Government
AI firm claims Chinese spies used its tech to automate cyber attacks
The makers of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Claude claim to have caught hackers sponsored by the Chinese government using the tool to perform automated cyber attacks against around 30 global organisations. Anthropic said hackers tricked the chatbot into carrying out automated tasks under the guise of carrying out cyber security research. The company claimed in a blog post this was the first reported AI-orchestrated cyber espionage campaign. But sceptics are questioning the accuracy of that claim - and the motive behind it. Anthropic said it discovered the hacking attempts in mid-September.
Ukraine faces 'exhausting battles' against Russia in Zaporizhia, Donetsk
Is the fall of Pokrovsk inevitable? Is Trump losing patience with Putin? Will sanctions against Russian oil giants hurt Putin? Ukraine faces'exhausting battles' against Russia in Zaporizhia, Donetsk Russian forces pressed into Ukraine's eastern towns of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad during the past week as Kyiv's military mounted a stout defence. On Tuesday, Ukraine's commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii said almost half of the battles on a 1,200km (745-mile) front were happening in the two towns, claiming Russia has committed 150,000 troops - almost a quarter of its strength in Ukraine - to capturing them.
Three killed in wave of Russian strikes across Kyiv, officials say
Three people have died and at least 26 others injured in a wave of Russian drone and missile strikes on Kyiv, Ukrainian officials say. Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko described strikes, which caused explosions and fires in residential buildings across the city, as massive. Kyiv's energy infrastructure was also damaged, leaving some buildings in the north-east without heat, he said. Ukraine's air force reported several other regions across the country were also being targeted. Russia's defence ministry said it had downed or intercepted 216 Ukrainian drones that had targeted its industrial facilities and disrupted air travel, according to Reuters news agency.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 review – hallucinogenic romp through dystopia is stupidly pleasurable
I t seems like an anachronism now, in this age of live service " forever games ", that the annual release of a new Call of Duty title is still considered a major event. But here is Black Ops 7, a year after its direct predecessor, and another breathless bombard of military shooting action. This time it is set in a dystopian 2035 where a global arms manufacturer named the Guild claims to be the only answer to an apocalyptic new terrorist threat - but are things as clearcut as they seem? The answer, of course, is a loudly yelled "noooo!" Black Ops is the paranoid, conspiracy-obsessed cousin to the Modern Warfare strand of Call of Duty games, a series inspired by 70s thrillers such as The Parallax View and The China Syndrome, and infused with'Nam era concerns about rogue CIA agents and bizarre psy-ops.
Gastronomists study 100 years of menus to reveal food's political power
Health Nutrition Gastronomists study 100 years of menus to reveal food's political power Menus from 457 diplomatic meals served in Portugal reveal how food can make and break alliances. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. A nice, warm meal is one of the great unifiers. Food communicates everything from love and tradition like a home cooked dinner with all of the trimmings and even political stances. At a state dinner, food has the power to cultivate understanding across cultures-or potentially create tensions.
Will AI mean better adverts or 'creepy slop'?
Will AI mean better adverts or'creepy slop'? Imagine one night, you're scrolling through social media on your phone, and the ads start to look remarkably familiar. They're decked out in your favourite colours, are featuring your favourite music and the wording sounds like phrases you regularly use. Welcome to the future of advertising, which is already here thanks to AI. Advertising company Cheil UK, for example, has been working with startup Spotlight on using large language AI models to understand people's online activity, and adapt that content based on what the AI interprets an individual's personality to be. The technology can then mirror how someone talks in terms of tone, phrase and pace to change the text of an ad accordingly, and insert music and colours to match, say, whether the AI deems someone to be introverted or extroverted, or have specific preferences for loud or calm music, or light or dark colours.
Improving dependability in robotized bolting operations
Pagliara, Lorenzo, Redondo, Violeta, Ferrentino, Enrico, Ferre, Manuel, Chiacchio, Pasquale
Bolting operations are critical in industrial assembly and in the maintenance of scientific facilities, requiring high precision and robustness to faults. Although robotic solutions have the potential to improve operational safety and effectiveness, current systems still lack reliable autonomy and fault management capabilities. To address this gap, we propose a control framework for dependable robotized bolting tasks and instantiate it on a specific robotic system. The system features a control architecture ensuring accurate driving torque control and active compliance throughout the entire operation, enabling safe interaction even under fault conditions. By designing a multimodal human-robot interface (HRI) providing real-time visualization of relevant system information and supporting seamless transitions between automatic and manual control, we improve operator situation awareness and fault detection capabilities. A high-level supervisor (SV) coordinates the execution and manages transitions between control modes, ensuring consistency with the supervisory control (SVC) paradigm, while preserving the human operator's authority. The system is validated in a representative bolting operation involving pipe flange joining, under several fault conditions. The results demonstrate improved fault detection capabilities, enhanced operator situational awareness, and accurate and compliant execution of the bolting operation. However, they also reveal the limitations of relying on a single camera to achieve full situational awareness.