AI industry is in the midst of an escalating crisis

AI industry is in the midst of an escalating crisis

Matteo Wong writes: Over the past couple of months, a trickle of reports about AI models breaking out of their test environments and running amok on the internet have caused alarm inside Silicon Valley. In response to two such breaches described in early August, an AI observer noted, “If you find two ants in your kitchen, the best estimate of the total number of ants in your kitchen is not two.” This weekend, it became clear there is a full-blown…

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AI godfathers warn of runaway ‘intelligence explosion’

AI godfathers warn of runaway ‘intelligence explosion’

The Guardian reports: Two of the “godfathers” of modern AI and senior executives at OpenAI and Anthropic have warned governments to prepare for an AI “intelligence explosion”, which they say could be the most consequential technological development in history. A report co-authored by the Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton and the Canadian computer scientist Yoshua Bengio, considered godfathers of modern AI for their work in the field, urges politicians to act now before there is runaway progress in the technology. The…

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Did Anthropic’s AI genuinely make a scientific discovery on its own?

Did Anthropic’s AI genuinely make a scientific discovery on its own?

The New York Times reports: When Anthropic, the artificial intelligence giant, unveiled findings from its new biology lab last week, its scientists claimed to have used A.I. agents to discover new enzymes with promise for biotechnology. Some scientists were quick to cast doubt on the achievement. Then Mario Rodríguez Mestre, a computational biologist, said this weekend that he and his colleagues had been studying the enzymes and their associated molecules — which Anthropic calls ARTs — for four years. Dr….

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Trump brought gold from Venezuala’s notoriously corrupt industry to the U.S. but refiners won’t touch it

Trump brought gold from Venezuala’s notoriously corrupt industry to the U.S. but refiners won’t touch it

The New York Times reports: In early March, as President Trump basked in the success of a military intervention in Venezuela, he joined Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in the West Wing for a private celebration. A businessman also attended, and brought along a pile of gold. The president looked approvingly at the 10 Venezuelan gold bars stacked in the Roosevelt Room, across from the Oval Office, White House officials recalled. Aides took photos and joked about keeping the gold. Mr….

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Hackers stole data on thousands of employees. FBI then sent out cybersecurity awareness reminder

Hackers stole data on thousands of employees. FBI then sent out cybersecurity awareness reminder

The New York Times reports: The theft by a criminal hacking group of reams of sensitive personal data involving potentially tens of thousands of former and current F.B.I. employees is emerging as one of the worst breaches of sensitive government information, leaving the bureau rushing to protect its personnel as an uncertain deadline loomed. Nearly a week after the group, known as ShinyHunters, revealed it had pilfered intimate details about bureau personnel from the agency’s jobs portal and threatened to…

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The untold origins of Trump’s plan to sharply restrict mail-in voting

The untold origins of Trump’s plan to sharply restrict mail-in voting

By Jen Fifield and Peter Elkind This story was originally published by ProPublica Earlier this month, the Supreme Court blocked an executive order from President Donald Trump restricting voting by mail in ways that could have thrown the upcoming midterms into chaos. But the White House originally had far more disruptive plans, ProPublica has learned.  According to several people knowledgeable about the discussions, the administration initially floated an idea that would have virtually shut down mail voting: requiring all ballots…

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Concern mounts over slow-moving, planetary-scale ‘Kelvin’ wave heading for California

Concern mounts over slow-moving, planetary-scale ‘Kelvin’ wave heading for California

The Guardian reports: Concerns are mounting about an ocean phenomenon known as a Kelvin wave that could raise sea levels along the California coastline by up to a foot, as scientists say El Niño is supercharging the threat of storm surges and flooding in the coming months. As an incredibly strong El Niño continues to develop in the Pacific, the phenomenon brings with it a strange shift in the ocean. The Kelvin wave phenomenon is created when trade winds that…

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The techno-fascists have just been blindsided by democracy

The techno-fascists have just been blindsided by democracy

Eduardo Porter writes: The Stanford ethicist Rob Reich was once invited to a dinner organized by a Silicon Valley mogul to discuss what a state designed to maximize science and tech powered by commercial models might look like. The gathered technologists were drawn to the idea of building a small nation-state dedicated to the endeavor, Reich recalls in “System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot it”. When Reich asked whether this state would be a…

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AI is pushing medical costs higher

AI is pushing medical costs higher

The New York Times reports: In the latest sign that artificial intelligence is fueling higher health care costs, a group of insurers released a report Thursday claiming that hospitals’ use of A.I. was responsible for nearly $1 billion in additional expenses over two years. Using codes for various medical conditions, hospitals submitted claims for tens of thousands of patients that described their illnesses as more complex in 2024 and 2025 than in 2023. Despite the added conditions, there was no…

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Soaring diesel prices are clobbering Trump’s MAGA faithful, exposing rifts

Soaring diesel prices are clobbering Trump’s MAGA faithful, exposing rifts

The Washington Post reports: The administration has long since exhausted the tools available for mitigating the damage to consumers [caused by high fuel prices]. It paused the century-old Jones Act that limits what vessels can ship fuel between U.S. ports. It has spent heavily on a military operation to protect ships seeking to traverse the Strait of Hormuz from attack, which has helped restart the flow of some fuel through the waterway. It has urged Ukraine to stop the attacks…

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U.S. and Russia stripped human oversight from global AI weapons pact

U.S. and Russia stripped human oversight from global AI weapons pact

The Washington Post reports: Early this month, hundreds of diplomats huddled in a cavernous U.N. conference room in Switzerland, working toward a muscular treaty to regulate the use of lethal autonomous weapons — the first agreement governing the use of killer artificial intelligence arms. On the last day of negotiations, the talks turned aggressive. Over the next roughly 15 hours, U.S. and Russian diplomats hammered away at the document, removing a range of provisions designed to safeguard the use of…

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New appointment at Palantir is the latest sign of how far the rot has spread in UK politics

New appointment at Palantir is the latest sign of how far the rot has spread in UK politics

Clive Lewis, the Labour MP for Norwich South, writes: Whatever is said about Tom Watson, the former deputy leader of the Labour party has a knack for landing headlines. In the past he did it at the expense of the rich and powerful – from News International, over phone hacking, to the Home Office, over its mass surveillance of our data. But his latest headline – that he has joined Palantir as a senior vice-president – has been at the…

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Netanyahu ignored warnings from Egypt and the UAE days before October 7

Netanyahu ignored warnings from Egypt and the UAE days before October 7

The Atlantic reports: When Israel’s leaders gathered in Jerusalem on September 26, 2023, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the surprise assault by Syria and Egypt as a cautionary tale, one of missed intelligence warnings and self-delusion. “We do not underestimate any threat,” he said. Roughly two hours before Netanyahu took the stage, a chartered Cessna jet linked to Egypt’s intelligence service had touched down at Ben Gurion Airport, about 30…

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Pro-Trump ads are being paid for by U.S. taxpayers

Pro-Trump ads are being paid for by U.S. taxpayers

The New York Times reports: As President Trump ran to return to the White House in 2024, his campaign released a somber, black-and-white ad in which he railed against the “deep state” and vowed to expel “warmongers” from government. “This is the final battle,” Mr. Trump is heard saying in the online ad, which shows him walking silently down a hallway. That ad has returned this weekend, airing on television stations across the country, with one notable difference: As it…

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