We’re running out of reasons to ignore AI safety
We’re running out of reasons to ignore AI safety

Earlier this month, OpenAI gave several of its AI models a task: complete a test designed to measure their cybersecurity capabilities. It put the systems in a sandboxed environment without an internet connection and set them off to work. What happened next is almost laughably silly – but also, as Adam Gleave, cofounder and CEO […]

Xbox outage shouldn’t have affected games on disc, Microsoft confirms
Xbox outage shouldn’t have affected games on disc, Microsoft confirms

After the recent Xbox outage even blocked people from playing offline disc-based console games, Microsoft is trying to soothe concerns that you don’t truly own anything under Xbox’s license system. In a statement to The Verge, Xbox technology chief Scott Van Vliet says that while physical game discs are subject to licensing inspections, that shouldn’t […]

The US is banning foreign robots
The US is banning foreign robots

The US government is targeting China with a new import ban on “advanced robotic devices” and power inverters made in foreign countries, as reported earlier by Reuters. In an announcement on Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission says the ban will include “mobile” robots, such as humanoid and quadruped models – but it is not limited […]

Ariana Grande is suing the hackers who’ve been leaking her songs and videos for years
Ariana Grande is suing the hackers who’ve been leaking her songs and videos for years

Ariana Grande filed a lawsuit on Monday in the Los Angeles County Superior Court against the currently unidentified hackers who allegedly stole and leaked private content. It aims to “uncover the identities of these currently unknown and unscrupulous individuals,” referred to as “John Doe 1 and John Does 2 through 100.” The lawsuit also says […]

eBay’s bizarre cyberstalking saga ends with a $56 million settlement
eBay’s bizarre cyberstalking saga ends with a $56 million settlement

eBay and three former executives will pay $55.7 million as part of a settlement with a Massachusetts couple targeted with a bizarre harassment and cyberstalking campaign in 2019, as reported earlier by CNBC. The settlement will resolve a lengthy legal saga that revealed how eBay’s former executives sent live insects, a bloody pig mask, a […]

The union drive at the Wikimedia Foundation is expanding
The union drive at the Wikimedia Foundation is expanding

In June, UK staff at the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia became the first to announce their intention to form a union. Now, US-based employees at the Wikimedia Foundation are joining the union drive, but management at the nonprofit has declined to voluntarily recognize their union. “While the Wikimedia Foundation touts to the public that they […]

AI leaders sign a statement asking the government to do something about automated AI
AI leaders sign a statement asking the government to do something about automated AI

Employees of OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as Google, Meta, Thinking Machines, Microsoft, Mistral, and other leading AI labs, have written a statement to the US government supporting a potential slowdown of sorts for frontier AI development – or at least a speed-up of global coordinated governance efforts. “Al could help create a dramatically better […]

Is it illegal to trick the US government into wiping your phone during a questionably legal search?
Is it illegal to trick the US government into wiping your phone during a questionably legal search?

A Georgia man was charged with a felony for allegedly wiping his phone while being questioned by Customs and Border Protection. Samuel Tunick had something in common with others who have had their devices searched at airports: He was an activist. Unlike others who have had their phones seized with no explanation, Tunick was told […]

AI’s finally expensive enough to make Wall Street nervous
AI’s finally expensive enough to make Wall Street nervous

It’s earnings season, and investors got an unpleasant surprise from Google: an increase on its spending estimate, to as much as $205 billion – from the last quarter’s projection of up to $190 billion. Even the lower end of Google’s new projected range – $195 billion – is much more than the company had previously […]

Logitech will pull a Nintendo — only European mice will come with replaceable batteries
Logitech will pull a Nintendo — only European mice will come with replaceable batteries

In June, Nintendo announced a new version of the Switch 2 that should let you easily replace its battery pack – but only for Europe. Logitech will do much the same. User-replaceable batteries will be the law in Europe in February 2027, but instead of bringing them to the rest of the world, Logitech plans […]