The North Pole’s Ice-Free Past and the Humanoid Data Gold Rush

I’ve been reading the MIT Technology Review’s Download newsletter again, and two stories caught my eye this week. One is about the North Pole’s past, the other about the future of humanoid robots. They don’t seem connected, but they both revolve around data—one from ancient seabed sediments, the other from people like you and me doing mundane tasks.

Digging for Clues About the North Pole’s Past

Last year, a research vessel sailed to the North Pole and found something surprising: open water and thin ice. No treacherous multi-meter-thick ice pack. Just an easy passage. That’s a stark reminder of how fast the Arctic is changing.

Now scientists are drilling deep below the seabed to find out if the Arctic Ocean was ever completely ice-free in the past. And if it was, what that could mean for the future of Earth’s northernmost waters. This isn’t just academic curiosity—it’s about understanding tipping points. If the Arctic has been ice-free before, under what conditions did that happen? And are we recreating those conditions now?

The story is in the latest print issue of MIT Technology Review, which is all about nature. Worth checking out if you can get your hands on it.

Humanoid Data: The New Oil, Literally from Your Movements

The other piece that grabbed me is by James O’Donnell, and it’s about something I’ve been noticing more and more. He describes being invited to join an app that pays him to film himself doing tasks like putting food in a bowl and microwaving it. Another site asked if he’d like to remotely control a robotic arm to help improve its dexterity.

What’s happening is that robotics companies are in a desperate race for real-world data to train humanoid robots. And they’re turning to crowdsourcing. Our everyday movements—opening doors, picking up objects, folding laundry—are being turned into training data. It’s a gold rush, and the gold is human motion.

This is one of the “10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now” that the magazine is tracking. And it makes sense. Humanoid robots need to learn how to move in human environments, and the best way to do that is to watch humans actually doing things. But the scale of data collection required is enormous, and companies are getting creative about sourcing it.

I find this both fascinating and slightly unsettling. On one hand, it’s a clever solution to a hard problem. On the other, it raises questions about privacy, consent, and what happens to all that video of you microwaving leftovers once the robot has learned the task.

The Must-Reads

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

• Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta have all set AI spending records. Collectively, they’re up 71% on the same quarter last year. The NYT reports that Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are seeing big payoffs from the splurge, but Meta’s shares slid after its plans spooked investors. There’s also a good piece in MIT Technology Review asking what even is the AI bubble?

• The White House opposes Anthropic’s plan to expand Mythos access, citing concerns about the model’s cyber risks and worries that the government will lose compute access. Meanwhile, Anthropic is seeking funding at a valuation over $900 billion. That’s a lot of money for a company that’s still figuring out how to make its models safe.

• Elon Musk has claimed OpenAI’s leaders “looted the nonprofit” during testimony, saying he “was a fool” for trusting them. But he had raised his own concerns about OpenAI before. The whole saga is getting messier by the day.

There’s more in the full newsletter, but these are the highlights that stood out to me. The North Pole story is a sobering reminder of what’s at stake with climate change, while the humanoid data story shows how AI is quietly reshaping the mundane parts of our lives. Both are worth your time.