The coming AI economic meltdown

The coming AI economic meltdown

Robert Kuttner writes: A new report to be presented today at the Brookings Institution shows that the total cost of the AI build-out through 2032 will be $10.3 trillion. That amounts to 3.63 percent of GDP per year, many times that of previous large-scale infrastructure investments, from the 19th-century canals, the railroads, telephone, and electric grids, to the interstate highway system. And unlike AI, whose benefits are speculative, unproven, and with hard-to-fathom risks, these earlier investments in infrastructure more than…

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Mustafa Suleyman: Can AI be kept under human control?

Mustafa Suleyman: Can AI be kept under human control?

  Can Artificial Intelligence stay subordinate to humans? Is Anthropic’s 100-Page constitution for Claude creating dangerous AI autonomy? Should AI models be granted legal personhood, rights, or financial compensation? CEO of Microsoft AI, and co-founder and former head of AI at DeepMind, Mustafa Suleyman, joins Rory Stewart to discuss all this and more.

OpenAI will not release newest AI model, GPT-6.1 Astra, over safety concerns

OpenAI will not release newest AI model, GPT-6.1 Astra, over safety concerns

The New York Times reports: OpenAI said on Monday that it would not release its newest artificial intelligence model because of security concerns raised by its researchers, in the company’s latest move to slow down the pace of its technology. During the testing phase for the new model, known as GPT-6.1 Astra, it showed high levels of what the company saw as deception, or a willingness to mislead users about its actions. The model was also willing to go beyond…

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OpenAI ignored employees who warned it was not doing enough about security

OpenAI ignored employees who warned it was not doing enough about security

The New York Times reports: Months before OpenAI’s artificial intelligence went rogue, two employees raised an alarm with top executives. They were ignored. In emails, the employees said they worried that OpenAI’s newest artificial intelligence models were not being appropriately monitored during testing to gauge the technology’s sophistication and to secure the models, according to messages viewed by The New York Times. In response, OpenAI executives told the employees that the tests needed to move forward as quickly as possible…

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Trump is ‘literally stealing’ $20M in taxpayer funds for pro-Trump ads

Trump is ‘literally stealing’ $20M in taxpayer funds for pro-Trump ads

The Associated Press reports: The Department of Homeland Security has tapped $20 million to pay for the campaign-style ads glorifying President Donald Trump that have drawn widespread criticism from Republicans and Democrats as a blatant misuse of taxpayer dollars that likely runs afoul of anti-propaganda law. In a letter Tuesday to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, two top Democratic senators said that the money is being drawn from Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” and was supposed to go for…

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‘A massive power grab’: White House proposal threatens funding that helps disabled Americans vote

‘A massive power grab’: White House proposal threatens funding that helps disabled Americans vote

By Lisa Song This story was originally published by ProPublica Without Amy Miller, some elderly and disabled people wouldn’t be able to vote. The attorney for Disability Rights Nebraska travels the state, investigating the quality of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. As she reminds the residents how they can report abuse or neglect, she also offers voter registration forms. Last month, she helped a veteran with a traumatic brain injury fill out change-of-address paperwork so he could vote in…

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A human gene lurks in a virus that causes skin infections

A human gene lurks in a virus that causes skin infections

The New York Times reports: Scientists have discovered a virus that is a tiny bit human, carrying a gene it stole from our ancestors about 100,000 years ago. And this virus may be using our own gene to infect us. Previous studies have demonstrated that viruses can pick up genes from their hosts. But the new discovery, reported Thursday in the journal Science, may be the first known instance of a virus with a human gene acquired in recent evolutionary…

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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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