The Download: kids outlearning AI, and space travel agents

A new MIT Technology Review report highlights that children vastly outperform AI language models in learning efficiency, with an LLM processing a hundred thousand times more words than a person experiences in mastering their mother tongue, and researchers are studying child learning to create more data-efficient AI. Separately, Roman Chiporukha, co-owner of luxury firm SpaceVIP, has become a space travel agent, signing up private astronauts for missions to the International Space Station, with Axiom Space's first fully private mission priced at $50 million per seat. Additionally, both U.S. political parties are turning against AI data centers ahead of the midterms, with Texas Governor Greg Abbott saying data centers 'dug their own grave.'

The Download: kids outlearning AI, and space travel agents Plus: A new Amazon data center could become the US’s most polluting power plant. Plus: both parties are turning against AI data centers ahead of the midterms. This is today's edition of The Download https://forms.technologyreview.com/newsletters/briefing-the-download/? ga=2.179569122.736533416.1649661040-405833893.1649413289 , our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Kids outlearn AI—and we still don’t know why Teaching a computer to use human language requires an inhuman amount of data. An LLM can easily churn through a hundred thousand times more words than a person will experience in the process of mastering their mother tongue. This yawning divide between children and machines is called the data efficiency gap. It raises a tantalizing question for cognitive scientists and a challenge for the architects of AI models: how can children still outperform the most linguistically sophisticated machines ever built? Kids show that it could be possible to learn more with less. Far less. By reverse-engineering the way they learn, scientists hope to create more data-efficient AI models—and perhaps settle enduring questions about language and children’s developing minds. Here’s how researchers are trying to close the data gap https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/08/24/1141740/kids-machines-language-learning/?utm source=the download&utm medium=email&utm campaign=the download.unpaid.engagement&utm term= %7CSUBCLASS%7C &utm content= %7CDATE:m-d-Y%7C . —Elise Cutts Job titles of the future: space travel agent As co-owner of a luxury lifestyle firm, Roman Chiporukha has long turned wild vacation dreams into reality. In 2018, he got a phone call that would open up a new frontier: Axiom Space wanted to find citizen explorers willing to pay $50 million each to join the first fully private mission to the International Space Station ISS , slated for April 2022. This showed Chiporukha that the sky was no longer the limit; it was the market. He successfully signed up a private astronaut and then launched SpaceVIP in 2021 to offer celestial experiences that mix culture, science, and purpose. Find out what it takes to become the Expedia of the cosmos https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/08/14/1141431/job-titles-space-travel-agent-roman-chiporukha/?utm source=the download&utm medium=email&utm campaign=the download.unpaid.engagement&utm term= %7CSUBCLASS%7C &utm content= %7CDATE:m-d-Y%7C . —Linda Childers These stories are from the next issue of our magazine, which is all about kids. Subscribe now to get your copy as soon as it lands. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Both parties are turning against AI data centers ahead of the midterms The backlash is spilling onto the campaign trail. NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/23/us/politics/data-centers-midterm-elections.html $ + Republicans have sharply turned against them. WP https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/08/23/most-gop-politicians-now-talk-negatively-about-data-centers-data-shows/ $ + Texas’ governor says data centers “dug their own grave.” Axios https://www.axios.com/2026/08/23/greg-abbott-texas-data-centers-ai-backlash + Here’s why data center opposition crosses party lines. MIT Technology Review https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/01/14/1131253/data-centers-are-amazing-everyone-hates-them/?utm source=the download&utm medium=email&utm campaign=the download.unpaid.engagement&utm term= %7CSUBCLASS%7C &utm content= %7CDATE:m-d-Y%7C 2 Chinese humanoids have smashed Usain Bolt's 100-metre world record One ran it in 9.39 seconds at the World Humanoid Robot Games. Verge https://www.theverge.com/tech/983688/world-humanoid-robot-games-sprint-record-2026 + Another, also built by X-Humanoid, beat a high jump record. ESPN https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/ /id/49692320/humanoid-robots-surpass-human-records-100m-high-jump + But intricate real-world tasks pose greater challenges. Reuters https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/robots-can-outrun-humans-can-they-plug-cable-2026-08-23/ $ + Gig workers are training humanoids at home. MIT Technology Review https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/04/01/1134863/humanoid-data-training-gig-economy-2026-breakthrough-technology/?utm source=the download&utm medium=email&utm campaign=the download.unpaid.engagement&utm term= %7CSUBCLASS%7C &utm content= %7CDATE:m-d-Y%7C 3 Uber has been fined nearly $1 billion over automated suspensions Dutch regulators say drivers were deactivated without human review. Quartz https://qz.com/uber-gdpr-fine-825-million-automated-driver-suspensions-082126 + It’s the second-largest fine issued yet under the EU’s GDPR. Reuters https://www.reuters.com/world/dutch-regulator-fines-uber-966-million-automating-driver-suspensions-document-2026-08-21/ $ 4 New Zealand plans to ban under-16s from social media It’s joined a throng of countries trying to restrict access. Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-24/new-zealand-plans-social-media-ban-for-under-16s $ + But opposition parties could torpedo the bill. Reuters https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/new-zealand-introduce-bill-banning-social-media-children-under-16-2026-08-24/ $ 5 TikTok will pay $400 million to settle a US child privacy case It was sued for allegedly violating children's online privacy. BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyr0l45xjro + The US DOJ said TikTok illegally collected kids’ information. Reuters https://www.reuters.com/world/us-justice-department-tiktok-settle-400-million-childrens-privacy-suit-axios-2026-08-21/ $ 6 China’s largest-ever car recall covers nearly 3 million Teslas They’re being recalled over door safety concerns . Quartz https://qz.com/tesla-china-ev-recall-hidden-door-handles-082126 + The action covers roughly 4.3 million vehicles in total. NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/business/china-car-recall-doors.html $ 7 Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine think AI is good for music They compared fear of AI to resistance to earlier technologies. NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/23/business/jimmy-iovine-dr-dre-beats-usc.html $ + AI let a musician with MLS sing again. MIT Technology Review https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/02/13/1132913/als-stole-this-musicians-voice-ai-sing/?utm source=the download&utm medium=email&utm campaign=the download.unpaid.engagement&utm term= %7CSUBCLASS%7C &utm content= %7CDATE:m-d-Y%7C 8 Taiwan has indicted nine people over alleged illegal AI exports to China They include employees of Nvidia and Super Micro Reuters https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taiwan-indicts-9-over-alleged-illegal-export-ai-servers-china-2026-08-24/ $ 9 NASA’s new telescope could discover 200,000 new planets Roman could also reveal new details about dark matter. Wired https://www.wired.com/story/nasa-nancy-grace-roman-space-telescope-hidden-facets-of-universe/ $ + And detect killer asteroids. MIT Technology Review https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/08/05/1141200/nasas-roman-telescope-detect-asteroids/?utm source=the download&utm medium=email&utm campaign=the download.unpaid.engagement&utm term= %7CSUBCLASS%7C &utm content= %7CDATE:m-d-Y%7C 10 Plastic bottles can be turned into edible, vanilla-flavour cookies Thanks to genetically-engineered yeast. New Scientist https://www.newscientist.com/article/2585463-plastic-bottles-can-be-turned-into-edible-vanilla-flavour-cookies/?utm campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm content=home&utm medium=RSS&utm source=NSNS $ Quote of the day “Credit where credit is due: the tech sector has managed to unite a deeply divided country at a time of maximal partisanship.” —Max Steele, Senior Director of Communications at Everytown, reacts on X https://x.com/maxasteele/status/2090520445363613792 to a new poll showing that support for data centers in the US has plummeted. One More Thing How next-generation nuclear reactors break out of the 20th-century blueprint As worries about climate change and energy independence drown out concerns about meltdowns and radioactive waste, demand for nuclear power has surged. The problem is, building nuclear power plants is expensive and slow. Now, a new generation of nuclear power technology could reinvent what a reactor looks like—and how it works. Advocates hope it can refresh the industry and help replace fossil fuels without emitting greenhouse gases. Small modular reactors could bring the assembly line to nuclear development, while new designs are experimenting with different fuels and coolants, from TRISO to molten salt. Here’s what the next generation of nuclear reactors could look like https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/01/12/1129797/next-generation-nuclear-reactors-power-energy/?utm source=the download&utm medium=email&utm campaign=the download.unpaid.engagement&utm term= %7CSUBCLASS%7C &utm content= %7CDATE:m-d-Y%7C . — Casey Crownhart We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. Got any ideas? Drop me a line . + Welcome to WikiCity https://wikicity.app/ , where every building is a Wikipedia article. + Animal lovers have built a tiny village https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsSGlXaJIi8 for dogs that don’t have homes. + Here are 18 ridiculous yet cathartic new words https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/18/dickovers-baggravation-botiquette-18-new-words-tech-hellscape to describe modern tech irritants. + Feast your eyes on these Porsche 912s customized for the Japanese police https://www.instagram.com/p/DZVfqHnmC S?img index=4 in the 1960s. Deep Dive The Download The Download: Claude’s inner workings and OpenAI’s “super app” Plus: OpenAI has unveiled its long-awaited "super app." The Download: Claude’s inner workings, and the future of world models Plus: New York has become the first state to enact a data center moratorium. The Download: Anthropic launches Claude Science, and California’s carbon manure math Plus: The US has lifted restrictions on Anthropic’s Mythos and Fable models. The Download: Google’s AI shake-up and Meta’s rogue model Plus: Meta has become the latest firm to say its AI hacked another company. Stay connected Get the latest updates from MIT Technology Review Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.