The Download: a bid to scrap the virtual wall and AI hits Climate Week

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. Delia Ramirez, a Democratic US representative from Illinois, has announced plans to introduce legislation to terminate the surveillance tower program along the country’s southern border. The announcement comes just days after publication of an MIT Technology Review investigation, “Dying on Camera,” which looked at deaths near these towers.

Nearly one in four deaths we analyzed between 2015 and early 2026 occurred within their advertised range. Ramirez, who sits on the Homeland Security Committee, cited our reporting that nearly “1,100 people have died within range of a billion-dollar surveillance tower system between 2015 and 2026,” adding, “The towers that we have paid a billion dollars to just don’t work.” Here’s what she’s proposing and what it could mean for the border surveillance program. Read all of MIT Technology Review’s groundbreaking “virtual wall” investigation here.

The US spent billions building the “virtual wall” of surveillance towers along its southern border, promising they will help detect and apprehend border crossers and save lives. But MIT Technology Review has documented more than a thousand people who moved through areas watched by these towers without being caught—and ultimately died there. Next Monday, join our editor-in-chief Mat Honan, senior AI reporter James O’Donnell, and senior reporter for features and investigations Eileen Guo for a subscriber-only conversation about the investigation.

They’ll examine the failures of border surveillance technology and uncover the stories of the people who die in the borderlands. Register now to attend on Monday, September 28 at / 2:00pm EDT / 11:00am PDT. Want to join the conversation?

Subscribe to MIT Technology Review for exclusive access to all our Roundtables. AI is the unavoidable topic at this year’s New York Climate Week, with tension growing over its costs and benefits. The technology is attracting more attention and money to energy technologies, some of which are low- or zero-emission.

But the data center buildout has come with a hefty environmental toll, and a whole lot of natural gas is coming online to meet the demand. Overall, what I’m hearing this week is that many in the climate sector are skeptical of AI, at best. This story is from The Spark, our weekly climate tech newsletter. .