The Download: everyday AI harms and the race to nuclear spaceflight

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.

Opinion: The focus on AI safety disasters ignores everyday harms

—Sam Hiner, cofounder of the Young People’s Alliance, and Emma Leiken, executive director of the Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund at Hopelab

We have historically allowed debates over technology to be defined by the worst thing a product might do, with remarkably little discussion of the insidious damage it does every day.

A third of teens now choose to discuss serious matters with AI companions instead of other people. Students are relying on chatbots to write their papers, while social media feeds engineered to provoke envy keep users watching. These products can meet narrow safety requirements yet still erode how we think, learn, and interact with one another.

As we enter an era defined by powerful AI products, we should demand that the tech industry do …