The Download: the future of nuclear power plants, and social media-fueled AI hype

Why AI companies are betting on next-gen nuclear

AI is driving unprecedented investment for massive data centers and an energy supply that can support its huge computational appetite. One potential source of electricity for these facilities is next-generation nuclear power plants, which could be cheaper to construct and safer to operate than their predecessors.

We recently held a subscriber-exclusive Roundtables discussion on hyperscale AI data centers and next-gen nuclear—two featured technologies on the MIT Technology Review 10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2026 list. You can watch the conversation back here.

How social media encourages the worst of AI boosterism

Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, summed it up in three words: “This is embarrassing.”

Hassabis was replying on X to an overexcited post by Sébas