Plus: 22 nations have called for a new global body to oversee AI. 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. Don’t be fooled by this summer of AI hype -- Timnit Gebru, executive director of the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR), and Emily M.

Bender, professor of linguistics at the University of Washington. It’s been a busy few months for AI hype, with companies making breathless claims about hacking, mathematical breakthroughs, and the prospect of self-improving superintelligence. In all these cases, massive fanfare from the companies, presented as mea culpas in the hacking incidents, has been accompanied by intense press coverage.

But once experts have had time to examine what happened, very different stories emerge. There’s a strong commercial incentive to overstate AI capabilities. The authors argue that the illusion of speed and urgency promulgated by the tech companies is also a ploy to misdirect policymakers and the public.

Here’s why they say we must remain skeptical about AI hype. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 22 nations have called for a new global body to oversee AI; they want pre-deployment testing and common safety standards, though neither the US nor China are part of the new declaration. Meanwhile, Open AI has proposed its own global AI safety standards, and the company wants the US to lead the international effort.

Texas and California have moved to rein in data centers; Texas has halted new permits pending a grid audit, while California has passed new laws covering power and water use. Chipmaker AMD has become the twelfth $1 trillion company, as AI chip sales have helped its shares rise more than 180% this year. Meta’s AI agent Muse has overtaken Chat GPT to top the US App Store, helping set Meta shares for their best month in 13 years, though Muse has a major zero-day vulnerability, and Amazon has blocked the agent from shopping on its site.