. We’re never going back. Read the full story.
+ Why GPT-4o’s sudden shutdown last month left people grieving. Read the full story.
+ An AI chatbot told a user how to kill himself—but the company doesn’t want to “censor” it.
+ OpenAI has released its first research into how using ChatGPT affects people’s emotional well-being. But there’s still a lot we don’t know.
Meet the designer of the world’s fastest whole-genome sequencing method
Every year, MIT Technology Review selects one individual whose work we admire to recognize as Innovator of the Year. For 2025, we chose Sneha Goenka, who designed the computations behind the world’s fastest whole-genome sequencing method. Thanks to her work, physicians can now sequence a patient’s genome and diagnose a genetic condition in less than eight hours—an achievement that could transform medical care.
Register here to join an exclusive subscriber-only Roundtable conversation with Goenka, Leilani Battle, assistant professor at the University of Washington, and our editor in chief Mat Honan at 1pm ET on Tuesday September 23.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Childhood vaccination rates are falling across the US
Much of the country no longer has the means to stop the spread of deadly disease. (NBC News)
+ Take a look at the factors driving vaccine hesitancy. (WP $)
+ RFK Jr is appointing more vaccine skeptics to the CDC advisory panel. (Ars Technica)
+ Why US federal health agencies are abandoning mRNA vaccines. (MIT Technology Review)
2 The US and China have reached a TikTok deal
Beijing says the spin-off version sold to US investors will still use ByteDance’s algorithm. (FT $)
+ But further details are still pretty scarce. (WP $)
+ The deal may have been fueled by China’s desire for Trump to visit the country. (WSJ $)
3 OpenAI is releasing a version of GPT-5 optimized for agentic coding
It’s a direct rival to Anthropic’s Claude Code and Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot. (TechCrunch)
+ OpenAI says it’s been trained on real-world engineering tasks. (VentureBeat)
+ The second wave of AI coding is here. (MIT Technology Review)
4 The FTC is investigating Ticketmaster’s bot-fighting measures
It’s probing whether the platform is doing enough to prevent illegal automated reselling. (Bloomberg $)
5 Google has created a new privacy-preserving LLM
VaultGemma uses a technique called differential privacy to reduce the amount of data AI holds onto. (Ars Technica)
6 Space tech firms are fighting it out for NATO contracts
Militaries are willing to branch out and strike deals with commercial vendors. (FT $)
+ Why Trump’s “golden dome” missile defense idea is another ripped straight from the movies. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Facebook users are receiving their Cambridge Analytica payouts
Don’t spend it all at once! (The Verge)
8 The future of supercomputing could hinge on moon mining missions
Companies are rushing to buy the moon’s resources before mining has even begun. (WP $)
9 What it’s like living with an AI toy
Featuring unsettling conversations galore. (The Guardian)
10 Anthropic’s staff are obsessed with an albino alligator 
As luck would have it, he just happens to be called Claude. (WSJ $)
Quote of the day
“It’s going to mean more infections, more hospitalizations, more disability and more death.”
—Demetre Daskalakis, former director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, explains the probable outcomes of America’s current vaccine policy jumble, the BBC reports.
One more thing
Robots are bringing new life to extinct species
In the last few years, paleontologists have developed a new trick for turning back time and studying prehistoric animals: building experimental robotic models of them.
In the absence of a living specimen, scientists say, an ambling, flying, swimming, or slithering automaton is the next best thing for studying the behavior of extinct organisms. Here are four examples of robots that are shedding light on creatures of yore.
—Shi En Kim
We can still have nice things
A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)
+ New York City is full of natural life, if you know where to look.
+ This photo of Jim Morrison enjoying a beer for breakfast is the epitome of rock ‘n’ roll.
+ How to age like a champion athlete.
+ Would you dare drive the world’s most narrow car?