The Download: Chipmaking's Future and Anthropic's Government Clash

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. It's a bit of a schlep to get to the top of ASML's newest machine. It's about the size of a double-decker bus, weighs more than 150 tons, and costs $400 million.

But if you want to make the world's most powerful chips, a lithography system like this is essential. The AI era needs ever faster chips, and ASML's machines make that possible. They pattern chip features with extreme-ultraviolet light, or EUV—radiation outside the visible spectrum, produced by shooting lasers at tiny molten drops of tin tens of thousands of times a second.

ASML now makes about 90% of all chip-lithography tools worldwide. That dominance has made some people, and governments, uneasy. And would-be competitors are now gunning for its territory.

Read the full story on ASML's $400 million machine—and the growing threats to its position. In April, Anthropic said it had built an AI model called Mythos that could pose a cybersecurity risk. It then released a safer version called Fable.

Days later, the US government placed export controls on it. Within hours, Anthropic revoked access to both models. "Doomers" have long warned about catastrophic AI risk.

But this intervention came over a coding model—not a bioweapon or rogue AI—and the response so far looks less like a safety plan than a reactive policy move. Here are three things to watch in Anthropic's standoff with Washington. This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter giving you the inside track on all things AI.

Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Monday. Billions of dollars are flooding into efforts to reverse aging as scientists explore ways to return cells to a younger state. But how far off are these experimental treatments?

Will they really work? At an upcoming virtual Roundtables event, MIT Technology Review will examine the science behind the hype. Science editor Mary Beth Griggs and senior biotechnology reporter Jessica Hamzelou will explore longevity's latest frontier in a subscriber-only discussion on Tuesday, June 30.

Register here to join the session at 11:30 AM ET / 8:30 AM PT / 16:30 GMT. I've combed the internet to find you today's most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Meta is pausing an AI training program that tracks workers' keystrokes The move comes after sensitive data was leaked.

(Business Insider) + Meta declined to say how ⁠long the pause would last. (Reuters $) + The program tracked staff keystrokes and mouse movements. (BBC) + AI is supercharging surveillance.