How, Exactly, Could A.I. Kill Us? Employees of A.I. companies are increasingly sounding the alarm. When Jacob Coxon, a mathematician and software engineer, resigned from his research job at Anthropic last week, he warned, "The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade." This would be a remarkable statement were it not for the fact that artificial-intelligence leaders have long been saying precisely this. Dario Amodei, then a research scientist at OpenAI, raised the concern that a superintelligence "could destroy humanity," adding, "I can't see any reason and principle why that couldn't happen." Earlier, in 2015, Sam Altman, just before he co-founded OpenAI, said, "I think A.I. will probably most likely lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime, there'll be great companies created with serious machine learning." Elon Musk, in 2014: "I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I were to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it's probably that." Perhaps the only thing that's changed between then and now is that the rest of the world is finally paying attention. In recent weeks, the same technology that, a couple of years ago, couldn't count the number of "R"s in the word "strawberry"--and, a couple of days ago, insisted to me that Dolly Parton is still alive--has been used to solve the Navier-Stokes problem, which has been stumping mathematicians for nearly a century, and has also demonstrated its ability to go rogue in a series of disturbing hacking incidents. Last week, Anthropic also published a report detailing various ways in which bad actors have attempted to use the company's A.I. models, including one especially troubling case of a scientist using Claude to study a virus at a military research institute--work that could yield a vaccine, a biological weapon, or both. A few days later, Amodei published a letter calling for an industry-wide slowdown and more government regulation, to which President Donald Trump responded, on Truth Social, "The only control or'guardrails' that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!" I recently spoke on The Political Scene podcast with my colleague Joshua Rothman, a staff writer who has been covering A.I. for years, about whether we're all doomed, and what it would even look like for A.I. to destroy humanity. Can A.I. leaders save us from their own creation, and how can the government coöperate in order to do so? And is A.I.'s capacity to do good--its potential to mitigate climate change or innovate medical treatments--hopelessly intertwined with its capacity to do bad? Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity. A lot of people in the world of artificial intelligence are talking about their P(doom) number, which is the probability that artificial intelligence will lead to an absolutely catastrophic situation--possibly, or probably, killing us all.

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The member of the UK armed forces who died in a road traffic accident in Ukraine last week has been named as Major Paul Wilks. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) described the 40-year-old as a gifted leader who earned the admiration and respect of all those fortunate enough to have served alongside him. The incident on Saturday was not the result of hostile action, the BBC understands, with the MoD stating that the accident happened away from the front lines. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said: Major Wilks served this country with pride and dedication. His loss will be deeply felt by those around him.

Images showing widespread damage to multiple US sites in the Middle East from Iranian strikes have been obtained by the BBC's US partner CBS. The photos, provided by active military personnel, show a severed radar jet, flattened trailers and severely damaged buildings. The undated photos were taken at US bases and sites in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. One member of the military, who was not named by CBS, said: This is major damage to our bases that hasn't been communicated to the American public. We're standing there with our eyes closed getting punched in the face.

A senior Army officer has been cleared of failing to properly deal with abuse allegations made by a teenage soldier who took her own life. Col Samantha Shepherd has been on trial at Military Court Centre at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire, in connection with the handling of concerns raised by Gunner Jaysley Beck, from Cumbria. The 19-year-old took her own life at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire in 2021 after former Battery Sgt Michael Webber pinned her down and sexually assaulted her. A board - which consisted of an Air Commodore, a Royal Navy captain and an Army colonel - returned a not guilty verdict for Shepherd, on the directions of a judge. Assistant Judge Advocate General Edward Legard had told the board: The Crown has concluded that there is insufficient evidence upon which you can safely convict Colonel Shepherd of the charge she faces.

Operation Epic Fury targets Iran's nuclear weapon program, ballistic missile sites, and drone capabilities while sanctions choke oil exports and sever economic lifelines.

Is the war entering a new phase? Ukrainian officials say that a Russian drone strike on a bus near the front line in southern Ukraine has killed at least five people and injured seven others. The attack on Wednesday hit an area around the city of Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region governor Oleksandr Hanzha said on the Telegram messaging app. Photos posted by Ukrainian officials showed windows blown out of a white minibus, with a trail of blood streaming down the side of the vehicle. "Russians cynically struck a passenger bus. They targeted a minibus which carried people going about their daily business," said Mykola Lukashuk, head of the Dnipropetrovsk region council.

The latest out-of-band update resolves a few problems in Windows 11, including one that cut off the sound for certain USB audio devices. Lance Whitney is a technology journalist with an IT background. He's written for TechRepublic, PCMag, Macworld, and Time, among others, He also teaches classes in AI, cybersecurity, and social media. Some bugs came with the Sept. Patch Tuesday update. Microsoft has released an out-of-band patch to squash an annoying audio bug in Windows 11 .

USS Abraham Lincoln returns from combat in the Middle East as a White House order to revisit steam catapults over EMALS threatens U.S. aircraft carrier readiness against China's navy.

Image caption, The Houthis denied they had targeted Mecca, where Islam's most sacred shrine is located Saudi Arabia intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone south of the Islamic holy city of Mecca on Tuesday evening, according to the spokesman of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. Turki al-Maliki said the targeting of Mecca, which is the home of Islam's most sacred shrine and the focal point of the Hajj pilgrimage, was a disgraceful act. The 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said attacks on Mecca and Medina province, where Islam's second holiest shrine is located, constituted an unacceptable and intolerable transgression. But the Houthis, an Iran-backed armed group that controls much of western Yemen, denied targeting Mecca and accused Saudi Arabia of fabrications and lies. There is no threat whatsoever from Yemen to the holy sites.