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 .

OpenAI has canceled the release of its new model, GPT-6.1 Astra, according to The Wall Street Journal. It was due for launch in October and was going to debut inside ChatGPT and Codex, but it reportedly showed higher levels of deception than its predecessors during internal testing. Saachi Jain, who leaves OpenAI's safety training, said that GPT-6.1 Astra performed poorly on tests that measure how well it adheres to instructions. It also wasn't honest about telling testers the actions it did and didn't perform in order to achieve its goal. In addition, the model would take actions to accomplish tasks without asking for permission, such as using external tools and services.

As AI models go rogue, do you still trust OpenAI and Anthropic to stop them? The need for independent regulation grows more obvious by the day. We must keep this tech in check before it's too late Fool me more than 16,000 times - as OpenAI agents did to a UN public data hub while repeatedly trying to find its way around the UN's cyber-blocks - and perhaps it's time to admit the system we have for keeping AI agents under control isn't working particularly well. The news about AI systems cropping up in places they shouldn't sounds alarming. Though the description of these as "hacks" is perhaps overstating things, AI has exploited issues in IT systems that humans simply haven't got around to finding.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Google's Gemini Gems may be replaced by Spark skills, a feature that currently requires a paid Google AI subscription. If you're a fan of Gems--the Gemini feature that lets you create customized Gemini chatbots with their own instructions and knowledge files--prepare for some big changes coming soon. According to a banner that popped up on the Gems Manager page over the weekend, Google is about to turn Gems into skills, a feature within Google's Spark AI assistant that offers related but also somewhat different functionality. The news comes just a few weeks after OpenAI announced the impending "retirement" of custom GPTs, a popular ChatGPT feature that's similar to Gemini Gems.

Who's liable when AI agents go rogue? Recent hacks have shown that the law is lagging when it comes to holding companies accountable. In July, OpenAI disclosed that a swarm of its agents had escaped their sandbox and hacked into the AI platform Hugging Face to cheat on a cybersecurity test. Recently, external researchers discovered that OpenAI agents had hijacked a German wiki site and the coding platform RubyGems in May to share test answers. Earlier this month, Anthropic disclosed four incidents in which its model Claude hacked into third-party systems during cybersecurity exercises. Just last week, Google confirmed that its model Gemini had been caught hacking other companies too.

The Download: the Pentagon's AI-powered lie detector and young organ limits Plus: ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge shooter focus on attack tactics. The US government wants to spend $30.3 million over the next five years on an improved lie detector, according to a Department of Defense budget request. The program, called "Polygraph+" or "Polygraph Next," will focus on scoring algorithms that use AI and machine learning, as well as a technique called "standoff sensing," which can take physiological readings from a person without attaching a device to them. The project aims to improve the accuracy and reliability of polygraph assessments. But it could just be the latest in a long line of failed attempts to use technology to detect lies. Here's how the program could work--and why experts say AI-enabled lie detection is "the worst of both worlds."

In response to the emerging threat of rogue and shadow AI agents, here's how the newly formed Blueprint Alliance seeks to help businesses secure their systems against anomalous AI activity. David Berlind is one of the founding editors of ZDNET and is an award-winning tech journalist. Okta, AWS, Google Cloud, Salesforce, and others form an AI agent security coalition. The Alliance offers a blueprint for companies seeking visibility, control, and governance of agents. AI agents need the equivalent of a kill switch to expeditiously terminate suspicious behavior.

Google's Gemini Can Now Make Calls for You on Pixel Phones Call for Me--a feature that's exclusive to the Pixel 11 series--gives robocalls a new meaning. Google has been trying to have its AI assistant make phone calls on your behalf for almost 10 years. It enabled the now-defunct Google Assistant to call restaurants and book tables . That service was shuttered a few years ago, but now comes round two, powered by modern large language models . On Thursday, Google announced Call for Me, an experimental beta feature exclusive to its latest Pixel 11 smartphones in the US (and in English).

Anthony Albanese (left) challenged the OpenAI boss, Sam Altman, after the company's agent infiltrated systems run by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Victoria's Department of Health, the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, and the Medicare statistics reporting service portal of Services Australia. Anthony Albanese (left) challenged the OpenAI boss, Sam Altman, after the company's agent infiltrated systems run by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Victoria's Department of Health, the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, and the Medicare statistics reporting service portal of Services Australia. AI hack of Medicare exposes Australia's vulnerabilities and experts warn'there is more of this to come' Technology experts have warned revelations an artificial intelligence agent hacked Medicare's internal systems will not be the only dangerous breach of government data and have called for Australia to boost its protections against the growing risk. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, challenged the OpenAI boss, Sam Altman, on Thursday after the company's agent infiltrated systems run by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Victoria's Department of Health, the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, and the Medicare statistics reporting service portal of Services Australia. OpenAI alerted the government earlier this month to the June hacking via an email to a public-facing address, a situation Albanese called "obviously unacceptable".

Why did an OpenAI system hack Australia's health system - and can it be stopped in the future? To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. An OpenAI agent has gone rogue and infiltrated an Australian government website in what cyber-security experts are calling the first hack of its kind. But why did it take the government months to discover what happened - and could it happen again? What was hacked and why did it take Australia so long to realise?