From hallucinating AI chatbots to wiping out humanity: How did we get here? Sam Altman, chief executive officer and co-founder of OpenAI, speaks during the 2026 Dreamforce conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. The heads of leading U.S. artificial intelligence labs came together in a rare show of unity over the weekend to slow the technology's development, warning it could soon improve on its own and slip beyond human control. The remarks, from fierce business rivals such as Anthropic's Dario Amodei, OpenAI's Sam Altman and xAI's Elon Musk, show how quickly AI has advanced, from the hallucination-prone ChatGPT of 2022 toward what many see as a critical milestone: recursive self-improvement (RSI). Central to the field is the idea that an AI system could become capable of improving itself, with little to no help from humans, and allowing each advance to help produce the next one.

Iran is deliberately hunting U.S. unmanned surface vessels in the Strait of Hormuz to gather intelligence on American surveillance capabilities, drone experts warn.

CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin was ejected from a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing after wearing pro-Iran and pro-Cuba T-shirts on Capitol Hill.

U.S. Supreme Court rejects Trump's mail ballot curbs for midterms Mail-in ballots are prepared at the Wake County Board of Elections in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S. on Friday. The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to clear the Postal Service to enforce new restrictions on mail-in ballots for the congressional midterms, in a rebuff to President Donald Trump's administration after some states started early voting and opponents warned late-breaking changes would inject chaos into the elections. The justices' decision on Monday came after North Carolina and Alabama began mailing thousands of ballots to voters and many more states prepared to do the same in the coming days. The order followed last-minute legal wrangling and uncertainty about whether states would have to suddenly upend months of planning for the Nov. 3 midterms, when Republicans are defending their slim majority in Congress. The Supreme Court denied the Justice Department's request to lift a Boston federal judge's order that barred the Postal Service from making its new mail-in ballot rules mandatory through the November contests.

AI actress Tilly Norwood is on a press junket across major networks, drawing criticism from media watchdogs who say the interviews with the AI actor defy logic.

Ukraine races to counter Russia's jet-powered drone attacks Paramedics prepare to transport a resident injured during a Russian drone strike on a gas station in Kyiv on Tuesday. KYIV/LONDON - In early July, Ukraine's military invited a large group of producers to test a new generation of interceptors developed to counter the jet-powered attack drones Russia has used to devastating effect in recent months. According to two sources familiar with the exercise, it did not go to plan. Many of the interceptor drones proved difficult to control at speeds sometimes exceeding 400 kilometers per hour. Some crashed into nearby fields and forests, the sources said.

Mohammed bin Salman (R) has asked Donald Trump (L) for more military support to counter the Houthis. The U.S.-Iran war has reached crisis point for Saudi Arabia and its de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The kingdom was spared the worst of the Islamic Republic's counterstrikes against the U.S. and Israel early in the conflict, and was even benefiting from higher crude prices as it used a land pipeline to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. That all changed when the Houthis started firing at Saudi Arabia on a near-daily basis this month. The Iran-backed militants have also captured more territory in Yemen, where they are based, tightening their control over Bab el-Mandeb, another vital strait for shipping and energy markets.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks during a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington on Tuesday. WASHINGTON - U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended a range of Trump administration economic policies before lawmakers on Tuesday, from currency and bond market interventions to AI safety, disclosing plans to meet with his Chinese counterpart this weekend. Bessent told a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would continue discussions next week on Iran and China's financial links to Tehran. Washington has been seeking to shut Iran out of Western financial systems as the Iran war stretches into its seventh month. The hearing was nominally on the international finance system, including reforms to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, but lawmakers peppered Bessent with questions about more pressing issues, such as the state of financial markets and the economy, and the administration's financial measures against Iran.

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Air Force Secretary Troy Meink revealed the Space Force has on-orbit space control weapons to defend against adversary action from China and Russia.