{"id":7323,"date":"2026-07-29T13:00:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T13:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/2026\/07\/29\/the-download-a-chip-talent-battle-and-deflating-ai-hype\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T13:00:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T13:00:23","slug":"the-download-a-chip-talent-battle-and-deflating-ai-hype","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/2026\/07\/29\/the-download-a-chip-talent-battle-and-deflating-ai-hype\/","title":{"rendered":"The Download: a chip talent battle, and deflating AI hype"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is today’s edition of <\/em>The Download<\/em><\/a>, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.<\/em><\/p>\n

Samsung\u2019s chip workers are jumping ship to rival SK Hynix\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Lee, an engineer at Samsung\u2019s semiconductor division, used to work late. But lately, he\u2019s been clocking out on time and heading straight home to work on his job application for the chipmaker\u2019s South Korean rival SK Hynix.  <\/p>\n

His colleagues are doing the same. They feel demoralized by the $476,000 bonus that SK Hynix is set to pay its employees, flush with record profits from making the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips that power Nvidia\u2019s AI accelerators. The figure dwarfs what chip workers at Samsung are set to receive and is sparking an exodus.<\/p>\n

Read our story about why this fierce talent war could help determine who dominates the next generation of AI chips. <\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014Michelle Kim<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The AI Hype Index: Unsexy AI\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Separating AI reality from hyped-up fiction isn\u2019t always easy. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve created the AI Hype Index\u2014a simple, at-a-glance summary of what\u2019s shaping the industry right now. <\/p>\n

The latest edition includes Meta\u2019s creepy glasses, doom-mongering about AI and jobs, and (to some, oddly sexy?) robotic hands.\u00a0See where it all landed on this month\u2019s index<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The must-reads<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve combed the internet to find you today\u2019s most fun\/important\/scary\/fascinating stories about technology.<\/em><\/p>\n

1 OpenAI\u2019s rogue agent compromised another customer<\/strong>
An unnamed client of a company that provides AI infrastructure, called Modal Labs. (Reuters<\/a> $)
+ OpenAI called the Hugging Face attack unprecedented. But we\u2019ve been here before.<\/em> (MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

2 Hugging Face has a nonconsensual deepfakes problem<\/strong>
Researchers tested nine of the top image editing models it hosts, and found seven will \u2018nudify\u2019 images of women. (Wired<\/a> $)
+ The shock of seeing your body used in deepfake porn. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

3 Investors are only getting more anxious about AI\u2019s earnings potential<\/strong>
The numbers don’t add up, and maybe they never will. (The Verge<\/a> $)
+ A global tech stock sell-off intensified yesterday.<\/em> (FT<\/a> $)
+ Ratings agency Fitch says an AI market correction is now one of the biggest risks facing the global economy. <\/em>(The Next Web<\/a>)
+ New real-world data from Google shows most tasks at most jobs are unaffected by AI. <\/em>(Ars Technica<\/a>)<\/p>\n

4 Moonshot wants advanced Nvidia chips to train its next model<\/strong>
The Chinese AI firm already got access to some of them to train its latest release, called Kimi 3. (The Information<\/a> $)
+ Taiwan detained an Nvidia employee as part of a probe into the alleged smuggling of AI chips into China.<\/em>(Bloomberg<\/a> $)
+ The Trump Administration has banned Chinese humanoid robots. <\/em>(Reuters<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

5 Minnesota has been blocked from banning prediction market platforms<\/strong>
It\u2019s the latest skirmish in a fight between states and the Trump Administration over this issue. (AP<\/a>)
+ Here\u2019s how prediction markets incentivize weather data sabotage. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

6 Apple is launching a device leasing program<\/strong>
As the global memory shortage worsens, the idea is that this will make your iPhone feel more affordable. (Quartz<\/a> $)
+ Apple just topped a $5 trillion valuation for the first time. <\/em>(FT<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

7 Some Substackers are complaining about its new AI detection tool<\/strong>
Presumably the ones who\u2019d prefer to secretly continue using AI to write. (404 Media<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

8 Ebay had to pay nearly $50 million to settle a harassment suit<\/strong>
Their employees threatened and sent bizarre deliveries\u2014including cockroaches\u2014for a pair of bloggers for years. (Bloomberg<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

9 A New York school just rowed back on plans to deploy a robot teacher<\/strong>
Sanity prevails, for once. (NPR<\/a>)<\/p>\n

10 This startup wants to build a better microwave beep<\/strong>
I\u2019d like to request a sax solo for mine, please. (Gizmodo<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Quote of the day<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe government hopes to set a precedent that no one has the right to privacy.\u201d\u00a0<\/h2>\n

\u2014Samuel Tunick, an Atlanta resident, tells\u00a0404 Media<\/a>\u00a0why he thinks he’s facing charges after wiping his phone during a customs search.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

One More Thing<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/p>\n
DEREK BRAHNEY<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

AI coding is now everywhere. But not everyone is convinced.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Depending who you ask, AI-powered coding is either giving software developers an unprecedented productivity boost or churning out masses of poorly designed code that saps their attention and sets software projects up for serious long term-maintenance problems.  <\/p>\n

The problem is right now, it\u2019s not easy to know which is true. Coding has been touted as the killer app for large language models, but after speaking to more than 30 developers, technology executives, analysts, and researchers, MIT Technology Review found that the picture is not as straightforward as it might seem.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what we found out. <\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014Edd Gent<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

We can still have nice things<\/strong><\/p>\n

A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? <\/em>Drop me a line<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

+ Check out Moscow\u2019s stunning subway\u00a0stations<\/a>.
+ This\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0lets you create your own little \u2018fridge magnet\u2019 style poems.\u00a0
+ Look how beautiful\u00a0sand<\/a>\u00a0can be when it\u2019s put under the microscope. Who knew?!
+ Can\u2019t get enough of this weird pastel dreamcore\u00a0aesthetic<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. Samsung\u2019s chip workers are jumping ship to rival SK Hynix\u00a0\u00a0 Lee, an engineer at Samsung\u2019s semiconductor division, used to work late. But lately, he\u2019s been clocking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[67],"class_list":["post-7323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mit-feed","tag-mit-tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7323\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}