The Download: AI roadblocks for humanoids and portable rubber dams
This newsletter discusses the skepticism surrounding the use of large language models in humanoid robotics and highlights a new portable flood-protection technology called SlamDam. It also touches on recent scientific breakthroughs in nuclear clock development.
Why it matters
It highlights the gap between AI hype and physical-world application while showcasing practical climate-tech solutions for rising sea levels.
Plus: Scientists in Austria and China have built the first nuclear clocks.
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 hype around humanoid robots is reaching fever pitch. Much of it comes from the idea that the same AI advances behind ChatGPT and Claude could enable robots to imitate human movement the way chatbots imitate human language. But many researchers are skeptical.
They argue that such assumptions minimize the challenges of using an intelligence built on language and images to master the infinite variability of the physical world. They also point out that conflating humanoids with so-called generalist machines is misleading.
Across robotics labs, tensions have emerged over whether current forms of AI are all that’s needed to perfect all-purpose humanoids or whether an entirely new path is required.
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