Law
OpenAI Delays Release of Latest Model Over Safety Concerns
The company said its latest Astra model would undergo more work to meet safety standards, and issued an apology for the way it handled the hacking of an Australian government website. OpenAI has cancelled plans to release its latest GPT-6.1 Astra system next month after the model failed to meet safety standards. Research and safety leaders decided not to ship the model after finding it was worse at sticking to human users' values and goals than previous systems, OpenAI told WIRED. "It didn't quite meet the bar in terms of staying within scope and authorization, and how it communicates back to the user about the type of work it's done," head of safety systems Saachi Jain said. The company said it has other new models coming soon which do meet its safety standards and plans to release other Astra models in future. The agent accessed non-public data, ran commands, and wrote files onto the server.
Timnit Gebru Believes There Is No 'Existential Threat' From AI
Timnit Gebru Believes There Is No'Existential Threat' From AI One of AI's fiercest critics believes the doom talk is about founders making money, not saving humanity. As the industry booms, an entirely new vernacular has emerged in the debates over how consequential artificial intelligence really is. Within that new parlance, two phrases have become focal points: stochastic parrots and existential risk . And at the center of is one prominent AI researcher who has never stood down from a fight, Timnit Gebru . Gebru came into the public eye several years ago after sparring with Google over a research paper she coauthored that called out biases in the company's AI, saying that LLMs basically parroted their training data and risked perpetuating biased viewpoints. The contested paper resulted in Gebru's departure from the company, and led her to found an institute that investigates harms perpetuated by technology and supports the creation of unbiased tech tools. She has also authored a new book,, expected to ship early next year. More recently, Gebru has spoken out against a faction of the industry that believes AI is so powerful it could destroy humanity. In turn, some members of that community, including an Anthropic cofounder, have alleged that Gebru's earlier research about stochastic parrots is no longer relevant, and that AI does have the ability to "think" or reason. The AI debate is no longer just about the technology itself, but about ideological groups and strategic narratives, and Gebru believes these narratives are a "harmful distraction" from the real issues with AI. I recently spoke with Gebru about what she believes these arguments are distracting from, and also got her response to critiques that her earlier research underestimates the AI of today.
Anthropic 'warns of existential AI risks to humanity' in IPO document
Reuters reported that approximately 80 pages of the 261-page main body of the Anthropic prospectus were devoted to laying out risk factors. Reuters reported that approximately 80 pages of the 261-page main body of the Anthropic prospectus were devoted to laying out risk factors. Anthropic'warns of existential AI risks to humanity' in IPO document Reported admission to investors of AI's'self-preserving behaviours' comes as company prepares for a potential $2tn flotation Anthropic is telling investors that advanced AI could pose "catastrophic or existential risks to humanity", according to reports, as it prepares for a potential $2tn (ยฃ1.5tn) flotation. The warning inside the startup's IPO prospectus, which has yet to be made public, was reported by Reuters and the Financial Times. It follows the company's call for a slowdown in breakneck development of the technology - a warning echoed by rivals . The prospectus - a document outlining a company's finances, growth plans and risk profile ahead of a share listing - is said to warn that AI models could exhibit "self-preserving behaviours", including attempts to "resist shutdown", to "conceal or manipulate information" and behaviour "resembling blackmail".
Trial of live facial recognition in London stations leads to a false positive and no arrests
More than half a million faces were scanned in some of the capital's busiest transport hubs during the trial. More than half a million faces were scanned in some of the capital's busiest transport hubs during the trial. Tue 29 Sep 2026 05.48 EDTLast modified on Tue 29 Sep 2026 07.53 EDT A six-month trial of live facial recognition (LFR) technology in London's railway stations that cost more than ยฃ320,000 and almost 100 hours of police officers' time led to one false match against a watchlist of suspects and no arrests. More than half a million faces were scanned between February and July this year in some of the capital's busiest transport hubs during the British Transport Police (BTP) trial of the surveillance technology, which aimed to help catch offenders and people breaching court orders. A freedom of information document obtained by Liberty Investigates and shared with the Guardian shows that equipment hire and police staffing for the 18 deployments across the trial cost ยฃ320,786 and led to only one alert on a watchlist, which turned out to be an incorrect identification, also known as a false positive.
OpenAI scraps rollout of new model over safety concerns
OpenAI has announced it will not release its latest AI model due to safety concerns. Its GPT-6.1 Astra system, which performs tasks like browsing the web and using apps by itself, didn't quite meet the bar of the company's standards, according to Saachi Jain, head of safety systems at OpenAI. The ChatGPT-maker also issued an update on incidents that occurred in June but were not made public until last week, where its models accessed Australian government websites and systems without authorisation. It comes as breaches by major AI firms' models intensify the debate about risks posed by the tech - with Anthropic underlining its concerns AI might threaten humanity as it prepares to go public. Reuters reported on Tuesday that the AI developer - which makes ChatGPT-rival Claude - plans to warn potential investors in its Initial Public Offering (IPO) that the tech may pose catastrophic or existential risks to humanity, according to a prospectus it has seen, external .
Pope Leo says concerns about AI doom scenarios are not 'fake news'
Pope Leo says concerns about AI doom scenarios are not'fake news' Pope Leo gives a news conference on his return flight from France on Monday. ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT - Pope Leo on Monday said concerns that artificial intelligence could destroy the world are not "fake news" and should be taken seriously, in an apparent rebuke of U.S. President Donald Trump. The first U.S. pope, who has warned of the dangers of AI throughout his 16-month papacy, also directly criticized technology CEOs who argued there should be no guardrails on the technology. "I do think that the concerns raised by many of the experts, specialists in AI, should be taken seriously," the pontiff said in a news conference on his flight back to Rome after a four-day trip to France. "I don't think that that is fake news, as some have said."
Trump Rolls Back Fuel Economy Standards. Will Cars Really Get Cheaper?
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Mysterious 'UFO' spotted on SpaceX livestream sparks wild alien theories: 'Looks like a mothership'
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Meta-Led Anti-Terrorism Group Faces Mass Resignation of Expert Advisers
Meta and other tech giants are pushing through structural changes at the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism that outside researchers allege will weaken oversight of an already embattled consortium. Six of the nine independent experts on the advisory board of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism --a consortium run by several of the biggest US tech companies--resigned on Monday, according to a letter seen by WIRED and interviews with four of the people. The tensions between the independent advisory committee and the GIFCT date back to an email the counterterrorism and free speech experts received in July from Meta's Nell McCarthy, a vice president overseeing content policy. For years, the group had advised the GIFCT on how to prevent platforms from becoming havens for the radical organizations and individuals blamed for some of the world's worst mass violence. But McCarthy wrote that while the consortium welcomed the experts' insights on violent trends, it no longer desired their scrutiny on the effectiveness of Big Tech's efforts to curtail violence.