OpenAI announced that its forthcoming Astra AI model is the first to cross the company's 'Critical' cybersecurity capability threshold, meaning it can discover unknown vulnerabilities and exploit them autonomously without human step-by-step direction. The company says Astra will still launch soon, but access to its most sensitive cybersecurity abilities will be restricted, with further safety details to come in a system card at release.
The company behind the Astra model says new testing shows it has crossed a 'Critical' cybersecurity capability threshold under its Preparedness Framework, meaning it could independently discover unknown vulnerabilities and craft exploits against well-defended systems without step-by-step human guidance. This is the first model the company has classified at that severity level, prompting delays to strengthen safeguards before release.
METR, a nonprofit that evaluates risks in frontier AI models, revealed it suffered two cybersecurity incidents this year. In March, attackers stole an API key used for public-model inference and used it for weeks to run up a large number of credits, while in May attackers unsuccessfully probed an exposed endpoint attempting to reach internal data.
A user inspecting disk usage discovered that OpenAI's Codex desktop app, now rebranded as part of ChatGPT, stores a 1.7GB cache folder containing full Python and Node.js runtimes alongside native binaries for Poppler, git, and the LibreOffice office suite. Accompanying 'skills' files instruct Codex on how to locate and invoke these bundled tools when handling document-related tasks.
GoPro announced a definitive merger with private photonics firm Starman Optical, aiming to expand beyond action cameras into AI data center infrastructure and defense-related optics. Shareholders will receive $285 million in cash, or $1.14 per share, while the stock stays on the Nasdaq and existing consumer products continue. Shares jumped 40% on the news, with major stakeholders including Markiplier and BlackRock standing to benefit.
The Hugo Awards ceremony for this year recognized standout works in science fiction and fantasy, with 'Sinners' and the 'Murderbot' series taking top honors alongside Alix E. Harrow's novel 'The Everlasting.' The awards, voted on by fans of the genre, celebrate excellence across categories including film, television, and literature.
HDMI cables are now standardized into three official bandwidth tiers: Premium High Speed (18Gbps), Ultra High Speed (48Gbps) and the new Ultra96 (up to 96Gbps), per rules from the HDMI Licensing Administrator that ban using version numbers alone in marketing. Most 4K streaming only needs the 18Gbps tier, while 4K/120Hz gaming requires Ultra High Speed, and Ultra96 is reserved for extreme formats like uncompressed 4K/240Hz or 8K/60Hz. Buyers are advised to check the certification label and QR code on packaging rather than relying on price or brand name.
CNET's daily guide reveals the theme, hint words and full solution for the Sept. 2 NYT Strands puzzle. The theme is 'All will be revealed,' with answers including ARISE, EMERGE, SURFACE, MANIFEST and MATERIALIZE, plus the spangram COMETOLIGHT.
OpenAI says its upcoming Astra model is the first to reach the company's internal threshold for 'critical' cybersecurity risk, meaning it can independently discover and exploit unknown software vulnerabilities. The firm paused training for several weeks to add safety controls before resuming work, and plans a broad public release soon while limiting the model's advanced cyber capabilities to select partners in its Daybreak Blue early-access program.
Stargazers can look forward to several notable sky events in September 2026, including Venus appearing near the bright star Spica on September 1-2, and the moon passing close to the Pleiades star cluster on September 3. Later in the month, Venus will hit peak brightness, Neptune will reach its best viewing position of the year, and a minor meteor shower will follow August's Perseids.
OpenAI's ChatGPT experienced a service disruption that left many users temporarily unable to access the chatbot for everyday tasks like writing emails, essays, and completing work assignments. The outage prompted widespread reactions online, with some users humorously reflecting on how dependent they've become on AI tools for routine work.
A hobbyist purchased a Tektronix TDS7104, a 1 GHz, 4-channel oscilloscope from the early 2000s, at a Silicon Valley flea market for $300 after negotiating down from $700. The unit initially powered on and ran fine, but hours later it failed to boot properly, throwing a CMOS battery error at the BIOS screen. The author documents the process of diagnosing and repairing the aging instrument to restore full functionality.
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