This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s happening in the world of technology.
We still don’t know how people are really using AI
AI companies like Anthropic and OpenAI regularly publish reports on how people use their products. But these reports only reveal what the companies choose to share, and no independent source exists to verify their claims, according to AI researchers.
A new research initiative called the AI Observatory aims to fill this gap. Its analysis uncovers far more sensitive user behaviors than those captured in major AI companies’ reports, which tend to emphasize work-related use over personal applications.
The researchers also found significant differences between models: users were more likely to turn to Anthropic for coding, Gemini for social and roleplay scenarios, and ChatGPT for homework assistance. Here’s what the AI Observatory reveals about how people use AI.
—Eileen Guo
What Flock’s defenders are missing
Flock Safety, the police-tech giant known for its network of some 120,000 automatic license plate readers across the US, recently announced changes to its platform. The updates are designed to prevent officers from using...