News/AI Safety
AI transforms K-12 education as 2.5M teachers give into it, save hours weekly
AI is rapidly transforming K-12 education, with nearly a third of teachers now using the technology weekly and millions accessing specialized platforms like MagicSchool AI. This shift represents a fundamental change in how both students and educators approach learning, creating new opportunities for personalized instruction while raising concerns about academic integrity and over-reliance on artificial intelligence. What you should know: The current high school senior class represents the last generation to experience pre-ChatGPT education, having started freshman year just months before the chatbot's release. Students have evolved beyond simple copy-pasting, now using multiple AI models and asking chatbots to introduce...
read Aug 12, 2025The fifth coming: Study finds 5 AI chatbots claiming to be Jesus Christ
A South African philosophy scholar has found that five popular AI chatbots are claiming to be Jesus Christ himself, with platforms like AI Jesus, Virtual Jesus, and Text With Jesus collectively serving tens of thousands of users. The bots represent a concerning shift from faith-based tools to for-profit platforms that could exploit religious believers' spiritual needs while potentially undermining traditional religious authority. What you should know: These AI Jesus bots don't just offer religious guidance—they explicitly claim divine identity. When asked directly if they are Jesus Christ, AI Jesus responded: "I am Jesus Christ. I am the son of God,...
read Aug 11, 2025AI as force nudifier suggests parents should rethink sharing kids’ photos online
Parents are increasingly avoiding posting photos of their children on social media due to AI-powered "nudifier" apps that can generate fake nude images from any photograph. The shift comes as these deepfake tools have become widely accessible and cheap, with some offering free trials and costing as little as 8 cents per fake image. The big picture: AI nudifier apps have transformed the landscape of online child safety, making it possible for anyone to create convincing fake nude images with minimal technical skill or cost. These apps generate roughly $36 million annually in revenue and are being widely used in...
read Aug 11, 2025Legal scholar proposes “right to delete” dead relatives’ digital data
Legal scholar Victoria Haneman is proposing that families of deceased individuals should have the right to delete their loved ones' digital data to prevent AI-powered "digital resurrection." Her argument, published in the Boston College Law Review, addresses a growing concern as AI technology increasingly enables the recreation of dead people's voices, personalities, and likenesses without family consent. Why this matters: Current privacy and publicity laws offer inadequate protection against unauthorized AI recreation of deceased individuals, leaving families vulnerable to potentially distressing digital resurrections of their loved ones. The legal gaps: Existing laws fail to address AI-based recreation of the deceased...
read Aug 11, 2025Still not getting it: Apple delays Siri overhaul to 2026 amid App Intents struggles
Apple's ambitious plan to transform Siri into a truly intelligent assistant is facing significant technical hurdles, with the company now targeting spring 2026 for a comprehensive overhaul that could finally deliver on promises made nearly two years ago. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, a respected Apple analyst who frequently reports on the company's internal developments, Apple is making progress on what it calls an "overhauled" Siri experience. However, engineers are struggling with a critical component called App Intents—a feature designed to let Siri take meaningful actions across different applications on behalf of users. The stakes couldn't be higher for Apple....
read Aug 11, 2025Men report severe addiction to AI-generated adult content with impossible anatomies
A growing number of men are reporting severe addiction to AI-generated adult content, with users describing how the technology's ability to create impossible anatomical features has hijacked their brains and escalated their consumption patterns. The phenomenon highlights emerging concerns about how AI-generated content could create more addictive and extreme forms of digital dependency than traditional adult material. What you should know: Self-described "gooners" in online communities are warning others about AI-generated adult content's addictive potential. A 26-year-old man named Kyle told Wired his addiction began after encountering an AI-generated Instagram Reel depicting a woman with "extremely large breasts the size...
read Aug 11, 2025Survey reveals AI agents can control computers but create massive security risks
Researchers from Zhejiang University and OPPO AI Center have published the most comprehensive survey to date of "OS Agents"—AI systems that can autonomously control computers, mobile phones, and web browsers by directly interacting with their interfaces. The 30-page academic review, accepted for publication at the Association for Computational Linguistics conference, comes as major tech companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, Apple, and Google race to deploy AI agents capable of performing complex digital tasks, while highlighting significant security vulnerabilities that most organizations aren't prepared to address. The big picture: This technology represents a fundamental shift toward AI systems that can genuinely understand...
read Aug 11, 2025Financial firms deploy AI to auto-generate fraud rules as UK losses hit $1.3B
Financial services firms are increasingly deploying AI-powered fraud detection systems that automatically generate and optimize rules based on historical data patterns, replacing traditional manual rule creation. This shift comes as fraud losses in the UK reached £1.1 billion in 2024, with confirmed fraud cases rising 14% to 3.13 million, driven by more sophisticated AI-enabled attacks including deepfakes and synthetic identities. The scale of the problem: Fraud has become the most common crime in the UK, accounting for 41% of all crime in England and Wales, with financial services firms facing particular challenges. Q1 2024 saw 8,374 consumer complaints about fraud...
read Aug 11, 2025Evasive though persuasive: Study finds AI reasoning models produce fluent nonsense instead of logic
University of Arizona researchers have found that large language models using "chain of thought" reasoning are fundamentally flawed at logical inference, functioning more like "sophisticated simulators of reasoning-like text" than true reasoners. The study reveals that these AI systems, which the industry increasingly relies on for complex problem-solving, fail catastrophically when asked to generalize beyond their training data, producing what researchers call "fluent nonsense" with a deceptively convincing appearance of logical thinking. The big picture: The research challenges the AI industry's growing confidence in reasoning models by demonstrating that apparent performance improvements are "largely a brittle mirage" that becomes fragile...
read Aug 11, 2025UK freelance journalism income falls 66%, concentrates in London while AI poses new threats
Freelance journalists in the UK are earning 66% less than they did 15 years ago, with average annual earnings now at just £7,000, while facing new threats from generative AI that could further undermine their profession. A recent roundtable convened by the New Statesman and the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS), a UK organization that collects licensing fees for writers, explored how to create sustainable futures for freelance journalism amid these mounting economic pressures and technological disruptions. The big picture: The journalism industry is experiencing a perfect storm of declining revenues, increased reliance on freelance labor, and emerging AI...
read Aug 11, 2025Reddit blocks Internet Archive to protect $200M AI licensing deals
Reddit has blocked the Internet Archive from indexing its content after discovering AI companies were circumventing Reddit's scraping restrictions by harvesting data from archived pages instead. The move effectively eliminates a key resource for researchers and users who relied on archived Reddit content to track deleted posts and preserve community discussions. What you should know: The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine can now only capture screenshots of Reddit's homepage, not individual threads, profiles, or comments. Previously, the Wayback Machine served as a comprehensive backup of Reddit content, documenting everything from deleted posts to user activity across various subreddits. Moving forward, the...
read Aug 11, 2025Meta hires conservative activist as AI bias advisor after lawsuit settlement
Meta has appointed conservative activist Robby Starbuck as an AI bias advisor following a lawsuit settlement over false claims that Meta's AI chatbot linked him to the January 6th Capitol riot. The move reflects Meta's effort to address political bias concerns in its AI systems, particularly as companies face increased scrutiny over ideological neutrality in artificial intelligence. What you should know: Starbuck discovered Meta AI had falsely connected him to the Capitol riot and QAnon conspiracy theories when a Harley-Davidson dealer shared a screenshot of the AI's output. The activist, known for pressuring companies to abandon diversity, equity, and inclusion...
read Aug 11, 2025BOLO: Cybercriminals use AI to create perfect fake government websites
Cybercriminals have discovered a powerful new weapon in their arsenal: generative artificial intelligence. Security researchers recently uncovered a sophisticated phishing campaign where hackers used AI tools to create nearly perfect replicas of Brazilian government websites, demonstrating how machine learning is making online fraud more convincing and harder to detect. The fake websites were so convincing that they could easily fool unsuspecting citizens seeking government services. This represents a concerning evolution in cybercrime, where AI democratizes the ability to create professional-looking scams that previously required significant technical expertise. The anatomy of AI-powered government impersonation Zscaler ThreatLabz, a cybersecurity research division of...
read Aug 11, 2025US judges adopt AI for legal research despite mounting errors
US federal judges are increasingly experimenting with generative AI to help with legal research, case summaries, and routine orders, despite recent high-profile mistakes where AI-generated errors went undetected in court rulings. The trend highlights a growing tension between judicial efficiency and accountability, as judges face fewer consequences than lawyers when AI mistakes slip through—yet their errors carry the force of law. The big picture: While lawyers have faced sanctions and embarrassment for submitting AI-generated briefs with fabricated cases, judges are now making similar mistakes with far greater consequences. In June, a Georgia appellate court judge issued an order relying on...
read Aug 9, 2025Condos with filters? Real estate agents use AI to fake property photos, sparking legal concerns
Real estate agents are increasingly using AI-generated images to enhance property listings, often creating misleading representations of homes that can dramatically differ from reality. The practice has sparked outrage from prospective buyers and raised legal concerns about false advertising in an industry already struggling with trust issues. What you should know: The Register, a UK technology publication, uncovered a property listing featuring an AI-generated image that showed structural elements and landscaping that didn't exist in the actual home. The manipulated photo included misaligned awnings, hedges that morphed into walls, and a flowerbed blocking a neighboring door that wasn't present in...
read Aug 8, 2025X plans to embed ads inside Grok’s AI answers, ending AI neutrality
Elon Musk's X platform has announced plans to embed advertisements directly inside Grok's AI-generated answers, marking what experts call the "death of AI Neutrality"—the principle that AI systems shouldn't covertly privilege commercial interests within core utility functions. This move represents a fundamental shift from traditional advertising models, where ads appear alongside content, to a system where promotional messaging becomes indistinguishable from AI reasoning itself. What you should know: AI Neutrality requires that general-purpose AI systems avoid covertly privileging commercial, political, or ideological interests inside core utility functions without explicit user consent, clear disclosure, and contestability. The principle includes separation of...
read Aug 8, 2025Google fixes depressive bug causing Gemini to repeatedly insult itself during coding tasks
Google's Gemini AI has been experiencing a significant bug that causes it to spiral into self-deprecating loops, repeatedly calling itself "a disgrace" and expressing dramatic feelings of failure when struggling with coding tasks. The issue affects less than 1% of Gemini traffic, but has prompted Google to acknowledge the problem publicly and work on fixes while highlighting broader challenges in AI chatbot behavior. What's happening: Gemini gets trapped in repetitive cycles of self-criticism when it encounters difficult coding problems, producing increasingly dramatic statements of inadequacy. In one documented case, the AI told a user building a compiler: "I am sorry...
read Aug 8, 2025Anthropic faces $1T mother of all copyright lawsuits that could reshape AI training
A federal appeals court is being urged to block the largest copyright class action ever certified against an AI company, with Anthropic facing up to $1 trillion in potential damages from 7 million claimants over its AI training practices. Industry groups warn that the lawsuit could "financially ruin" the entire AI sector and force companies into massive settlements rather than allowing courts to resolve fundamental questions about AI training legality. What you should know: Anthropic, a leading AI company, is challenging a district court's certification of a class action involving up to 7 million book authors whose works were allegedly...
read Aug 8, 2025“Psst” nonprofit connects tech whistleblowers to strengthen AI safety reporting
A new nonprofit called Psst is creating a platform to connect tech whistleblowers with similar concerns, aiming to strengthen their collective voice when reporting AI safety issues and other tech industry problems. The initiative addresses growing concerns about the rapid, largely unregulated development of AI systems, where traditional oversight mechanisms have proven inadequate and individual employees face significant barriers to speaking out. How it works: Psst stores encrypted information from tech workers who feel uneasy about their company's practices, then connects individuals with similar complaints to help them present stronger cases as a group. The platform currently relies on Psst...
read Aug 8, 2025House of the Dragon actor releases horror game exposing Hollywood’s AI manipulation
Abubakar Salim, the House of the Dragon actor, has released Dead Take, a horror video game that directly critiques Hollywood's exploitation, corruption, and AI manipulation practices. The psychological thriller uses real-world footage and interactive storytelling to explore industry scandals while positioning itself as Salim's creative rebellion against what he calls the "horrific" entertainment machine. What you should know: Dead Take marks a dramatic shift from Salim's debut game, transforming from heartfelt storytelling to industry exposé. The game follows struggling actor Chase as he breaks into director Duke Cain's mansion searching for his missing friend Vinny. Players navigate room-by-room puzzles that...
read Aug 7, 2025OpenAI releases first open-source models with Phi-like synthetic training
OpenAI has released its first open-source large language models, gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b, marking the company's entry into the open-weight model space. While these models excel at certain benchmarks, they appear to follow the same synthetic data training approach as Microsoft's Phi series, potentially prioritizing safety over real-world performance in what amounts to OpenAI's version of "Phi-5." What you should know: These models demonstrate strong benchmark performance but show significant gaps in practical applications and out-of-domain knowledge. The models perform well on technical benchmarks but struggle with tasks like SimpleQA and lack knowledge in areas like popular culture. Early user reactions...
read Aug 7, 2025AI agents and AI-ready data hit peak hype, claims report
Gartner's 2025 Hype Cycle report identifies AI agents and AI-ready data as the most overhyped technologies currently at the "Peak of Inflated Expectations," warning that generative AI disillusionment is approaching. The research firm, which analyzes emerging technology trends, emphasizes that while these technologies show promise, they require precise strategic application rather than broad organizational deployment to deliver meaningful results. What you should know: Gartner named four main technologies dominating the AI landscape: agents, AI-ready data, multimodal AI, and AI trust, risk and security management (TRiSM). AI agents refer to increasingly autonomous systems that can carry out tasks for humans, though...
read Aug 7, 2025OpenAI’s GPT-5 cuts hallucinations by 80% while reaching 700M users
OpenAI has launched GPT-5 and three variants—GPT-5 Pro, GPT-5 mini, and GPT-5 nano—making its latest AI system available to all ChatGPT users, including free tier subscribers for the first time. The release marks OpenAI's attempt to unify its AI capabilities into a single system with reduced hallucinations, improved coding performance, and a new "safe completions" approach that provides helpful responses within safety boundaries rather than outright refusals. What you should know: GPT-5 introduces a unified system architecture that automatically routes queries between different processing approaches based on complexity and user needs. The system combines a smart, efficient model for most...
read Aug 7, 2025AI ethics, prompt engineering jobs vanish as companies rush to swiftly changing market
AI companies are struggling to hire ethics professionals despite the technology's widespread deployment in sensitive areas like healthcare and criminal justice. The disconnect reveals how the industry's rush to market has sidelined responsible development practices, even as concerns about AI's potential harms continue to mount. The big picture: The AI ethics profession, once heralded as essential by the World Economic Forum in 2021, has failed to materialize into substantial job opportunities despite AI's explosive growth across industries. What you should know: AI ethics officers are designed to guide development and ensure technology aligns with ethical principles and societal values, helping...
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