“It’s the first thing I read every morning.“ — Rob Manfred, Commissioner, MLB.
1. FBI personnel data recently stolen by the ShinyHunters hackers includes sensitive psychiatric and medical evaluation records, according to the hackers and documents reviewed by Reuters. ShinyHunters, one of the world’s most notorious and attention-seeking hacking crews, first said it had breached the FBI on Tuesday. In the hack, the group obtained granular details about bureau employees and their assignments, Reuters previously reported, including sensitive work against Chinese spies, Russian intelligence, drug cartels and others. The breach has already rattled the bureau, but now threatens to turn into a serious counterintelligence risk, said Eric O’Neill, a former FBI operative who founded the cybersecurity consultancy Nexasure AI. He added that the data would be a powerful magnet for hostile spies. (Source: reuters.com)
2. A biosecurity startup called Red Queen Bio is rushing to design antibodies that can be manufactured to protect against a range of potential pathogens, including the seemingly sci-fi threat of an AI-designed virus. The company, in which OpenAI is a lead investor, says it has raised $36 million. Human clinical trials of their antibody drugs against bird flu and other viruses in the flu family are planned for next year. As AI capabilities increase and incidents with rogue AI systems proliferate, fears are mounting that AI could destroy civilization. So far, many proposed responses focus on heading off the risks: slowing AI research, setting standards or blocking AI models from responding to dangerous queries in the first place. Red Queen Bio operates from the assumption that if these protections fail, society should be prepared. (Sources: redqueen.bio, wsj.com)
3. The New York Times:
A.I. has made the gap between policymaking and technology one of the widest ever, according to more than 20 interviews with lawmakers, technologists and policy experts. Many governments are torn between wanting to harness A.I. and fearing its risks. And they are further mired by national politics, limited technological know-how, geopolitical divisions and reluctance to fall behind in a race that could shape economic power and national security for decades to come.
Many countries are waiting for the two leading A.I. nations — the United States and China — to take a cue from their A.I. policies. Yet in the United States, the Trump administration has been divided over A.I. safety, with President Trump saying regulation would hurt innovation and cede ground to China. China itself has imposed some rules on A.I., especially to censor chatbot content, but also raced ahead with development.
“There’s this assumption that there are adults in the room on this issue, but there are no adults in this room,” said Sean Ó Heigeartaigh, director of the AI: Futures and Responsibility Program at the University of Cambridge, who is a member of a European Union advisory board on A.I. “That is what makes all of this so completely terrifying.” (Source: nytimes.com)
