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WASHINGTON — The administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Deanne Criswell, is set to face questions from House lawmakers on Tuesday about the federal government's response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton that caused catastrophic damage in the Southeast. “And FEMA leadership didn’t take action against this supervisor until the press exposed this discrimination," his remarks say. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a lawsuit against Criswell and Washington last week over the incident. More than 220 people died from Hurricane Helene in late September, which hit Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. At least 17 people died during Hurricane Milton, which hit Florida hard in early October.

Persons: WASHINGTON, Deanne, Hurricanes Helene, Milton, Criswell, James Comer, Comer, Ashley Moody, Donald Trump's, Trump, Biden, Hurricane Helene Organizations: Federal Emergency Management Agency, Hurricanes, Transportation, House Republicans, FEMA, Trump, Fox News, House Homeland Security Committee, Criswell, Hurricane Milton Locations: Florida, Marn’i Washington, United States, Ky, Highlands County , Florida, Washington, Hurricane, Georgia , Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina

He was the founder of Apple Daily, a pro-democracy, anti-Beijing newspaper that was forced to shut down in 2021. The trial, which began in December 2023, is the most high-profile prosecution of a Hong Kong media figure since the city was handed over from British to Chinese control in 1997. Like all national security trials in Hong Kong, Lai’s trial does not have a jury and is presided over by three judges picked from a national security committee that is approved by Hong Kong’s leader. “Jimmy Lai is a key instigator of anti-China activities, and his collusion with external forces to disrupt Hong Kong and incite division is well-known,” China’s foreign ministry office in Hong Kong said in a statement last week. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Hong Kong at 135 out of 180 places in its annual press freedom ranking.

Persons: Jimmy Lai, hasn’t, Hong Kong’s, Joshua Wong, “, Donald Trump, Lai, Keir Starmer, Xi Jinping, “ We’re, Jimmy Lai’s, ” Starmer, Xi, Daniel Suen, ’, Chiu Mei, “ Lai, ”, Chris Lau, CNN Lai, Trump Lai, Mike Pence, Trump, you’re, ” Lai, Hong, Anthony Kwan, John Lee, Lee, Trump’s, Hugh Hewitt, I’ll Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Apple, White, Apple Daily, Getty, Hong, CNN, “, ” Prosecutors, Kowloon Law, Trump, Beijing, Hong Kong . Police, ” Police, HK, Hong Kong Locations: Hong Kong, China, Britain, British, Brazil, AFP, Beijing, Kowloon, Washington, “ Hong Kong, China , Hong Kong, Hong

☆ Canada alleges Indian home minister ordered campaign targeting Sikh separatists
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-30 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Ap-Live-Blog-Byline-Image.Png | The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

OTTAWA, Ontario — A Canadian official alleged Tuesday that Indian Home Minister Amit Shah ordered a campaign of violence, intimidation and intelligence-gathering targeting Sikh separatists inside Canada. Indian government officials have repeatedly denied that Canada has provided evidence and have called the allegations absurd. Nathalie Drouin, Trudeau’s national security adviser, told the committee Tuesday that Canada has evidence the Indian government first gathered information on Indian nationals and Canadian citizens in Canada through diplomatic channels and proxies. Drouin said a meeting was held with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s national security adviser, Ajit Doval, in Singapore two days earlier. Four Indian nationals living in Canada were charged with Niijar’s murder and are awaiting trial.

Persons: Amit Shah, David Morrison, ” Morrison, Morrison, Shah’s, Justin Trudeau, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Shah, Vikash Yadav, Nathalie Drouin, Lawrence Bishnoi, Bishnoi, Drouin, Narendra Modi’s, Ajit Doval, Mike Duheme Organizations: Canadian, Indian, Foreign, Washington Post, Sikh, Canada, United States Justice Department, Justice Department, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Locations: OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada, British Columbia, Ottawa, New York City, York, India, United States, New Delhi, Singapore, Surrey, An Indian

☆ Canada alleges Indian minister ordered campaign targeting Sikh separatists
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-30 | by ( Associated Press | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Ottawa, Ontario AP —A Canadian official alleged Tuesday that Indian Home Minister Amit Shah ordered a campaign of violence, intimidation and intelligence-gathering targeting Sikh separatists inside Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said a year ago that Canada had credible evidence agents of the Indian government were involved in the murder of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June 2023. Indian government officials have repeatedly denied Canada has provided evidence and have called the allegations absurd. Nathalie Drouin, Trudeau’s national security adviser, told the committee Tuesday that Canada has evidence the Indian government first gathered information on Indian nationals and Canadian citizens in Canada through diplomatic channels and proxies. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it took the extraordinary step of talking publicly about ongoing investigations because of threats to public safety.

Persons: Amit Shah, David Morrison, ” Morrison, Morrison, Shah’s, Justin Trudeau, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Ottawa didn’t, Shah, Vikash Yadav, Nathalie Drouin, Lawrence Bishnoi, Bishnoi, Drouin, Ajit Doval, Mike Duheme Organizations: Ontario AP, Canadian, Indian, Foreign, Washington Post, Sikh, United States Justice Department, Justice Department, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Locations: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, British Columbia, New York City, York, India, United States, New Delhi, Singapore, Surrey, An Indian

☆ Chinese hackers targeted Trump and Vance’s phone data
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-25 | by ( Sean Lyngaas | Kristen Holmes | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The Chinese hackers also targeted people affiliated with the Harris-Walz campaign, another source familiar with the matter told CNN. US officials informed the Trump campaign this week that Trump and Vance were among a group of people whose phones were targeted by the Chinese hackers, one of the sources said. In a statement, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung attacked the Harris campaign for allegedly emboldening China. The activity is part of a much broader Chinese hacking campaign that has infiltrated multiple US telecommunications firms in the last several months. US officials have briefed members of the House and Senate intelligence committees on the Chinese hacking campaign.

Persons: Donald Trump, Vance, Harris, Walz, Trump, Steven Cheung, “, CISA “, ” Sen, Mark Warner, Mark Green Organizations: CNN, Senior Biden, U.S, Government, FBI, Infrastructure Security Agency, The New York Times, Justice Department, Trump, Major, Verizon, Lumen, Typhoon, Virginia Democrat, House Homeland Security, ”, Tennessee Republican Locations: China, People’s Republic of China, Iran, Russia

☆ OpenAI disbands another safety team, head advisor for 'AGI Readiness' resigns
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-24 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

OpenAI is disbanding its "AGI Readiness" team, which advised the company on OpenAI's own capacity to handle increasingly powerful AI and the world's readiness to manage that technology, according to the head of the team. On Wednesday, Miles Brundage, senior advisor for AGI Readiness, announced his departure from the company via a Substack post. Former AGI Readiness team members will be reassigned to other teams, according to the post. Madry will still work on core AI safety work in his new role, OpenAI told CNBC at the time. Leike added that OpenAI must become a "safety-first AGI company."

Persons: OpenAI, Miles Brundage, Brundage, Miles, Mira Murati, Bob McGrew, Barret Zoph —, Aleksander Madry, Madry, reassign Madry, Sam Altman, it's, Altman, Lina Khan, they've, OpenAI's, Ilya Sutskever, Jan Leike, Leike, Greg Brockman, Brockman Organizations: AGI Readiness, CNBC, Security Committee, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Princeton University, Democratic, Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice, Nvidia Locations: OpenAI

☆ OpenAI Taps VP Lilian Weng to Lead Risk Management for AI Models
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-24 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

Weng joined OpenAI in 2018 after working as a data scientist and software engineer at major Silicon Valley companies, including Meta (then Facebook), Dropbox, and Affirm. Weng, part of Business Insider's 2024 AI Power List, took over the preparedness team after its former leader Aleksander Madry was reassigned in July. It's part of a broader effort within the company to consolidate safety research under Weng, who also serves on the board's safety and security committee. As policymakers and consumers focus more attention on the security implications of high-powered AI models, Weng's role within the company is likely to become even more important. See Business Insider's full AI Power List

Persons: Weng, OpenAI, Aleksander Madry Organizations: Meta, Facebook

It’s not unusual for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to have to respond to rumors surrounding any given natural disaster. This week, President Joe Biden requested a memorandum from his team on the federal government’s digital response, including how officials were remediating misinformation, a senior administration official told CNN. “The contours of this misinformation are unlike anything we’ve seen before,” a senior administration official told CNN. CNN previously reported that there were 30 midair near-collisions involving noncommercial flights in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Saturday, September 28. FEMA personnel on the ground receive threatsThe snowballing of false information on the heels of Hurricane Helene has also directly affected those on the ground.

Persons: Hurricane Helene, Elon Musk, Donald Trump, It’s, Joe Biden, Hurricane Milton, Biden, Trump, we’ve, ”, “, Pete Buttigieg, CNN’s John Berman, ” Buttigieg, Musk, Buttigieg, “ We’re, Helene, Chuck Edwards, ” Edwards, Steve Reaves, ” Reaves, Reaves, Sandy, Maria, Alejandro Mayorkas, ” Mayorkas, ” John Cohen Organizations: CNN, Biden, White, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Hurricane, Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, Department of Transportation, Twitter, SpaceX, Trump, FEMA, North Carolina Division of Aviation, Asheville Regional Airport, GOP, Republicans, House Homeland Security, Congress, American Federation of Government Employees, Homeland, Wednesday, DHS Locations: Hurricane, Florida, it’s, North Carolina, Asheville, Rutherford, Western North Carolina, Fort Worth , Texas, Carter County , Tennessee

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The deluge came furiously — and shockingly fast. Sean Rayford / Getty ImagesA week after Helene ravaged the hills, hollows and river valleys of western North Carolina, recovery and rescue efforts remained ongoing. Tropical Storm Fred made it even worse,” he added, referencing a storm that hit in 2021. But assessing who will need shelter — and for how long — is something “we kind of have to start figuring out,” he said. “We’re going to have to make some decisions here really soon.”Minyvonne Burke reported from Asheville, North Carolina, and Lewis Kamb from Seattle.

Persons: —, James Yulon Ferguson, Ferguson, ”, “, Sean Rayford, Helene, “ We’ve, Mark Pless, “ That’s, ” Vincent Floriani, Ulysse Bellier, Justin Graney, Jeff Brooks, “ It’s, Brooks, Pless, we’ll, they’re, Bryant Morehead, “ Covid, Fred, Morehead, Haywood, Allison Joyce, Devonna Brown, “ We’re, ” Minyvonne Burke, Lewis Kamb Organizations: Republican, Getty, North Carolina Emergency Management, Duke Energy, Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, NBC News Locations: ASHEVILLE, N.C, Rock, North Carolina, State, Canton, Asheville, Swannanoa, AFP, Buncombe County, Haywood, Haywood County, Asheville , North Carolina, Seattle

☆ Biden administration won’t extend legal status for certain migrants from four countries
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-05 | by ( Priscilla Alvarez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The Biden administration won’t extend legal permissions for certain migrants from Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela and Haiti provided through a temporary humanitarian program designed to curb illegal border crossings, requiring them to seek other legal means to remain in the United States, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The program required that these migrants have a sponsor in the US, undergo screening and vetting, and complete vaccinations. The program is still available to new applicants from the four countries, though the administration briefly paused it this summer over concerns about fraud. Homeland Security officials maintain the program was intended to be temporary, providing those who arrived the opportunity to apply for other legal status while in the United States. The administration didn’t guarantee the program would be extended, though it did allow re-parole for Ukrainians and Afghans under similar programs.

Persons: CNN —, Biden, won’t, Joe Biden’s, Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, “, There’s, Harris, ” CNN’s Camila DeChalus Organizations: CNN, Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security, Register, Republicans, Biden Locations: Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti, United States

☆ Fixing Social Security funding woes requires addressing immigration 'fraud,' Vance said. Here's what experts say
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-01 | by ( Lorie Konish | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

Trump in March said on social media platform Truth Social that Democrats are "killing Social Security and Medicare by allowing the invasion of the migrants." The earnings suspense file is an electronic holding file for wage items where names and Social Security numbers on Form W-2s do not match the Social Security Administration's records, an agency spokesperson said via email. "Immigration, in general, has a very positive role," said Sam Gutterman, chairperson of the American Academy of Actuaries' Social Security committee. The Social Security Administration in an email explained that there are strict rules about who can legally receive benefits and Social Security numbers. "The Social Security Act does not permit payment of benefits to noncitizens residing in the U.S. if they're not lawfully present here," a Social Security spokesperson said.

Persons: Sen, JD Vance, Alex Wong, Donald Trump, Kamala Harris —, Vance, Harris, Tara Watson, Watson, Andrew Biggs, General, Jeffrey Brown, Brown, I've, " Biggs, Sam Gutterman, Renata Miller, they're, actuary, Stephen Goss, Goss Organizations: Radford University, Getty, Social Security, Medicare, Republican, Trump, CNBC, of Homeland, Brookings Institution, Immigration, Immigrants, American Academy of Actuaries, Taxation, Social, someone's Social, American Enterprise Institute, Social Security Administration, Social Security Administration Office, Finance, American Academy of Actuaries ' Social Security, Department of Health, Human Services, HHS, Department of Homeland, SSA Locations: Radford , Virginia, U.S, misdirection

A new Senate report details what went wrong before the assassination attempt against Donald Trump in July. More adults than thought may have an iron deficiency. → After a sniper with local law enforcement texted a Secret Service leader about the man who would soon fire shots at Trump, it took seven minutes for the Secret Service leader to send an email relaying the information and photos. It’s unclear how long it then took other members of the Secret Service to read the email. More coverage of Donald Trump:The Senate unanimously passed legislation to boost Secret Service protection for presidential candidates.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, Abbott, Costello, Who’s, ”, Democratic Sen, Richard Blumenthal, ” Blumenthal, Ryan Routh, Helene, Ron DeSantis, “, Leo Buckley, Kamala Harris, Sen, JD Vance, Harris, Chuck Todd, Elise Stefanik, ” Israel, Brett Favre’s, Emmanuel Littlejohn, Kenneth Meers, he’s, Sean “ Diddy ” Combs, Eunice Yoon, — Jennifer Jett, Elizabeth Robinson Organizations: Senate Homeland Security Committee, Investigations, Secret Service, Democratic, Service, Trump, Top U.S, Florida Gov, NBC, Republican, GOP, NBC News, The Justice Department, Visa, of Fame, U.S . Forest Service, CNBC, White Locations: U.S, Butler , Pennsylvania, Trump’s Florida, Iran, Florida, Mexico, Bend, Pittsburgh, Haitian, Springfield , Ohio, Lebanon, Tel Aviv, Oklahoma, drugging, Shenzhen, China, Asia

The report also highlights the types of technological issues that are common within massive federal bureaucracies like the Secret Service. Communications were siloed, and the Secret Service "did not ensure it could share information with local law enforcement partners in real time," the report says. The Secret Service released its own internal report last week. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who chairs the investigations subcommittee, said the Secret Service engaged in an “Abbott and Costello kind of 'Who’s on First?' He argued Tuesday that the Secret Service was "stonewalling" the congressional investigation.

Persons: WASHINGTON, Donald Trump, Trump, Butler, weren’t, ”, Sen, Richard Blumenthal, Conn, Abbott, Costello, Blumenthal, “, Gary Peters, ” Peters, ” Sen, Ron Johnson, Johnson, Trump's Organizations: Republican, Senate Homeland Security Committee, Investigations, Service, Communications, Trump, Secret Service, Secret, Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security, NBC News, Unmanned Aircraft Locations: Butler , Pennsylvania, Butler

☆ How Springfield, Ohio, became home for thousands of Haitian immigrants
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-19 | by ( Catherine E. Shoichet | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Mayor Rob Rue told CNN the city’s population has grown about 25% over the past three years, in part due to the arrival of Haitian immigrants. Volunteer teacher Hope Kaufman leads Haitian students during an English language class at the Haitian Community Help and Support Center in Springfield, Ohio, on September 13, 2024. They’re very happy to have them there, and frankly, that’s helped the economy.”Has something changed with Haitian immigration to the US? Members of the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio — from left, Lindsay Aime, James Fleurijean, Viles Dorsainvil and Rose-Thamar Joseph — stand for worship at Central Christian Church on September 15, 2024. But in an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” the Republican governor stressed the economic benefit the Haitian immigrants are bringing to the city.

Persons: Margery Koveleski, she’s, ”, who’s, Last, Rob Rue, Chris Cook, …, Hope Kaufman, Roberto Schmidt, CNN’s Omar Jimenez, Mike DeWine, that’s, Biden, Nicaraguans, it’s, who’ve, they’d, Cook, Julia Gelatt, ” Gelatt, “, ” What’s, “ Haiti’s, Donald Trump, Lindsay Aime, James Fleurijean, Viles Dorsainvil, Thamar Joseph —, Jessie Wardarski, Sens, Sherrod Brown of, Tim Scott of, Bryan Heck, ABC’s, ” CNN’s Chelsea Bailey, Omar Jimenez, Meridith Edwards, Chris Boyette, Jack Forrest, Priscilla Alvarez Organizations: CNN, American Community Survey, Springfield City Council, AFP, Getty, ” Ohio Gov, ABC, United, US Customs, Department of Homeland Security, Officials, Citizenship, Immigration Services, House Homeland Security, Central Christian Church, City, Republican Locations: Springfield, Ohio, Haitian, Clark County, ”, ” Clark County, Koveleski, Springfield , Ohio, “, Macy’s, ” Ohio, “ Ohio, United States, Haiti, South America, Miami, Ft . Lauderdale, New York City, Canada, Cincinnati, Columbus, What’s, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Tim Scott of South Carolina

☆ OpenAI's power players: Meet the 20 leaders helping shape the future of the AI giant
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-18 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +18 min

Last November, the sudden ouster of CEO Sam Altman and the resulting revolt by most of its employees cast doubts on the future of the world's most prominent AI company. While by no means a comprehensive list, below are some of the key power players who are helping to determine OpenAI's future. He took over for his former boss, Jason Kwon, who has since become the company's chief strategy officer. She's also been referred to as OpenAI's "minister of truth" for her efforts to ensure the company's AI products aren't deceptive or biased. ResearchJakub Pachocki, Chief ScientistRelated storiesPachocki joined OpenAI's research in 2017 after completing a PhD in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University.

Persons: —, Sam Altman, OpenAI, Sarah Friar, Friar, Goldman Sachs, She's, Jason Kwon, Kwon, Anna Makanju, Global Affairs Chris Lehane, Che Cheng, OpenAI's, Cheng, Mira Murati, Murati, Kevin Weil, Weil, Instagram, Peter Welinder, Peter Deng, Research Jakub Pachocki, Pachocki, Ilya Sutkever, Ilya, Mark Chen, Chen, Bob McGrew, Sam Altman's, Lilian Weng, Weng, Aleksandr Madry, Barret Zoph, John Schulman, Zoph, Alec Radford, Radford, Zico Kolter, Kolter, Paul Nakasone, Bret Taylor, Taylor, He's, Larry Summers, Fidji Simo, Melinda Gates, Nicole Seligman, Adam D'Angelo, Quora, Altman, D'Angelo, Andrea Appella, Haidee Schwartz, Schwartz, Akin Gump, She'll, Heather Whitney, Whitney, Morrison Foerster, Makanju, Sam, Biden, Chris Lehane, Lehane, Clinton Organizations: Service, OpenAI, Business, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Khosla Ventures, Global, Global Affairs, Amazon, supercomputing, Tesla, Meta, Twitter, ChatGPT Enterprise, Research, Carnegie Mellon University, MIT, Facebook, Security, Machine Learning Department, Carnegie Mellon Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, CMU, Safety, Security Committee, US Army, NSA, US Cyber Command, Defense Department, U.S, Melinda Gates Foundation, Global Competition, Netflix, Century Fox, Competition, Federal Trade Commission, New York Times, Harvard Law School, University of Chicago Law School, NYU, Canada, Global Policy, Public Affairs, House, Newsweek Locations: Europe, Washington, OpenAI, Silicon, Middle East, Asia, London, Chan, Airbnb

WASHINGTON — Congress is considering boosting funding for the Secret Service after what the FBI called an apparent second attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life in 10 weeks. "Nobody's going to want to deny the Secret Service the funding that it needs as long as it justifies it." And Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, the 2016 Democratic vice presidential nominee, agreed that both parties would be "very amenable" to any Secret Service funding request. Trump's Secret Service detail on Sunday thwarted what the FBI characterized as a second apparent assassination attempt on him while he was golfing at his club in West Palm Beach, Florida. “One thing I want to make clear, the Secret Service needs more help.

Persons: Donald Trump’s, they’re, protectees, Chuck Schumer, ” Sen, Susan Collins, Ron Rowe, Trump, Collins, Sen, Tommy Tuberville, Mike Johnson, Johnson, Ron Johnson, “ That’s, ”, Jack Reed, Tim Kaine, Ryan Wesley Routh, Routh, Joe Biden, God ”, Biden, Lindsey Graham, Graham, Richard Blumenthal, Conn, he’s, “ We’re Organizations: WASHINGTON, Service, FBI, Republican, Committee, Fox News, Trump, Homeland Security Committee, Secret, Homeland Security, Senate Armed Services, NBC News, Democratic, AK Locations: WASHINGTON —, Maine, Virginia, West Palm Beach , Florida

☆ U.S. decision on Nippon's bid for U.S. Steel pushed back until after election
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-17 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A tugboat pushes a barge near the United States Steel Corp. Clairton Coke Works facility in Clairton, Pennsylvania, US, on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. CFIUS, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, needs more time to understand the impact of national security and engage with the parties, the person added. Refiling sets a new 90-day clock to review the proposed tie-up and make a decision. President Joe Biden, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump have said they want U.S. Steel to remain in American hands. CFIUS, U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

Persons: Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump Organizations: United States Steel Corp, Clairton Coke, Nippon, U.S, Biden, Foreign Investment, Democratic, Steel, U.S . Steel, Nippon Steel, Reuters Locations: Clairton , Pennsylvania, United States, U.S

☆ Sam Altman is leaving a key OpenAI board. His departure should satisfy some big critics.
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-17 | by ( Shubhangi Goel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewOpenAI just announced the members of its revamped Safety and Security Committee, and CEO Sam Altman is not on the list. When the group was announced, Altman, Taylor, and five OpenAI technical and policy experts were named to the committee, alongside the independent board members. AdvertisementThe safety committee will "exercise oversight over model launches, including having the authority to delay a release until safety concerns are addressed," the blog post said. OpenAI's troublesLast month, the company battled to stop an AI safety bill in California, saying it would stifle progress and drive companies out of the state. Weeks before that, nine current and former OpenAI employees signed an open letter pointing out the risks of generative AI.

Persons: —, Sam Altman, Bret Taylor, OpenAI's, Altman, Taylor, Zico Kolter, Adam D'Angelo, Paul Nakasone, Nicole Seligman, William Saunders, Daniel Kokotajlo, Weeks Organizations: Service, Security Committee, Business, Carnegie Mellon University, US Army, Sony Corporation, o1, OpenAI, Securities and Exchange Commission Locations: California, NDAs

☆ OpenAI announces new independent board oversight committee focused on safety
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-16 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

OpenAI on Monday said its Safety and Security Committee, which the company introduced in May as it dealt with controversy over security processes, will become an independent board oversight committee. Other members include Adam D'Angelo, an OpenAI board member and co-founder of Quora, former NSA chief and board member Paul Nakasone, and Nicole Seligman, former executive vice president at Sony. The committee will oversee "the safety and security processes guiding OpenAI's model deployment and development," the company said. The company said the committee "reviewed the safety and security criteria that OpenAI used to assess OpenAI o1's fitness for launch," as well as safety evaluation results. Leike wrote in a post on X that OpenAI's "safety culture and processes have taken a backseat to shiny products."

Persons: Sam Altman, OpenAI, Zico Kolter, Adam D'Angelo, Quora, Paul Nakasone, Nicole Seligman, it's, Ilya Sutskever, Jan Leike, Leike Organizations: Microsoft, Security Committee, Carnegie Mellon University's, NSA, Sony, Tiger Global, Nvidia, Apple, OpenAI o1, Democratic Locations: Redmond , Washington, OpenAI

☆ Victims of sexual assault in Coast Guard call for major changes
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-08 | by ( Morgan Rimmer | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Five former and current members of the US Coast Guard testified before a subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Thursday about their experiences with sexual assault and harassment while serving and called for major changes to how the Coast Guard handles reports. It’s the first to be released out of a string of ongoing government inquiries triggered by CNN’s reporting on a secret Coast Guard probe into sexual abuse at its prestigious Coast Guard Academy. “It’s the exact same story, and the Coast Guard is just saying, ‘It’s OK.’ I’m tired of the words,” Ward said. Action actually has to be taken in order to do it.”In closing, Ward told the committee, “I loved the Coast Guard. But there is a certain part of the Coast Guard that is completely broken.”

Persons: Meghan Lori Klement, Klement, “, ”, ” Klement, Julian Bell, Crystal Van Den Heuvel, Den Heuvel, Van Den Heuvel, Shawna Christine Ward, I’m, ” Ward, “ I’m, Ward Organizations: CNN, US Coast Guard, Senate Homeland Security, Coast Guard, Coast Guard Academy

☆ OpenAI co-founder John Schulman says he will leave and join rival Anthropic
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-06 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

OpenAI co-founder John Schulman said in a Monday X post that he would leave the Microsoft -backed company and join Anthropic, an artificial intelligence startup with funding from Amazon . In June, OpenAI said Schulman, as head of alignment science, would join a safety and security committee that would provide advice to the board. Schulman has only worked at OpenAI since receiving a Ph.D. in computer science in 2016 from the University of California, Berkeley. The leaders of the superalignment team, Jan Leike and company co-founder Ilya Sutskever, both left this year. Also on Monday, Greg Brockman, another co-founder of OpenAI and its president, announced that he was taking a sabbatical for the rest of the year.

Persons: ChatGPT, OpenAI, John Schulman, Schulman, OpenAI's, Jan Leike, Ilya Sutskever, Leike, Sutskever, Sam Altman, Altman, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Toner, WilmerHale, Greg Brockman Organizations: Darktrace Plc, Microsoft, Amazon, OpenAI, University of California, Anthropic, Superintelligence Inc, Google, Employees, AI Safety Locations: Brooklyn, New York, British, Berkeley, Francisco

The GOP’s 2024 party platform calls for the repeal of President Joe Biden’s executive order on AI, which Republicans say "hinders AI innovation." Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks to NBC News from the balcony of his Capitol office on Thursday, Aug. 1. “We have lots of AI proposals in the defense bill because AI has national security concerns,” Schumer told NBC News. It would require federal agencies to assess the potential risks of using AI before purchasing or deploying AI systems. But it also has real problems,” Schumer said, referring to the Future of AI bill.

Persons: Chuck Schumer, Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, Schumer, Trump, ” Schumer, ”, “ We’re, “, Joe Biden’s, “ Donald Trump, Frank Thorp V, TikTok, Sen, Mitt Romney, Brian Schatz, chatbot ChapGPT, Schumer —, —, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman, Jensen Huang, Martin Heinrich, Todd Young, Mike Rounds, Rounds, ” Rounds, Gary Peters, Thom Tillis Organizations: New, New York Democrat, NBC News, Republican, Democratic, Republicans, NBC, Big Tech, National Defense, Senate, 118th, National Institute of Standards, Technology, NIST, Senate Homeland Security, Star Locations: WASHINGTON, Harris, New York, eyeing, Republic, Congress, China, U.S, R, Utah, Hawaii, Sens

Washington CNN —Secret Service acting Director Ronald Rowe provided new details about the assassination attempt of Donald Trump on Tuesday, delivering forceful testimony at a Senate hearing about the agency’s failures earlier this month in Butler, Pennsylvania. But at the joint hearing of the Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, Rowe also highlighted the missteps of local law enforcement on July 13, when the former president was shot. Moving forward, Rowe told the committees, his agency will avoid assuming local law enforcement agencies are fully capable of fulfilling their role in protecting an event. Rowe told the lawmakers that local law enforcement was positioned in a nearby building and should have had a clear line of sight of Crooks on the roof. Tobra claimed that the account in question was “pro-Biden.”The Gab account has also not been conclusively connected to Crooks.

Persons: Ronald Rowe, Donald Trump, Rowe, Thomas Matthew Crooks, Paul Abbate, Abbate, Kimberly Cheatle, Crooks, “, ” Rowe, Gary Peters, Hawley, Peters, it’s, ” Peters, we’d, ”, ” Crooks, Butler, Trump, shirk, “ I’m, they’d, Joe Biden, Sen, Josh Hawley’s, weren’t, John F, Kennedy, Cruz, ” Hawley, Republican Sen, Ted Cruz, Biden, ” Cruz, ” Abbate, Andrew Tobra, Tobra Organizations: Washington CNN, Service, Judiciary and Homeland Security, CNN, Capitol, Secret, Homeland Security, Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security, Biden, Trump, Missouri Republican, Republican, YouTube Locations: Butler , Pennsylvania, Butler, Missouri, Texas, Dallas, United States

☆ CrowdStrike says bug in quality control process led to botched update
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-24 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A CrowdStrike software update that crashed computers globally last week hitting services from aviation to banking and healthcare was caused by a bug in the U.S. cybersecurity firm's quality control mechanism, the company said on Wednesday. "Due to a bug in the Content Validator, one of the two Template Instances passed validation despite containing problematic content data," CrowdStrike said in a statement, referring to the failure of an internal quality control mechanism that allowed the problematic data to slip through the company's own safety checks. CrowdStrike did not say what that content data was, nor why it was problematic. CrowdStrike said it had added a "new check" to its quality control process in a bid to prevent the issue from occurring again. Wednesday's statement was in line with a widely held assessment from cybersecurity experts that something in CrowdStrike's quality control process had gone badly wrong.

Persons: CrowdStrike, George Kurtz Organizations: Rome Fiumicino, Microsoft, U.S . House, Representatives Homeland Locations: Rome, Italy, U.S

☆ Congress Calls for Tech Outage Hearing to Grill Executive
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-22 | by ( David Mccabe | More About David Mccabe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Congressional committee called on the chief executive of CrowdStrike to testify at a hearing about its role in a tech outage that roiled the global economy, in one of the first attempts to hold the cybersecurity company responsible. CrowdStrike sent a faulty security update to its customers Thursday night, resulting in millions of Microsoft Windows devices shutting down and disruptions to airlines, hospitals, logistics companies and others. Americans “deserve to know in detail how this incident happened and the mitigation steps CrowdStrike is taking,” wrote Representative Mark Green of Tennessee, the Republican chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, and Representative Andrew Garbarino, Republican of New York. The letter was sent to George Kurtz, CrowdStrike’s chief executive. Mr. Green and Mr. Garbarino asked the company for a response to scheduling the hearing this week, but did not specify when it would take place.

Persons: CrowdStrike, “, ”, Mark Green of, Andrew Garbarino, George Kurtz, . Green, Garbarino Organizations: Microsoft, Homeland Security Committee, Republican Locations: Mark Green of Tennessee, New York

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