MicroWave

joined 2 years ago
 

The Trump administration on Friday ordered all U.S. agencies to stop using Anthropic’s AI technology and imposed other major penalties, culminating an unusually public clash between the government and the company over AI safeguards.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he was designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk, a move that could prevent U.S. military vendors from working with the company.

Hegseth’s remarks, delivered in a social media post, came shortly after the Pentagon’s deadline for Anthropic to allow unrestricted military use of its AI technology or face consequences — and nearly 24 hours after CEO Dario Amodei said his company “cannot in good conscience accede” to the Defense Department’s demands.

 

The health secretary thought he was offering practical advice to people who can’t afford their groceries anymore.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy is addressing the affordability crisis by asking Americans to eat more liver and less steak.

“There’s a lot of good food in grocery stores that goes to waste. Most of the cheap cuts of meat are very inexpensive. If you buy a porterhouse steak … it is gonna set you back,” the secretary said as he gave the keynote address at the “Eat Real Food” rally in Austin, Texas, on Thursday. “You can buy liver, or the cheaper cuts of steak that are very very affordable.”

Nothing’s wrong with eating liver. But to put the burden of the affordability crisis on the choices of everyday Americans rather than the administration he works for is woefully out of touch.

 

Mary Walsh, leaving after 46 years, says staffers told to ‘aim our reporting at a particular part of the political spectrum’

A veteran CBS News producer who is leaving the network after 46 years has suggested that political bias is at play at the network in a farewell memo sent to colleagues on Friday afternoon.

“We’ve been reading a lot of goodbyes lately and here I am headed out the door. It’s too soon, even after 46 years,” Mary Walsh wrote in the memo, which was obtained by the Guardian. “But maybe it’s for the best. We’ve been told to aim our reporting at a particular part of the political spectrum. Honestly, I don’t know how to do that.”

The memo comes a day after CBS News owner Paramount Skydance emerged as the likely victor in a takeover fight for Warner Bros Discovery, owner of CNN. CBS is now headed by Bari Weiss, a conservative commentator turned media entrepreneur, whose appointment was seen as a fillip to the Trump administration.

 

“There was little sense of horror or revulsion at the prospect of all out nuclear war, even though the models had been reminded about the devastating implications.”

An artificial intelligence researcher conducting a war games experiment with three of the world’s most used AI models found that they decided to deploy nuclear weapons in 95% of the scenarios he designed.

Kenneth Payne, a professor of strategy at King’s College London who specializes in studying the role of AI in national security, revealed last week that he pitted Anthropic’s Claude, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Google’s Gemini against one another in an armed conflict simulation to get a better understanding of how they would navigate the strategic escalation ladder.

The results, he said, were “sobering.”

“Nuclear use was near-universal,” he explained. “Almost all games saw tactical (battlefield) nuclear weapons deployed. And fully three quarters reached the point where the rivals were making threats to use strategic nuclear weapons. Strikingly, there was little sense of horror or revulsion at the prospect of all out nuclear war, even though the models had been reminded about the devastating implications.”

 

Donald Trump’s claim that Iran will soon have a missile that can hit the United States is not backed by U.S. intelligence reports, and appears to be exaggerated, according to three sources familiar with the reports, casting doubt on part of his case for a possible attack on the Islamic Republic.

In his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday, Trump began making his case to the American public for why the U.S. could launch strikes against Iran, saying Tehran was “working on missiles that will soon reach” the United States.

But there have been no changes, two sources said, to an unclassified 2025 U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that Iran could take until 2035 to develop a "militarily viable intercontinental ballistic missile" (ICBM) from its existing satellite-lofting space-launch vehicles (SLV).

 

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston signed an executive order Thursday that’s intended to protect protesters demonstrating against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations if the city becomes the next target for a surge of agents.

His order requires Denver Police Department officers to intervene and detain ICE agents if they see any using “excessive force.” It also bans the federal agents from using city-owned property for their operations.

Standing in front of the City and County Building in downtown Denver, Johnston told reporters that his goal with the order wasn’t to provoke President Donald Trump. He said he didn’t have any information about whether ICE or the Trump administration intended to send an influx of agents to the city anytime soon.

“My first job is to run this city,” he said. “But in today’s America, that means answering questions from our residents about what happens if ICE troops descend on our city.”

 

Welcoming refugees has been a source of bipartisan agreement in the U.S. since Congress passed the Refugee Act with overwhelming support in 1980.

Overturning years of precedent, immigration authorities have arrested or questioned dozens of refugees in Minnesota, attorneys and advocates say, with more detentions likely to come nationwide.

In January, a federal judge ordered a temporary halt to the arrest and detention of refugees in Minnesota while a lawsuit challenging the “revetting” continues. The judge ordered the immediate release of all refugees detained in Minnesota, and those taken to Texas.

Three refugees told The Associated Press that whatever happens, the rounds of inconclusive interviews with immigration authorities well after they thought their status was safe has them questioning their futures in the U.S. and living in constant fear.

 

American sympathies in the Middle East have shifted dramatically toward the Palestinians, according to new Gallup polling, after decades of overwhelming support for the Israelis.

That shift accelerated during the war in Gaza. Three years ago, 54% of Americans sympathized more with the Israelis, compared to 31% for the Palestinians.

Now, their support is about evenly balanced, with 41% saying their sympathies lie more with the Palestinians, and only 36% saying the same about the Israelis.

 

In a short press conference following the deposition, Hillary Clinton said she wished the proceedings had been public and that she and her attorneys have asked for transcripts and videos to be available as soon as possible.

"It was disappointing that they refused to hold a public hearing so I wouldn't have to be out here characterizing it for you," she told reporters outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center in New York where the hearing took place. "You could have seen it for yourself. We had asked for that. We think it would have been better for the committee and its efforts to gather whatever information they are seeking."

Lamenting what she called "repetitive" questioning, Clinton said she would not appear before the committee again, even if the deposition were public.

 

The Pentagon, CBP and the FAA said in a statement that the military mitigated "a seemingly threatening unmanned aerial system operating within military airspace."

The U.S. government said it would do better to communicate between agencies after the military reportedly used a laser to shoot down a Customs and Border Protection drone in Texas on Thursday.

Some Democratic members of Congress, including the ranking members of the House Homeland Security and Transportation committees, called the incident another example of “incompetence.”

It comes two weeks after CBP used a military laser to shoot down what turned out to be party balloons in Texas, which caused the temporary closure of El Paso’s airspace.

 

Study shows lower risk for multiple myeloma as well as pancreatic, prostate, breast and kidney cancers

Vegetarians have a substantially lower risk of five types of cancer, a landmark study on the role of diet has revealed.

The research, using data from more than 1.8 million people who were tracked over many years, found that vegetarians had a 21% lower risk of pancreatic cancer, a 12% lower risk of prostate cancer and a 9% lower risk of breast cancer compared with meat eaters. Combined, these cancers account for around a fifth of cancer deaths in the UK.

Vegetarians also had a 28% lower risk of kidney cancer and a 31% lower risk of multiple myeloma, according to the study published in the British Journal of Cancer.

 

The state lawmaker leads his opponent by four percentage points, 47% to 43%

State Rep. James Talarico is beating Rep. Jasmine Crockett in Texas' Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, according to a new poll.

The survey was shared by JT Ennis, a spokesman for Talarico. It showed that the lawmaker had a 4-point advantage before his interview with Stephen Colbert, which stirred controversy after not being aired on the late show television. Talarico claimed it was the Trump administration who blocked the airing of the interview and called it "the most dangerous kind of cancel culture."

Conducted by Impact Research among 800 likely voters in the Democratic primary, the survey showed Talarico getting 47% of the support, compared to Crockett's 43%. 9% of respondents said they were undecided.

[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago

Thanks for this comment. News about Iran seems to bring out extreme personalities lately it seems like.

[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago

Thanks! Appreciate the recognition.

[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Thanks officer

[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 11 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Thanks, that’s nice to hear from a fellow longtimer.

[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 27 points 6 months ago (4 children)
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