The Download: Microsoft’s quantum chip, and explaining rising energy demand

The must-reads

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

1 DOGE has ‘god mode’ access to government systems Elon Musk is hunting for social security fraud. It’s not very common. (Business Insider $)DOGE claimed it had saved $8 billion in one contract. It was, at most, $8 million. (NYT $)Elon Musk, DOGE, and the Evil Housekeeper Problem. (MIT Technology Review)

2 The Trump administration is scrambling to rehire people working on bird flu  Trump just issued an executive order giving the President power over independent agencies. (Ars Technica)

3 DeepSeek is considering its first external funding round Meanwhile, Alibaba is opening up its first data center in Mexico. (South China Morning Post $) How a top Chinese AI model overcame US sanctions. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Electric truck maker Nikola has filed for bankruptcy protectionThe race to clean up heavy-duty trucks. (MIT Technology Review)

5  How a crypto scammer turned a small town against itself 

6 Google’s has unveiled a new AI ‘co-scientist’ tool  A data bottleneck is holding AI science back, says new Nobel winner. (MIT Technology Review)

7 People are logging off

8 What America’s first generation chipmakers endured —and never got answers about why their kids were born with birth defects. (The Verge)

9 Can you use ChatGPT to learn a new language?really. (Wired $)Translators in Turkey are training the AI tools that will replace them. (Rest of World)

10 The latest TikTok trend? Using AI to time travel 

Quote of the day

“They destroyed everything here, and now we’re supposed to give up? How does that work?”

— Alla Kriuchkova, a resident of Bucha in Ukraine, where Russian soldiers slaughtered hundreds of people in March 2022, tells the New York Times how angry she is at President Trump for suggesting the war is Ukraine’s fault.