How grief became a subscription service

Two researchers navigate the mind-boggling and often sinister, parallel universe that is known as the digital afterlife industry and chatbots specifically designed to help people grieve.

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The Conversation

SpaceX aims to use rockets to quickly transport cargo across the Earth and into orbit – moves that would expand the global cargo system

Point-to-point rocket delivery could cut down on transportation times. But engineers will need to figure out how to integrate rockets into current transportation systems.

Koki Ho, Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology·Aug 5, 2026

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The Conversation

Clinicians are using AI scribes, but what happens to your medical data?

There’s little transparency about who has access to deeply personal medical data or how companies handle it.

Andrew Cullen, Senior Research Fellow, School of Computing and Information Systems, The University of Melbourne·Aug 3, 2026

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Artforum

From Medusa to Nvidia: On the Algorithm’s Primal Scene

Tracing the “godly, biological, and machinic” origins of contemporary computation

Samuel Wilken·Aug 5, 2026

Canary Media

Data centers take center stage in Wisconsin governor’s race

As the AI buildout spikes energy demand, Democrats and one Republican offer solutions ranging from ramping up clean energy to instituting ratepayer…

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Hyperallergic

AI Companies Are Pulping Our Humanity

The recent revelation about Anthropic’s systematic digitization and destruction of out-of-print books portends a rapacious future, one where soulless LLMs swell while the shelves starve.

Ed Simon·Aug 3, 2026

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The Point

The Fifth Syllable

Q. Great—I’d love to help. Do you have a particular story in mind? Q. Fascinating premise—there’s a long tradition of stories about artificial intelligence becoming […] The post The Fifth Syllable appeared first on The Point Magazine.

Greg Jackson·Aug 2, 2026