South America
How AI could power Three Lions to World Cup glory
Artificial intelligence is making a big mark in elite football, and England are at the cutting edge when it comes to using it in the men's international game. From penalty taking and powering players' wellbeing to targeting their rivals' tactical weaknesses, AI is underpinning the Three Lions' plans for next summer's World Cup. Could a technology which is beginning to change the world around us really help England to glory in North America? Could AI power England to World Cup glory? As well as the coaches and physios who sit alongside head coach Thomas Tuchel on the bench, England's staff includes groups of analysts, data scientists and in-house software development teams.
Meta shifts some metaverse investments to AI smart glasses
Meta is shifting some of its investments in the metaverse to AI glasses and wearables, hoping to capitalise on the momentum in that segment, a company spokesperson has said. Over the last decade, Meta has poured billions of dollars to build the metaverse, which lets people to interact in a virtual reality. However, the tech giant has struggled to convince investors of the viability of the nascent technology. Bloomberg first reported on Thursday that Meta would cut its metaverse investment by as much as 30%. Its shares climbed more than 3.4% following the news.
UK to deport 60 delivery riders after illegal work crackdown
The government says it is to deport 60 takeaway-delivery riders found to be working illegally in the UK. The Home Office says the group are among 171 riders arrested over seven days in November in a national enforcement blitz in villages, towns and cities across the country. It comes as Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has been targeting people working unlawfully in the gig economy. Border Security Minister Alex Norris has also met representatives from food-delivery firms to encourage them to do more to tackle the issue - such as using facial recognition checks to prevent riders sharing their identities with people who do not have permission to take up work in the UK. Norris said November's action ought to send a clear message: if you are working illegally in this country, you will be arrested and removed.
We would sell books by AI, says Waterstones boss
Waterstones would stock books created using artificial intelligence, the company's boss has said, as long as they were clearly labelled, and if customers wanted them. However, James Daunt, a veteran of the bookselling industry, said he personally did not expect that to happen. There's a huge proliferation of AI generated content and most of it are not books that we should be selling, he said. But it would be up to the reader. An explosion in the use of artificial intelligence, or AI, has prompted heated debate in the publishing industry, with writers concerned about the impact on their livelihoods.
Let the Trial Begin: A Mock-Court Approach to Vulnerability Detection using LLM-Based Agents
Widyasari, Ratnadira, Weyssow, Martin, Irsan, Ivana Clairine, Ang, Han Wei, Liauw, Frank, Ouh, Eng Lieh, Shar, Lwin Khin, Kang, Hong Jin, Lo, David
Detecting vulnerabilities in source code remains a critical yet challenging task, especially when benign and vulnerable functions share significant similarities. In this work, we introduce VulTrial, a courtroom-inspired multi-agent framework designed to identify vulnerable code and to provide explanations. It employs four role-specific agents, which are security researcher, code author, moderator, and review board. Using GPT-4o as the base LLM, VulTrial almost doubles the efficacy of prior best-performing baselines. Additionally, we show that role-specific instruction tuning with small quantities of data significantly further boosts VulTrial's efficacy. Our extensive experiments demonstrate the efficacy of VulTrial across different LLMs, including an open-source, in-house-deployable model (LLaMA-3.1-8B), as well as the high quality of its generated explanations and its ability to uncover multiple confirmed zero-day vulnerabilities in the wild.
Where Does the Buck Stop on Killing Boat Strike Survivors?
The "Kill Them All" Edition US officials debate who to blame for the military killing of shipwrecked alleged drug smugglers; Democrats celebrate despite losing a special election in Tennessee; and the future of self-driving cars. Please enable javascript to get your Slate Plus feeds. If you can't access your feeds, please contact customer support. Check your phone for a link to finish setting up your feed. Please enter a valid phone number.
US senators unveil bill to keep Trump from allowing AI chip sales to China
What is Cartel de los Soles? Does'America First' make the US weaker? Who is Marjorie Taylor Greene? A bipartisan group of United States senators, including prominent Republican China hawk Tom Cotton, has unveiled a bill that would block the administration of President Donald Trump from loosening rules restricting Beijing's access to artificial intelligence chips for 2.5 years. The bill, unveiled on Thursday, is known as the SAFE CHIPS Act and was filed by Republican Senator Pete Ricketts and Democrat Chris Coons.
What legal experts say about second US strike on Venezuela boat
Several legal experts have told BBC Verify that the second strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat by the US military was probably illegal, and would likely be considered an extrajudicial killing under international law. On Monday, the Trump administration confirmed that a follow-up strike on the boat - which has been criticised as a double tap - was ordered by US Navy Admiral Frank Bradley with the overall operation having been authorised by War Secretary Pete Hegseth. Nine people died in the first strike on the vessel and two survivors were left clinging to the burning wreckage when it was struck again, killing them, according to the Washington Post. A US official has said four missiles were used in the operation. The Trump administration has not denied there were survivors and has insisted the strikes on 2 September were in accordance with the law of armed conflict.
Israel to remain in Eurovision Song Contest
Spain and The Netherlands will boycott next year's Eurovision Song Contest, after Israel was allowed to compete. They were among a number of countries who had called for Israel to be excluded over the humanitarian toll of the war in Gaza, and accusations of unfair voting practices. Despite calls for a vote on Israel's participation, members instead approved a new set of rules intended to protect the integrity of the contest. In a statement, Dutch broadcaster Avrotros said that participation under the current circumstances is incompatible with the public values that are essential to us. Spanish broadcaster RTVE added: The board of directors of RTVE agreed last September that Spain would withdraw from Eurovision if Israel was part of it.