Anthropic doesn't want its AI used in autonomous weapons or government surveillance. Those carve-outs could cost it a major military contract. When Anthropic last year became the first major AI company cleared by the US government for classified use--including military applications--the news didn't make a major splash. But this week a second development hit like a cannonball: The Pentagon is reconsidering its relationship with the company, including a $200 million contract, ostensibly because the safety-conscious AI firm objects to participating in certain deadly operations. The so-called Department of War might even designate Anthropic as a "supply chain risk," a scarlet letter usually reserved for companies that do business with countries scrutinized by federal agencies, like China, which means the Pentagon would not do business with firms using Anthropic's AI in their defense work.

In perhaps the most adorable hacker story of the year, a trio of technologists in India found an innovative way to circumvent Apple's location restrictions on AirPod Pro 2s so they could enable the earbuds' hearing aid feature for their grandmas. The hack involved a homemade Faraday cage, a microwave, and a lot of trial and error. On the other end of the tech-advancements spectrum, the US military is currently testing an AI-enabled machine gun that is capable of auto-targeting swarms of drones. The Bullfrog, built by Allen Control Systems, is one of several advanced weapons technologies in the works to combat the growing threat of cheap, small drones on the battlefield. The US Department of Justice announced this week that an 18-year-old from California has admitted to making or orchestrating more than 375 swatting attacks across the United States.

Data and tech expects share their takes on the current A.I. revolution A push for a global agreement on autonomous weapons is stalled, much to the chagrin of advocates who believe a treaty is urgently needed. Fully autonomous cars are years away, but it's the automobile where artificial intelligence could have a critical role for the greatest number of people. Artificial intelligence has its own insider jargon. Here are some crucial concepts and terms, defined and digested for the rest of us. From Singapore to Israel, countries besides the United States and China are striving to play a role in the field of artificial intelligence.

Flocks of robotic birds are taking to the skies of China equipped with high-tech surveillance technology, according to a report. The so-called "spy bird" programme, first reported by the South China Morning Post, is already in operation in at least five provinces and provides another tendril in the country's already advanced surveillance network. The dove-like drones are being developed by researchers at Northwestern Polytechnical University in the Shaanxi province, who have previously worked on stealth fighter jets used by China's airforce. One of the researchers involved said the roll out of the technology was still in its early stages. "The scale is still small," said Yang Wenqing, an associate professor at the university's School of Aeronautics who worked on the programme.

Instead of merely selling copies of 1984, Amazon appears determined to help bring the dystopian classic's vision of widespread government surveillance to life. And Amazon employees are really not happy about it. In 2016, Amazon unveiled Rekognition, an AI-powered facial recognition software that scans videos or photos to detect people or objects. It can analyze a person's face to determine their emotions, identify 100 faces in a single photo, and track a person throughout a video even if they leave and reenter the field of view. In other words, it's a powerful surveillance tool, and government agencies and law enforcement are apparently two of Amazon's target customers.

Inside an abandoned warehouse on the San Francisco docks, as the damp air floods through the holes in its rusted tin roof, Sunny Tang is playing her cello while recovering from the flu. She is 45 percent sad and 0.01 percent disgusted. That, at least, is the read from the AI that's tracking her expressions, gestures, and body language from the other side of the warehouse, flashing these stats on the movie screen behind her. The audience--several hundred people huddled between her and the AI, dressed in scarfs, hats, and overcoats--lets out a collective laugh. Tang is playing alongside the rest of the Kronos Quartet, the iconic San Francisco string ensemble known for its unorthodox experimentation, and the AI is obeying orders from Trevor Paglen, the American artist who poses big questions about technology and surveillance through nearly any medium he can get his hands on. It's all part of Sight Machine, a Paglen-orchestrated performance that explores the rise of computer vision.