News/AI Safety
Only 5% of AI researchers believe technology will cause extinction. (But what a 5%.)
AI safety researchers Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares have published a stark warning about artificial intelligence development in their new book If Anyone Builds it, Everyone Dies, arguing that current AI progress will inevitably lead to human extinction. Their central thesis is that major tech companies and AI startups are building systems they fundamentally don't understand, and continued development will eventually produce an AI powerful enough to escape human control and eliminate all organic life. The core argument: The authors contend that AI development resembles alchemy more than science, with companies unable to comprehend the mechanisms driving their large language...
read Sep 12, 2025Musk fires 9 senior xAI employees who managed hundreds amid Grok antisemitic scandals
Elon Musk appears to be conducting mass layoffs at xAI, with at least nine high-level employees from the data annotation team behind Grok being terminated over the weekend. The firings come amid ongoing controversies surrounding the AI chatbot, including incidents where Grok generated antisemitic content and racial slurs, raising questions about whether this represents accountability for the platform's failures or broader cost-cutting measures. What happened: Slack screenshots leaked to Business Insider reveal that accounts for multiple senior employees overseeing xAI's human data management were deactivated, affecting those who managed the company's 1,500-person "AI tutor" team responsible for training Grok. The...
read Sep 12, 2025Oakland music venue bans AI-generated flyers to support local artists
Thee Stork Club, an Oakland music venue, has banned AI-generated promotional flyers, requiring all concert artwork to be created by humans instead. The decision reflects growing resistance within the creative community against AI tools that venue owners say undercut local artists and contradict the DIY punk ethos. Why this matters: The ban highlights mounting tensions between AI advancement and artistic integrity, particularly in creative communities where human craftsmanship is deeply valued. The venue's Instagram announcement received nearly 8,000 likes, with "overwhelmingly positive" reactions from artists and music fans. Multiple commenters noted that AI-generated concert posters make them less likely to...
read Sep 12, 2025Canada education report addressing AI safety ironically includes 15+ fake AI citations
A major education reform report for Newfoundland and Labrador, a Canadian province, contains at least 15 fabricated citations that experts suspect were generated by artificial intelligence, despite the document explicitly calling for ethical AI use in schools. The irony is particularly striking given that the 418-page report, which took 18 months to complete and serves as a 10-year roadmap for modernizing the province's education system, includes recommendations for teaching students about AI ethics and responsible technology use. What you should know: The fake citations include references to non-existent sources that bear hallmarks of AI-generated content. One citation references a 2008...
read Sep 12, 2025AI police reports via bodycam save 20 minutes per case but raise courtroom concerns
The Winnebago County Sheriff's Office has completed a pilot program testing Axon's Draft One artificial intelligence technology, which creates initial police report drafts from body camera audio. The technology saves deputies an average of 20 minutes per report, freeing up hundreds of hours across the department for patrol duties and community engagement rather than paperwork. What you should know: Draft One uses AI to transcribe body camera audio into preliminary police reports, though multiple safeguards ensure human oversight remains central to the process. Deputies must modify at least 10% of the AI-generated draft before submission, and the software includes random...
read Sep 12, 2025Even dictionaries sue Perplexity AI over copyright infringement (but also false attributions)
Merriam-Webster and Encyclopedia Britannica have filed a federal lawsuit against Perplexity AI, alleging the company's "answer engine" unlawfully scrapes and copies their copyrighted content without permission or compensation. The lawsuit also claims Perplexity generates false AI hallucinations that are wrongly attributed to the dictionary and encyclopedia publishers, seeking unspecified monetary damages and an injunction to stop the alleged misuse. What you should know: This marks the latest in a growing series of copyright lawsuits targeting Perplexity's content practices across multiple industries. The complaint was filed in New York federal court and seeks both monetary damages and a court order blocking...
read Sep 12, 2025Anthropic moves on inner circle, doubles DC workforce as AI policy chief warns of massive change ahead
Anthropic is planning a major Washington D.C. expansion, doubling its employee count and opening an official office by 2026 to prepare lawmakers for AI's accelerating impact on American industries. The company's head of policy Jack Clark warns that current AI developments are "small potatoes compared to where it'll be in a year," positioning this as a critical moment for policymaker education ahead of the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential election. Why it matters: Anthropic believes AI is moving too fast for policymakers to keep up, with Clark describing the challenge of communicating exponential technological change as "almost without precedent." Clark...
read Sep 11, 2025AI upscaling tools create fake details in FBI Kirk shooting investigation photos
Internet users are using AI tools to upscale and "enhance" blurry FBI surveillance photos of a person of interest in the Charlie Kirk shooting, but these AI-generated images are creating fictional details rather than revealing hidden information. The practice demonstrates how AI upscaling tools can mislead criminal investigations by inferring nonexistent features from low-resolution images. Why this matters: AI upscaling has a documented history of creating false details, including past incidents where it transformed Obama into a white man and added nonexistent features to Trump's appearance, making these "enhanced" images potentially harmful to legitimate investigations. What happened: The FBI posted...
read Sep 11, 2025Claude AI now remembers conversations automatically for Team users
Anthropic has rolled out automatic memory capabilities for Claude AI, allowing the chatbot to remember details from previous conversations without prompting. The feature is currently available only to Team and Enterprise users, enabling Claude to automatically incorporate user preferences, project context, and priorities into its responses. What you should know: This upgrade builds on Anthropic's previous memory feature that required users to manually prompt Claude to remember past chats. Claude's memory now carries over to projects, a feature that lets Pro and Teams users generate diagrams, website designs, graphics, and more based on uploaded files. The system appears particularly focused...
read Sep 11, 2025FTC probes 6 tech giants over AI chatbot safety for children
The Federal Trade Commission has launched a broad inquiry into how six major technology companies monitor AI chatbots for potential harm to children. The investigation targets OpenAI, Google's parent Alphabet, Meta, Snap, xAI, and Character.AI, asking these companies to provide detailed information about their safety measures and how they restrict minors' access to potentially inappropriate AI-generated content. What you should know: The FTC is conducting a comprehensive study rather than a formal legal investigation, focusing on how companies handle children's interactions with AI chatbots. The agency specifically asked about the prevalence of "sexually themed" responses from chatbots and what safeguards...
read Sep 11, 2025Apple denies changing AI training rules after Trump election
Apple has strongly denied a Politico report claiming the company modified its AI training guidelines following Donald Trump's election, specifically around topics like diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), vaccines, and Trump-related content. The denial comes amid broader industry scrutiny over how tech companies handle politically sensitive topics in AI development. What Politico claimed: The publication reviewed internal documents showing Apple updated its AI training guidelines in March 2025, allegedly making significant changes to how its models handle sensitive political topics.• The report claimed sections on "intolerance" and "systemic racism" were removed from training materials.• Topics like DEI policies, Gaza, Crimea,...
read Sep 11, 2025FDA to review AI mental health chatbots over safety concerns, unpredictability
The Food and Drug Administration will convene an expert advisory committee on November 6 to address regulatory challenges for AI-powered mental health devices, as concerns mount over unpredictable chatbot outputs from large language models. The move signals the agency may soon implement stricter oversight of digital mental health tools that use generative artificial intelligence. Why this matters: The FDA's focus on AI mental health devices comes as more companies release chatbots powered by large language models, whose unpredictable responses could pose safety risks to vulnerable patients seeking mental health support. What you should know: The Digital Health Advisory Committee (DHAC)...
read Sep 10, 2025“It feels real, and that’s what will count”: Microsoft AI CEO warns against building conscious AI systems
Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman has publicly argued against designing AI systems that mimic consciousness, calling such approaches "dangerous and misguided." His position, outlined in a recent blog post and interview with WIRED, warns that creating AI with simulated emotions, desires, and self-awareness could lead people to advocate for AI rights and welfare, ultimately making these systems harder to control and less beneficial to humans. What you should know: Suleyman, who co-founded DeepMind before joining Microsoft as its first AI CEO in March 2024, distinguishes between AI that understands human emotions and AI that simulates its own consciousness.• He supports...
read Sep 10, 2025California and New York target frontier AI models with $1B damage thresholds
California and New York are poised to become the first states to enact comprehensive regulations targeting frontier AI models—the most advanced artificial intelligence systems capable of causing catastrophic harm. The legislation aims to prevent AI-related incidents that could result in 50 or more deaths or damages exceeding $1 billion, marking a significant shift toward state-level AI governance as federal oversight remains limited. What you should know: Both states are targeting "frontier AI models"—large-scale systems like OpenAI's GPT-5 and Google's Gemini Ultra that represent the cutting edge of AI innovation. California's bill passed the state Senate and requires developers to implement...
read Sep 10, 2025Pot calling kettle? Spotify upset by thousands of users selling streaming data to AI developers
Over 18,000 Spotify users have joined "Unwrapped," a collective that pools and sells their streaming data to AI developers, earning $55,000 from their first data sale in June. The initiative represents a growing movement where users seek to monetize their personal data while building AI tools that offer deeper music insights than Spotify's annual Wrapped feature provides. The big picture: Users are no longer content waiting for Spotify to evolve its popular year-end recap feature, instead turning to AI-powered alternatives that can analyze their complete listening history for emotional patterns, mood tracking, and social comparisons with friends. What you should...
read Sep 10, 2025Could a new political party fill America’s dangerous AI safety gap?
The artificial intelligence industry is advancing at breakneck speed, with companies racing to develop increasingly powerful systems that could reshape society within the next decade. Yet despite widespread public concern about AI's potential risks—from mass unemployment to existential threats—the United States lacks a sustained political movement dedicated to ensuring these technologies develop safely. This gap represents both a critical vulnerability and a significant opportunity. While AI companies invest billions in capabilities research, government spending on AI safety remains minimal. Meanwhile, the competitive dynamics driving AI development create powerful incentives for companies to prioritize speed over caution, potentially leading to catastrophic...
read Sep 10, 2025AI Darwin Awards launch to honor 2025’s biggest deployment disasters
The technology industry has found a new way to recognize its most spectacular failures. The AI Darwin Awards, launching in 2025, will annually honor the most breathtaking displays of artificial intelligence deployment gone wrong. The concept draws inspiration from the infamous Darwin Awards, which since 1985 have chronicled people who died due to their own poor decision-making. This AI-focused version targets a different kind of extinction: the death of common sense in corporate technology adoption. Rather than celebrating human mortality, these awards highlight the corporate casualties that result when organizations rush to deploy AI systems without adequate planning, testing, or...
read Sep 9, 2025Reddit fixes AI bug that wrongly altered LGBT subreddit descriptions for weeks
Reddit has resolved a bug that incorrectly altered subreddit descriptions on its Android app, including changing a lesbian community's description to say it was for "straight" women. The issue, which persisted for weeks and sparked user concerns about unauthorized AI content modification, was caused by a malfunctioning translation service that mistakenly performed "English-to-English translations." What happened: Multiple subreddit descriptions were inaccurately changed when viewed through Reddit's Android app, with some alterations significantly misrepresenting community purposes. The r/actuallesbians subreddit's description was changed from "a place for cis and trans lesbians" to "a place for straight and transgender lesbians." The r/autisticparents community,...
read Sep 9, 2025EFF’s executive director steps down after 25 years of digital rights advocacy
Cindy Cohn announced Tuesday that she is stepping down as executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation after 25 years with the digital rights organization. The departure of Cohn, who has led EFF since 2015, marks the end of an era for one of the most influential voices in the fight for online privacy and digital freedoms during a critical period of tech expansion and government surveillance. What you should know: Cohn's tenure at EFF spans some of the most significant battles over digital rights in the internet age. She first gained prominence as lead counsel in Bernstein v. Department...
read Sep 9, 2025“Lord of the Rings” star Sean Astin leads SAG-AFTRA prez race as AI contract negotiations loom
Sean Astin is running for president of SAG-AFTRA against Chuck Slavin in an election that concludes September 12, positioning himself as the frontrunner to succeed Fran Drescher. The winner will lead the 160,000-member performers union through critical 2025 contract negotiations with major studios, facing mounting challenges from AI threats, runaway production, rising healthcare costs, and an industry still recovering from 2023's 118-day strike. What you should know: Astin brings Hollywood star power and extensive union experience, while Slavin represents a more aggressive negotiating approach as a rank-and-file candidate. Astin, known for roles in "The Lord of the Rings" and "Rudy,"...
read Sep 8, 2025Anthropic backs California’s first AI safety law requiring transparency
Anthropic has become the first major tech company to endorse California's S.B. 53, a bill that would establish the first broad legal requirements for AI companies in the United States. The legislation would mandate transparency measures and safety protocols for large AI developers, transforming voluntary industry commitments into legally binding requirements that could reshape how AI companies operate nationwide. What you should know: S.B. 53 would create mandatory transparency and safety requirements specifically targeting the most advanced AI companies. The bill applies only to companies building cutting-edge models requiring massive computing power, with the strictest requirements reserved for those with...
read Sep 8, 2025Is an assistant making you insecure? Study finds AI coding creates 10x more security vulnerabilities
Programmers using AI-powered coding assistants create 10 times more security vulnerabilities than developers who code without AI assistance, according to new research from Apiiro, a security firm. The findings reveal a critical trade-off: while AI helps developers produce code faster and with fewer syntax errors, it's simultaneously introducing far more dangerous security flaws that could expose systems to cyberattacks. What you should know: The research analyzed code from thousands of developers across tens of thousands of repositories, revealing that AI-assisted programmers produce three to four times more code overall. Syntax errors dropped 76% and logic bugs decreased 60% when developers...
read Sep 8, 2025k, I’m out: Study finds AI models bail on conversations when corrected or overwhelmed
Large language models have developed an unexpected behavioral quirk that could reshape how businesses deploy AI systems: when given the option to end conversations, these AI assistants sometimes choose to bail out in surprisingly human-like ways. Recent research from AI safety researchers reveals that modern AI models, when equipped with a simple "exit" mechanism, will terminate conversations for reasons ranging from emotional discomfort to self-doubt after being corrected. This behavior, dubbed "bailing," offers unprecedented insights into how AI systems process interactions and make decisions about continued engagement. The findings matter because they suggest AI models possess something resembling preferences about...
read Sep 8, 2025Survey: 62% of Americans want AI as creative tool, not replacement
A new survey reveals that most Americans want AI to serve as a creative tool rather than replace human artists entirely. The findings suggest people value the human experience in art and prefer AI systems that amplify artistic vision rather than generate content autonomously. What you should know: The survey of 150 U.S. residents found that 62% would like their favorite artwork less if they learned it was created by AI without human involvement. Only 13% considered people using AI to be artists, while 42% said "yes, but only if they are providing significant guidance to the AI; otherwise, no."...
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