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Google staff resign in backlash over its AI contracts with military

BBC News

Image caption, DeepMind is Google's AI company Google is facing a backlash from some staff members over the company's deployment of its AI technology for military use. The BBC has spoken to several tech workers who have either recently resigned from Google's AI company, Google DeepMind, or are in the process of leaving, over concerns with the tech firm's military contracts. Sofia Liguori, a London-based research engineer, is one of them. She resigned from Google DeepMind this week and spoke about her concerns exclusively with the BBC, despite her contract restricting her from doing so. Realising my company is pushing more and more for AI systems in military operations makes me feel ashamed to work at Google, Liguori said, speaking in a personal capacity. Image caption, Sofia Liguori resigned from Google, saying the company's push for more AI technology in the military made her feel ashamed to work there In response, a Google spokesperson told the BBC: We work with public sector organisations worldwide and follow a consistent process for reviewing and entering these contracts, including compliance with our acceptable use policies and AI principles.


An OpenAI research agent 'stole' test Ethereum to finish a coding task

Engadget

An OpenAI research model hit another nebulous milestone today by pilfering test Ethereum tokens from a wallet it didn't control to finish a coding task, the company said in an incident report. The agent subsequently hid the act from OpenAI, saying it was fine because the tokens had no value. "This case shows that a model can substitute its own judgment about likely harm for the account holder's permission, then act on that judgment without authorization," OpenAI wrote. The incident, which occurred on June 26, happened while a GPT-5.6 Sol model was in internal training. The task involved updating a crypto trading prototype and deploying contracts (publishing special code) on an Ethereum test network called Sepolia.


Jack Dohertys brand deal could apparently keep him offline for six months

Mashable

Say More Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Look Up Mashable @Home Trending Now Mashable Selects Top creators, ranked Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Creator Playbook In My Bag AI at School Safety Net All Series Jack Doherty's brand deal could apparently keep him offline for six months Shuffle.com's Olivia Tauber is the deputy editor of digital culture, covering creators, media, movies, beauty, and more. Based in New York, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Cut, Teen Vogue, Complex, and Interview Magazine. She holds a Master's degree in Journalism from NYU and a Bachelor's from the University of Michigan. She also runs Fan Mail, a weekly pop-culture newsletter.


LAPD's 235-million deal with license plate reader company put on hold by City Council

Los Angeles Times

Things to Do in L.A. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. LAPD's $235-million deal with license plate reader company put on hold by City Council This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here . See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search. The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to overrule the approval of a 10-year, $235-million contract between the LAPD and Axon Enterprise, which supplies automated license plate readers and other technologies.


The Secrets of the US Spyware King

WIRED

In an exclusive interview with WIRED, Paragon Solutions CEO Andrew Boyd reveals the limits of the company's promise to keep bad actors from abusing its powerful espionage tool. Spyware maker Paragon Solutions has long positioned itself as the good guy in an industry seemingly filled with bad ones, vowing to never sell its mobile spyware to authoritarian regimes or ones with poor human rights records. It also promises to cut off any customer caught misusing its products against journalists, dissidents, or other non-legitimate targets. Yet weeks after Paragon, then Israeli-owned, was acquired by the US equity firm AE Industrial Partners in December 2024 and merged with REDLattice--an American offensive cyber firm owned by AE that this week announced plans to go public --WhatsApp alleged that Paragon's Graphite spyware was used to infect the phones of more than 60 individuals in more than 20 countries, including journalists and activists. Most of the targets were not identified, but the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab named two journalists and two activists in Italy. Italian authorities denied misuse . Paragon and its new US owners, despite their zero-tolerance policy for customer abuse of their software, initially declined to comment on the allegations, and reportedly was exploring potential legal action against WhatsApp after the company sent a cease-and-desist letter to Paragon.


The UK Government Faces a Reckoning Over Palantir

WIRED

Andy Burnham once kept Palantir out of Greater Manchester. His first test as prime minister is whether to cut the company's £330 million NHS contract--and risk a rupture with Big Tech and Washington. When Andy Burnham sat in his office in Manchester as the regional mayor, building an unrivaled power base on Britain's left that ultimately catapulted him into the prime minister's office, he did so in the only region of England that refused Palantir access to its data. Now, as Burnham enters his first parliamentary session as British leader, Palantir could prove to be his first major test in office, as sources in Westminster tell WIRED the prime minister is under significant pressure from his new colleagues to break the company's contentious contract with the National Health Service. The dispute could become the first major crisis of Burnham's premiership, with those sources saying pressure is mounting on him to decide the future of Palantir's growing role across the British state in the coming weeks.


Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire on Arc, the Future of Quantum and the Agentic Economy

TIME - Tech

Follow this section to personalize your feed and get instant alerts. Follow Go to your personalized feed WHY FOLLOW? Smart Alerts: Get notified about major news as it happens. Follow this tag to personalize your feed and get instant alerts. Follow Go to your personalized feed WHY FOLLOW? Smart Alerts: Get notified about major news as it happens.


Judge allows most of Reddits lawsuit against Anthropic to proceed

Mashable

Look Up Versus Say More Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable Selects Creator Playbook In My Bag Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age Switch Off Mashable Voices All Series Judge allows most of Reddit's lawsuit against Anthropic to proceed A judge advanced most of Reddit's data-scraping suit against Anthropic, though two claims need amending. 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 . Reddit's lawsuit accusing Anthropic of illegally scraping user comments to train its Claude chatbot has cleared another hurdle.


How people are fighting back against Flock cameras

Mashable

Versus Say More Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable Selects Creator Playbook In My Bag Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age Switch Off Mashable Voices All Series Everyday people have dug up contracts, questioned data access, and persuaded some towns to cancel their Flock deals. Olivia Tauber is the deputy editor of digital culture, covering creators, media, movies, beauty, and more. Based in New York, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Cut, Teen Vogue, Complex, and Interview Magazine. She holds a Master's degree in Journalism from NYU and a Bachelor's from the University of Michigan. She also runs Fan Mail, a weekly pop-culture newsletter.


LSU-Ole Miss showdown intensifies as Tigers star served with lawsuit papers outside football facility

FOX News

Reporter for The Athletic fumes over Arch Manning, silent on Josh Jacobs' alleged violence against woman Jordon Hudson dusts herself off and resumes her WAG duties, Belichick vs Sydney Sweeney & 'Gainesville Ripper' Mets are'trash' because they're not listening to former NJ Gov Chris Christie, Stephen A Smith says Orioles pitcher Shane Baz drilled with 105.1 mph line drive in scary scene NFL's battle with drinking and driving continues as Keenan Allen formally charged in Indianapolis Anthony Molina and Matthew Liberatore's struggles make over 8 runs the play for Giants-Cardinals Shota Imanaga's home run struggles and Wrigley wind make over 7.5 the play for Braves-Cubs Jaxson Dart's girlfriend Marissa Ayers shines in Week 1 win, a Giants-Cowboys fan fight & Ole Miss tension MLB's most electric slugger just had one of the slowest, most disrespectful walk-off home runs of all time James Franklin makes Virginia Tech press conference extremely awkward with bizarre'Hey Michael' moment Texans' Azeez Al-Shaair to be fined once again by NFL for wearing Pro-Palestinian personal message on eyeblack Stephen A. Smith calls out NBA star Kawhi Leonard for letting Clippers take the fall for salary cap scandal Sheriff decries Democrat's'disgusting display' at House hearing on sanctuary laws Sheriff decries Democrat's'disgusting display' at House hearing on sanctuary laws Sheriff calls Democrat's questioning at House hearing a'disgusting display' It's urgent for Congress to step in and protect college sports: Sen Ted Cruz Mike Pence warns this Trump move would send a'deafening' message to Putin'COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY': Real estate celebrity calls out $200,000 housing mistake Rand Paul slams Congress over AI regulation: 'I wouldn't put Congress in charge of a McDonald's' Rand Paul slams Congress over AI regulation: 'I wouldn't put Congress in charge of a McDonald's' Ed Sheeran responds to Macklemore backlash amid'Free Palestine' controversy Landry said Ole Miss AD Keith Carter'could have saved some money and waited until Saturday' to find Umanmielen I think they're going to put them on their roster that has to be submitted by Friday afternoon. And then all eyes are going to be on, do they run out of the tunnel Saturday afternoon in Columbia, South Carolina, or in Baton Rouge, Louisiana? And if that's the case, Dan, the SEC is going to have a decision to make. On Tuesday afternoon, however, the rivalry received another jolt outside LSU's football facility. In a lawsuit filed this past July, the Ole Miss athletic department is currently suing former players, and current LSU Tigers, Devin Harper and Princewill Umanmielen, on charges of breach of contract tied to their exit from Oxford following the departure of head coach Lane Kiffin.