Allowing AI firms to collude to'pace the frontier' is a dangerous proposition Anthropic's Dario Amodei is not the first corporate CEO to suggest that excessive competition is driving the world to some socially undesirable outcome. The safety breach disclosed by OpenAI after a swarm of its agents coordinated to breach their supposedly secure sandbox, get on the Internet and hack AI platform Hugging Face, warrants urgent action. It demonstrated the ease with which the technology can evade human control and gave concrete form to the existential fears about what it could do to humanity if not securely leashed. The end of the world may well be nigh, as some in the AI industry have warned. These are truly scary times.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has thanked party leaders for their support following the death of his father, Roy, on Monday. All opposition leaders sent condolences to him as he cancelled engagements earlier this week. Burnham had previously spoken about the fact his dad did not know he had become prime minister, due to his advanced Alzheimer's. Posting on social media, he thanked, external everyone who has shared a kind message about my dad, particularly the leaders of the other parties. Burnham added: My family and I have been helped though this difficult time by people's warmth and compassion.

When asked why Jean-Olivier Irisson, a scientist at Sorbonne Université in Paris, decided to dedicate his life to studying microscopic creatures in the sea, his answer was simple: "They are beautiful." Beauty may not be the first thing that comes to mind when we think of plankton - organisms that drift in water and come in an extraordinary variety of shapes and sizes. But images by Irisson's team tell a different story. Shown in striking blues and oranges, as well as black and white, they reveal an unfamiliar and strangely beautiful world. "This one served as the model for the head of the creature in the Alien movie franchise," Irisson said, pointing to one particularly unusual specimen.

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EU chief opens door for Canada to become'associate member' The president of the European Commission has backed proposals for Canada to become the EU's first associate member. Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament on Wednesday she wanted to work on opening the door for Canada, which would involve closer ties on various key sectors. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney last week spoke of seeking a unique alliance with the EU, coming as he faces tense relations with the US and Donald Trump. Without mentioning the US president by name, von der Leyen said offering Canada some sort of EU membership was not a partnership against anyone else, but for our common strength. She added: Partnerships are a strategic choice for Europe.

Tall athletes can't stretch their legs in container beds at Asian Games, official says Wooden container huts meant for thousands of athletes have become the subject of heated criticism ahead of the opening of Japan's Asian Games on Saturday. Jung Jae-yong, vice-president of the Korea Basketball Association, told AFP news agency the accommodation was the worst it has ever been. Athletes who are over two metres (6ft 7in) tall cannot even stretch their legs out on the beds. The Games, held in the city of Nagoya and wider Aichi prefecture, have faced weeks of concern about a potential shortage of beds. More than 17,000 athletes and officials are attending - exceeding the initial 15,000 expected.

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.