The Download: canceled climate tech projects, and South Korea’s AI web comics

This year has been rough for climate technology: Companies have canceled, downsized, or shut down at least 16 large-scale projects worth $8 billion in total in the first quarter of 2025, according to a new report.

That’s far more cancellations than have typically occurred in recent years, according to a new report from E2, a nonpartisan policy group. The trend is due to a variety of reasons, including drastically revised federal policies. Here’s a map of all the cancellations so far this year.

—Casey Crownhart

Generative AI is reshaping South Korea’s web comics industry

Since comics magazines faded at the turn of the century, web comics—serialized comics that read from top to bottom on digital platforms—have gone from niche subculture to global entertainment powerhouse, drawing in hundreds of millions of readers around the world.

Lee Hyun-se, a legendary South Korean cartoonist, has long been at the forefront of the genre. But Lee wants his worldviews and characters to keep communicating and resonating with the people of a new era after he died, and believes that AI can help him realize his vision.

This year, Lee is preparing to publish his first AI-assisted web comic, thanks to an AI model trained on 5,000 volumes of comics that he has published over 46 years. But while seasoned artists like Lee embrace the technology as a tool to expand their legacy, younger artists see it as a threat. Read the full story.

—Michelle Kim

This story is from the next edition of our print magazine, which is all about creativity. Subscribe now to read it and get a copy of the magazine when it lands!