The Download: meet our AI innovators, and what happens when therapists use AI covertly
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.
Meet the AI honorees on our 35 Innovators Under 35 list for 2025
Each year, we select 35 outstanding individuals under the age of 35 who are using technology to tackle tough problems in their respective fields.
Our AI honorees include people who steer model development at Silicon Valley’s biggest tech firms and academic researchers who develop new techniques to improve AI’s performance.
Check out all of our AI innovators here, and the full list—including our innovator of the year—here.
How Yichao “Peak” Ji became a global AI app hitmaker
When Yichao Ji—also known as “Peak”—appeared in a launch video for Manus in March, he didn’t expect it to go viral. Speaking in fluent English, the 32-year-old introduced the AI agent built by Chinese startup Butterfly Effect, where he serves as chief scientist.
The video was not an elaborate production but something about Ji’s delivery, and the vision behind the product, cut through the noise. The product, then still an early preview available only through invite codes, spread across the Chinese internet to the world in a matter of days. Within a week of its debut, Manus had attracted a waiting list of around 2 million people.
Despite his relative youth, Ji has over a decade of experience building products that merge technical complexity with real-world usability. That earned him credibility—and put him at the forefront of a rising class of Chinese technologists with global ambitions. Read the full story.
—Caiwei Chen
Help! My therapist is secretly using ChatGPT
In Silicon Valley’s imagined future, AI models are so empathetic that we’ll use them as therapists. They’ll provide mental-health care for millions, unimpeded by the pesky requirements for human counselors, like the need for graduate degrees, malpractice insurance, and sleep. Down here on Earth, something very different has been happening.
Last week, we published a story about people finding out that their therapists were secretly using ChatGPT during sessions. In some cases it wasn’t subtle; one therapist accidentally shared his screen during a virtual appointment, allowing the patient to see his own private thoughts being typed into ChatGPT in real time.
As the writer of the story, Laurie Clarke, points out, it’s not a total pipe dream that AI could be therapeutically useful. But the secretive use by therapists of AI models that are not vetted for mental health is something very different. James O’Donnell, our senior AI reporter, had a conversation with Clarke to hear more about what she found.
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here.
What’s next in tech: the breakthroughs that matter
Some technologies reshape industries, whether we’re ready or not.
Join us for our next LinkedIn Live event on September 10 as our editorial team explores the breakthroughs defining this moment and the ones on the horizon that demand our attention.
From quantum computing to humanoid robotics, AI agents to climate tech, we’ll explore the innovations that excite us, the challenges they may bring, and why they’re worth watching now. It kicks off at 12.30pm ET tomorrow—register here to join us.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 The US is abandoning its international push against disinformation
The State Department will no longer collaborate with Europe to combat malicious information spread by foreign governments. (FT $)
+ It comes as Russia is increasing its efforts to interfere overseas. (NYT $)
2 The judge overseeing Anthropic’s copyright case isn’t happy
Judge William Alsup says a $1.5 billion out-of-court settlement may not be in the authors’ best interests. (Bloomberg $)
3 WhatsApp’s former head of security is suing Meta
Attaullah Baig is accusing the company of failing to protect user data. (WP $)
+ He claims he uncovered systemic security failures, but was ignored. (Bloomberg $)
+ Meta maintains that Baig was dismissed for poor performance, not whistleblowing. (NYT $)
4 DOGE’s acting head is urging the US government to start hiring again
Following months of widespread firings and resignations. (Fast Company $)
+ How DOGE wreaked havoc in Social Security. (ProPublica)
+ DOGE’s tech takeover threatens the safety and stability of our critical data. (MIT Technology Review)
5 OpenAI is weighing up leaving California
It’s worried that state regulators could derail its efforts to convert to a for-profit entity. (WSJ $)
+ Rival Anthropic is backing California governor Gavin Newsom’s AI bill. (Politico)
6 ICE spends millions on facial recognition tech
In an effort to pinpoint people it suspects have assaulted officers. (404 Media)
+ The Supreme Court has given ICE the go-ahead to target people based on race. (Vox)
+ ICE directors were told to triple their daily arrests for undocumented immigrants. (NY Mag $)
7 AI researchers are training AI to replace them
They’re recording every detail of their working days to help AI grasp their jobs. (The Information $)
+ People are worried that AI will take everyone’s jobs. We’ve been here before. (MIT Technology Review)
8 What comes after the smartphone?
The rise of AI agents means we may not be staring at glass slabs forever. (NYT $)
+ What’s next for smart glasses. (MIT Technology Review)
9 Social media’s obsession with ‘locking in’ needs to die
Hustle culture and maximizing productivity at all costs are the aims of the game. (Insider $)
10 What it’s like to receive a massage from a robot
While it may not be quite as relaxing, it’s relatively cheap. (The Guardian)
+ Will we ever trust robots? (MIT Technology Review)
Quote of the day
“It was hell on Earth.”
—Duncan Okindo, who was enslaved in a Myanmar cyberscam compound and beaten for missing his targets, tells the Guardian about his harrowing experience.
One more thing
AI means the end of internet search as we’ve known it
We all know what it means, colloquially, to google something. You pop a few words in a search box and in return get a list of blue links to the most relevant results. Fundamentally, it’s just fetching information that’s already out there on the internet and showing it to you, in a structured way.
But all that is up for grabs. We are at a new inflection point. The biggest change to the way search engines deliver information to us since the 1990s is happening right now, thanks to generative AI.
Not everyone is excited for the change. Publishers are completely freaked out. And people are also worried about what these new LLM-powered results will mean for our fundamental shared reality. Read the full story.
—Mat Honan
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 or skeet ’em at me.)
+ Stephen King’s list of favorite movies doesn’t feature a whole lot of horror.
+ Tune into a breathtaking livestream of Earth, beamed live from the International Space Station.
+ Rodent thumbnails are way more important than I gave them credit for 
+ Mark our words, actor Wagner Moura is going to be the next big thing.
