The Download: deepfake porn’s stolen bodies and AI sharing private numbers

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 shock of seeing your body used in deepfake porn

When Jennifer got a research job in 2023, she ran her new professional headshot through a facial recognition program. She wanted to see whether it would pull up the porn videos she’d made more than a decade earlier. It did, but it also surfaced something she’d never seen before: one of her old videos, now featuring someone else’s face on her body.

Conversations about sexualized deepfakes usually focus on the people whose faces are inserted into explicit content without consent. But another group often gets ignored: the people whose bodies those faces are attached to.

Adult content creators say AI systems are training on their work, cloning their likenesses, and generating explicit content they never agreed to make, all with little legal protection or control.  Read the full story on the threat to their rights, livelihoods, and ownership of their own bodies.

—Jessica Klein

This story is part of our The Big Story series, the home for MIT Technology Review’s most important, ambitious reporting. You can read the rest here. 

AI chatbots are giving out people’s real phone numbers

Generative AI is exposing people’s personal contact information—and there’s no easy way to stop it.

A software developer started receiving WhatsApp messages asking for help after Gemini surfaced his number. A university researcher got the chatbot to reveal a colleague’s private cell number. A Reddit user says Gemini sent a stream of callers looking for lawyers to his phone.

Experts believe these privacy lapses stem from personally identifiable information in AI training data. Chatbots may now be making that information dramatically easier to find.

Find out why these breaches are growing—and why there’s little that victims can do to stop them.

—Eileen Guo

The Tesla Semi could be a big deal for electric trucking

Nearly a decade after Elon Musk first unveiled the Tesla Semi, the electric truck is finally rolling off the production line. It could be a breakout moment for battery-powered freight.

Semitrucks produce an outsized share of road transport pollution, while electric alternatives have struggled with high prices, limited range, and charging challenges. Tesla is betting the Semi can overcome those problems. The truck reportedly travels up to 480 miles on a single charge and costs far less than many competing electric models.

Here’s how the Tesla Semi could give electric trucking a vital boost.

—Casey Crownhart

This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 The US has approved Nvidia chip sales to 10 Chinese firms
Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance are among those cleared to buy H200 chips. (Reuters $)
+ The US will receive 25% of the revenue from the sales. (Engadget)
+ But Beijing wants domestic firms to prioritize homegrown chips. (Nikkei Asia)
+ Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is in China with a White House delegation. (CNBC)

2 Beijing’s push for AI independence is weakening US leverage
It's allowing China to resist pressure during the Beijing talks. (NYT $)
+ The country has made a big bet on open-source. (MIT Technology Review)
+ Here’s what’s at stake for tech at the Trump-Xi meeting. (Rest of World)

3 AI is “rotting the brains” of developers
They’re losing their previous abilities to do their jobs. (404 Media)
+ A populist backlash is building against AI. (MIT Technology Review)
+ It’s time to reset our expectations about AI. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Sam Altman has over $2 billion in companies that have dealt with OpenAI
The ties have triggered accusations of conflicts of interest. (The Times $)
+ The GOP is scrutinizing Altman’s business dealings. (WSJ $)

Quote of the day

“Musk loves to be glazed, and this person is the doughnut factory.”

—Joan Donovan, assistant professor of journalism and emerging media studies at Boston University, tells the Washington Post how Elon Musk has consistently amplified one anonymous X account.

One More Thing

Inside the messy ethics of making war with machines

In a near-future war—one that might begin tomorrow—a sniper’s computer vision system flags a potential target. Just over the horizon, a chatbot advises a commander to order an artillery strike.

In both cases, an AI system recommends pulling the trigger while a human still has the final say. But how much of the decision is really theirs? When, if ever, is it ethical for that decision to kill? And who’s to blame when something goes wrong?

This is how AI is reshaping decision-making on the battlefield.

—Arthur Holland Michel

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.)

+ The secrets behind how Shazam works have been revealed.
+ For the first time in a decade, a rare "Cloud Jaguar" was caught on camera.
+ Explore our galaxy from your screen at this year’s Milky Way Photographer of the Year collection.
+ If you want a game over with style, a funeral company is offering Mario, Luigi, Peach, and even Yoshi-branded coffins.