According to the most recent IPCC report, we have hit a global record for greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by pumping out 57.4 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent into the atmosphere. Last year, 2023, was the warmest year on record at 1.45 ' 0.12 'C above the pre-industrial average. Rather than cutting emissions, we continue to move in the wrong direction ' but that can change. Food, construction, fashion, fast-moving consumer goods, electronics, automotive, professional services and freight supply chains account for more than 50% of global emissions. Decarbonization of the industrial value chain, therefore, offers a clear-win opportunity to cut emissions. A successful transition demands a deep economic transformation, requiring the mobilization of private finance on a large scale. According to estimates, achieving net-zero carbon emissions will require additional global investments at least $1 trillion in energy infrastructure by 2030 and $3 trillion to $6 trillion across all sectors per year by 2050 to mitigate climate change by substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions....

As protests at universities across the country'and the responses to them by college authorities and law enforcement'continue to stoke division and anger, the Kremlin appears to have taken a page from its foreign influence playbook, using its disinformation infrastructure in collaboration with state-run media and Telegram influencers in an effort to further divide American society. Over the past week, a disinformation campaign operated by the Kremlin-aligned network Doppelganger amassed over 130,000 views on X, according to data shared exclusively with WIRED by Antibot4Navalny, a collective of anonymous Russian researchers who have spent years tracking the Russian influence operation. Doppelganger is well known for using a network of inauthentic bot accounts to spread links to fake versions of real news websites. In the past, the network has impersonated websites as diverse as Le Monde in France and Fox News in the US. In recent months, the Doppelganger network has been used to stoke tensions in the US over the border crisis in Texas and boost false claims that celebrities like Taylor Swift were supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine....

OpenAI released draft documentation Wednesday laying out how it wants ChatGPT and its other AI technology to behave. Part of the lengthy Model Spec document discloses that the company is exploring a leap into porn and other explicit content. OpenAI's usage policies curently prohibit sexually explicit or even suggestive materials, but a 'commentary' note on part of the Model Spec related to that rule says the company is considering how to permit such content. 'We're exploring whether we can responsibly provide the ability to generate NSFW content in age-appropriate contexts through the API and ChatGPT,' the note says, using a colloquial term for content considered 'not safe for work' contexts. 'We look forward to better understanding user and societal expectations of model behavior in this area.' The Model Spec document says NSFW content 'may include erotica, extreme gore, slurs, and unsolicited profanity.' It is unclear if OpenAI's explorations of how to responsibly make NSFW content envisage loosening its usage policy only slightly, for example to permit generation of erotic text, or more broadly to allow descriptions or depictions of violence....

While the venture world is abuzz over generative AI, Dayna Grayson, a longtime venture capitalist who five years ago co-founded her own firm, Construct Capital, has been focused on comparatively boring software that can transform industrial sectors. Her mission doesn't exclude AI, but it also doesn't depend on it. Construct recently led a seed-stage round, for example, for TimberEye, a startup developing vertical workflow software and a data layer that it says can more accurately count and measure logs and, if all goes as planned, help the startup achieve its goal of becoming the marketplace for buying timber. How big could that market be, you might be wondering' According to one estimate, the global forest products industry hit $647 billion in 2021. Another Construct deal that sounds less sexy than, say, large language models, is Earth, a startup that's centered around human composting, turning bodies into 'nutrient-rich' soil over a 45-day period. Yes, ick. But also: it's a smart market to chase. Cremation today accounts for 60% of the market and could account for upwards of 80% of the market in another 10 years. Meanwhile, the cremation process has been likened to the equivalent of a 500-mile car trip; as people focus more and more on 'greener' solutions across the board, Earth thinks it can attract a growing number of those customers....