An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The UK's first driverless bus service, originally heralded as a breakthrough of global significance, is being withdrawn from service because too few passengers used it. The autonomous buses, operated by Stagecoach, have been running between Fife and Edinburgh along a 14-mile route over the Forth road bridge since May 2023 to relieve the heavy congestion which can bring traffic to a standstill.

The CAVForth service, a collaboration between Fusion Processing, the coach-building company Alexander Dennis, Napier University in Edinburgh and the Bristol Robotics Lab -- a joint venture between the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England -- was touted as the most ambitious and complex in the world. Built at an estimated cost of more than 6 million pounds, partly funded by the UK government, the fleet of five single-decker buses had the capacity to carry 10,000 passengers a week but needed two crew on board for safety reasons. Stagecoach said in a statement: "We are proud to have achieved a world first with our CAVForth autonomous bus service, demonstrating the potential for self-driving technology on a real-world registered timetable in East Scotland. Although passenger adoption did not meet expectations, the trial has significantly advanced the understanding of the operational and regulatory requirements for autonomous services, delivering what was expected from this demonstrator project. The partners remain committed to exploring new opportunities for self-driving technology in other areas across the UK, ensuring that this exciting innovation can play a transformative role in future transport networks."

Spain's leftwing government has introduced a bill requiring digital platforms and social media influencers with large followings to publish corrections to false or harmful information. The law intends to "[make] life more difficult for those who dedicate themselves to lies and spreading fake news every day," said justice minister Felix Bolanos. The Guardian reports: The draft law replaces legislation from 1984 and targets internet users who have more than 100,000 followers on a single platform or 200,000 across several, the justice ministry said in a statement. These outlets and the platforms that host them must have a mechanism to facilitate citizens' right to ask that false or inaccurate information that harms them be corrected publicly, the ministry said. The correction request will no longer have to be addressed to the outlet's director because confirming their identity is difficult for many "pseudo media," justice minister Felix Bolanos told a press conference.

The Supreme Court has rejected the broadband industry's challenge to a New York law that requires Internet providers to offer $15- or $20-per-month service to people with low incomes. From a report: In August, six trade groups representing the cable, telecom, mobile, and satellite industries filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court ruling that upheld the state law. But the Supreme Court won't take up the case. The Supreme Court denied the telecom groups' petition without comment in a list of orders released yesterday.

Although a US District Court judge blocked the law in 2021, that judge's ruling was reversed by the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in April 2024. The Supreme Court's denial of the industry petition leaves the 2nd Circuit ruling in place. The appeals court ruling is an important one for the broader question of how states can regulate broadband providers when the Federal Communications Commission isn't doing so. Trade groups claimed the state law is preempted by former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's repeal of net neutrality rules, which ended Title II common-carrier regulation of ISPs.

In a 2-1 opinion, a panel of 2nd Circuit appeals court judges said the Pai-era FCC "order stripped the agency of its authority to regulate the rates charged for broadband Internet, and a federal agency cannot exclude states from regulating in an area where the agency itself lacks regulatory authority."

Hundreds of websites will be shut down on the day that Britain's Online Safety Act comes into effect, in what are believed to be the first casualties of the new internet laws. From a report: Microcosm, a web forum hosting service that runs 300 sites including cycling forums and local community hubs, said that the sites would go offline on March 16, the day that Ofcom starts enforcing the Act.

Its owner said they were unable to comply with the lengthy requirements of the Act, which created a "disproportionately high personal liability." The new laws, which were designed to crack down on illegal content and protect children, threaten fines of at least $23 million for sites that fail to comply with the laws. On Monday, Ofcom set out more than 40 measures that it expects online services to follow by March, such as carrying out risk assessments about their sites and naming senior people accountable for ensuring safety.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) believes that China, Russia, Iran, and Israel are the "primary" countries exploiting security holes in telecommunications networks to spy on people inside the United States, which can include tracking their physical movements and intercepting calls and texts, according to information released by Senator Ron Wyden. 404 Media: The news provides more context around use of SS7, the exploited network and protocol, against phones in the country. In May, 404 Media reported that an official inside DHS's Cybersecurity Insurance and Security Agency (CISA) broke with his department's official narrative and publicly warned about multiple SS7 attacks on U.S. persons in recent years. Now, the newly disclosed information provides more specifics on where at least some SS7 attacks are originating from.

The information is included in a letter the Department of Defense (DoD) wrote in response to queries from the office of Senator Wyden. The letter says that in September 2017 DHS personnel gave a presentation on SS7 security threats at an event open to U.S. government officials. The letter says that Wyden staff attended the event and saw the presentation. One slide identified the "primary countries reportedly using telecom assets of other nations to exploit U.S. subscribers," it continues.

Manhattan's iconic neon landscape is facing extinction as property owners increasingly replace historic neon signs with LED alternatives. From Times Square's dwindling glassworks to the recent losses at Smith's Bar and Subway Inn, the trend has accelerated across both small businesses and major landmarks, Curbed reports.

Rockefeller Center's proposal to replace its 1935 neon signage with LEDs marks a significant moment in this shift, highlighting tensions between energy efficiency and preserving the city's luminous cultural heritage. Of approximately 75,000 outdoor neon signs permitted between 1923-1956, only about 130 remain.

The Federal Trade Commission unveiled a sweeping rule on Tuesday to crack down on hidden fees in ticket sales and hotel bookings, marking a major push by the agency to combat what it calls "junk fees" that cost consumers billions of dollars annually.

The bipartisan measure requires businesses to display the total price, including all mandatory fees, upfront when advertising tickets for live events or short-term lodging. The rule aims to end the practice of surprising customers with additional charges like "resort," "convenience," or "service" fees late in the booking process.

"People deserve to know up-front what they're being asked to pay," said FTC Chair Lina Khan, who estimates the rule could save consumers up to 53 million hours per year in comparison shopping time, equivalent to $11 billion over a decade.

The rule, approved by a 4-1 commission vote, does not ban any specific fees but requires clear disclosure before consumers enter payment information. It will take effect 120 days after publication in the Federal Register. The measure follows a lengthy public comment period that drew over 72,000 responses and represents one of the FTC's most significant consumer protection actions in recent years.

YouTube is introducing an optional feature allowing creators to let third-party companies use their videos to train AI models, with the default setting being opt-out. The Verge reports: "We see this as an important first step in supporting creators and helping them realize new value for their YouTube content in the AI era," a TeamYouTube staffer named Rob says in a support post. "As we gather feedback, we'll continue to explore features that facilitate new forms of collaboration between creators and third-party companies, including options for authorized methods to access content."

YouTube will be rolling out the setting in YouTube Studio "over the next few days," and unauthorized scraping "remains prohibited," Rob writes. Another support page says that you'll be able to pick and choose from a list of third-party companies that can train on your videos or you can simply allow all third-party companies to train on them.

Thirteen vapes are thrown away every second in the UK -- more than a million a day -- leading to an "environmental nightmare," according to research. From a report: There has also been a rise in "big puff" vapes which are bigger and can hold up to 6,000 puffs per vape, with single use vapes averaging 600. Three million of these larger vapes are being bought every week according to the research, commissioned by Material Focus, and conducted by Opinium. 8.2 million vapes are now thrown away or recycled incorrectly every week.

From June 2025 it will be illegal to sell single-use vapes, a move designed to combat environmental damage and their widespread use by children. Vapes will only be allowed to be sold if they are rechargeable or contain a refillable cartridge.

But all types of vape contain lithium-ion batteries which are dangerous if crushed or damaged because they can cause fires in bin lorries or waste and recycling centres. These fires are on the rise across the UK, with an increase last year of 71% compared with 2022.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son will announce a $100 billion investment in the U.S. over the next four years during a Monday visit to President-elect Donald Trump's residence Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, sources familiar with the matter told CNBC's Sara Eisen.

The billionaire investor and founder of the Japanese tech-investing firm will also promise in the joint announcement with Trump to create 100,000 jobs focused on artificial intelligence and related infrastructure, the sources said. The money will be deployed before the end of Trump's term. The funding could come from various sources controlled by Softbank, including the Vision Fund, capital projects or chipmaker Arm Holdings, where the firm is majority owner.

One in five adults in developed nations demonstrate primary school-level literacy and numeracy skills, according to an OECD study of 160,000 people across 31 countries released December 10. The decennial Survey of Adult Skills reveals declining literacy rates over the past decade despite rising secondary education completion.

Finland topped rankings across all tested areas -- numeracy, literacy, and problem-solving -- while Japan, Norway and the Netherlands performed above average. The United States showed declining scores, with Chile, Italy, Poland and Portugal reporting high proportions of below-average performers. The study found widening skill gaps between top and bottom performers, with declining scores concentrated among lower-performing adults.

This month Bill Gates recommended four books about making sense of the world, including The Coming Wave, by Mustafa Suleyman. Gates calls it "the book I recommend more than any other on AI — to heads of state, business leaders, and anyone else who asks — because it offers something rare: a clear-eyed view of both the extraordinary opportunities and genuine risks ahead." After helping build DeepMind from a small startup into one of the most important AI companies of the past decade, [Suleyman] went on to found Inflection AI and now leads Microsoft's AI division. But what makes this book special isn't just Mustafa's firsthand experience — it's his deep understanding of scientific history and how technological revolutions unfold. He's a serious intellectual who can draw meaningful parallels across centuries of scientific advancement. Most of the coverage of The Coming Wave has focused on what it has to say about artificial intelligence — which makes sense, given that it's one of the most important books on AI ever written. And there is probably no one as qualified as Mustafa to write it...

But what sets his book apart from others is Mustafa's insight that AI is only one part of an unprecedented convergence of scientific breakthroughs. Gene editing, DNA synthesis, and other advances in biotechnology are racing forward in parallel. As the title suggests, these changes are building like a wave far out at sea — invisible to many but gathering force. Each would be game-changing on its own; together, they're poised to reshape every aspect of society... [P]rogress is already accelerating as costs plummet and computing power grows. Then there are the incentives for profit and power that are driving development. Countries compete with countries, companies compete with companies, and individuals compete for glory and leadership. These forces make technological advancement essentially unstoppable — and they also make it harder to control...

How do we limit the dangers of these technologies while harnessing their benefits? This is the question at the heart of The Coming Wave, because containment is foundational to everything else. Without it, the risks of AI and biotechnology become even more acute. By solving for it first, we create the stability and trust needed to tackle everything else... [Suleyman] lays out an agenda that's appropriately ambitious for the scale of the challenge — ranging from technical solutions (like building an emergency off switch for AI systems) to sweeping institutional changes, including new global treaties, modernized regulatory frameworks, and historic cooperation among governments, companies, and scientists...
In an accompanying Christmas-themed video, Gates adds that "Of all the books on AI, that's the one I recommend the most."

Gates also recommends The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, saying it "made me reflect on how much of my younger years — which were often spent running around outside without parental supervision, sometimes getting into trouble — helped shape who I am today. Haidt explains how the shift from play-based childhoods to phone-based childhoods is transforming how kids develop and process emotions." (In the video Gates describes it as "kind of a scary book, but very convincing. [Haidt] writes about the rise of mental illness, and anxiety in children. He, unlike some books, actually has some prescriptions, like kids not using phones until much later, parenting style differences. I think it's a super-important book.")

Gates goes into the book's thesis in a longer blog post: that "we're actually facing two distinct crises: digital under-parenting (giving kids unlimited and unsupervised access to devices and social media) and real-world over-parenting (protecting kids from every possible harm in the real world). The result is young people who are suffering from addiction-like behaviors — and suffering, period — while struggling to handle challenges and setbacks that are part of everyday life." [Haidt] makes a strong case for better age verification on social media platforms and delaying smartphone access until kids are older. Literally and figuratively, he argues, we also need to rebuild the infrastructure of childhood itself — from creating more engaging playgrounds that encourage reasonable risk-taking, to establishing phone-free zones in schools, to helping young people rediscover the joy of in-person interaction.
Gates also recommends Engineering in Plain Sight, by Grady Hillhouse, a book which he says "encourages curiosity." ("Hillhouse takes all of the mysterious structures we see every day, from cable boxes to transformers to cell phone towers, and explains what they are and how they work. It's the kind of read that will reward your curiosity and answer questions you didn't even know you had.")

And finally, Gates recommends an autobiography by 81-year-old Pulitzer Prize-winning historian/biographer/former sports journalist Doris Kearns Goodwin, who assesses the impact of President Lyndon Johnson's policies in a surprising "personal history of the 1960s."

Saturday night two men were arrested near Boston "following a hazardous drone operation near Logan Airport's airspace," according to a police statement. They credit an officer "leveraging advanced UAS monitoring technology" who "identified the drone's location, altitude, flight history, and the operators' position." Recognizing the serious risks posed by the drone's proximity to Logan's airspace, additional resources were mobilized. The Boston Police Department coordinated with Homeland Security, the Massachusetts State Police, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Logan Airport Air Traffic Control to address the situation.
"Both suspects face charges of trespassing, with additional fines or charges potentially forthcoming."

Meanwhile on Friday night "Officials at Stewart International Airport, located roughly 60 miles north of New York City, said they shut down their runways for an hour," reports ABC News, after America's Federal Aviation Administration "alerted them that a drone was spotted in the area around 9:30 p.m." Though officials say flight operations weren't impacted during the closure, the article notes that New York's governor is now calling for federal assistance, including more federal law enforcement officers, saying "This has gone too far." [Governor Hochul] called on Congress to pass the Counter-UAS Authority Security, Safety, and Reauthorization Act, which would strengthen the FAA's oversight of drones and give more authority to state and local law enforcement agencies to investigate the activity.
The article explores the larger problem of Americans reporting drone sightings: Officials from a wide range of federal agencies spoke with reporters Saturday on a phone call and emphasized that the federal investigation into drone sightings in New Jersey is ongoing. One FBI official said that out of the nearly 5,000 tips they have received, less than 100 have generated credible leads for further investigation. A Department of Homeland Security official said that they are "confident that many of the reported drone sightings are, in fact, manned aircraft being misidentified as drones." The FBI official also talked about how investigators overlaid the locations of the reported drone sightings and found that "the density of reported sightings matches the approach pattern" of the New York area's busy airports including Newark-Liberty, JFK, and LaGuardia.

But, an FAA official says that there have "without a doubt" been drones flying over New Jersey, pointing to the fact that there are nearly a million drones registered in the U.S. "With nearly a million registered [unmanned aircraft systems] in the United States, there's no doubt many of them are owned and operated here within the state," the FAA official said... A Joint Chiefs of Staff official said that there have been visual sightings of drones reported by "highly trained security personnel" near Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle in New Jersey. The official said that they do not believe the sightings "were aligned with a foreign actor, or that they had malicious intent."

"We don't know what activity is. We don't know if it is criminal, but I will tell you that it is irresponsible," the official said. "Here on the military side, we are just as frustrated with the irresponsible nature of this activity."
Later ABC News reported that the FAA had imposed temporary drone flight restrictions in New Jersey over the Picatinny Arsenal military base. And they added that America's Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas "said the federal government is taking action to address the aerial drones that have prompted concern among New Jersey residents. "I want to assure the American public that we in the federal government have deployed additional resources, personnel, technology to assist the New Jersey State Police in addressing the drone sightings...." There have been numerous reports of drone activity along the East Coast since November. Mayorkas cited the 2023 change of a Federal Aviation Administration rule that allows drones to fly at night as to why there might be an uptick in sightings. "I want to assure the American public that we are on it," he said, before calling on Congress to expand local and state authority to help address the issue.

"It is critical, as we all have said for a number of years, that we need from Congress additional authorities to address the drone situation," Mayorkas said. "Our authorities currently are limited and they are set to expire. We need them extended and expanded... We want state and local authorities to also have the ability to counter growing activity under federal supervision," he added, echoing sentiments from local officials...

Addressing national security concerns the sightings have prompted, Mayorkas said the U.S. knows of no foreign involvement and that it remains "vigilant" in investigating the drone sightings. [ABC News anchor George] Stephanopoulos pressed Mayorkas about past security threats drones have caused, including the arrest of a Chinese national last week who allegedly flew a drone over an Air Force base in California. "When a drone is flown over restricted airspace, we act very, very swiftly," the homeland security secretary said. "In fact, when an individual in California flew a drone over restricted airspace, that individual was identified, apprehended and is being charged by federal authorities."

A 19-year-old wrongfully accused of using AI told the Guardian's reporter that "to be accused of it because of 'signpost phrases', such as 'in addition to' and 'in contrast', felt very demeaning." And another student "told me they had been pulled into a misconduct hearing — despite having a low score on Turnitin's AI detection tool — after a tutor was convinced the student had used ChatGPT, because some of his points had been structured in a list, which the chatbot has a tendency to do." Dr Mike Perkins, a generative AI researcher at British University Vietnam, believes there are "significant limitations" to AI detection software. "All the research says time and time again that these tools are unreliable," he told me. "And they are very easily tricked." His own investigation found that AI detectors could detect AI text with an accuracy of 39.5%. Following simple evasion techniques — such as minor manipulation to the text — the accuracy dropped to just 22.1%. As Perkins points out, those who do decide to cheat don't simply cut and paste text from ChatGPT, they edit it, or mould it into their own work. There are also AI "humanisers", such as CopyGenius and StealthGPT, the latter which boasts that it can produce undetectable content and claims to have helped half a million students produce nearly 5m papers...

Many academics seem to believe that "you can always tell" if an assignment was written by an AI, that they can pick up on the stylistic traits associated with these tools. Evidence is mounting to suggest they may be overestimating their ability. Researchers at the University of Reading recently conducted a blind test in which ChatGPT-written answers were submitted through the university's own examination system: 94% of the AI submissions went undetected and received higher scores than those submitted by the humans...

Many universities are already adapting their approach to assessment, penning "AI-positive" policies. At Cambridge University, for example, appropriate use of generative AI includes using it for an "overview of new concepts", "as a collaborative coach", or "supporting time management". The university warns against over-reliance on these tools, which could limit a student's ability to develop critical thinking skills. Some lecturers I spoke to said they felt that this sort of approach was helpful, but others said it was capitulating. One conveyed frustration that her university didn't seem to be taking academic misconduct seriously any more; she had received a "whispered warning" that she was no longer to refer cases where AI was suspected to the central disciplinary board.
The Guardian notes one teacher's idea of more one-to-one teaching and live lectures — though he added an obvious flaw: "But that would mean hiring staff, or reducing student numbers." The pressures on his department are such, he says, that even lecturers have admitted using ChatGPT to dash out seminar and tutorial plans. No wonder students are at it, too.
The article points out "More than half of students now use generative AI to help with their assessments, according to a survey by the Higher Education Policy Institute, and about 5% of students admit using it to cheat." This leads to a world where the anti-cheating software Turnitin "has processed more than 130m papers and says it has flagged 3.5m as being 80% AI-written. But it is also not 100% reliable; there have been widely reported cases of false positives and some universities have chosen to opt out. Turnitin says the rate of error is below 1%, but considering the size of the student population, it is no wonder that many have found themselves in the line of fire." There is also evidence that suggests AI detection tools disadvantage certain demographics. One study at Stanford found that a number of AI detectors have a bias towards non-English speakers, flagging their work 61% of the time, as opposed to 5% of native English speakers (Turnitin was not part of this particular study). Last month, Bloomberg Businessweek reported the case of a student with autism spectrum disorder whose work had been falsely flagged by a detection tool as being written by AI. She described being accused of cheating as like a "punch in the gut". Neurodivergent students, as well as those who write using simpler language and syntax, appear to be disproportionately affected by these systems.
Thanks to Slashdot reader Bruce66423 for sharing the article.

"There are concerns human rights will be breached," reports the BBC, as Wales police forces launch a facial-recognition app that "will allow officers to use their phones to confirm someone's identity." The app, known as Operator Initiated Facial Recognition (OIFR), has already been tested by 70 officers across south Wales and will be used by South Wales Police and Gwent Police. Police said its use on unconscious or dead people would help officers to identify them promptly so their family can be reached with care and compassion. In cases where someone is wanted for a criminal offence, the forces said it would secure their quick arrest and detention. Police also said cases of mistaken identity would be easily resolved without the need to visit a police station or custody suite.

Police said photos taken using the app would not be retained, and those taken in private places such as houses, schools, medical facilities and places of worship would only be used in situations relating to a risk of significant harm.
Liberty, a civil liberties group, is urging new privacy protections from the government, according to the article, which also includes this quote from Jake Hurfurt, of the civil liberties/privacy group Big Brother Watch. "In Britain, none of us has to identify ourselves to police without very good reason but this unregulated surveillance tech threatens to take that fundamental right away."

"Single-board computer maker Raspberry Pi is updating its cute little computer-meet-keyboard device with better specifications..." reports TechCrunch.

They call the new $90 Raspberry Pi 500 "not as intimidating" because "when you look at the Raspberry Pi 500, you can't see any chipsets or printed circuit board... The idea with the Raspberry Pi 500 is that you can plug in a mouse and display, and you're ready to hit the ground running." When it comes to specifications, the Raspberry Pi 500 features a 64-bit quad-core Arm processor (the same one as the Raspberry Pi 5 uses); 8GB of RAM; 2 micro-HDMI ports, with support for up to two 4K displays; 3 traditional USB ports (but no USB-C besides the power port unfortunately); a Gigabit Ethernet port; and a 40-pin expansion header. It comes with native Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support.

More importantly, this device brings us back Raspberry Pi's roots. Raspberry Pi computers were originally intended for educational use cases... The Raspberry Pi 500 draws inspiration from the not-for-profit Raspberry Pi Foundation's roots. It's the perfect first computer for school. In many ways, it's much better than a Chromebook or an iPad because it is both cheap and highly customizable — encouraging creative thinking. The Raspberry Pi 500 comes with a 32GB SD card preloaded with Raspberry Pi OS, a Debian-based Linux distribution...

In other news, Raspberry Pi has announced another brand-new product: the Raspberry Pi Monitor. It's a 15.6-inch 1080p monitor with a price-tag of $100.
Tom's Hardware calls the Pi 500 "a superb update" to the original computer-in-a-keyboard Raspberry Pi 400: Having the ports at the back makes total sense. It tidies up the cables, and means that we only need one thick edge, the rest can be as thin as possible... [P]assive cooling performance is remarkable, even when overclocked to 3 GHz...! I did have to adjust the voltage to keep everything stable, but once I found the magic numbers, the system was stable and performed remarkably well... [I]t ran buttery smooth and surprisingly, cool under stress. I'd consider this a successful overclock and one that I would happily keep as a permanent addition...

Just like the Raspberry Pi 400, the Pi 500 is there to be a 21st century equivalent to the home computers of the 1980s. You plug in to a wedge-shaped keyboard, hook up to your display, and start work. But the Raspberry Pi 500 has much more processing power than the Pi 400, and that means it can be a viable desktop computer for those that don't need an RTX 4090 or a power-hungry CPU.

I like the Raspberry Pi 500. It's a powerful machine, in a pleasant package. I'm old enough to remember the 1980s home computer craze, and this, just like the Pi 400, reminds me of that time. But now we have much more power... The Raspberry Pi 500 is the kit that you buy as a gift for someone, or as a child's first computer. I can see this being used in schools and to an extent in offices around the world.

The U.S. wants to limit China's access to advanced AI chips, reports the Wall Street Journal, with new rules to restrict sales in parts of the world.

"The rules are aimed at China, but they threaten to create conflict between the U.S. and nations that may not want their purchases of chips micromanaged from Washington. The latest round of curbs could come this month... Among the restrictions, the administration aims to introduce caps on shipments of AI chips to certain countries for use in large computing facilities, people familiar with the plans said. One grouping of countries — close U.S. allies — would be unrestricted, the people said, while another tier of countries would face limits on the number of chips that can go into data centers used for AI... The purchasing caps primarily apply to regions such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East, the people said...

The administration recently sent letters to major chip-makers including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and Samsung Electronics informing them about some of the restrictions, these people said. The letters said the companies needed to apply for a license to transfer chips to China that are manufactured using advanced chip-making technology or meet other criteria. These criteria include a size and transistor-number limit as well as any indication that the chips are for use in training AI models, the people said. Previous regulations already limit the shipment of advanced GPUs and memory chips to China, but the new rules spell out more clearly to manufacturers what is banned.
U.S. officials "are also considering other options," the article points out. "The administration is considering placing controls on exports of the so-called weights that underlie advanced AI models, according to people familiar with the matter, and weighing further China-specific restrictions on chip manufacturing."

An anonymous reader shared this report from the SF Standard: San Francisco police found Open AI whistleblower Suchir Balaji, 26, dead in his Lower Haight apartment November 26, SiliconValley.com reported on Friday. Police said there is "no evidence of foul play. "The manner of death has been determined to be suicide," David Serrano Sewell, director of the office of the city's chief medical examiner, told The Standard by email.

Balaji, a former researcher for the company, accused OpenAI of using copyrighted material to train ChatGPT shortly after he quit the company in August. The New York Times profiled Balaji in a story focused on his whistleblowing in October. Multiple lawsuits against Open AI are expected to present information Balaji unearthed as key evidence.
More details from TechCrunch: After nearly four years working at OpenAI, Balaji quit the company when he realized the technology would bring more harm than good to society, he told The New York Times. Balaji's main concern was the way OpenAI allegedly used copyright data, and he believed its practices were damaging to the internet.

"We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news today and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said an OpenAI spokesperson in an email to TechCrunch...

On November 25, one day before police found Balaji's body, a court filing named the former OpenAI employee in a copyright lawsuit brought against the startup. As part of a good faith compromise, OpenAI agreed to search Balaji's custodial file related to the copyright concerns he had recently raised.

Meta is asking California Attorney General Rob Bonta to block OpenAI's planned transition from a non-profit to for-profit entity. From a report: In a letter sent to Bonta's office this week, Meta says that OpenAI "should not be allowed to flout the law by taking and reappropriating assets it built as a charity and using them for potentially enormous private gains."

The letter goes so far as to say that Meta believes Elon Musk is "qualified and well positioned to represent the interests of Californians in this matter." Meta supporting Musk's fight against OpenAI is notable given that Musk and Mark Zuckerberg were talking about literally fighting in a cage match just last year.

OpenAI started as a non-profit but stumbled into commercial success with ChatGPT, which now makes billions of dollars a year in revenue. CEO Sam Altman has been clear that the company needs to shed its non-profit status to become more attractive to investors and continuing funding its ambitions.

The U.S. military has begun openly discussing offensive capabilities in space, reports ArsTechnica, a significant shift from previous policies that avoided mentioning space-based weapons to prevent an arms race. U.S. Space Command recently listed "integrated space fires" -- military terminology for offensive or defensive actions against adversaries -- among its priorities.

The move follows increasing concerns about China and Russia's space warfare capabilities, including satellite-disabling weapons and potential nuclear anti-satellite systems. "Space is a war-fighting domain," Space Force Chief Gen. Chance Saltzman said at a conference in Orlando. "Ten years ago, I couldn't say that." Gen. Stephen Whiting, head of U.S. Space Command, identified "integrated space fires" as his organization's most urgent requirement. The capabilities under consideration range from cyberattacks and directed energy weapons to satellite-capture systems, though specific details remain classified.