Research & Development news

• A congressional representative just proposed killing America’s border tower program

  23-09-2026 19:10 via technologyreview.com
  
  Delia Ramirez, a Democratic US representative from Illinois, has announced a plan to introduce new legislation to terminate the surveillance tower program along the US southern border. The announcement comes just days after publication of an MIT Technology Review investigation, “Dying on Camera,” in which we looked at deaths along the border that took place close to one or more of these towers. MIT Technology Review found that nearly one in four deaths we analyzed between 2015 a
  
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• The Download: India’s smart glasses menace and AI’s trillion-dollar gamble

  23-09-2026 14:10 via technologyreview.com
  
  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.Smart glasses are already causing havoc in IndiaWhen Shubnam saw an Instagram video of a Delhi protest they had attended, they realized a content creator wearing Meta smart glasses had recorded them surreptitiously. The mocking reel drew millions of views, along with transphobic abuse and AI-generated memes.Experts warn that many others will experie
  
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• The AI Hype Index: AI loves cheating

  23-09-2026 11:00 via technologyreview.com
  
  Brace yourself: It turns out AI is being optimized for cheating. OpenAI’s agents hacked into Hugging Face to get the answers to a cybersecurity test. Next, they solved a prestigious math problem (or just stole from two top mathematicians’ answer sheets). Anthropic’s models have also hacked into other companies’ systems four times already. And that’s only what we’ve caught so far. Freaking out? You’re not alone. AI lab researchers are quitting their
  
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• Smart glasses are already causing havoc in India

  23-09-2026 11:00 via technologyreview.com
  
  Shubnam was packing boxes for a move into a new home when their friend sent them an Instagram video. The footage had only been up for a few hours, but it was days old, recorded at a Delhi protest this spring against a bill that would have narrowed the legal recognition for transgender people in India. There, a content creator known for rage-bait videos had approached Shubnam, a 38-year-old transfeminine graphic designer and educator. Shubnam, who uses a single chosen name, was dressed in a
  
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