The Download: the future of chipmaking and Anthropic’s government clash
Why this matters: a development in AI with implications for how people work, create, and decide.
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 $400 million machine powering the future of chipmaking It’s a bit of a schlep to get to the top of ASML’s newest machine. It’s about the size of a double-decker bus, weighs more than 150 tons, and costs $400 million. But if you want to make the world’s most powerful chips, a lithography system like this is essential. The AI era needs ever faster chips, and ASML’s machines make that possible. They pattern chip features with extreme-ultraviolet light, or EUV—radiation outside the visible spectrum, produced by shooting lasers at tiny molten drops of tin tens of thousands of times a second. ASML now makes about 90% of all chip-lithography tools worldwide. That dominance has made some people, and governments, uneasy. And would-be competitors are now gunning for its territory. Read the full story on ASML’s $400 million machine—and the growing threats to its position. —Clive Thompson Three things to watch amid Anthropic’s latest feud with the government In April, Anthropic said it had built an AI model called Mythos that could pose a cybersecurity risk. It then released a safer version called Fable. Days later, the US government placed export controls on it. Within hours, Anthropic revoked access to both models. “Doomers” have long warned about catastrophic AI risk. But this intervention came over a coding model—not a bioweapon or rogue AI—and the response so far looks less like a safety plan than a reactive policy move. Here are three things to watch in Anthropic’s standoff with Washington. —James O’Donnell This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter giving you the inside track on all things AI. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Monday. Longevity’s next frontier: “reprogramming” your body Billions of dollars are flooding into efforts to reverse aging as scientists explore ways to return cells to