Any major trend or world event, from the coronavirus pandemic to the cryptocurrency frenzy, will quickly be used as fodder in digital phishing attacks and other online scams. In recent months, it has become clear that the same would happen for large language models and generative AI. Today, researchers from the security firm Sophos are warning that the latest incarnation of this is showing up in Google Play and Apple's App Store, where scammy apps are pretending to offer access to OpenAI's chatbot service ChatGPT through free trials that eventually start charging subscription fees. There are paid versions of OpenAI's GPT and ChatGPT for regular users and developers, but anyone can try the AI chatbot for free on the company's website. The scam apps take advantage of people who have heard about this new technology--and perhaps the frenzy of people clamoring to use it--but don't have much additional context for how to try it themselves.

Altman advocated for a number of regulations, including a new government agency charged with creating government standards for the field, to address mounting concerns that generative AI could distort reality and create unprecedented safety risks. The CEO tallied a litany of "risky" behaviors presented by technology like ChatGPT, including spreading "one-on-one interactive disinformation" and emotional manipulation. At one point he acknowledged AI could be used to target drone strikes.

Ministers are calling for facial recognition technology to be "embedded" in everyday policing, including potentially linking it to the body-worn cameras officers use as they patrol streets. Until now, police use of live facial recognition in England and Wales has been limited to special operations such as football matches or the coronation. Prof Fraser Sampson, the biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner, said the potential expansion was "very significant" and that "the Orwellian concerns of people, the ability of the state to watch every move, is very real". The government's intentions were revealed in a document produced for the surveillance camera commissioner, discussing changes to the oversight of technology and surveillance. It said: "This issue is made more pressing given the policing minister [Chris Philp] expressed his desire to embed facial recognition technology in policing and is considering what more the government can do to support the police on this. Such embedding is extremely likely to include exploring integration of this technology with police body-worn video."

Humanity stands on the brink of a new era of warfare. Driven by rapid developments in artificial intelligence, weapons platforms that can identify, target and decide to kill human beings on their own -- without an officer directing an attack or a soldier pulling the trigger -- are fast transforming the future of conflict. Officially, they are called lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS), but critics call them killer robots. Many countries, including the United States, China, the United Kingdom, India, Iran, Israel, South Korea, Russia and Turkey, have invested heavily in developing such weapons in recent years. A United Nations report suggests that Turkish-made Kargu-2 drones in fully-automatic mode marked the dawn of this new age when they attacked combatants in Libya in 2020 amid that country's ongoing conflict. Autonomous drones have also played a crucial role in the war in Ukraine, where both Moscow and Kyiv have deployed these uncrewed weapons to target enemy soldiers and infrastructure.

However, the rigid computer chips traditionally needed to enable advanced robot capabilities -- sensing, analyzing and responding to the environment -- add extra weight to the thin sheet materials and makes them harder to fold. The semiconductor-based components therefore have to be added after a robot has taken its final shape. Now, a multidisciplinary team led by researchers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering has created a new fabrication technique for fully foldable robots that can perform a variety of complex tasks without relying on semiconductors. A study detailing the research findings was published in Nature Communications. By embedding flexible and electrically conductive materials into a pre-cut, thin polyester film sheet, the researchers created a system of information-processing units, or transistors, which can be integrated with sensors and actuators.

Naomi Klein's article about the dangers of generative AI makes many valid points about the economic and social consequences of the new technology (AI machines aren't'hallucinating'. But their makers are, 8 May). But her choice of language about how to describe the mistakes that the new AI makes seems to suggest she is committed mainly to providing an ideological interpretation of the new technology. Saying that mistakes are the results of glitches in the code rather than the tech hallucinating suggests the simulation is a simple one, involving a kind of power of the false rather than a more complex one that allows the possibility of some form of fabulation. This is important because it means that the technology can't be seen simply as a control technology, like nuclear fusion or self-driving cars, but instead indicates a switch to an adaptive form of technology, ie, ones that are based on adapting what is already out there rather than trying to reinvent what exists, as in some form of innovation.

Naomi Klein's article about the dangers of generative AI makes many valid points about the economic and social consequences of the new technology (AI machines aren't'hallucinating'. But their makers are, 8 May). But her choice of language about how to describe the mistakes that the new AI makes seems to suggest she is committed mainly to providing an ideological interpretation of the new technology. Saying that mistakes are the results of glitches in the code rather than the tech hallucinating suggests the simulation is a simple one, involving a kind of power of the false rather than a more complex one that allows the possibility of some form of fabulation. This is important because it means that the technology can't be seen simply as a control technology, like nuclear fusion or self-driving cars, but instead indicates a switch to an adaptive form of technology, ie, ones that are based on adapting what is already out there rather than trying to reinvent what exists, as in some form of innovation.

Google has unveiled plans to infuse its dominant search engine with more advanced artificial intelligence technology. The move comes three months after Microsoft's Bing search engine started to tap into tech similar to that which powers the artificially intelligent chatbot ChatGPT. With our new generative AI experience in Search, you'll get even more from a single search. You'll be able to quickly make sense of information with an AI-powered snapshot, pointers to explore more and natural ways to ask. Starting at $1799, this ultra-premium device combines personal AI, #GoogleTensor G2, and @Android innovation for a #Pixel smartphone that unfolds into an incredible compact tablet.#GoogleIO

The robot's soft legs are filled with sensors that measure brain activity A soft robot inserted through a tiny hole in the skull can deploy six sensor-filled legs on the surface of the brain. A version of this soft robot has been successfully tested in a miniature pig and could be scaled up for human testing in the future. The concept offers a less invasive approach for placing electrodes on the brain's surface compared with the traditional method, in which surgeons cut a hole in the skull the size of the fully extended device. If it proves safe and effective in humans, it could eventually help monitor and even treat people who experience epileptic seizures or other neurological disorders. "There's actually a really large surface area that you can reach without doing a large craniotomy," says Stéphanie Lacour at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.

House Democrats and Republicans will hold a dinner at the Capitol next week with Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, which developed the popular artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, according to an invitation obtained by NBC News. The closed-door, members-only event, planned for Monday night after House votes, comes as Washington tries to figure out how, if at all, to create rules for and regulate the rapidly moving AI industry. The bipartisan dinner is hosted by GOP Conference Vice Chairman Mike Johnson, R-La., and Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman Ted Lieu, D-Calif., who made headlines this year when he introduced a resolution written by ChatGPT that calls on Congress to regulate AI. The goal of the Altman dinner is to "educate members," said Lieu, who shared the invitation with NBC News. More than 50 lawmakers have RSVP'd to the dinner, he said.