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WhatsApp Adds Meta AI Chats That Are Built to Be Fully Private

WIRED

The company says its new Incognito Chat allows you to use its AI chatbot without anyone else--including Meta--being able to access your conversations. WhatsApp said on Wednesday it is launching an AI chat function known as Incognito Chat that is built to allow users to converse privately with Meta AI --such that Meta itself cannot access the questions or answers. The feature is based on WhatsApp's Private Processing scheme, which debuted a year ago and already underlies WhatsApp's existing AI features, including message summarization and composition tools. The idea of Incognito Chat is to create a way for WhatsApp to offer AI chat integration that does not conflict with the communication platform's commitment to end-to-end encryption, the privacy scheme in which only direct participants in a conversation can read messages or hear a call. Most generative AI platforms now offer some type of "incognito mode," but these features are usually designed to separate users from the questions they ask and the answers they receive rather than including a mechanism to entirely shield those questions and answers from the provider's view.


The AI Backlash Could Get Very Ugly

The Atlantic - Technology

Imagine what happens if jobs actually start disappearing. Steve Bannon and Bernie Sanders don't agree on much. But both think that AI is a disaster for the working class. The Vermont senator recently wrote that "AI oligarchs do not want to just replace specific jobs. They want to replace workers."


How to stay safe riding roller coasters

Popular Science

Millions of people ride amusement park rides every year with few serious injuries--but experts say a few precautions still matter. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. Going upside down might feel scary on a roller coaster, but it's very safe. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Summer is quickly approaching, which means more time for summer fun like checking out amusement parks.


JASON CHAFFETZ: America needs a drone defense plan before disaster strikes

FOX News

Drones disrupted firefighting flights over Utah wildfires and probed military bases, highlighting urgent need for unified national drone defense and clearer airspace rules.


The Download: making drugs in orbit and NASA's nuclear-powered spacecraft

MIT Technology Review

Plus: Sam Altman claims Elon Musk tried to seize control of OpenAI. A startup called Varda Space Industries is betting that the future of pharmaceuticals lies in orbit. The company has signed a deal with United Therapeutics to test whether drugs crystallize differently in microgravity, potentially creating improved versions with new properties. The idea sounds futuristic, but falling launch costs and reusable rockets are making space-based manufacturing seem increasingly plausible. Varda says the partnership could mark an important step toward building products in orbit for use back on Earth. Discover how space could become the next frontier for drug development .


New rules confirm public has a right to see how UK government uses AI

New Scientist

Government departments and other public bodies in the UK must consider requests to release information about AI-produced content, regulators have confirmed. The move follows a successful request by New Scientist for the release of a minister's ChatGPT logs The use of AI chatbots is subject to the UK's Freedom of Information laws Text, images and other content produced by UK government departments and other public bodies using artificial intelligence are subject to freedom of information (FOI) laws, regulators have confirmed - potentially opening the door for the public to gain access to ministers' ChatGPT or other chatbot records. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data-protection agency, has released new guidance confirming that "If staff at a public authority use AI for work purposes, the information generated will be subject to FOIA [the Freedom of Information Act] along with the prompts used". Last year, successfully requested the then-UK tech secretary Peter Kyle's ChatGPT logs under FOI legislation, in what is believed to be a world first. That triggered subsequent requests from other news outlets to obtain other information, but many have either been rejected on cost grounds or labelled as "vexatious", an umbrella term that allows authorities to reject a request.


'Irresponsible': backlash as Utah approves datacenter twice the size of Manhattan

The Guardian

Petitioners react as the Box Elder county commission announces approval of a large datacenter on 4 May 2026 in Tremonton, Utah. Petitioners react as the Box Elder county commission announces approval of a large datacenter on 4 May 2026 in Tremonton, Utah. 'Irresponsible': backlash as Utah approves datacenter twice the size of Manhattan A plan to create one of the world's largest datacenters, a gargantuan project spanning an area more than twice the size of Manhattan, has provoked a furious public backlash in Utah amid concerns over its vast energy use and impact upon the state's stressed water supplies. The Stratos artificial intelligence datacenter footprint will cover more than 40,000 acres (62 sq miles) over three sites in Box Elder county in north-western Utah. The facility will require about 9GW of power, which is more than the entire state of Utah currently consumes, and suck up a significant amount of water in an area that has been hit by severe drought in recent years.


Inside the Race to Develop a Test for the Rare Andes Hantavirus

WIRED

A lab at the University of Nebraska has developed a test that can detect the virus before symptoms become severe. Now, it's ready to start testing cruise ship passengers returning to the US. As passengers return to the US from the cruise that saw a rare hantavirus outbreak, much of the country is lacking a basic public health tool: a test to diagnose the illness in the earliest stages of infection. Nebraska may be the first state with the ability to do so. In just a few days, a lab at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha developed its own diagnostic test for the Andes virus in anticipation of receiving 16 American passengers from the ship. "I believe we might be the only lab in the nation that has this test available at the moment," Peter Iwen, director of the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory tells WIRED, referring to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, which was important during the Covid-19 pandemic.


Thousands of Waymos recalled after robotaxi swept into a creek

BBC News

Waymo is recalling thousands of its self-driving cars in the US over a software issue that could allow vehicles to drive into flooded roads. According to a letter posted on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) website on Tuesday, the voluntary recall affects nearly 3,800 robotaxis that use the company's fifth and sixth-generation automated driving systems. It follows an incident on 20 April in San Antonio, Texas, where an empty Waymo vehicle entered a flooded road and was swept into a creek. The company, which hopes to be operating a robotaxi service in London by September, said it was working on additional software safeguards, according to CNBC. The BBC has contacted Waymo, which is owned by Google's parent company Alphabet, for comment.