AI News Today

<p>Liability lawsuits have held tobacco, oil and pharma companies to account in the past. AI investors won’t ignore this threat</p><p>The most basic function of government is to protect people from harm. Two growing phenomena – the climate crisis and AI – pose escalating risks of <em>extraordinary</em> harm.</p><p>The climate crisis is already causing floods, wildfires, drought and record heat. AI agents are already escaping super-secure environments to hack into systems they’re supposed to avoi

Apple’s Mac desktops have become some of the most sought-after computers this year, driven by surging interest in agentic AI. Here’s which model to buy depending on your use case.

In its 26th season premiere, the procedural legal drama paints a damning picture of power-mad AI CEOs.

OpenAI is standing firm on its decision to fire three safety researchers after an investigation found they committed "a significant breach of trust." In a post on X on Friday, the company said Jasmine Wang, Tomek Korbak and Mikita ⁠Balesni were dismissed for violating "clear policies on handling sensitive information." It insisted the decision was […]

Astrophysicist Brice Ménard of Johns Hopkins University used Anthropic's Claude Science to map the entire sky in ultraviolet light for the first time. AI agents downloaded data from multiple space missions, calibrated it, and filled in gaps using inpainting. Predictions averaged about ten percent deviation from actual measurements. Ménard sees the project as an example of research that simply wouldn't have gotten done without AI. The article Anthropic's Claude Science creates the first complete

OpenAI exposed a Russian and an Iranian influence operation and banned the accounts involved. The Russian "Dark Clark" campaign spread disinformation across Latin America and drew reactions from politicians, earning the first category 5 out of 6 rating in OpenAI's reporting history. The Iranian "Bogus Bylines" operation used seven fake journalists to place nearly 100 articles in online outlets worldwide. The article OpenAI uncovers Russian and Iranian influence ops that planted fake stories in r

<p>Questions raised over AI growth as ChatGPT maker forecasts this year’s revenue at $50bn, way below the $70bn signalled before</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2026/oct/09/oil-prices-crude-brent-trump-iran-us-war-midterm-elections-stocks-bonds-business-live">Business live – latest updates</a></p></li></ul><p>OpenAI has revealed that it is making about $20bn less in projected revenue than it had recently indicated to investors, raising questions about the break-n

<p>We have a deep reservoir of assets, but struggle to turn small companies into global success stories. Innovation needs to be at the heart of government policy</p><ul><li><p>Gordon Brown was UK prime minister from 2007 to 2010</p></li></ul><p>The coming 10 years are almost certain to be the decade that sees the greatest scientific breakthroughs in a century. The question is whether advances now under way in AI, quantum computing and biology can address cancer, find ways to treat or prevent dem

Brenden Cuni, an ICE supervisor, has been accused of excessive force and tackling a pregnant woman to the ground. Several of his arrests were later found to be unlawful in federal court.

<p>A spokesperson for the tech company did not specify what kind of behavior would be considered abusive</p><p>Anthropic has <a href="https://www.anthropic.com/news/2026-usage-policy-update">barred users</a> from exhibiting “sustained and needless abusive or cruel behavior” toward its models, as the company’s leaders continue to ponder machine consciousness.</p><p>The Verge <a href="https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1008100/anthropic-new-usage-policy-abuse-claude">first</a> rep

Three fired OpenAI safety researchers dispute allegations of mishandling sensitive information, warning in an open letter that their dismissals are creating a chilling effect on the company’s AI safety culture.

<p>The incident is the latest to raise questions about the growing reliance on digital maps for wilderness navigation</p><p>The route up the Widowmaker Arete, a 1,700ft wall in British Columbia, is deceptively described as “mostly easy slab climbing”, interspersed with “short steep sections that can include finger cracks” and “blocky face climbing”. It requires careful planning, and the right equipment.</p><p>When 16-year-old Bryce Vincent Gowryluk found himself facing its sheer headwall last we

Jessica Hische knew working for Meta might upset some people. But she didn’t anticipate just how angry they would get.

Anthropic launched two new beta features for Claude. Dashboards turns data sources like BigQuery and Snowflake into live dashboards from text prompts. Motion generates animated explainer videos from text and images. Docs, Slides, and Design now work across all plans, including free accounts. The article Claude can now generate animated explainer videos and live data dashboards from text prompts appeared first on The Decoder .

Anthropic's updated usage policy bans sustained abuse of Claude and tightens restrictions on propaganda, drone weaponization, and surveillance. The abuse rule builds on an approach that already lets models end some conversations and treats Claude as an entity that may deserve protection. The article Being mean to Claude can now get your account suspended under Anthropic's new TOS appeared first on The Decoder .

Ben Affleck is going viral for his deep knowledge of AI, from neural networks and transformers to open weights. The actor, who sold his AI filmmaking startup to Netflix earlier this year, is proving he's more than just a Hollywood star.

The company behind the popular LMArena leaderboard has raised $200 million led by Lightspeed and Khosla, and is now measuring AI models on alignment issues such as lying.

It had previously been reported that the AI lab's annualized revenue was some $70 billion, but a new report claims it's a whole lot less than that.

Google is turning Gemini into an AI agent that can plan, execute tasks, and work across business apps and systems. The agent can delegate work to subagents, use multiple AI models, and even gets its own workplace identity, complete with an email address.

The Association for Human Mathematics is calling for an OpenAI boycott after the company released more than 700 AI-generated math manuscripts at once. OpenAI had to retract three papers the next day over a sign error. Fields Medalist Terence Tao warns that AI's mass "harvesting" of open problems leaves entire branches of mathematics less fertile. The article Some mathematicians call for OpenAI boycott after AI-generated proofs flood their field appeared first on The Decoder .

Anthropic's updated usage policy explicitly prohibits users from repeatedly abusing Claude in extreme cases, though ordinary frustration and criticism are still allowed. The new rules also address election interference, deceptive campaigns, weapons software, and surveillance.

OpenAI's flood of proofs deviated from the guidelines set by a group of mathematical researchers consulted by the frontier lab.

USA Today Co., along with the several local newspapers it owns, is suing OpenAI over claims that the company copied "hundreds of thousands" of articles to train its AI models, as reported earlier by Reuters. In a filing on Thursday, the publisher asks for damages of more than $250 million, alleging OpenAI's unauthorized use of […]

<p>According to city’s rent board, eviction notices are up 44% and tenants are on edge over landlords swooping in over their homes</p><p>To say that Maria Zamudio and her team have been busy lately would be a gross understatement.</p><p>Every Monday at 9am, the phone lines at the downtown clinic of San Francisco’s Housing Rights Committee start ringing, and they keep ringing until closing at 5pm. In-person counseling appointments for renters facing eviction or landlord misconduct fill days in ad

Anthropic is making changes to its usage policy for the first time in over a year to reflect new and high-risk cases of misuse - including election interference, weapons development, surveillance, and health and financial uses. But one of the most significant changes prohibits "sustained and needless abusive or cruel behavior" toward Claude. Last August, […]

Natura’s $99 Interface smart ring lets you summon AI agents with the press of a finger to complete tasks, capture thoughts, and control devices — while doubling as a health tracker.

Goodfire just launched what it says is a cheaper way to keep AI agents in check: Instead of paying a second AI to read everything an agent does, its monitors peek inside the model while it works and only call in backup when something looks fishy.

Google has released an experimental note-taking app that can transcribe meetings and audio files entirely offline, as reported earlier by TechCrunch. The app, called Google AI Edge Foresight, is free to use and runs on macOS using the company's on-device EmbeddingGemma 2 model. Similar to AI note-taking apps like Granola and Wispr Flow, Foresight summarizes […]

Ambrosia Energy CEO Ben Longmier and Bloom Energy SVP Bill Thayer join the Smart Systems Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt. Register now to save up to $100. Grab a second of the same pass to save 50%.

Google is launching a "universal" Gemini AI agent that can work across apps and devices in the background. The tool, announced as part of the Gemini at Work event on Thursday, will be available within the Gemini Enterprise app, allowing users to chat with the Gemini agent and assign it tasks from a single interface. […]

<p>The inflammatory clip shows the wild west of online politicking created by unrestricted access to AI – and why watchdogs need more powers to do something about it</p><ul><li><p>Get our <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/email-newsletters?CMP=cvau_sfl">new political email</a>, <a href="https://app.adjust.com/w4u7jx3">free app</a> or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/series/full-story?CMP=cvau_sfl">daily news podcast</a></p></li></ul><p>One Nation’s new AI-generated campaign

My Decoder guest today is Hayden Field, The Verge’s senior AI reporter, and we’re discussing the new wave of consumer-friendly AI agents. If you’ve been paying attention to this space, you know AI enthusiasts have been using agents for a minute now — homebrew OpenClaw setups led to a surge in Mac Mini sales earlier […]

Zach Yadegari, the teen co-founder of popular Cal AI calorie tracking app, has launched a new personal AI agent startup that competes with Instinct, Muse, and Bee.

Ethereum researcher Justin Drake is urging the crypto industry to prepare a "bunker mode" for a scenario where AI-powered math could break wallet signature schemes within months. Vitalik Buterin broadly agrees but warns against rushed migrations, saying he's personally lost more money to botched transitions than to hacks. So far, no one has actually broken ECDSA in practice. The article AI math breakthroughs have Ethereum researchers debating how fast wallet security could collapse appeared firs

Google’s new AI Edge Foresight app takes on Granola with an offline meeting note-taker that can transcribe conversations, generate notes, and answer questions using on-device AI.

Zenity Labs researchers say a single publicly accessible AI agent on Amazon's Bedrock AgentCore was enough to take over every AgentCore agent in the same AWS account and region. The attack exploited an internal AWS interface for temporary cloud credentials that agents could reach without restriction. AWS has since patched the issue and significantly tightened the agents' default permissions. The article One public-facing AI agent on AWS could read, rewrite, and delete every other agent in the re

<p>We’d like to hear from people who have been monitored or assessed by AI at work and what they thought about the experience</p><p>Firms are increasingly using AI to monitor or assess their employees, leading to concerns about workplace surveillance.</p><p>Instructors at tech training company Multiverse recently blew the whistle at their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/28/teachers-euan-blair-firm-report-horrendous-stress-ai-used-to-rate-their-work">“remorseless” and “un

<p>AI is already implicated in violent deaths and nearly started world war three. Those bad things? They only happen to other people</p><p>Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, has some words for you about his company and the future of artificial intelligence.</p><p>“One of the differences between us and some of the stricter AI safety people is that we believe that the world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology and people having the agency [to use it],

From data centers to Elon Musk funding to the AI lobby, the 2026 midterms are the most WIRED elections yet. These are the candidates we're following closely.

<p>Whistleblower says recording and analysis of all probate calls in Co-op Legal Services is oppressive</p><p>The Co-op has become the latest employer to place workers under AI surveillance with an automated listening technology that rates every phone call some of them make to customers.</p><p>In a system described as “oppressive and dystopian” by a whistleblower, Co-op Legal Services is using AI models to record, analyse and award a percentage score for interactions between agents and customers