U.K. accuses China of using academics to spy on AI and other tech research Policemen stand guard outside the Chinese Embassy in London on Oct. 18, 2015. LONDON - Britain's MI5 spy agency issued an unprecedented alert on Wednesday to warn that a Chinese organization was involved in funding academic research into topics such as AI on behalf of Beijing's state security service. In its "Espionage Alert," MI5 said more than 100 U.K.-based academics had contributed to projects funded by the China General Technology Research Institute (CGTRI), which had "very strong ties" to the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS), Beijing's civilian intelligence service. "MI5 has identified that the primary purpose of CGTRI is to fund academic research that directly improves MSS technical capability for espionage," the alert said. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Creator Playbook Mashable Selects In My Bag Look Up Say More AI at School Safety Net Versus Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age All Series The voluntary accord lays out four layers of safety controls, while leaving companies to decide how and whether to enforce them. Chance Townsend is the General Assignments Editor at Mashable, covering tech, video games, dating apps, digital culture, and whatever else comes his way. He has a Master's in Journalism from the University of North Texas and is a proud orange cat father. His writing has also appeared in PC Mag and . The White House has a new name for artificial intelligence and a new promise for the future of Super Intelligence.

USC has named David Madigan, a statistician and former Northeastern University provost, to succeed Andrew Guzman as its chief academic officer, the most senior academic hire under President Beong-Soo Kim.

Trump's AI Safety'Accord' Is a Fancy Pinky-Swear Six major AI companies signed a voluntary agreement with the White House this week vowing to implement safeguards. On Tuesday, executives for Google, Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI, xAI, and Nvidia all signed "The White House Accord on Super Intelligence," which was announced following a luncheon held by President Donald Trump. The effort was an act of "tremendous self-regulation," as Trump put it, but the agreement is not the sweeping AI regulation that people inside the companies themselves have been asking for. And while failing to honor these public commitments could count as illegally lying to consumers, even that wouldn't be enough to trigger massive reforms. The statement says that companies "should implement" several things: First, they should ensure they have "robust internal controls" to monitor their models' capabilities and ability to not go rogue or hack things in unintended ways.

OpenAI's Dots and Meta's Muse are vying to be your AI agent of choice. I've tried both--and I suspect you will too. Yesterday, I spent the morning at OpenAI's annual DevDay, where over 2,500 nerds discussed building software and marveled at the latest artificial intelligence models. The biggest reveal of the day was Dots, the company's new, always-on agents that proactively help complete tasks and make autonomous decisions as they scour the web. After watching the sometimes messy demos on stage and hearing CEO Sam Altman talk about his experiences using the agents, I was curious what it felt like to boss my own Dot around.

Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Creator Playbook Mashable Selects In My Bag Look Up Say More AI at School Safety Net Versus Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age All Series The Stealth Bot Prohibition Act targets unauthorized content scraping, which is putting immense financial stress on iconic publications. Chase joined Mashable's Social Good team in 2020, covering online stories about digital activism, climate justice, accessibility, and media representation. News publishers want to curb fee-free website scraping. Executives from iconic publications like, and are descending on Washington to lobby for another AI regulation bill, this time tackling the threat AI poses to their bottom lines and longevity. Introduced to the House in July, the bipartisan Stealth Bot Prohibition Act would prohibit the deployment of stealth bots, or unidentified AI agents tasked with scraping and indexing a website's content, without disclosure.

The US's main trade regulator is conducting an industry-wide investigation into Anthropic, OpenAI and other AI labs to uncover the potential dangers their technology poses to consumers. The investigation by the Federal Trade Commission is the first official US enforcement action that delves into rogue AI agents, following a surge in incidents first reported in July that have stoked fears among the public that uncontrolled AI could one day harm humans. The FTC plans to issue formal demands for information and compel testimony from executives at top AI developers, including Anthropic, OpenAI and the research group Metr, according to multiple reports . Anthropic and OpenAI have used Metr to conduct independent investigations into security incidents involving their agentic AI technology. Anthropic, OpenAI and Metr did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

USC radio announcer's description of the Dante Moore hit is one of the most embarrassing things ever NASCAR star sends chilling warning as series drops hammer on'cowards' who attacked driver Details emerge in incident between Aces star A'ja Wilson and Fever fan during playoff game Brian Schottenheimer promises to improve as Jerry Jones flags Cowboys' gaffes in late loss to Ravens in Brazil Aces' A'ja Wilson gets tech for confrontation with Fever fan, who was determined to have broken no rules Caitlin Clark's technical foul sparks furious rally as Fever avoid elimination against Aces Actor Chazz Palminteri rips Sonny Gray, recalls'surreal' Robert De Niro story on'The Craig Carton Show' Paul Finebaum roasts Lincoln Riley, says he's a'complete fraud' as hot seat rumors swirl New York Magazine criticized for new face of'men's style' Pilot responds to hijacking fears after cockpit stabbing: 'You have to trust' AI BOOM is'inflationary': expert weighs in Ex-Kamala Harris advisor: AOC would be'stupid not to' consider White House bid Mike Lawler blasts Dem opponent's'word salad' response to question over sanctuary city policies Lindsay Clancy defense claims there's no evidence she killed her children Accused wife-killer Lee Gilley's attorney speaks out on murder case OutKick Sports Danica Patrick & her girlfriends go on epic golf trip to New Zealand, Bears fan attacked, plus Dana's big bet Fox News host Greg Gutfeld and the'Gutfeld!' panel discuss Bill Gates' warning of an artificial intelligence apocalypse. Welcome to the final Wednesday Screencaps of September and sorta my final Screencaps of the week as I prepare to head out of here for a couple of days to get in one last mini golf trip with friends before winter sets in. On one hand, it's nice to get out on the open road to see what the golf gods have in store for us. On the other hand, I know that once this 48-hour rendezvous is over, it's time to prepare for hunkering down. Sure, there will be random Sundays where it's 74 in November and I get out, but there's something about that energy that runs through the body over a golf trip.

Disaster response an'urgent issue,' says new land minister Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Tatsunori Ibayashi answers questions during an interview in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Wednesday. New Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Tatsunori Ibayashi on Wednesday pledged to respond to heavy rain and other natural disasters with a sense of urgency. Disaster response is an "urgent issue," Ibayashi said in an interview with media organizations, adding that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has strongly instructed Cabinet ministers to prioritize countermeasures. Large-scale natural disasters, including Typhoon Dujuan, have caused significant damage recently in Japan, he said. "The types of disasters have diversified considerably."

Regulating AI'not the right place to start' says Bailey The Governor of the Bank of England has said regulating artificial intelligence (AI) is not the right place to start but instead called first for rigorous testing to find vulnerabilities and safeguards to contain risk. Writing his first-ever article for Substack, Andrew Bailey said the risks around AI were real and increasingly significant. Bailey said the development of AI should not be halted or prohibited - on the contrary, the benefits are immense - but added there must be a system for intervention and to establish boundaries in which AI operates. In recent weeks, the debate about the potential risks surrounding the rapid development of AI and what it means for humanity has intensified. The bosses of leading AI firms such as Anthropic and OpenAI have called for development of the technology to slow down and for an internationally co-ordinated approach assessing risks and putting safeguards in place.