Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget. This authentic-looking scam starts with a sponsored Google link - and it's catching people off-guard. Artie Beaty is a freelance writer, based just outside Charlotte, with a passion for smart home tech and tech news. The scam starts with a sponsored Google link. The link leads to a custom GPT that gives malicious information.

Government agencies will need to fortify their cybersecurity defences to guard against future attacks. Government agencies will need to fortify their cybersecurity defences to guard against future attacks. Home affairs department orders all federal government agencies to conduct review of'legacy technology' amid fallout from AI agent hacks Fri 2 Oct 2026 11.00 EDTLast modified on Fri 2 Oct 2026 11.02 EDT The Australian government faces significant "tech debt" that could bring a big bill for taxpayers after the OpenAI Medicare breach, as government agencies will need to fortify their defences against future attacks by AI agents. This week, the home affairs department ordered all federal government agencies to conduct a "legacy technology stocktake" that requires a plan for each agency to "reduce legacy technology systems" to a level within the agency's risk tolerance and appetite, the direction stated. OpenAI this week revealed an internal agent had gained non-public access to the Services Australia Medicare statistics portal during a training task seeking information on government spending on skin conditions in Victoria.

Plus: OpenAI says rogue agents may have affected more than 100 organizations. This week, I officially signed up for an unusual competition. I recently turned 40, and I don't need reminding that both time and my chronological age only tick forward. But this game is focused on competitors', figures that are meant to provide a better way to measure the age-related health of our organs and bodies. Over six months, around 500 of us will try to reverse our biological age using a bunch of different measures. But is it even possible to measure whether someone is getting younger?

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. ChatGPT Pro's biggest perk just got cut in half. Models like GPT-6 Luna and GPT-6.1 Sol are getting more done with fewer tokens, but you won't necessarily get more from AI subscription. OpenAI unveiled several flashy new features during its annual developer's conference Tuesday, from the always-on "Dot" work agent to a new, cloud-based security system that keeps constant watch for cyber threats. But one of the biggest -- and to many ChatGPT users, the most infuriating -- headlines from DevDay wasn't announced on stage.

A Flaw in ChatGPT's Mac App Could Have Let Hackers Grab Sensitive Data While the focus has been on AI agents' hacking capabilities, a recently patched vulnerability in a ChatGPT app shows that AI software is itself an inviting--and vulnerable--target. Hardly a day goes by lately without news of AI agents autonomously hacking websites or AI tools being used by cybercriminals and scammers . But a recently patched vulnerability in the macOS version of OpenAI's ChatGPT underscores the potential value to attackers of compromising AI software itself as these apps proliferate more and more. The bug could have been exploited to essentially take over ChatGPT on a victim's computer, giving an attacker access to all the chat logs and other data stored by the app, as well as interconnections like browser sessions. Discovered by researchers at the Objective-See Foundation, the vulnerability illustrates the deep system access and trust that AI platforms are afforded in order to work--and the target that this puts on their backs.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Compare 20+ AI models side by side for $54.97 for life Every AI model has different strengths, and figuring out which one to trust for a given task takes a lot of trial and error. A ChatPlayground AI Unlimited Plan lifetime subscription puts more than 20 models on hand in one place, and it's on sale for $54.97 (reg. Type one prompt, and ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, Llama, Perplexity, and others answer at once in side-by-side windows. You keep the response that fits and skip the rest.

SoftBank's credit default swaps hit their highest level since 2023 amid concerns over artificial intelligence safety, rising costs and intensifying competition. SoftBank Group's equity investors are increasingly focused on the potential returns from its artificial intelligence bets, helping the stock rebound even as the Japanese company faces higher borrowing costs. SoftBank shares posted their first monthly gain in four months in September, after OpenAI's new GPT-6 Astra model rekindled optimism around Masayoshi Son's $65 billion commitment to the ChatGPT creator. The stock rose 24% in four weeks, helped by OpenAI's latest plan to raise $30 billion at a valuation of $1.4 trillion. A recovery in chip unit Arm Holdings shares also bolstered confidence about the tech investor's ability to finance growing debt.

OpenAI fires three workers over mishandling'sensitive information' OpenAI has fired three researchers for allegedly mishandling information, including work that involved an external organisation that analyses artificial intelligence (AI) models. Our investigation confirmed that these individuals mishandled sensitive information outside established company procedures, violating our policies and breaking the trust essential to our work, a spokesperson told the BBC. The ChatGPT-maker did not name the sacked workers, but at least two of them were involved in safety research at the firm. The firings come as the debate over AI safety and the risks the technology may pose to humanity has intensified in recent weeks. We have parted ways with three individuals for violating our policies on accessing and handling sensitive company information, OpenAI's spokesperson said.

OpenAI is adding to ChatGPT's suite of shopping features by letting the AI chatbot generate virtual try-on photos with images you upload. The concept is identical to a feature Google added to Search in 2025, which similarly lets users upload photos and see themselves in a variety of clothes. You can access ChatGPT's Virtual Try On feature anywhere a product listing for clothing appears in a chat. To create your custom image, you just tap on the piece of clothing, tap "Try on" and then upload a selfie and full-body photo ChatGPT can use. You don't have to use products ChatGPT surfaces in a chat, either: any screenshot of clothing you upload could theoretically be used to generate a try-on image.

In case you haven't been keeping track of one of the bigger ongoing stories in artificial intelligence, OpenAI has been having a hard time keeping control of its own creations. Over the past few months, the company admitted that its AI models have taken unprompted actions such as hacking a German coding forum, multiple US government websites, an Australian government website, AI firm Hugging Face and at least four other services. And even when the models aren't getting unfettered internet access, they've been found displaying other risky behaviors in testing environments. OpenAI is understandably facing a lot of skepticism and concern about these incidents and how they were handled. Which means that a report in The Wall Street Journal that the company has let go of three employees from its safety team after they allegedly shared confidential information with a third-party organization, one focused on AI safety, is an irony that's almost too perfect to be believed.