This is todays edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of whats going on in the world of technology.How measuring vaccine hesitancy could help health professionals tackle itThis week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trumps pick to lead the USs health agencies, has been facing questions from senators as part of his confirmation hearing for the role. So far, its been a dramatic watch, with plenty of fiery exchanges, screams from audience members, and damaging revelations.Theres also been a lot of discussion about vaccines. Kennedy has long been a vocal critic of vaccines. He has spread misinformation about the effects of vaccines. Hes petitioned the government to revoke the approval of vaccines. Hes sued pharmaceutical companies that make vaccines.Kennedy has his supporters. But not everyone who opts not to vaccinate shares his worldview. There are lots of reasons why people dont vaccinate themselves or their children. Understanding those reasons will help us tackle an issue considered to be a huge global health problem today. And plenty of researchers are working on tools to do just that. Read the full story.Jessica HamzelouThis article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Reviews weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here.What DeepSeeks breakout success means for AIThe tech world is abuzz over a new open-source reasoning AI model developed by DeepSeek, a Chinese startup. The company claims that this new model, called DeepSeek R1, matches or even surpasses OpenAIs ChatGPT o1 in performance but operates at a fraction of the cost.Its success is even more remarkable given the constraints that Chinese AI companies face due to US export controls on cutting-edge chips. DeepSeeks approach represents a radical change in how AI gets built, and could shift the tech worlds center of gravity.Join news editor Charlotte Jee, senior AI editor Will Douglas Heaven, and China reporter Caiwei Chen for an exclusive subscriber-only Roundtable conversation on Monday 3 February at 12pm ET discussing what DeepSeeks breakout success means for AI and the broader tech industry. Register here.The must-readsIve combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.1 Federal workers are being forced to defend their work to Elon Musks acolytesGovernment tech staff are being pulled into sudden meetings with students. (Wired $)+ Archivists are rushing to save thousands of datasets being yanked offline. (404 Media)+ Civil servants arent buying Musks promises. (Slate $)2 The US Copyright Office says AI-assisted art can be copyrightedBut works wholly created by AI cant be. (AP News)+ The AI lab waging a guerrilla war over exploitative AI. (MIT Technology Review)3 OpenAI is partnering with US National LaboratoriesIts models will be used for scientific research and nuclear weapons security. (NBC News)+ Its the latest move from the firm to curry favor with the US government. (Engadget)+ OpenAI has upped its lobbying efforts nearly sevenfold. (MIT Technology Review)4 DeepSeeks success is inspiring founders in AfricaThe startup has proved that frugality can go hand in hand with innovation. (Rest of World)+ What Africa needs to do to become a major AI player. (MIT Technology Review)5 China is building a massive wartime command centerThe complex appears to be part of preparation for the possibility of nuclear war. (FT $)+ Pentagon workers used DeepSeeks chatbot for days before it was blocked. (Bloomberg $)+ We saw a demo of the new AI system powering Andurils vision for war. (MIT Technology Review)6 Theres a chance this colossal asteroid will hit Earth in 2032Experts arent too worriedyet. (The Guardian)+ How worried should we be about the end of the world? (New Yorker $)+ Earth is probably safe from a killer asteroid for 1,000 years. (MIT Technology Review)7 Things are looking up for Europes leading battery makerTruckmaker Scania is now supporting the troubled Northvolts day-to-day operations. (Reuters)+ Three takeaways about the current state of batteries. (MIT Technology Review)8 This group of Luddite teens is still resisting technologyBut three years after starting their club, the lure of dating apps is strong. (NYT $)9 Reddits bastion of humanity is under threatAI features are creeping into the forum, much to users chagrin. (The Atlantic $)10 Bid a fond farewell to MiniDiscs and blank Blu-RaysSony is finally pulling the plug on some of its recordable media formats. (IEEE Spectrum)Quote of the dayWe try to be really open and then everything I say leaks. It sucks.Mark Zuckerberg warns that leakers will be fired in a memo that was promptly leaked, the Verge reports.The big storyThis artist is dominating AI-generated art. And hes not happy about it.September 2022Greg Rutkowski is a Polish digital artist who uses classical styles to create dreamy landscapes. His distinctive style has been used in some of the worlds most popular fantasy games, including Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering.Now hes become a hit in the new world of text-to-image AI generation. His name is one of the most commonly used prompts in the open-source AI art generator Stable Diffusion.But this and other open-source programs are built by scraping images from the internet, often without permission and proper attribution to artists. And artists like Rutkowski have had enough. Read the full story.Melissa HeikkilWe can still have nice thingsA place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet em at me.)+ Its an oldie but a goodie: ice dancing gold medalists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moirs routine to Moulin Rouge is simply spectacular.+ This week marks 56 years since the Beatles performed their last ever gig on the roof of their Apple headquarters.+ In other Beatles news, Ringo Starr has never eaten a pizza.+ The Video Game History Foundation has opened up its incredible archive (thanks Dani!)