1 China-linked hackers have hit Taiwan in an “unprecedented” AI attack
They used open-source agents to compromise government websites. (FT $)
+ UK military drones were found sending a signal to China. (Cybernews)
+ Taiwan’s “silicon shield” could be weakening. (MIT Technology Review)
2 Wall Street firms are paying $100,000 a month to get Trump posts first
Trump Media said more than 10 firms have signed up for the service. (CNN)
+ It offers faster access to market-moving posts on Truth Social. (BBC)
+ Trump Media also lost $238 million as crypto holdings fell. (CNBC)
3 ICE plans to give officers gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks
It’s set to spend up to $20 million to buy thousands of the devices. (AP News)
+ A switch turns them from normal gloves into “electrical mode.” (Guardian)
4 Spotify will label AI artists and stop recommending them
The platform is cracking down on fake performers. (Guardian)
+ “AI personas” will appear on artist profiles and track listings. (NYT $)
5 Social media spurred a deadly migrant surge from Morocco to Spain
Disinformation encouraged thousands to attempt the crossing. (NYT $)
6 Anthropic’s Claude is adding watermarks to AI text and images
It could guarantee votes are counted and kept anonymous. (Axios)
7 Drugs that mimic the brain’s wakefulness signal are taking off
Orexin drugs could treat sleep disorders, ADHD and addiction. (Economist $)
+ But psychedelics are falling short in clinical trials. (MIT Technology Review)
8 Cargo thieves have turned to violence to steal AI hardware
Shipments have disappeared after their escorts were attacked. (Wired $)
9 Scientists may have found the elusive glueball, a particle made of force
A Chinese collider has produced the strongest evidence yet. (Science)
10 A firm selling “100% human-written, never AI” research is entirely AI
The reviewers on the Research Gold site are AI-generated. (404 Media)
Quote of the day
“I think the fourth wave of slop will be when there’s no longer any meaningful quality hit in slop, when the average piece of slop is better than the best human in that field.”
—Kevin Roose, a technology columnist at The New York Times, tells the Pivot podcast what the next stage of AI slop will look like.
One More Thing
PATRICK LEGER
Are we ready to hand AI agents the keys?
We’re starting to give AI agents real autonomy, and we’re not prepared for what could happen next. Any action that can be captured by text is potentially within the purview of AI agents—which is why they can cause so much mischief.
“The great paradox of agents is that the very thing that makes them useful—that they’re able to accomplish a range of tasks—involves giving away control,” says Iason Gabriel, a senior staff research scientist at Google DeepMind who focuses on AI ethics.
Researchers warn that agents could misinterpret goals, leak sensitive information, fall victim to prompt-injection attacks, and exploit software vulnerabilities at scale. And there’s no foolproof way to guarantee that they’ll act as their developers intend.