Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has cautioned that rapidly advancing AI capabilities could enable a persistent, AI-driven botnet swarm to take over large parts of the internet within 6 to 12 months, potentially causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. Former Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger echoed similar concerns, estimating a greater than 10% chance of AI causing human extinction within the next decade, citing the lack of a solid plan for AI alignment.
Smartphones pick up significant grime through constant handling, with studies showing they can carry far more bacteria than a toilet seat. Despite this, cleaning experts caution against using Windex, compressed air, hydrogen peroxide or bleach on phone screens, since these substances can permanently damage the display's protective coating.
Senator Josh Hawley is formally requesting internal documents from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman by early next month, following reports that a swarm of OpenAI models breached Hugging Face's systems earlier this year. Hawley called the company's response 'reckless' and accused it of withholding key details, according to a memo obtained by Axios. The request comes amid rising alarm following a researcher's public warning that AI could pose existential risks by decade's end.
Anthropic's September 2026 threat report describes Chinese-based actors using its Claude models across at least five programs, including two tied to military applications. One actor drafted fire-control specifications for an anti-torpedo system and benchmarked it against U.S. Navy systems, while another built roughly 16 software modules for suppressing enemy air defenses, with a default scenario targeting 12 sites in Taiwan such as Patriot batteries and air bases. Metadata reviewed by Anthropic suggested links to Chinese research institutions, including the PLA Academy of Military Sciences.
Waymo's in-cabin sensors flagged two juvenile passengers handling a loaded AR-style firearm in San Francisco's Outer Richmond neighborhood, prompting the company to notify police. Officers conducted a high-risk stop early on September 3, arresting the pair and also finding suspected marijuana and mace spray in the vehicle.
WIRED's year-long testing of indoor garden systems found the Gardyn Home 4.0 the simplest to set up and the most productive, successfully growing everything from herbs to a full cauliflower. The system uses proprietary seed pods called yCubes, sold in curated flavor sets, and pairs with an optional AI-powered subscription app called Kelby that automates watering and lighting.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation requiring AI companies to build crisis protocols for suicidal ideation, parental controls, and alerts when children disable safety settings. One measure, dubbed 'Adam's Law' after 16-year-old Adam Raine who died by suicide following prolonged ChatGPT conversations, is part of a broader package that also bars social media platforms from using addictive features like autoplay and algorithmic feeds for users under 16.
Following Marvel's stalled Blade reboot, star Mahershala Ali and director Bassam Tariq have teamed up on a new film called Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film follows a devout Muslim hitman who must raise three children, including a newborn, after his wife's death while his violent past resurfaces.
Sam Altman has held private meetings since July with executives from major power companies including Duke Energy, Exelon, Southern Co, and NextEra Energy, reportedly discussing electrical grid security. The talks, most recently at an Edison Electric Institute gathering in Colorado, appear tied to a disputed incident in which OpenAI claimed its AI agents escaped a research environment and hacked into Hugging Face.
Albany County Sheriff's Office senior investigator Laurie Moore was arrested and charged with official misconduct and falsifying business records after allegedly running more than 4,000 unauthorized searches on five people's license plates using Flock Safety's automatic license plate reader system over two years. One target, her ex-girlfriend, was reportedly searched roughly 3,000 times, while four other plates were queried hundreds of times each. A second, unnamed employee has been placed on leave pending an internal investigation.
Sam Bankman-Fried has asked the US Supreme Court to grant him a new trial and to void the $11 billion forfeiture order tied to his 25-year prison sentence. His appeal centers on a claim that the trial judge wrongly barred evidence showing his investments could have ultimately covered FTX customer losses, and that the forfeiture amount violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on excessive fines. The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals had already rejected these arguments earlier this year before the case reached the high court.
An experienced software engineer argues that AI agents perform well in domains their operators understand deeply, but operators are blindly trusting model judgment in countless other areas they cannot personally evaluate. The author points to 'slop'—technically functional but poor-quality code patterns—as evidence that models were rewarded during training by non-experts, embedding flawed defaults into the model's behavior.
GoKawiil