🐢 NASA rover makes first fully autonomous Mars trip + 9 more stories

In the last 4 days ChatGPT read 117877 top news stories. After removing previously covered events, there are 10 articles with a significance score over 5.5.

[6.0] Perseverance rover achieves first fully autonomous Mars exploration using AI — jpl.nasa.gov (+6)

NASA’s Perseverance rover has completed the first-ever autonomous Mars drives using artificial intelligence, successfully navigating the planet’s surface without any human route planning or direct guidance from Earth.

Led by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and roboticist Vandi Verma, the mission used generative vision-language models to process surface data and generate waypoints. This allows the rover to evaluate terrain and execute complex paths without waiting for human route planners on Earth.

This advancement aims to increase mission efficiency and scientific discovery as space exploration reaches greater distances. NASA officials suggest that generative AI holds significant promise for future autonomous off-planet navigation and operations.

[5.6] Trump launches $12 billion critical minerals reserve to counter China's dominance — theguardian.com (+25)

President Trump launched Project Vault, a $12 billion critical mineral reserve designed to protect American industries from supply shortages and counter China’s dominance over the global minerals market.

The initiative, funded by a $10 billion government loan and $1.67 billion in private capital, mirrors the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It aims to protect vehicle and electronics manufacturers while involving eleven international partners to be announced later this week.

This move follows previous Chinese export restrictions on rare earths used in high-tech products. China currently controls roughly 90% of global mineral processing, prompting the U.S. to seek alternative supply chains.

[5.5] Guinea worm disease nears eradication with 10 cases reported in 2025 — arstechnica.com (+2)

Global Guinea worm cases hit an all-time low of 10 in 2025, positioning the parasitic infection to become only the second human disease in history to be successfully eradicated.

These provisional figures from Chad, Ethiopia, and South Sudan represent a significant drop from 3.5 million cases in 1986. Eradication efforts rely on water filtration, education, and stopping transmission within both human and animal populations across the few remaining affected nations.

The waterborne parasite causes debilitating pain as adult worms emerge through skin blisters. Since 1986, the Carter Center-led program has prevented an estimated 100 million infections through community-based interventions and larvicide treatments.

Highly covered news with significance over 5.5

[6.1] New Mexico sues Meta over child exploitation on its platforms — bostonglobe.com (+6)

[6.0] Viral AI assistant OpenClaw raises concerns about autonomous actions and security risks — theguardian.com (+58)

[5.9] US reduces Indian tariffs after India agrees to stop buying Russian oil — irishtimes.com (+279)

[5.9] Google releases Project Genie AI tool for creating "playable worlds" that can feature copyrighted IP — gamesindustry.biz (+17)

[5.6] India launches Semiconductor Mission 2.0 to boost domestic chip industry — businesstoday.in (+722)

[5.5] Israel strikes Gaza after Hamas ceasefire violations — tagesschau.de (German) (+26)

[5.5] OpenAI releases Codex app for AI agent development — fortune.com (+14)

Thanks for reading!

— Vadim

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