Every year in this column, I try to shine the spotlight on a few tech projects that I think contributed positively to humanity. As always, my criteria for what constitutes “good tech” are vague and arbitrary. I think technologists should use their powers for the public good.
To Epoch AI
Started in 2022 and is run today by Jaime Sevilla, a 28-year-old Spanish AI researcher. The firm maintains public databases of AI models and AI hardware, and publishes research on AI trends. To make good decisions about AI, we need an accurate picture of the technology’s progress, and Epoch AI’s work has brought much-needed rigour and empiricism to an industry that often runs on hype and vibes.
To Andres Freund
Microsoft database engineer, Andres Freund, got some odd errors while doing routine maintenance on an obscure open-source software package called xz Utils. While investigating, Freund inadvertently discovered a huge security vulnerability in the Linux operating system, which could have allowed a hacker to take control of hundreds of millions of computers and bring the world to its knees. This award
is to say: I see you, open-source maintainers, and I thank you for your service.
To the triumvirate
— The Arc Institute, a nonprofit research organisation in Palo Alto, California, US, released Evo. The AI model can predict and generate genomic sequences, using technology similar to the kind that allows systems like ChatGPT to predict the next words in a sequence.
— In May, a Harvard University lab led by Jeffrey Lichtman, working with researchers from Google, announced the most detailed map of a human brain sample ever created. The team used AI to map more than 150 million synapses in a tiny sample of brain tissue at nanometre-level resolution, discovering never-before-seen connections between brain cells. Maps of larger samples are in the works, and could eventually yield important insights about the inner workings of the brain.
— And researchers at Stanford and McMaster universities developed SyntheMol, a generative AI model that can design new antibiotics from scratch. The researchers credited the program with generating six new potential compounds that showed antibiotic activity against a particularly nasty germ called Acinetobacter baumannii, a common drug-resistant bacteria.
To the Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Todd Barber, an engineer at the laboratory, along with his colleagues, helped pull off what might have been the greatest long-distance tech support mission in history. A major glitch was imperilling Voyager 1, the 47-year-old spacecraft that is currently more than 15 billion miles away and gathering valuable data about interstellar space. Using long-distance radio waves, the team sent a clever patch to Voyager’s ancient onboard computer, and brought the probe back online.
To Bluesky
I’m optimistic about Bluesky, partly because it does not seem to throttle links the way other platforms do, and because the decentralised technology it runs on — something called the AT Protocol — could point toward a new way of building social networks that are less vulnerable to meddling by their owners, because they are not centrally controlled. It also has a fun, slightly manic culture that could attract more than just liberal Musk discontents.
To NotebookLM and Coloring Book Hero
Google’s NotebookLM is a research and note-taking tool that allows you to upload your own sources, such as PDF files or web links, and turn them into briefing documents, study guides or even AI-generated podcasts. The podcast feature, called “Audio Overviews”, is NotebookLM’s killer app. It’s a great way to turn complex information into something more accessible. Coloring Book Hero a ChatGPT plug-in that lets you generate blank colouring book pages from text prompts. And with that, congratulations to the honorees, and happy new year!
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