The Download: Amsterdam’s AI Initiative for Welfare and Enhancing Safety in Humanoid Robots

June 11, 2025 Luna Ray 215 Views

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.

Inside Amsterdam’s high-stakes experiment to create fair welfare AI

Amsterdam thought it was on the right track. City officials in the welfare department believed they could build technology that would prevent fraud while protecting citizens’ rights. They followed emerging best practices and invested considerable time and resources in a project that eventually processed live welfare applications. However, during their pilot, they discovered that the system they developed was still not fair and effective. Why?

Investigative teams have gained unprecedented access to the system to explore the findings. Read about what we discovered.

—Eileen Guo, Gabriel Geiger & Justin-Casimir Braun

This story is a collaboration between multiple reporting organizations.

Why humanoid robots need their own safety rules

While humanoid robots are beginning to enter industrial applications, the ultimate goal is for them to operate alongside humans. Making robots human-shaped facilitates their navigation in our environments, meaning they will need to share spaces with people, rather than remain behind protective barriers. But first, they need to be safe. Read the full story.

—Victoria Turk

MIT Technology Review Narrated: The surprising barrier that keeps us from building the housing we need

Sure, there’s too much red tape, but another reason building anything is so expensive is the construction industry’s “awful” productivity. This is our latest story turned into a narrated podcast, available weekly. Search for MIT Technology Review Narrated on your preferred platform to follow our new content as it’s released.

The must-reads

I’ve combed through various sources to find you today’s most fascinating stories about technology.

Chatbots are getting facts about the LA riots wrong. AI systems can’t be relied upon at the best of times, especially with fast-moving news.
Gavin Newsom is becoming a meme. The California governor’s responses to Trump are earning him a legion of online fans.
Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill could lead to more than 51,000 deaths a year due to its provisions for public health insurance.
How Ukraine’s AI-guided drones hit Russia’s airfields, while the opposition enhances its own AI capabilities.
US agencies tracked foreign nationals traveling to Elon Musk, keeping an eye on visitors in 2022 and 2023.
Snap’s new AR smart glasses will go on sale next year, entering an increasingly crowded market.
Each ChatGPT query uses ‘roughly one fifteenth of a teaspoon’ of water, according to Sam Altman. We explored AI’s energy footprint.
Death Valley’s air could be a valuable water source after scientists proved their hydrogel method works in real-world conditions.
Gen Z is choosing to skip college entirely, with increasing numbers of young tech workers entering the workforce early.
How to fight back against a world of AI-generated choices. Good taste is your ally here.

Quote of the day

“We’re probably going to have flying taxis before we have autonomous ones in London.”

—Steve McNamara, the general secretary of the UK’s Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association, expresses skepticism about London’s plans to trial autonomous cars.

One more thing

Exosomes are touted as a trendy cure-all, but we’re still uncertain about their effectiveness. You may have seen ads or read rave reviews about exosomes being a miraculous treatment for various conditions like hair loss, aging skin, and more. However, there’s considerable uncertainty surrounding how they work—or even what they really are. Read our story.

—Jessica Hamzelou