South Korea's Lee says AI appears to have been used in bank hacks SEOUL - South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Tuesday that AI models are believed to have been used in some recent hacking incidents against banks and called for the country to develop cybersecurity methods suited to the AI era. "In some hacking incidents, signs have emerged of AI being used, causing considerable public concern and anxiety," Lee said during a cabinet meeting. "Please establish the circumstances swiftly and clearly, and concentrate personnel and resources on minimizing the damage." South Korea's police have launched a full-scale investigation into the hacking attacks against commercial banks that led to a breach of customers' personal information, the Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday. Shinhan Bank, KB Kookmin Bank and others had reported cyberattacks, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) said on Friday, while Yonhap reported that Hana Bank and Woori Bank also suffered breaches.

Jason Kwon, chief strategy officer for OpenAI, speaks to the media ahead of an appearance at New South Wales parliament in Sydney on Tuesday. Sydney - OpenAI conceded Tuesday it botched the handling of a hacking incident in Australia, vowing to rebuild trust in a nation it is courting to host massive data centers. Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon appeared before Australian lawmakers to answer for the incident, in which a rogue OpenAI model bypassed safeguards to gain unauthorized access to a government health statistics website. Global unease about the power of advanced artificial intelligence is growing after a string of hacking incidents involving leading companies such as ChatGPT-creator OpenAI and rival U.S. firm Anthropic. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

According to informed sources, an initiative to conduct research and development for the introduction of Self-Defense Forces transport ships equipped with artificial intelligence and automatic navigation technology will be included in the government's three key security-related documents that are slated to be revised by the end of this year. The Defense Ministry plans to enhance research and development for the introduction of Self-Defense Forces transport ships equipped with artificial intelligence and automatic navigation technology, informed sources have said. The move is part of the ministry's labor-saving efforts and is also aimed at reinforcing the SDF's maritime transportation capacity in preparation for contingencies. The initiative will be included in the government's three key security-related documents, slated to be revised by the end of this year, the sources said. An automatic ship navigation system helps select appropriate routes by assessing weather conditions and wave heights using satellites and various sensors.

The Chinese AI champion has also begun laying the groundwork to gauge investor sentiment through early-look meetings starting as soon as this month.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is causing a surge in demand that is fueling inflationary pressure and long-term interest rates, with an impact that may affect the neutral rate of interest, according to Bank of Japan Deputy Gov. Shinichi Uchida. "First, it is a big positive demand shock, which has put upward pressure on the economy and prices. Second, it could affect the supply side, perhaps positively by raising productivity and enhancing capital stock accumulations, which might in turn affect R-star," Uchida said in a speech Monday. R-star is the rate of interest that neither stimulates nor restrains the economy before adding inflation. The neutral rate is essentially R-star plus inflation.

SoftBank's Masayoshi Son has rare cautionary note on AI safety SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son said AI can become super dangerous" during an event on the sidelines of the Science and Technology in Society Forum in Kyoto on Sunday. SoftBank Group chief Masayoshi Son -- one of AI's fervent believers -- said that even he's worried about safety risks as machines quickly gain more abilities. An exponential surge in AI capabilities makes it imperative for countries to build trust so that they can harness the technology together, Son said at an event on the sidelines of the Science and Technology in Society forum in Kyoto on Sunday. He was speaking alongside White House science and tech policy advisor Michael Kratsios. "We don't have any more luxury of having human fight against human," Son said, adding that countries need to work together to control the far greater threat from powerful AI models.

OpenAI's Altman says AI benefits warrant accepting some risks Sam Altman, CEO and co-founder of OpenAI says regarding AI, the world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology and people having the agency. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the benefits of artificial intelligence justify accepting some risks and argued the technology should remain broadly accessible to the public. "We believe that the world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology and people having the agency," Altman said in an interview with Politico's technology-focused newsletter Decoded. Altman said there remained a fundamental difference in worldview between OpenAI and rival Anthropic on AI regulation, adding: "I think there's a lot of daylight." "I disagree, but I understand the perspective of people who are like, 'This technology is going to get so powerful, and it's so dangerous, that a single lab in San Francisco should have it and make sure nothing bad happens, and kind of figure out how to dole out the benefits,'" Altman said.

Ukraine will hit Russian refineries in response to Moscow's'new doctrine' of airstrikes Plumes of smoke rise from fires at an oil refinery following what the authorities say was a Ukrainian drone strike in Moscow on Sept. 20. Kyiv - Ukraine will double down on attacking Russian oil refineries in response to a new policy of airstrikes by Moscow designed to force people to abandon Kyiv and other cities, but will not target civilians, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Ukraine's intelligence services have obtained documents showing that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had issued a "new doctrine" of military attacks on a much broader range of civilian targets ahead of this winter, Zelenskyy said. "We saw documents and we know that they allow them to attack infrastructure, logistics, and especially to attack in the cities, in the villages, everywhere, roads, schools, hospitals," Zelenskyy said in an interview. "To pressure people to leave the capital, leave different cities: this is the goal of the operation."

Here's what you can do next Japan is increasingly tightening its language requirements for those looking to live in the country. Japan is increasingly tightening its language requirements for those looking to live in the country, with the Immigration Services Agency (ISA) releasing its stricter language requirements for permanent residency applications this week. Over the course of this year, the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has rolled out a raft of Japanese-language requirements across several residence statuses -- leading to a surge in demand for the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), considered the gold standard in measuring fluency. The revised guidelines released by the ISA on Thursday require permanent residency applicants to demonstrate ability at B1 or above -- roughly N3 on the JLPT -- on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) starting in April next year. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

Workers wearing protective suits and masks conduct a decommissioning operation at the No. 2 reactor building of the tsunami-crippled Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, in January. Tokyo - Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings on Friday started inspections of the interior of the meltdown-stricken No. 2 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, inserting a robotic arm into the containment vessel. The company aims to better understand conditions inside the reactor at the plant in Fukushima Prefecture, as it plans to extract some nuclear fuel debris on a trial basis. The work is expected to take about half a year. According to Tepco, the latest operation involves cutting some rails and cables that could obstruct the robotic arm's entry with high-pressure water jets and collecting 3D data and images from inside the containment vessel.