technology – Page 104 – Hellbound and Down

ChatGPT admits bot safety measures may weaken in long conversations, as parents sue AI companies over teen suicides

AI has allegedly claimed another young life — and experts of all kinds are calling on lawmakers to take action before it happens again.

“If intelligent aliens landed tomorrow, we would not say, ‘Kids, why don’t you run off with them and play,’” Jonathan Haidt, author of “The Anxious Generation,” told The Post. “But that’s what we are doing with chatbots.

“Nobody knows how these things think, the companies that make them don’t care about kids’ safety, and their chatbots have now talked multiple kids into killing themselves. We must say, ‘Stop.’”

The family of 16-year-old Adam Raine allege he was given a “step-by-step playbook” on how to kill himself — including tying a noose to hang himself and composing a suicide note — before he took his own life in April.

“He would be here but for ChatGPT. I 100% believe that,” Adam’s father, Matt Raine, told the “Today” show.

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The Detached Cruelty of Air Power

Killing from the sky has long offered the sort of detachment that warfare on the ground can’t match. Far from its victims, air power remains the height of modernity. And yet, as the monk Thomas Merton concluded in a poem, using the voice of a Nazi commandant, “Do not think yourself better because you burn up friends and enemies with long-range missiles without ever seeing what you have done.”

Nine decades have passed since aerial technology first began notably assisting warmakers. Midway through the 1930s, when Benito Mussolini sent Italy’s air force into action during the invasion of Ethiopia, hospitals were among its main targets. Soon afterward, in April 1937, the fascist militaries of Germany and Italy dropped bombs on a Spanish town with a name that quickly became a synonym for the slaughter of civilians: Guernica.

Within weeks, Pablo Picasso’s painting “Guernica” was on public display, boosting global revulsion at such barbarism. When World War Two began in September 1939, the default assumption was that bombing population centers — terrorizing and killing civilians — was beyond the pale. But during the next several years, such bombing became standard operating procedure.

Dispensed from the air, systematic cruelty only escalated with time. The blitz by Germany’s Luftwaffe took more than 43,500 civilian lives in Britain. As the Allies gained the upper hand, the names of certain cities went into history for their bomb-generated firestorms and then radioactive infernos. In Germany: Hamburg, Cologne, and Dresden. In Japan: Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.

“Between 300,000-600,000 German civilians and over 200,000 Japanese civilians were killed by allied bombing during the Second World War, most as a result of raids intentionally targeted against civilians themselves,” according to the documentation of scholar Alex J. Bellamy. Contrary to traditional narratives, “the British and American governments were clearly intent on targeting civilians,” but “they refused to admit that this was their purpose and devised elaborate arguments to claim that they were not targeting civilians.”

Past Atrocities Excusing New Ones

As the New York Times reported in October 2023, three weeks into the war in Gaza, “It became evident to U.S. officials that Israeli leaders believed mass civilian casualties were an acceptable price in the military campaign. In private conversations with American counterparts, Israeli officials referred to how the United States and other allied powers resorted to devastating bombings in Germany and Japan during World War II — including the dropping of the two atomic warheads in Hiroshima and Nagasaki — to try to defeat those countries.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told President Joe Biden much the same thing, while shrugging off concerns about Israel’s merciless killing of civilians in Gaza. “Well,” Biden recalled him saying, “you carpet-bombed Germany. You dropped the atom bomb. A lot of civilians died.”

Apologists for Israel’s genocide in Gaza have continued to invoke just such a rationale. Weeks ago, for instance, Mike Huckabee, the American ambassador to Israel, responded derisively to a statement by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that “the Israeli government’s decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong.” Citing the U.S.-British air onslaught on Dresden in February 1945 that set off a huge firestorm, Huckabee tweeted: “Ever heard of Dresden, PM Starmer?”

Appearing on Fox & Friends, Huckabee said: “You have got the Brits out there complaining about humanitarian aid and the fact that they don’t like the way Israel is prosecuting the war. I would remind the British to go back and look at their own history. At the end of World War II they weren’t dropping food into Germany, they were dropping massive bombs. Just remember Dresden — over 25,000 civilians were killed in that bombing alone.”

The United Nations has reported that women and children account for nearly 70% of the verified deaths of Palestinians in Gaza. The capacity to keep massacring civilians there mainly depends on the Israeli Air Force (well supplied with planes and weaponry by the United States), which proudly declares that “it is often due to the IAF’s aerial superiority and advancement that its squadrons are able to conduct a large portion” of the Israeli military’s “operational activities.”

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Meta to spend millions backing pro-AI candidates – media

US tech giant Meta will launch a California‑focused super‑PAC to support state‑level candidates who favor looser technology regulation, especially regarding artificial intelligence, according to media reports.

A super PAC is an independent political committee that can raise and spend unlimited funds from individuals, corporations, and unions to support or oppose candidates. It cannot coordinate directly with campaigns or parties and was created after 2010 US court rulings that loosened campaign finance rules.

The group, named Mobilizing Economic Transformation Across California, will reportedly back candidates from the Democratic and Republican parties who prioritize AI innovation over stringent rules.

According to Politico, the Facebook and Instagram parent plans to spend tens of millions of dollars through the PAC, which could make it one of the top political spenders in the state in the run‑up to the 2026 governor’s race.

The initiative aligns with Meta’s broader effort to safeguard California’s status as a technology hub amid concerns that strict oversight could stifle innovation.

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University of Melbourne Broke Victoria’s Privacy Law by Using Wi-Fi to Monitor Protesters on Campus

The University of Melbourne’s covert surveillance tactics during a campus protest have been declared unlawful, following a ruling by Victoria’s deputy information commissioner that the institution broke the state’s privacy laws.

The decision condemns the university’s quiet use of digital tracking tools against students and staff involved in a pro-Palestine demonstration, raising serious concerns about the growing use of surveillance technologies in academic settings.

We obtained a copy of the decision for you here.

Prompted by media attention earlier this year, the investigation focused on how the university responded to a May protest held inside the Arts West building.

Rather than relying on open dialogue or standard disciplinary processes, university officials resorted to monitoring individuals through the campus Wi-Fi network, matching connection data with student ID photos and security camera recordings.

A total of 22 students were identified through this process, all without prior warning or a clear legal basis. Staff were surveilled as well, with the contents of ten employees’ email accounts examined to uncover involvement in the demonstration. Three of them later received formal warnings.

Although the commissioner’s office accepted that CCTV footage was used within legal boundaries, it found the use of Wi-Fi tracking in disciplinary investigations to be unjustified.

The monitoring of staff emails was also flagged for breaching expected privacy norms.

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Michigan Supreme Court Rules Unrestricted Phone Searches Violate Fourth Amendment

The Michigan Supreme Court has drawn a firm line around digital privacy, ruling that police cannot use overly broad warrants to comb through every corner of a person’s phone.

In People v. Carson, the court found that warrants for digital devices must include specific limitations, allowing access only to information directly tied to the suspected crime.

We obtained a copy of the opinion for you here (the opinion starts on page 5).

Michael Carson became the focus of a theft investigation involving money allegedly taken from a neighbor’s safe.

Authorities secured a warrant to search his phone, but the document placed no boundaries on what could be examined.

It permitted access to all data on the device, including messages, photos, contacts, and documents, without any restriction based on time period or relevance. Investigators collected over a thousand pages of information, much of it unrelated to the accusation.

The court ruled that this kind of expansive warrant violates the Fourth Amendment, which requires particularity in describing what police may search and seize.

The justices said allowing law enforcement to browse through an entire phone without justification amounts to an unconstitutional exploratory search.

Smartphones now serve as central hubs for people’s lives, containing everything from health records and banking details to travel histories and intimate conversations.

Searching a device without limits can expose a volume and variety of personal information that far exceeds what a physical search could reveal.

Groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, ACLU National, and the ACLU of Michigan intervened in the case, filing a brief that called on the court to adopt strict rules for digital searches.

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The Loneliness Epidemic Isn’t About Phones, It’s About Algorithms

America’s loneliness epidemic has been headline news for years. We’ve seen study after study confirming what many feel in their bones: more people are isolated, disconnected, and struggling to find meaning in daily life.

Older Americans often chalk this up to technology or to the social scars of COVID. They aren’t entirely wrong, but the deeper story is much larger.

The real driver of this new loneliness is algorithms—the invisible rules and processes that now govern how we live, connect, and even think.

This may sound abstract, but it isn’t. Algorithms are the silent presence shaping your news feed, recommending your next purchase, deciding which job application gets reviewed, and filtering which posts you see from family or friends. They don’t just show you the world; they decide which world you see.

And the most important thing to understand is that algorithms have not touched every generation equally.

Baby boomers and many Gen Xers remember life before algorithms. They grew up with solitude as a normal part of existence: long walks, time alone with books, evenings without distraction. Their social lives were local and embodied. If they were lonely, it was the ordinary kind of loneliness, the kind that might drive someone to call a friend, join a club, or just take a walk and kick around some stones along the way.

Millennials came of age as algorithms entered their lives through the rise of social media and smartphones. For them, the shift was gradual. They still remember analog childhoods, but their adult lives became increasingly tethered to devices. They learned to straddle both worlds, sometimes nostalgically recalling life before algorithms, but never recognizing algorithms as the new driving force in their lives.

Gen Z and Gen Alpha, however, have never known life without algorithmic curation. From childhood, their identities, friendships, and even their sense of self have been shaped inside systems designed to maximize engagement.

They are the most connected generation in history and yet, paradoxically, the loneliest. Studies confirm that they report higher levels of isolation and depression than their parents or grandparents did at the same age. For them, solitude is almost unimaginable. Their sleeping hours have diminished, and their waking hours have been saturated with algorithmic nudges, performance demands, and invisible comparisons.

This is why blaming “phones” or “tech” misses the point. A phone is just a tool. The deeper cause of today’s epidemic of loneliness is the system of algorithms that runs on those devices and quietly governs the lives lived through them.

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Mystery Hacker Used AI To Automate ‘Unprecedented’ Cybercrime Rampage

A hacker allegedly exploited Anthropic, the fast-growing AI startup behind the popular Claude chatbot, to orchestrate what authorities describe as an “unprecedented” cybercrime campaign targeting nearly 20 companies, according to a report released this week.

The report, published by Anthropic and obtained by NBC News, details how the hacker manipulated Claude to pinpoint companies vulnerable to cyberattacks. Claude then generated malicious code to pilfer sensitive data and cataloged information that could be used for extortion, even drafting the threatening communications sent to the targeted firms.

NBC News reports:

The stolen data included Social Security numbers, bank details and patients’ sensitive medical information. The hacker also took files related to sensitive defense information regulated by the U.S. State Department, known as International Traffic in Arms Regulations.

It’s not clear how many of the companies paid or how much money the hacker made, but the extortion demands ranged from around $75,000 to more than $500,000, the report said.

Jacob Klein, head of threat intelligence for Anthropic, said the campaign appeared to be the work of a hacker operating outside the U.S., but did not provide any additional details about the culprit.

“We have robust safeguards and multiple layers of defense for detecting this kind of misuse, but determined actors sometimes attempt to evade our systems through sophisticated techniques,” Klein said.

Anthropic’s findings come as an increasing number of malicious actors are leveraging AI to craft fraud that is more persuasive, scalable, and elusive than ever. A SoSafe Cybercrime Trends report reveals that 87% of global organizations encountered an AI-driven cyberattack over the past year, with the threat gaining momentum.

“AI is dramatically scaling the sophistication and personalization of cyberattacks,” said Andrew Rose, Chief Security Officer at SoSafe. “While organizations seem to be aware of the threat, our data shows businesses are not confident in their ability to detect and react to these attacks.”

Artificial intelligence is not only a tool for cybercriminals – it is also broadening the vulnerabilities within organizations. As companies rush to adopt AI-driven tools, they may inadvertently expose themselves to new risks.

“Even the benevolent AI that organisations adopt for their own benefit can be abused by attackers to locate valuable information, key assets or bypass other controls,” Rose continued.

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The Right to Be Left Alone

What if the federal government captures in real time the contents of every telephone call, email and text message and all the fiber-optic data generated by every person and entity in the United States 24/7? What if this mass surveillance was never authorized by any federal law and tramples the Fourth Amendment?

What if this mass surveillance has come about by the secret collusion of presidents and their spies in the National Security Agency and by the federal government forcing the major telephone and computer service providers to cooperate with it? What if the service providers were coerced into giving the feds continuous physical access to their computers and thus to all the data contained in and passing through those computers?

What if President George W. Bush told the NSA that since it is part of the Defense Department and he was the commander in chief of the military, NSA agents could spy on anyone, notwithstanding any court orders or statutes that prohibited it? What if Bush believed that his orders to the military were not constrained by the laws against computer hacking that Congress had written or the interpretations of those laws by federal courts or even by the Constitution?

What if Congress has written laws that all presidents have sworn to uphold and that require a warrant issued by a judge before the NSA can spy on anyone but Bush effectively told the NSA to go through the motions of getting a warrant while spying without warrants on everyone in the U.S. all the time? What if Presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Donald Trump have taken the same position toward the NSA and ordered or permitted the same warrantless and lawless spying?

What if the Constitution requires warrants based on probable cause of criminal behavior before surveillance can be conducted but Congress has written laws reducing that standard to probable cause of communicating with a foreign national? What if a basic principle of constitutional law is that Congress is subject to the Constitution and therefore cannot change its terms or their meanings?

What if the Constitution requires that all warrants particularly describe the place to be searched or the person or thing to be seized? What if the warrants Congress permits the NSA to use violate that requirement by permitting a federal court — the FISA Court — to issue general warrants? What if general warrants do not particularly describe the place to be searched or the person or thing to be seized but rather authorize the bearer to search indiscriminately through service providers’ customer data?

What if the government has no moral, constitutional or legal right to personal information about and from all of us without a valid search warrant consistent with constitutional requirements?

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NVIDIA’s new “robot brain” could reshape humanity’s future — or seal its fate

Step inside a modern fulfillment center, and you’ll witness a revolution unfolding in real time. The workers aren’t human. They’re Digit, Agility Robotics’ latest generation of humanoid machines — sleek, bipedal, and eerily fluid in their movements. They stack pallets with surgical precision, sort inventory without hesitation, and adapt to new tasks on the fly. But here’s the chilling part: their “brains” aren’t outsourced to some distant server farm. They’re embedded inside each robot, processing terabytes of data in real time, making split-second decisions, and—most alarmingly—learning as they go.

This isn’t a dystopian screenplay. It’s happening now. And the architect of this seismic shift? Nvidia’s Jetson Thor, a $3,500 desktop-sized supercomputer that doesn’t just accelerate artificial intelligence — it gives it a body.

Key points:

Nvidia’s Jetson Thor, a $3,499 “robot brain,” delivers 7.5x the AI compute power of its predecessor, enabling real-time reasoning in humanoid robots like Agility’s Digit and Boston Dynamics’ Atlas.
The chip runs generative AI models locally, reducing reliance on cloud computing and allowing robots to process complex tasks—from warehouse logistics to surgical assistance—instantly.
Major players like Amazon, Meta, and Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute are already integrating Thor into their systems, with Nvidia positioning robotics as its next trillion-dollar growth market after AI.
While Nvidia insists this is about augmenting human work, critics warn it could accelerate job displacement, AI autonomy, and even military applications — all while centralizing control in the hands of a few tech giants.
The Blackwell-powered Thor is just the beginning. Nvidia’s DRIVE AGX Thor, a variant for autonomous vehicles, is also launching, hinting at a future where AI doesn’t just assist us—it replaces us.

The birth of the physical AI: When code gets a body

For decades, artificial intelligence has been confined to the digital realm — a ghost in the machine, answering questions, generating images, even writing news articles (yes, the irony isn’t lost on us). But AI has always had one glaring limitation: it couldn’t do anything. It could suggest, predict, and simulate, but it couldn’t act. That’s changing.

Jetson Thor is Nvidia’s answer to the physical AI revolution, a term the company uses to describe machines that don’t just process the world but interact with it. Think of it as the difference between a chess computer and a robot that can pick up a chess piece, move it, and then explain its strategy to you in real time. That’s the kind of fluid, multi-modal intelligence Thor enables.

At the heart of this leap is Nvidia’s Blackwell architecture, the same tech powering its latest AI data center chips. Blackwell isn’t just faster; it’s designed for concurrent processing, meaning a robot can run vision models, language models, and motor control algorithms all at once without slowing down. Previous generations of robotics chips, like Nvidia’s own Jetson Orin, could handle one or two of these tasks at a time. Thor does it all — simultaneously.

“This is the first time we’ve had a platform that can truly support agentic AI in a physical form,” said Deepu Talla, Nvidia’s vice president of robotics and edge AI, in a call with reporters. “We’re not just talking about robots that follow pre-programmed paths. We’re talking about machines that can adapt, learn, and make decisions in real-world environments.”

Most advanced AI today relies on remote servers to crunch data. Thor changes that by bringing server-level compute directly into the robot. That means lower latency, better security, and — critically — no need for a constant internet connection. A warehouse robot powered by Thor could keep working even if the Wi-Fi goes down. A military drone could operate in a warzone without relying on a potentially hackable data link.

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