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AI Tools Are Supercharging Hackers - Yahoo

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Kansas State University to develop AI-driven technology aimed at helping soybean farmers - Yahoo

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The AI model Claude has seen a remarkable rise in popularity, particularly following its recent blacklisting by the Pentagon due to ethical concerns.

On Saturday, Claude ascended to the top of Apple’s free app rankings in the U.S., knocking OpenAI’s ChatGPT down a peg, just one day after the Pentagon enlisted OpenAI to provide AI capabilities for classified military networks. While Claude made significant strides on iPhone charts in the UK, it did not surpass ChatGPT. The app also gained traction on Android platforms in both the U.S. and UK, although ChatGPT continued to hold the lead, as reported by Sensor Tower.

However, on Monday, Claude and other applications from Anthropic experienced outages, attributed to an "unprecedented demand for Claude" in the preceding week. Downdetector, a site that tracks service interruptions, noted that over 1,400 users reported issues shortly after 6 am ET, but by 11 am ET, Anthropic announced that the problems had been resolved.

Despite the tensions with the Pentagon, Anthropic has enjoyed substantial growth. The company noted that every day of the previous week set new records for sign-ups to Claude.

Tensions escalated when Pete Hegseth, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, labeled Anthropic a potential supply-chain risk after CEO Dario Amodei stood firm on ethical standards regarding the use of his technology for mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. Amodei argued that current AI models aren't dependable enough for weaponry and that mass surveillance infringes on constitutional rights. Furthermore, he contested the federal government's authority to designate Anthropic as a supply chain risk and assured clients and Pentagon contractors that their operations remain unaffected.

The federal government is accusing Anthropic of overstepping its bounds, with Donald Trump commenting on Truth Social: “The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the Pentagon, forcing them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution.” The Trump administration subsequently chose OpenAI’s ChatGPT for the task.

On Friday, OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, revealed that his company finalized a deal with the federal government shortly after negotiations between the Pentagon and Anthropic collapsed. He assured that the military would not employ ChatGPT for autonomous lethal systems or mass surveillance. However, this reassurance has been met with skepticism from various AI professionals, legal experts, and tech enthusiasts, who question why the U.S. government would shift its allegiance from Anthropic to OpenAI when both have similar safeguards in place. Notably, some ChatGPT users, including pop star Katy Perry, took to social media to announce their switch to Claude, encouraging others to cancel their ChatGPT subscriptions.

Anthropic commenced the year strongly, with a more than 60% rise in free active users and a quadrupling of daily sign-ups. The number of paid subscribers to Claude also more than doubled.

To facilitate the transition for new users, Anthropic has implemented a memory feature available across all paid plans. The company promotes this feature by stating, “With one copy-paste, Claude updates its memory and picks up right where you left off.” This approach allows users’ initial conversations to feel as familiar as their hundredth. Additionally, Anthropic offers a step-by-step guide for those wishing to migrate from other platforms to Claude.

Claude, Anthropic's AI model, gains popularity following dispute with US military.

A sunlit modern conference hall with natural morning light streaming through floor-to-ceiling windows. Center stage, a sleek podium bears a large Anthropic logo and the name “Claude” glowing softly in warm white. In the foreground, a diverse group of adult tech professionals applaud, faces lit by the golden rays. In the background, a lone silhouette of a U.S. military officer walks away toward a subtle U.S. flag hanging on the wall—symbolizing the recent feud. Realistic style, warm tones.

Anthropic’s AI model Claude gets popularity boost after US military feud - The Guardian

- Claude became the top free app in the US after the Pentagon's blacklist.  
- Anthropic experienced outages due to unprecedented demand for Claude's services last week.  
- The Pentagon's deal with OpenAI sparked skepticism over AI ethics and surveillance concerns.  

The AI model Claude has surged in popularity after being blacklisted by the Pentagon last week over ethics concerns.

Claude climbed to the No 1 spot on Apple’s chart of top free apps on Saturday in the US – dethroning OpenAI’s ChatGPT, just one day after the Pentagon tapped OpenAI to supply AI to classified military networks. The bot’s app climbed the iPhone app charts in the UK but did not beat out ChatGPT. Claude also raced up the Android charts in the US and UK, though ChatGPT reigned supreme, according to data from Sensor Tower.

Claude and other apps by the startup Anthropic suffered outages early Monday amid what the company described as “unprecedented demand for Claude” over the last week. More than 1,400 users reported disruptions just after 6am ET, according to Downdetector, an online platform that monitors service outages. By 11am ET, Anthropic stated that the incident was resolved.

Even as the company feuded with the Pentagon, business boomed. “Every single day last week was an all time record for Claude sign-ups,” a statement from the company reads.

Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, called Anthropic a supply-chain risk last week, after CEO Dario Amodei refused to back down on red lines around the use of his company’s technology for mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. Amodei has said current AI models are not reliable enough to be used in these weapons and that mass surveillance violates constitutional rights. He has also disputed the federal government’s ability to designate Anthropic a supply chain risk, and so far advised customers and Pentagon contractors that their use is unaffected.

The federal government has accused Anthropic of overstepping, with Donald Trump saying on his Truth Social platform: “The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the [Pentagon], and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution.” The Trump administration then tapped OpenAI’s Chat GPT for the job.

Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, announced on Friday that his company struck a deal with the federal government just hours after negotiations between the Pentagon and Anthropic fell through. He said the military would not use ChatGPT for autonomous killing systems or mass surveillance. But those claims have been met with skepticism by many AI experts, lawyers, tech workers and users, who asked why the US government would abandon its partnership with Anthropic, only to strike a deal with OpenAI that has the same safeguards it criticized. Some ChatGPT users, including pop singer Katy Perry, announced their switch to Anthropic on social media and urged others to cancel their subscriptions, too.

Anthropic already had a good start to the year, with free active users increasing by more than 60% and daily signups quadrupling, the company said. Claude’s paid subscribers also more than doubled.

Anthropic has made it easy for new users to make the switch to Claude through its memory feature, which is available on all paid plans. “With one copy-paste, Claude updates its memory and picks up right where you left off,” the company notes on its website. “Claude can import what matters, so your first conversation feels like your hundredth.” A step-by-step guide provides a prompt for the AI provider if a user wishes to leave in favor of Claude.

Anthropic’s AI model Claude gets popularity boost after US military feud

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AI actor Tilly Norwood's world is expanding with the 'Tillyverse' - Yahoo

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A quarter-century ago, SharePoint emerged with a clear objective: to enhance knowledge sharing and collaboration within organizations. Today, it has evolved to service over 1 billion users annually, witnessing the upload of more than 2 billion files, while 2 million new SharePoint sites are established daily.

SharePoint has also become crucial for leveraging AI in workplace settings. It serves as the primary knowledge base for Microsoft 365 Copilot, playing an essential role in the intelligence framework that powers Microsoft 365 Copilot and its associated agents. This foundation is essential for helping these tools comprehend users, their roles, and organizational dynamics.

Prominent companies like Takeda, Amey, Mars, and Hertz are integrating SharePoint's robust knowledge management into their AI initiatives. They understand that with the rise of Copilot and smart agents, knowledge must be dynamic and actionable, rather than static.

Let’s explore how SharePoint empowers users to activate knowledge by crafting practical solutions, confidently publishing content, and uncovering essential information.

**Creating Solutions: From Concept to Reality**

One of the most notable advancements in SharePoint’s evolution is the approach to building solutions. Traditionally reliant on extensive technical skills, the process now begins with straightforward intent expressed in natural language, transforming into functional solutions with the assistance of AI.

With new collaborative features in SharePoint, teams can plan, construct, and refine solutions together, bolstered by AI. Instead of a single prompt, this setup facilitates the development of comprehensive solutions tailored to key business areas, such as procurement contract repositories, IT support desks, and marketing content management, all within the secure SharePoint and Microsoft 365 environment.

A critical aspect of this innovation is the ability to establish custom AI skills, which encapsulate an organization’s specific knowledge, including standards, terminology, governance rules, and business logic. This customization ensures that AI provides relevant guidance tailored to the organization's practices.

For instance, a law firm could develop a contract review solution that aligns with its unique policies and terminology through custom AI skills, and SharePoint helps implement and maintain this solution as requirements evolve.

**Publishing Knowledge: Enhancing Organizational Insight**

Every day, countless authors leverage SharePoint to disseminate vital information, from executive messages to new product announcements. AI is now enhancing this process by boosting expertise, expanding the reach of knowledge, and converting personal insights into collective understanding, all based on established standards and governance.

To aid teams in effectively planning, creating, refining, and assessing content, SharePoint’s web publishing framework has been overhauled to incorporate AI seamlessly throughout the entire process, from creation to scaling. This built-in AI is adept at understanding web content and SharePoint components, even aiding in selecting backend models for various publishing tasks.

Centralized communication becomes more manageable while still engaging employees wherever they operate, allowing organizations to disseminate crucial information more quickly while adhering to standards and intentions.

**Discovering Knowledge: Integrating Insights into Daily Workflow**

In SharePoint, discovery has evolved beyond traditional search functionalities. It now occurs throughout various applications where employees engage with their work, including Copilot Chat, Teams, and within SharePoint itself.

Content within SharePoint forms the backbone of the semantic structure in Microsoft 365, empowering Copilot and its agents to analyze contextualized documents and sites effectively. Significant investments in building a leading semantic index and retrieval architecture enhance Copilot’s comprehension of SharePoint content, resulting in actionable insights derived from vast information pools.

This proactive discovery process allows Copilot to present relevant material in context, linking knowledge across Microsoft 365 and delivering responses rooted in the organization’s actual operations rather than generic data.

**Collaborating for an AI-Driven Future**

The continued success of SharePoint is deeply tied to the trust and feedback from its customers, partners, and global community. For 25 years, their support has shaped the platform’s development, and this collaboration will be even more pivotal as we advance into an AI-driven landscape. We take pride in what SharePoint has achieved for millions of users worldwide and are excited about future innovations we will create together.

For more information on recent updates, visit our Tech Community post, featuring demonstrations of the latest collaborative features in SharePoint.

To explore more about SharePoint and read detailed case studies from our customers, please continue your research.

SharePoint at 25: Worldwide corporate knowledge in the age of AI

A bright modern boardroom bathed in warm morning sunlight, a sleek oak conference table inlaid with a world map, at its center a large glowing SharePoint logo carved into the wood, digital document icons and AI-powered tablets hovering gently above neatly stacked papers, floor-to-ceiling windows framing a global cityscape—symbolizing 25 years of enterprise knowledge in the AI era.

SharePoint at 25: How Microsoft is putting knowledge to work in the AI era - Microsoft

- SharePoint serves over 1 billion users, facilitating knowledge sharing and collaboration organization-wide.  
- AI enhances SharePoint's role, powering features for Microsoft 365 Copilot and knowledge management.  
- New tools enable teams to build solutions collaboratively, transforming intent into real applications with AI.

Twenty-five years ago, SharePoint set out with a simple goal: help people share knowledge across the organization and work better together. Today, that mission operates at extraordinary scale, serving more than 1 billion users each year, with over 2 billion files uploaded and 2 million SharePoint sites created every day.

Moreover, SharePoint is indispensable for making AI useful at work, as it is now the number one grounding source for Microsoft 365 Copilot. This makes SharePoint foundational to Work IQ, the intelligence layer behind Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents, enabling them to understand you, your job, and your company.

Leading organizations like Takeda, Amey, Mars, Hertz, and many more are placing SharePoint’s trusted knowledge management at the core of their AI strategies. They recognize that in the new era shaped by Copilot and agents, knowledge can no longer remain passive, as it needs to be activated.

Now let’s dive into how SharePoint helps you activate your knowledge by building real solutions, publishing with confidence, and discovering critical content.

Build: From intent to real solutions

Perhaps the most exciting shift in SharePoint’s next chapter is how people build. What once required deep technical expertise increasingly starts with intent, described in natural language, and evolves into real, working solutions with AI as a collaborative tool.

New agentic experiences in SharePoint allow teams to plan, create, and iterate on solutions collaboratively with support from AI. Rather than a one-time prompt, this enables teams to build end-to-end solutions for critical business needs, ranging from procurement contract repositories to IT helpdesks to marketing content management, all at scale, governed within the trusted SharePoint and Microsoft 365 environment.

A key part of this transformation is the ability to create custom AI skills, which are packages of organizational knowledge such as standards, terminology, governance rules, and business logic. These skills ensure AI doesn’t act generically, but instead provides relevant assistance to how your organization works.

Consider for example a legal firm building a contract review solution that reflects company-specific policies, risk thresholds, and terminology. With custom AI skills, SharePoint can help teams develop this solution end-to-end, while keeping it updated and compliant as inputs evolve.

Describe what you need, and SharePoint handles the rest

Publish: Amplifying organizational knowledge

Every day, millions of authors publish critical knowledge to their intranet, ranging from leadership communications to the latest product launch, through SharePoint as their communication system of record. AI now helps amplify that foundation by enhancing expertise, extending knowledge impact, and turning individual insight into shared understanding, grounded in trusted controls and standards.

To help teams plan, create, refine, and measure content more effectively, we redesigned SharePoint’s web publishing system so AI is built-in throughout, supporting every step from creation to scale. This embedded AI is trained to deeply understand web content and SharePoint components, including the ability to assist in selecting backend models for specific web publishing tasks.

Communication becomes easier to manage centrally, while still reaching people wherever they work with engaging content. This helps organizations publish critical knowledge faster while staying aligned to standards and intent.

Create and publish with ease

Discover: Knowledge in the flow of work

Discovery in SharePoint no longer happens only in a search box. It happens everywhere people work, from Copilot Chat to Teams to SharePoint itself.

SharePoint content powers the semantic foundation of Microsoft 365, enabling Copilot and agents to reason over contextualized documents and sites with world-class retrieval and grounding. These deep investments produce industry leading semantic index and RAG architecture, which gives Copilot a more complete understanding of the content in SharePoint than any lightweight connector. This in turn enables Work IQ scenarios, transforming vast information into timely, relevant insights.

The result is proactive discovery: Copilot surfaces the right content in context, connects knowledge across Microsoft 365, and delivers answers grounded in your organization’s real work, not generic data.

Copilot reasons over content across SharePoint and Microsoft 365

Built together for the AI-powered future

SharePoint exists because of its customers, partners, and global community. For 25 years, their trust and feedback have shaped the platform, and that partnership matters even more as we move into an AI powered future. We’re proud of what SharePoint has enabled for millions of people around the world, and even more excited about what we’ll build together next.

For details on the updates referenced above, see our Tech Community post, which includes demos of new agentic experiences in SharePoint.

Learn more about SharePoint and read SharePoint customer case studies.

SharePoint at 25: Global enterprise knowledge in the AI era

Sarah Hannafin, representing the National Association of Head Teachers union, remarked that the results indicate that certain children possess a genuine awareness and understanding of both the advantages and the dangers associated with the use of AI and smartphones.

References to AI and screen time in BBC 500 Word articles rise.

A bright, sunlit British newsroom scene: on a polished wood desk lie several open “500 WORDS” story booklets with the words “AI” and little smartphone and tablet icons springing up from the pages like lively thought bubbles. A digital counter on a nearby monitor reads “AI Mentions +42%” and “Screen Time +58%.” Behind the desk, a large, crisp BBC logo is mounted on the wall. A sleek laptop and a vintage quill pen sit side by side, symbolizing the blend of traditional storytelling and modern tech.

Mentions of AI and screen-time in BBC 500 Word stories increases - BBC

- Sarah Hannafin noted children's awareness of AI and phone risks in recent findings.  
- The National Association of Head Teachers highlights benefits of technology usage among children.  
- The findings reveal children's insight into balancing technology's risks and advantages.  

Sarah Hannafin, from the National Association of Head Teachers union, said the findings "suggest some children have real self-awareness and insight about some of the risks as well as benefits of AI and phone use".

Mentions of AI and screen-time in BBC 500 Word stories increases

In San Antonio, a man who has overcome porn addiction is now sharing his experiences to guide other men grappling with similar struggles, particularly in an era where artificial intelligence intensifies the accessibility of explicit content. He emphasizes the significance of his journey to sobriety, especially as he watches his teenage daughter navigate the complexities of the online world.

Research from safefamilies.org reveals a troubling trend: many individuals who develop a pornography addiction later in life often first encountered such material between the ages of 10 and 13, with the addiction taking hold rapidly. Disturbingly, teens aged 12 to 17 comprise the largest demographic of internet pornography viewers in the United States, highlighting a serious issue that can stem from innocent curiosity.

The man, who prefers to remain anonymous for privacy reasons, underlines the urgency of sharing his story. “I was captivated by that content; it became a way to escape my reality,” he explained. “But it distanced me from my wife, daughter, and even from myself, pulling me into a cycle of shame.”

Growing up in an environment steeped in masculine ideals, the man recalls how easy access to explicit materials influenced his perceptions of women. “My father’s workplace was filled with adult magazines, and there were no boundaries. I stayed up late watching films without anyone guiding me about what was inappropriate. I was surrounded by male relatives who spoke about women in a hypersexualized manner.”

This early exposure, combined with his porn consumption, distorted his view of relationships. “I started to see women not as individuals but as objects, which made it impossible for me to connect with them on a personal level,” he confessed. 

With the rise of technology, particularly smartphones, he noted how his addiction escalated. “Once smartphones became prevalent, there were practically no limits. I could spend hours glued to my phone, continually searching for content. It terrifies me how effortless it is to access such material now.”

His struggles with porn eventually led him to develop an addiction to substances like drugs and alcohol. “Living under the weight of shame was devastating, and it consumed everything in my life,” he shared. “I became addicted to that shame, similar to how a person who tries to abstain from alcohol often ends up drinking. The same cycle occurred with porn: a single click could lead to an avalanche of harmful content.”

Fortunately, he has now been sober from pornography for six years. “I made the conscious decision to delete apps like Instagram and Facebook, recognizing they posed a risk,” he said.

As a father, he underscores the importance of open dialogue with children about these pressing issues. “While I wish I could shield my daughter from these influences, my best approach is to support her and engage in meaningful conversations,” he noted. He remains vigilant for any signs of distress, such as withdrawal or secrecy—indicators he wishes had been recognized during his own youth.

Reflecting on his past, he expressed a desire for deeper connections with his parents. “I longed for more attention and understanding. If they had been more present and loving, I might not have sought validation elsewhere,” he shared.

He encourages young people to speak up about their questions and concerns. “It’s essential to discuss these topics openly,” he advised. “If you feel uncomfortable talking to your parents, seek guidance from trusted individuals, whether that's a counselor or another adult. Exploring such issues alone can lead to harmful outcomes, so it’s crucial to understand where genuine support lies.”

Crime Stoppers of Houston is actively engaging with students statewide to raise awareness about the dangers of explicit content online, particularly in the context of artificial intelligence. CEO Rania Mankarious emphasized the need for adaptation to the evolving landscape of these challenges. “Children today face new forms of risks, which is why we’ve created an online safe space where they can interact through videos and chat services,” she explained. “Each year, we reach thousands of students, urging them not to share inappropriate images, as they can become tools for blackmail or extortion.”

Mankarious highlighted emerging threats posed by AI, where images can be manipulated to misrepresent someone, leading to unwanted consequences. “With AI, someone can take a photo and alter it to imply you were involved in something that you were not,” she cautioned, pointing out the necessity for both parents and children to understand how to navigate these risks.

She stressed the importance of taking immediate action against any threatening material, suggesting methods like blocking, taking screenshots, and reporting content to authorities. “Our goal is to prevent children from engaging with harmful materials. We are equipping schools with free resources to initiate these vital conversations,” she said. 

Schools across various districts are making significant efforts to provide vital information to both students and parents. For those interested in exploring these resources further, they can find additional details through relevant channels.

Former porn addict advocates for family discussions on safeguarding against explicit AI material.

A sunlit, cozy living room at mid-afternoon: a man and woman—leaning forward in earnest conversation—sit across a rustic wooden coffee table. Warm golden light filters through gauzy curtains, illuminating a laptop whose screen shows a friendly shield icon labeled “AI Content Filter.” On the table lie pamphlets titled “Family Chat Guide.” No children are present, but an empty chair hints at their place. The scene conveys hope and protection against explicit AI content.

Recovering porn addict urges conversation among families to protect against explicit AI content - KSAT

- A recovering pornography addict shares his journey to sobriety to help others.  
- Most pornography addictions begin in adolescence, often stemming from early exposure.  
- Crime Stoppers educates students about the dangers of explicit online content and AI.

SAN ANTONIO – A recovering pornography addict, who now speaks to men battling the addiction, is sharing his journey to sobriety to encourage staying on the right path when dealing with exploitative material in the age of artificial intelligence.

According to safefamilies.org, most people struggling with pornography addiction later in life were first exposed when they were 10-13 years of age, and the addiction set in quickly.

Those aged 12-17 years old are the largest group of internet pornography viewers in America, the organization said. An alarming statistic that could have started with a simple click of curiosity.

The man said that sharing his story is even more important now that he has a teen daughter navigating today’s internet. KSAT is not identifying the man due to privacy concerns.

“I was hooked with that stuff, but it was an escape from everything,” he said. “It takes me away from my wife and my daughter and myself because it puts me in a shame spiral.”

He said he grew up in a sexualized, male-dominated household.

“At my dad’s business, he had a drawer full of Playboys,” he said. “There were no rules. I could stay up late and do whatever. It started with watching movies late. I didn’t know what I was doing, but no one was telling me what to do or not do or showed me anything about that. I grew up with a bunch of uncles and a dad who always talked masculine about women and checking them out.”

That seed, coupled with watching porn, made it hard for him to have a relationship with anyone.

“I sexualized women so much, making them into things and not into people,” he said. “I was always thinking about bad things. I just couldn’t get close to them.”

He admitted that his addiction got worse as technology advanced.

“Once it started getting into phones, the sky was (the) limit,” he said. “It was a crappy limit, but anything was on the phone. I could watch videos of all kinds for hours at a time. When I am sick like that, that phone is never going to let me down. I am just a couple of clicks away. It does scare me with just how easy it is. It is all over the place now.”

Being addicted to porn developed an addiction for drugs and alcohol for him.

“When you are living a life of shame, it costs you everything,” he said. “I am addicted to shame. Even though I hated it, I was going to do it. Nothing was going to stop me because that was my addiction. It’s like buying a bottle of vodka. I know I am going to tell myself do no drink it, but I end up drinking it. It is the same with porn. You’re online and see a simple video of slightly scantily clad women, but then that snowballs and the next thing you know, you are down a rabbit hole.”

Fortunately, it has been six years since he’s sober from his addiction to porn.

“I deleted Instagram, Facebook and all of that because I know for me that is still a hook,” he said.

Now, as a father of a teen daughter, he encourages having productive conversations between parents and their children.

“I can’t safeguard my daughter from any of this stuff as much as I want to protect her,” he said. “All I can do is be there for her. Have those conversations with her. Also, I look for any red flags. If she is shutting down, hiding, being isolated. Signs that I wish people realized of me when I was (a) boy.”

When asked if he could go back to speak with his parents growing up, to help avoid the dark path he ended up on, he said he would have loved to have been seen.

“I would ask for more attention and hearing me and seeing me and learning what is really going on with me,” he said. “Being more present. Giving more love on the front end because when that love is really shown and If I felt heard and seen, there would have been no reason for me to try to get heard and seen somewhere else.”

He recommends kids ask questions.

“You have to talk about it,” he said. “Ask questions to your parents what certain things mean and if you don’t feel like you can talk to your parents, talk to a trusted person in your life. Maybe a counselor or something. You can’t go exploring all over the place by yourself because that could lead to a dark dark path. You have to learn the right way where your love really is. The more we are quiet, the more it kills us.”

Crime Stoppers of Houston is working closely with thousands of students across the state to educate them about the dangers of explicit online content, especially in the context of artificial intelligence (AI).

“The world has changed, and the issues that children are dealing with have changed,” said Rania Mankarious, the CEO of Crime Stoppers of Houston. “That is why we have a safe space for students online where kids can go to see interactive videos from other teens and can talk through a chat service. We talk to thousands of kids every year, and the message is to tell kids not to send inappropriate photos whatsoever to anyone because they could be used as blackmail or extortion.”

Now the conversation has shifted to people manipulating images using AI against a victim’s will.

“Through the world of AI, someone can put a pic out there, and it (can) be manipulated to make it look like you were doing something that you never engaged in,” she said. “They can even snap a photo of you at the grocery store or at a game and do something threatening with it for the internet. We want parents and children to know there is always a way out of that kind of trouble.”

She emphasized the importance of blocking, screenshotting, and reporting any threatening content such as this.

“The reality is that we don’t want children to engage with any of this,” she said. “That is why we are providing schools with free resources to start those conversations with digital tools and assets. Several school districts are doing a lot to get information in front of students and parents.”

If you are interested in learning more about these resources, click here.

Recovering porn addict urges conversation among families to protect against explicit AI content

In Nashville, Tennessee, Professor Vasileios Maroulas from the University of Tennessee is at the forefront of an artificial intelligence initiative known as AI Tennessee. His focus is on equipping students with the skills needed to navigate the forthcoming shifts in the job market.

According to a report by FOX17 News' Johnny Maffei, District Attorney offices throughout Tennessee are increasingly adopting AI technologies to enhance their operational efficiency, particularly in light of staff shortages. However, the impact of AI is twofold; while it improves workflow, many employers are also expressing concerns about potential job losses. Notably, Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter—now rebranded as X—has recently announced plans to reduce his workforce by almost 50%, citing AI as a significant factor in this decision.

Maroulas emphasizes the importance of viewing AI not as a disruptive force but as a transition in the workforce. He believes that if society is apprehensive about AI, it may indeed create a shock. "Technology has historically led to the creation of numerous new opportunities," he notes, pointing out that a staggering 80% of jobs classified as ‘White Collar’ emerged in the period following World War II. Maroulas urges a proactive rather than reactive approach to integrating AI into the workforce.

Tennessee professor discusses workforce changes, saying treating AI as a shock will create a real shock.

A dimly lit university lecture hall at dusk, warm natural light spilling in through tall windows onto a lone professor’s back as he sketches a jagged lightning bolt of glowing AI circuitry across a chalkboard labeled “Workforce Evolution.” Below the bolt, silhouetted human figures and industrial robots recoil in shock. A Tennessee state flag hangs prominently beside the board, adding regional context to this moody, dramatic scene.

'If we treat AI as a shock, its gonna be a shock:' Tennessee prof. talks workforce changes - WZTV

- Professor Vasileios Maroulas leads AI Tennessee to prepare students for workforce changes.  
- District Attorney offices utilize AI for efficiency amid staff shortages across the state.  
- Jack Dorsey announces layoffs at Block, citing AI as impacting job availability.  

Nashville, Tenn. (WZTV) -- University of Tennessee Professor Vasileios Maroulas leads the artificial intelligence initiative, AI Tennessee, and tries to make sure students are ready for the changes coming to the workforce.

FOX17 News' Johnny Maffei reported District Attorney offices across the state are using AI to streamline work due to some staff shortages. But it's not just for efficiency, employers say its taking jobs, too. Jack Dorsey, who founded Twitter, now known as X, has since started Block and recently announced he's laying off nearly half of his staff due to artificial intelligence.

Maroulas says "if we treat AI as a shock, its gonna be a shock." He adds the humans need to treat it like a workforce transition, not a takeover. "Technology always generated more, an exponential number of further opportunities. For example, 80% of what we call ‘White Collar Jobs,’ they were introduced after the second World War," Maroulas tells Maffei.

'If we treat AI as a shock, its gonna be a shock:' Tennessee prof. talks workforce changes

Earlier this year, Bloomberg revealed that Apple was considering utilizing Google servers for the long-awaited new Siri models instead of relying on its own Private Cloud Compute infrastructure. Today, The Information has echoed this report, indicating that Google has been assigned the responsibility of managing Siri servers within its data centers while ensuring compliance with Apple's privacy requirements.

The report elaborates on the limitations of Apple’s Private Cloud Compute, describing it as not only underpowered but also underutilized, with the company leveraging just about 10% of its potential capacity. This inefficiency has resulted in numerous Apple servers remaining idle in warehouses.

Moreover, Apple’s cloud infrastructure appears to be quite fragmented. Various teams operate their technologies separately rather than relying on a unified system accessible to all departments. This disconnection creates inefficiencies, with certain areas of the infrastructure sitting unused while others are constrained by the lack of access to available server resources. The finance team at Apple has expressed dissatisfaction with the costs associated with this redundancy, yet there has been hesitance to invest substantial resources into reworking the system. Although there have been multiple attempts to consolidate these efforts over the past decade, progress has been repeatedly hindered.

Regarding Private Cloud Compute, the system is characterized as insufficiently powerful, posing more challenges than advantages. Updating its software is reportedly time-consuming and complicated. More fundamentally, the hardware, which is believed to predominantly feature modified M2 Ultra processors, lacks the capability to support cutting-edge models like Gemini, which the upcoming Siri is set to utilize.

Additionally, initial Apple Intelligence features have not captured user attention as anticipated, casting the Private Cloud Compute expansion in a negative light. While Apple anticipates a significant uptick in demand for the new Siri chatbot capabilities upon their eventual release, the existing Private Cloud Compute framework does not seem equipped to handle such needs.

As a result, Apple is currently in advanced discussions with Google to host the new Siri functionality in their data centers. Google possesses considerable expertise in scaling large language models (LLMs) due to its work with Gemini. Currently, Apple already collaborates with Google for certain iCloud services, including cloud storage solutions.

Given the rapidly evolving AI landscape, Apple’s leadership may be prompted to reassess their cloud infrastructure strategy and consider more substantial investments in-house in the future. However, executing these changes will likely require a longer-term focus. 

For further details, you can find the complete story at The Information.

Some Apple AI servers are allegedly left idle on warehouse shelves because of limited usage of Apple Intelligence.

A dim, shadowy warehouse aisle lit by a few flickering amber high-bay lamps. Rows of silver Apple-branded server units sit untouched on metal shelves, edges coated in dust and cobwebs. A lone worker’s silhouette in the distance sweeps a handheld light across the idle machines. The large white Apple logo on a central rack is the only bright spot in this quiet, underused tech graveyard.

Some Apple AI servers are reportedly sitting unused on warehouse shelves, due to low Apple Intelligence usage - 9to5Mac

- Apple is reportedly moving Siri's server infrastructure to Google due to underperformance issues.  
- Current Private Cloud Compute is underutilized, using about 10% of its capacity.  
- Apple's fragmented cloud technology has led to inefficiencies and stalled unification attempts.  

Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that Apple was looking to host the much-delayed new Siri models on Google servers, rather than Apple’s Private Cloud Compute. The Information is reporting a similar story this morning, saying that Google has been tasked with running Siri servers inside its data centers, while adhering to Apple’s privacy standards.

The Information goes on to detail how Private Cloud Compute is not up to task. As well as being underpowered, it is also reportedly underutilized in its current state, with the company only using about 10% of its capacity on average, leading to some already-manufactured Apple servers to be sitting dormant on warehouse shelves.

The report explains how Apple’s cloud infrastructure is very fragmented. The technologies of different team are run independently, rather than having one centralized pool that any department in the company can draw from.

This leads to inefficiencies where parts of the company’s stack sit idling, while other parts would use the available server capacity, if they could access it. The Apple finance team has apparently been frustrated about the costs of this duplicate infrastructure, but also unwilling to invest billions in overhauling the stack. There has apparently been several attempts inside the company to unify everything, but those projects have stalled several times over the last decade.

For Private Cloud Compute specifically, the system is described as underpowered and perhaps more trouble than it’s worth. Updating the software is apparently trickier and takes time, and more fundamentally the chips (believed to comprise right now of modified M2 Ultra processors) are not powerful enough to run the latest frontier models like Gemini, which the new Siri will be based on.

And as the initial crop of Apple Intelligence features hasn’t been used as much as Apple expected, the Private Cloud Compute buildout is seen in a negative light. While Apple is expecting much higher demand for the new Siri chatbot features whenever they finally land, the current Private Cloud Compute stack does not seem up to the task of running it.

Hence, Apple is in advanced talks with Google to run new Siri inside their data centers instead, a company which already has a lot of experience with mass LLM server buildouts thanks to Gemini. The company already relies on Google’s cloud for some iCloud features, like cloud storage.

The ever-changing landscape of AI may have forced Apple leadership to change their approach to cloud infrastructure, and may invest more heavily in-house going forward, but implementing those changes is a much longer term trajectory.

You can read the full story over at The Information.

Some Apple AI servers are reportedly sitting unused on warehouse shelves, due to low Apple Intelligence usage

On Friday night, in the wake of tensions between the Department of Defense and Anthropic, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, revealed that his company had reached a new agreement with the Pentagon. This development comes after the U.S. government opted to blacklist Anthropic for refusing to compromise on crucial ethical principles regarding military applications: specifically, a rejection of mass surveillance on American citizens and the use of lethal autonomous weapons that operate without human oversight. Altman suggested that OpenAI had managed to secure similar protections within its own contractual terms.

“Our commitment to safety includes strong prohibitions against domestic mass surveillance and ensuring human accountability for any use of force, even with autonomous weapons,” Altman stated. He noted that the Defense Department aligns with these principles, which are embedded in their contract. He referred to the Department of Defense using its former name, the Department of War, a nod to the administration's language preferences.

However, many in the AI and tech communities quickly raised questions about Altman's assertions. They were puzzled as to why the Pentagon would concede on these critical issues, particularly when it had previously asserted it would continue to collect data on Americans without hesitation.

Sources close to the Pentagon informed The Verge that, contrary to Altman's claims, the Defense Department did not alter its stance. Instead, OpenAI agreed to adhere to longstanding laws that have historically allowed for mass surveillance, insisting that it would still maintain its ethical boundaries.

An insider familiar with the negotiations mentioned that OpenAI's contract is significantly more permissive than what Anthropic had proposed, primarily due to a crucial phrase: "any lawful use." According to this individual, the Pentagon was unwavering in its ambition to gather and analyze extensive data on Americans. A meticulous examination of OpenAI's contract reveals that it ultimately allows for the use of OpenAI’s technology to facilitate any actions deemed technically legal by the U.S. military, which has often utilized a broad interpretation of "legality" to justify extensive surveillance programs.

Miles Brundage, a former head of policy research at OpenAI, suggested on social media that, given insights from legal experts and Pentagon officials, OpenAI employees might conclude that the company had compromised its principles while portraying the situation as maintaining its boundaries, consequently undermining Anthropic's position.

A spokesperson for OpenAI, Kate Waters, countered that the Pentagon had not sought mass surveillance capabilities and asserted that the agreement does not allow for breaches of privacy. “The system is not to be used for bulk, open-ended, or generalized data collection on Americans,” Waters emphasized.

The capabilities of AI systems could enable military or other government departments to conduct surveillance with unprecedented precision. AI excels in pattern recognition, meaning it could integrate a multitude of data points about individuals — from location data, online activity, and personal finance information to public records and CCTV footage. As Amodei from Anthropic pointed out, leveraging such technologies for extensive domestic surveillance contradicts the values of a democracy, as powerful AI could compile extensive personal profiles with ease.

While Anthropic has been adamant about prohibiting mass surveillance in its contracts, OpenAI's agreement appears firmly rooted in existing legal frameworks. The company claims its contract asserts that any intel activities involving private data must comply with numerous legal provisions, including the Fourth Amendment and various acts regulating national security and surveillance.

Nevertheless, skepticism abounds. The post-9/11 era saw intelligence agencies initiate surveillance systems that purportedly adhered to legal standards, which were later exposed as highly invasive. Notable revelations by Edward Snowden in 2013 underscored the scale of domestic spying, encompassing practices like the daily collection of Verizon customer data and bulk data gathering from major tech firms through secret programs such as PRISM. Despite commitments to reform, tangible restrictions on these practices have been minimal. Mike Masnick from Techdirt remarked that OpenAI’s agreement indeed permits domestic surveillance, branding EO 12333 as the legal means by which the NSA conceals its domestic operations.

Waters reiterated that the Pentagon had not requested permission for such data collection and that OpenAI’s agreement prohibits broad monitoring of U.S. residents’ private information, insisting that intelligence operations must adhere strictly to U.S. laws.

Amodei has expressed publicly that current laws have not evolved sufficiently to address the surveillance capabilities that AI can deliver. Altman stressed that OpenAI’s contract “incorporates our principles into existing laws and policies,” emphasizing that adherence to the present legal framework is paramount, even as laws evolve.

The ambiguity in the language used by OpenAI has raised concerns among experts. Sarah Shoker, a senior research scholar at UC Berkeley, pointed out that the wording in OpenAI’s responses lacks clarity on what specific actions are restricted. Terms like "unconstrained," "generalized," and "open-ended" suggest flexibility that could allow leadership to adapt to situations without a clear prohibition.

Given the current terms, it appears that OpenAI’s technology could be utilized by the Pentagon for extensive intelligence operations against Americans, including large-scale data mining and profiling based on public records and purchased data.

OpenAI's stance on lethal autonomous weapons has also drawn scrutiny. The company claims its Pentagon contract aligns with existing Department of Defense regulations, which require human oversight in the use of such weaponry. However, critics note that this does not prohibit the use of autonomous weapons overall; it merely delineates circumstances under which human control is mandatory, leaving ambiguity in the practical application of the technology.

Significantly, the majority of the terms in OpenAI’s agreement are not novel; they reflect deals made previously by other AI firms working with the Pentagon. The technical safeguards outlined by OpenAI are not unique and their effectiveness remains questionable.

Altman argued that OpenAI was introducing measures to ensure compliance with its red lines, including providing security clearances to some employees and implementing classifiers to monitor AI systems. However, detractors argue that these safeguards have limited effectiveness and will not guarantee adherence to human oversight protocols during critical decisions.

Even as OpenAI maintains it has set boundaries on its technology's use, the flexibility of the Pentagon's interpretation of what constitutes "legal" may erode these safeguards. Historical patterns demonstrate that intelligence practices can evolve to circumvent initial restrictions.

OpenAI has urged the Pentagon to extend similar contractual terms to all AI companies, suggesting that compliance with these agreements should be the standard across the industry.

In their discussions, figures such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and former President Trump condemned any potential for a tech company's influence over military operations, affirming that such decisions must reside solely with the military leadership and elected officials.

The contrast in approaches between OpenAI and Anthropic is stark, with the latter rejecting the terms presented by the Pentagon, resulting in severe sanctions that include being designated as a "supply chain risk.” Despite the repercussions, support for Anthropic has surged within the tech community, as many employees rally behind the company's principled stance. Notably, Anthropic has recently gained traction on app platforms, surpassing OpenAI's offerings in downloads, reflecting the public's response to its commitment.

While Amodei has been portrayed as a champion for ethical AI, his stance on lethal autonomous weapons indicates openness to their future use, contingent upon advancements in their reliability. He has suggested that developing more dependable autonomous systems is essential for national defense capabilities, highlighting a complex landscape where the ethical considerations of AI in warfare are continually evolving.

OpenAI's decision to yield to the Pentagon regarding AI surveillance

A moody nighttime scene: the silhouette of the Pentagon looms under harsh searchlights, a small U.S. flag fluttering by its steps. In the foreground, a sleek corporate office façade bears “OpenAI” in plain white text—no logo—its windows reflecting rows of hovering surveillance drones. A lone, shadowy military officer stands just behind the building, arms crossed, as beams of light sweep across the sky. Muted olive and slate tones, deep shadows, cinematic tension.

How OpenAI caved to the Pentagon on AI surveillance - The Verge

- OpenAI negotiated terms with the Pentagon, maintaining limits on mass surveillance and autonomous weapons.  
- Critics argue OpenAI's agreement allows for mass surveillance under existing legal definitions.  
- Anthropic rejected similar terms, resulting in the Pentagon blacklisting the company as a risk.

is The Verge’s senior AI reporter. An AI beat reporter for more than five years, her work has also appeared in CNBC, MIT Technology Review, Wired UK, and other outlets.

On Friday evening, amidst fallout from a standoff between the Department of Defense and Anthropic, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that his own company had successfully negotiated new terms with the Pentagon. The US government had just moved to blacklist Anthropic for standing firm on two red lines for military use: no mass surveillance of Americans and no lethal autonomous weapons (or AI systems with the power to kill targets without human oversight). Altman, however, implied that he’d found a unique way to keep those same limits in OpenAI’s contract.

“Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems,” Altman wrote. “The DoW agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them into our agreement,” he added, using the Trump Administration’s preferred name for the Defense Department, the Department of War.

Across social media and the AI industry, people immediately began to challenge Altman’s claim. Why, they asked, would the Pentagon suddenly agree to these red lines when it had said — in no uncertain terms — that it would never do so?

The answer, sources told The Verge, is that the Pentagon didn’t budge. OpenAI agreed to follow laws that have allowed for mass surveillance in the past, while insisting they protect its red lines.

One source familiar with the Pentagon’s negotiations with AI companies confirmed that OpenAI’s deal is much softer than the one Anthropic was pushing for, thanks largely to three words: “any lawful use.” In negotiations, the person said, the Pentagon wouldn’t back down on its desire to collect and analyze bulk data on Americans. If you look line-by-line at the OpenAI terms, the source said, every aspect of it boils down to: If it’s technically legal, then the US military can use OpenAI’s technology to carry it out. And over the past decades, the US government has stretched the definition of “technically legal” to cover sweeping mass surveillance programs — and more.

OpenAI’s former head of policy research, Miles Brundage, said on X that “in light of what external lawyers and the Pentagon are saying, OpenAI employees’ default assumption here should unfortunately be that OpenAI caved + framed it as not caving, and screwed Anthropic while framing it as helping them.”

In a statement to The Verge, OpenAI spokesperson Kate Waters said the Pentagon had not asked for mass surveillance powers and denied that the agreement allowed for the crossing of certain lines. “The system cannot be used to collect or analyze Americans’ data in a bulk, open-ended, or generalized way,” Waters said.

AI systems could help the military (or other departments) conduct widespread surveillance operations with unprecedented levels of detail. AI’s best talent is finding patterns, and human behavior is nothing if not a set of patterns — imagine an AI system layering, for any one individual, geolocation data, web browsing information, personal financial data, CCTV footage, voter registration records, and more — some publicly available, some purchased from data brokers. “Using these systems for mass domestic surveillance is incompatible with democratic values,” Amodei wrote in a statement. “Powerful AI makes it possible to assemble this scattered, individually innocuous data into a comprehensive picture of any person’s life—automatically and at massive scale.”

While Anthropic says it pushed for a contract that specifically proscribes the practice, OpenAI appears to rely heavily on existing legal limits. It said its Pentagon agreement states that “for intelligence activities, any handling of private information will comply with the Fourth Amendment, the National Security Act of 1947 and the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act of 1978, Executive Order 12333, and applicable DoD directives requiring a defined foreign intelligence purpose.”

“OpenAI employees’ default assumption here should unfortunately be that OpenAI caved + framed it as not caving.”

But this isn’t reassuring. In the years after 9/11, US intelligence agencies ramped up a surveillance system that they determined fell within the legal limits OpenAI cites, including multiple mass domestic spying operations (along with apparently highly invasive international ones). In 2013, National Security Agency intelligence contractor Edward Snowden revealed the extent of some of these programs, such as reportedly collecting telephone records of Verizon customers on an “ongoing, daily” basis, and gathering bulk data on individuals from tech companies like Microsoft, Google, and Apple via a secretive program called PRISM. Despite promises of reform from intelligence agencies and attempts at legal changes, few significant limits to these powers were enacted. Mike Masnick, founder of Techdirt, said online that OpenAI’s deal “absolutely does allow for domestic surveillance. EO 12333 is how the NSA hides its domestic surveillance by capturing communications by tapping into lines *outside the US* even if it contains info from/on US persons.”

“The intelligence law section of this is very persuasive if you don’t realize that every bad intelligence scandal in the last 30 years had a legal memo saying it complied with those authorities,” Palisade Research’s Dave Kasten wrote of OpenAI’s agreement.

The Pentagon “has not asked us to support that type of collection or analysis, and our agreement does not permit it,” Waters said. “Our agreement does not permit uses of our models for unconstrained monitoring of U.S. persons’ private information, and all intelligence activities must comply with existing US law. In practical terms, this means the system cannot be used to collect or analyze Americans’ data in a bulk, open-ended, or generalized way.”

Anthropic’s Amodei has publicly said that the law had not yet caught up with AI’s ability to conduct surveillance on a massive scale. And Altman takes pains in his statement to say that OpenAI’s contract “reflects [its red lines] in law and policy,” meaning that it’s simply abiding by existing laws and existing Pentagon policies, the latter of which can change at any time. (OpenAI attempts to address the latter issue in a Q&A, where it says the contract “explicitly references the surveillance and autonomous weapons laws and policies as they exist today, so that even if those laws or policies change in the future, use of our systems must still remain aligned with the current standards reflected in the agreement.”)

Do you work for an AI company with military contracts? Contact me via Signal at haydenfield.11 on a non-work device with tips.

Sarah Shoker, a senior research scholar at the University of California, Berkeley and former lead of OpenAI’s geopolitics team, told The Verge that “I think there are a lot of modifying words that are in the sentences that the [OpenAI] spokesperson gave.” Shoker added that the vagueness of the language doesn’t make it clear what exactly is prohibited here. “The use of the word ‘unconstrained,’ the use of the word ‘generalized,’ ‘open-ended’ manner — that’s not a complete prohibition. That is language that’s designed to allow optionality for the leadership… It allows leaders also not to lie to their employees in the event that the Pentagon does use the LLM in a legal manner without OpenAI leadership’s knowledge.”

Based on what we’ve seen of OpenAI’s existing contract and according to the Pentagon’s current legal constraints, it could legally use OpenAI’s technology to search foreign intelligence databases for information on Americans on a large scale. The Pentagon could also buy bulk location data from data brokers and use OpenAI’s tech to map out Americans’ typical patterns, or to quickly and seamlessly build profiles of many American citizens from publicly available data, including surveillance footage, social media posts, online news, voter registration records, and more, potentially layered onto other data it had purchased already.

OpenAI’s “red line” on lethal autonomous weapons is similarly weak. The company’s contract with the Pentagon, which the company released excerpts from on Saturday, states that OpenAI’s technology “will not be used to independently direct autonomous weapons in any case where law, regulation, or Department policy requires human control.” That would put it in compliance with a 2023 Department of Defense directive. There appear to be no additional contractually obligated bans or restrictions — which is ostensibly why it was able to sign an agreement with the Pentagon. Anthropic, meanwhile, sought a ban for unsupervised lethal autonomous weapons, at least until it deemed the technology ready.

The source said that the majority of OpenAI’s agreement was nothing new, and it wasn’t anything that other AI companies involved in Pentagon deals hadn’t seen before, whether due to elements floated in negotiations or things that AI companies involved with the Pentagon had already been doing.

OpenAI’s technical safeguards aren’t new — and their power is limited

After a Trump administration official confirmed that OpenAI’s agreement “flows from the touchstone of ‘all lawful use,’” Altman cited other parts of the agreement to make the case that OpenAI was maintaining its red lines. He said some OpenAI employees would receive security clearances to check in on the systems, for example, and that OpenAI would introduce classifiers (or small models that can monitor and tag large models, potentially blocking them from performing certain actions). In OpenAI’s blog post about the agreement, the company writes that its deployment architecture “will enable us to independently verify that these red lines are not crossed, including running and updating classifiers.”

But that’s not necessarily true, he said. The source said AI companies involved with the Pentagon already use these safeguards, and their impact is limited. Classifiers, for instance, wouldn’t be able to confirm whether a human reviewed an AI system’s decision to attack a target before the kill strike, the source said. Nor, the source added, could it tell if a query to summarize an American’s social media posts is a one-off request or part of a mass surveillance program. And if the government determines an action is legal, then OpenAI’s classifiers wouldn’t be allowed to prohibit the technology from carrying it out, the source said.

Altman said OpenAI’s deal includes “human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems.” That’s different from Anthropic’s demand: not deploying these systems “without proper [human] oversight.” Though it’s tough when the specific contracts’ definitions of these terms aren’t explicitly available, human responsibility could easily denote someone being responsible for these systems’ decisions after the fact, while Anthropic’s request for oversight would have required humans in the loop before and/or during an AI system’s decisions to kill targets.

As with mass surveillance, OpenAI argues technical safeguards would help maintain its red line for killer robots. The company wrote that it was “not providing the DoW with ‘guardrails off’ or non-safety trained models,” and its technology would be deployed only in the cloud, not on edge devices (or devices that process data locally, such as a military drone) — where it said “there could be a possibility of usage for autonomous lethal weapons.”

But the source said that deploying OpenAI’s technology only in the cloud means little for either of OpenAI’s stated limits. Mass domestic surveillance, the source said, requires such a large volume of data that it’s virtually impossible not to carry it out using the cloud. And even if most kill decisions are carried out on a local machine, most of the decisions leading up to that — the “autonomous kill chain” — involve running powerful algorithms in the cloud first, the source said. Even if OpenAI’s tech isn’t directly involved in pulling the trigger, it could very well be powering everything leading up to that point, with no guarantee a human oversees the final step.

And, again: OpenAI’s agreement says it will allow anything the US government determines is legal. Even its assurances that it will only follow current laws and policies, not ones that are changed or reissued, may not offer meaningful safeguards. In the past, agencies have reinterpreted existing laws in ways that effectively allow them new powers. And the Trump administration has claimed laws like the International Emergency Economic Powers Act justify unprecedented presidential powers like imposing global tariffs. These powers have, in fact, sometimes been declared illegal — but only after months of legal battles, during which OpenAI would have to either follow the administration’s orders or make an independent judgment call about the law. Altman has publicly stated that, unlike Anthropic, OpenAI is “generally quite comfortable with the laws of the US.”

OpenAI says it’s asked the Pentagon to “offer these same terms to all AI companies, which in our opinion we think everyone should be willing to accept.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Trump, in a barrage of social media posts, crowed that they would never allow a private tech company to influence how the US military utilized technology for war. “The Commander-in-Chief and the American people alone will determine the destiny of our armed forces, not unelected tech executives,” Hegseth wrote, and “America’s warfighters will never be held hostage by the ideological whims of Big Tech.”

Even Jeremy Lewin, an undersecretary in the Trump administration, said that the Pentagon’s deal with OpenAI (and another agreement with xAI) was a “compromise that Anthropic was offered, and rejected” — meaning that the terms did not align with Anthropic’s own red lines. Lewin said the deals included certain mutually agreed-upon safety mechanisms, plausibly the technical safeguards Altman mentioned.

In Altman’s Friday announcement, he said OpenAI had asked the Pentagon to “offer these same terms to all AI companies, which in our opinion we think everyone should be willing to accept.” It seemed to be a dig at Anthropic, since the OpenAI rival had not accepted such an agreement so far and had, according to Lewin, already been offered the same deal and refused it.

Refusing that “compromise” has had major consequences for Anthropic. On Friday, after negotiations broke down between it and the Pentagon, the latter announced Anthropic would be labeled a supply-chain risk, a classification usually reserved for foreign companies with cybersecurity concerns and virtually never made public or applied to an American company. Anthropic said it was willing to challenge the designation in court. Trump ordered federal agencies to drop Anthropic’s AI, and it wasn’t immediately clear to what extent the Pentagon would potentially blacklist companies that use Claude for services unrelated to national security.

Tech workers across the industry have supported Anthropic for its decision to stand firm and wondered why their own companies weren’t aligning with Anthropic’s own red lines and standing together. The company’s decision has been lauded online, and on Saturday it surpassed ChatGPT to become the most-downloaded app on Apple’s App Store. Public figures, celebrities, and AI leaders expressing their support — including pop star Katy Perry signing up for a Claude Pro subscription.

It’s worth repeating, however, that despite Amodei’s being largely painted as a hero here, he is not at all against lethal autonomous weapons sometime in the future — it’s something Anthropic has made clear that it’s fully ready to support. In his public statements, Amodei has even offered to partner with the DoD on “R&D to improve the reliability of these systems” so that the military’s use of lethal autonomous weapons, under Anthropic’s terms, could be sped up. All Amodei has said is that the technology is not reliable enough “today” to kill human targets unsupervised.

“Fully autonomous weapons (those that take humans out of the loop entirely and automate selecting and engaging targets) may prove critical for our national defense,” Amodei said. “But today, frontier AI systems are simply not reliable enough to power [them].”

How OpenAI caved to the Pentagon on AI surveillance

The impact of artificial intelligence on workplace relationships is a topic of growing concern, particularly as technology continues to integrate into daily business operations. While AI can streamline processes and enhance productivity, it also has the potential to create rifts among team members.

One of the primary ways AI disrupts work relationships is through reduced human interaction. As automation takes over routine tasks, employees may find themselves communicating less face-to-face, leading to a decrease in collaboration and camaraderie. This lack of interpersonal engagement can foster feelings of isolation and dissatisfaction among team members.

Moreover, reliance on AI systems for decision-making can result in a diminished sense of agency. When employees feel that machines dictate their work environment, it can lead to frustration and resentment. This dynamic not only impacts morale but could also undermine creativity, as individuals may hesitate to contribute ideas or innovations when they feel overshadowed by technology.

However, it's important to recognize that AI can also play a beneficial role in fostering positive workplace relationships. For example, when used thoughtfully, AI can assist with task management, allowing employees to focus on higher-level, collaborative projects. This approach can encourage team bonding as workers come together to tackle challenges that require varied expertise and problem-solving skills.

Additionally, AI tools can help facilitate communication among team members, especially in remote or hybrid work settings. By streamlining information sharing and ensuring that everyone is on the same page, technology can bridge the gaps that might otherwise emerge among colleagues.

In conclusion, while AI poses certain risks to workplace relationships through diminished interaction and decision-making authority, it also offers significant opportunities for enhancing collaboration and communication. Striking a balance between leveraging AI's capabilities and maintaining human connections is essential for fostering a healthy, productive work environment.

The Impact of AI on Workplace Relationships: The Harm It Causes and Its Potential Benefits

A split‐scene in a contemporary office corridor: on the left, under a cool shadow, two colleagues stand back‐to‐back with a jagged, floating cloud of glitchy data shards drifting between them, their expressions tense and distant; on the right, bathed in warm natural light pouring through large windows, a small team gathers around a sleek transparent tablet displaying clear AI-generated annotations, smiling as they point and collaborate; subtle streams of digital code weave from the dark side toward the bright side, hinting at AI’s dual power to divide and to unite.

How AI Damages Work Relationships—and Where It Can Actually Help - Harvard Business Review

- AI can create misunderstandings and reduce personal interactions among colleagues at work.  
- Employees may fear job displacement due to AI, leading to decreased morale and trust.  
- However, AI can assist in tasks, improving efficiency and freeing time for collaboration.

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How AI Damages Work Relationships—and Where It Can Actually Help

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