Antimissile Quality Control
Are the builders of the national antimissile system rushing to meet deadlines, putting them above technological quality? That’s certainly the message of an article in today’s Washington Post. Hell-bent on meeting Bush’s year-end 2004 deadline for the first elements of the system, engineers and managers took “risky shortcuts,” among them “insufficient ground tests of key components, a lack of specifications and standards, and a tendency to postpone resolution of nettlesome issues.” That according to a three-panel member of experts. Certainly sounds like the way to build a system that won’t work…And guess what: it doesn’t: both the December 2004 and February 2005 tests were failures, as was a test in late 2003. For this kind of management and expertise we’re paying $10 billion a year….
Keep Reading
Most Popular

The hype around DeepMind’s new AI model misses what’s actually cool about it
Some worry that the chatter about these tools is doing the whole field a disservice.

The walls are closing in on Clearview AI
The controversial face recognition company was just fined $10 million for scraping UK faces from the web. That might not be the end of it.

A quick guide to the most important AI law you’ve never heard of
The European Union is planning new legislation aimed at curbing the worst harms associated with artificial intelligence.

These materials were meant to revolutionize the solar industry. Why hasn’t it happened?
Perovskites are promising, but real-world conditions have held them back.
Stay connected

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.