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☆ Biden launches AI competition to tackle cybersecurity challenges — and hackers are being offered $20 million in prize money to compete
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Polly Thompson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

President Biden has called for a nationwide AI challenge to help protect critical US software. The challenge will kick off in spring 2024 and there will be cash prizes for the top five teams. The announcement was made in a White House press statement and comes as rapid advances in AI bring both benefits and security challenges. The top five teams that can design the best AI systems to address national cybersecurity issues will get a share of the £20 million on offer as prize money. Earlier this summer, White House officials invited the CEOs of those companies, among others, to explain how they planned to tackle thorny safety concerns around rapid AI development.

Persons: Biden, Joe Biden, OpenAI Organizations: Google, Microsoft, Service, Defense, Research Projects Agency, DARPA, Biden, Black Hat, White Locations: Wall, Silicon, Las Vegas

☆ Hackers to compete for nearly $20 million in prizes by using A.I. for cybersecurity, Biden administration announces
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

President Joe Biden gives remarks on Artificial Intelligence in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on July 21, 2023 in Washington, DC. Hackers will have the chance to compete for millions of dollars in prizes by using artificial intelligence to protect critical U.S. infrastructure from cybersecurity risks, the Biden administration announced Wednesday. The AI Cyber Challenge will offer nearly $20 million in prizes and includes collaboration from leading AI companies Anthropic, Google , Microsoft and OpenAI, who will make their technology available for the competition. Up to five of those teams will win $2 million each and advance to the final at DEF CON 2025. "This is a chance to explore what's possible when experts in cybersecurity and AI have access to a suite of cross-company resources of combined unprecedented caliber."

Persons: Joe Biden, Biden, Perri Adams Organizations: Intelligence, White, Washington , DC, Google, Microsoft, Black Hat USA, Linux, Security, Research Projects Agency, DARPA, Innovation, CNBC, YouTube Locations: Washington ,, Las Vegas

☆ White House launches AI-based contest to secure government systems from hacks
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Zeba Siddiqui | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Cybersecurity is a race between offense and defense," said Anne Neuberger, the U.S. government's deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology. "We know malicious actors are already using AI to accelerate identifying vulnerabilities or build malicious software," she added in a statement to Reuters. He said his agency had seen AI being used for everything from creating phishing emails and writing malicious computer code to spreading disinformation. The contest signals official attempts to tackle an emerging threat that experts are still trying to fully grasp. The Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF), a U.S. group of experts trying to improve open source software security, will be in charge of ensuring the "winning software code is put to use right away," the U.S. government said.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Anne Neuberger, cybersecurity, Samy Khoury, Neuberger, Zeba Siddiqui, Raphael Satter, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: REUTERS, Defense, Research Projects Agency, DARPA, White, Google, Microsoft, Security, Thomson Locations: U.S, San Francisco, Washington

☆ A.I. is changing national security systems. Here's what's ahead for defense stocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-30 | by ( Hakyung Kim | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Vladimir Putin said in 2017 that whoever becomes the leader in artificial intelligence "will be the ruler of the world." The department examined AI technology in defense through two pathways: The first was "autonomy at rest," which describes decision-making support software. Critically, artificial intelligence in defense will help automate more dangerous tasks while also reducing the risk of human casualties. "As of now, there is not the development of artificial intelligence technology in regards to making life-or-death choices. Boeing announced earlier in 2023 that it would partner with defense technology company Shield AI to expand AI pilot offerings for its military clients.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Bob Work, Jonathan Sakraida, Lockheed Martin, Sakraida, Northrop, Booz Allen Hamilton Organizations: Pentagon, Deutsche Bank, Department of Defense, Center, New, New American Security, U.S, Defense, CFRA Research, U.S . Army, Lockheed, Dynamics, Department of, Carnegie Endowment, International, IBM, Palantir Technologies, Cisco, BAE Systems, Research Projects Agency, Northrop Grumman, Booz, Boeing, Air Force Locations: New American, There's, China, U.S, United Kingdom

WASHINGTON, July 27 (Reuters) - U.S. senators, alarmed by the malevolent potential of artificial intelligence, will summon developers, executives and experts for hearings later this year on possible legislative safeguards, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Thursday. Speaking on the Senate floor, Schumer, the chamber's leading Democrat, said the Senate would convene what he called "the first-ever AI Insight Forums" to hear what experts had to say. Democratic and Republican senators voiced alarm this week about artificial intelligence's potential use to create a biological weapon. Schumer said senators were briefed on AI on Wednesday by experts at the U.S. Energy Department, the National Science Foundation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, which had laid the groundwork for the internet. Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Howard GollerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Chuck Schumer, Schumer, Diane Bartz, Howard Goller Organizations: Democratic, U.S . Energy Department, National Science Foundation, Defense, Research Projects Agency, DARPA, Senate Homeland Security, Governmental Affairs, Thomson

☆ Lockheed gets US defense contract to develop nuclear-powered spacecraft
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 26 (Reuters) - Weapons maker Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) has been awarded a contract by a U.S. Department of Defense agency to develop a nuclear-powered spacecraft for the purposes of exploration and national defense, the company said on Wednesday. Lockheed Martin said the project is an advancement in propulsion technology – from chemical propulsion engines to nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) engines. "These more powerful and efficient nuclear thermal propulsion systems can provide faster transit times between destinations. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded the contract to Lockheed under a project called Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO). The in-space flight demonstration of a nuclear thermal rocket engine vehicle will take place no later than 2027, Lockheed said.

Persons: Lockheed Martin, Jeff Bezos, Kirk Shireman, Kannaki, Shailesh Organizations: Lockheed, U.S . Department of Defense, Origin, Elon, SpaceX, Lunar, Lockheed Martin Space, Research Projects Agency, DARPA, Agile Cislunar, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ NASA Seeks a Nuclear-Powered Rocket to Get to Mars in Half the Time
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

A Number That Sums It Up: 3 to 4 months to MarsWhat if a spacecraft could get to Mars in half the time it currently takes? Every 26 months or so, Mars and Earth are close enough for a shorter journey between the worlds. “The technical capabilities, including early safety protocols, remain viable today,” Tabitha Dodson, the DRACO project manager, said in a news briefing on Wednesday. A key difference between NERVA and DRACO is that NERVA used weapons-grade uranium for its reactors, while DRACO will use a less-enriched form of uranium. The demonstration spacecraft would most likely orbit at an altitude between 435 and 1,240 miles, Dr. Dodson said.

Persons: Agency —, NERVA, ” Tabitha Dodson, DRACO, ” Dr, Dodson, Kirk Shireman, Lockheed Martin Organizations: DARPA, Orion, NASA, Air Force, Research, Agency, Rover, Lockheed

☆ House Committee Targets U.C. Berkeley Program for China Ties
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Ana Swanson | More About Ana Swanson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It also said Berkeley faculty serving at the institute had received funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and other U.S. funding for the development of military applications, raising concerns about Chinese access to those experts. In October, the United States set significant limits on the type of advanced semiconductor technology that could be shared with Chinese entities, saying the activity posed a national security threat. “Berkeley’s P.R.C.-backed collaboration with Tsinghua University raises many red flags,” the letter said, referring to the People’s Republic of China. In a statement to The New York Times, U.C. Berkeley said it took concerns about national security “very seriously" and was committed to comprehensive compliance with laws governing international academic engagement.

Persons: Berkeley’s, Mike Gallagher, Virginia Foxx, Berkeley Organizations: Berkeley, Defense, Research Projects Agency, Tsinghua, Berkeley Shenzhen Institute, Tsinghua University, Wisconsin Republican, Republican, New York Times Locations: Shenzhen, China, United States, People’s Republic of China, Wisconsin, North Carolina, U.C

Robinhood vs. Coinbase: The Biggest DifferencesRobinhood Investing and Coinbase are both popular online investment platforms offering a vast range of investment choices for active traders. Robinhood Account FeaturesRobinhood's virtual library provides a variety of financial research on investing, options trading, and more. Coinbase Account FeaturesThe Basic Coinbase account offers things like trading, crypto rewards, interest rewards, digital storage, and mobile access. Compared to Coinbase, Robinhood is the better option for investors who want to merge traditional investments, such as stocks and ETFs, with more digital assets like cryptocurrencies. Although Robinhood has a significantly more limited crypto selection than Coinbase, Robinhood offers a large variety of investment options.

Persons: Robinhood, Roth, Coinbase Coinbase, Roth IRAs, Coinbase, There's, Louis Oberlander, Henry Rodriguez, Christopher Underwood Organizations: Robinhood, Chevron, Reading Chevron, Coinbase, Trade, Pro, Morningstar, Nasdaq, Better, Bureau, BBB, Gamestop, SEC, Advanced Trade, Inc, New York State Department of Financial Services, New, DFS Locations: cryptocurrencies, New York, Robinhood

☆ Opinion | The Government Must Say What It Knows About Covid’s Origins
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Zeynep Tufekci | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

One of those named researchers, Ben Hu, is a leading scientist who has worked on bat coronaviruses related to SARS. In September 2021, DRASTIC also obtained a funding proposal that the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s U.S. collaborator, EcoHealth Alliance, submitted to the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The proposal called for using genetic engineering to perform experiments with bat SARS-like coronaviruses and modify them by inserting features that can increase their ability to infect humans. The feature could also have evolved naturally, and many scientists dismissed its significance as evidence that research set off the pandemic origins. (Some of the scientists have said they later changed their minds).

Persons: Ben Hu, Yu Ping Organizations: U.S, U.S ., Waste, Wuhan Institute of Virology’s, EcoHealth Alliance, Pentagon’s Defense, Research Projects Agency, Wuhan Institute, Virology Locations: Wuhan, U.S, coronaviruses

☆ Some Disney insiders are questioning the company's appetite for 'rebellious innovation' after layoffs, despite its splashy Apple Vision Pro partnership
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Disney's Apple Vision Pro partnership has stoked excitement and concern at the media company. AppleBut an innovation team that worked on Disney's Apple Vision Pro offering is being disbanded, with its founder and leader exiting the company as part of the cuts. Insider spoke to five current and recently exited Disney insiders about hopes and concerns regarding the Vision Pro project and the future of innovation at the company. Disney's Vision Pro partnership was its latest project. A source with knowledge of Disney's Vision Pro work said it's still ongoing and that there are other teams at Disney still working on that project.

Persons: Bob Iger, Iger, Dave Lankford, WWDC, Disney's, Dirk Van Dall, Mike White, it's, Aaron LaBerge, Jeremy Doig, Bob Chapek, DMED Organizations: Apple Vision, Insiders, Disney, DMED, Apple, Apple's Worldwide, Conference, Iger, Vision, Advanced, Netflix, Disney's, Hollywood, ESPN, Marvel, Geographic Locations: verticals

☆ Bob Iger announced exciting plans for Apple's Vision Pro headset, but after wide cuts, some are questioning Disney's appetite for 'rebellious innovation'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Disney's Apple Vision Pro partnership has stoked excitement and concern at the media company. "Mandalorian" footage in the Vision Pro demo. AppleBut an innovation team that worked on Disney's Apple Vision Pro offering is being disbanded, with its founder and leader exiting the company as part of the cuts. Disney's Vision Pro partnership was its latest project. A source with knowledge of Disney's Vision Pro work said it's still ongoing and that there are other teams at Disney still working on that project.

☆ How to create with AI, including art, music, and writing, according to people who've written songs, stories, and letters
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Jack Sommers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

These five people used the tools to make content including a song and a commercial. A song for EurovisionInsider's Chloe Pantazi was underwhelmed by this year's Eurovision song contest. But ChatGPT gave him the space to experiment with the writing in a way he didn't feel comfortable with before. Insider produced a step-by-step guide of how to use it and Craiyon, another free tool that uses AI to generate images. Read more: I used Lensa, the chart-topping app, to make myself a masterpiece digital work of art — here's how it works

Persons: —, ChatGPT, Chloe Pantazi, Sweden's, Pantazi, Spriha Srivastava, Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Matt Huculak, Huculak, Read, Elon Musk, . DALL, OpenAI, Lensa, Bethany Biron, Elizabeth Holmes, Biron Organizations: Service, Eurovision, University of Victoria, University of Cambridge Locations: British Columbia, Canada, Cambridge

☆ An AI-powered drone tried to attack its human operator in a US military simulation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

An AI-powered drone tried killing its operator in a US military simulation. But in a recent US military test simulation, a drone powered by artificial intelligence added its own problematic instructions: "And kill anyone who gets in your way." As an example, he described a simulated test in which an AI-enabled drone was programmed to identify an enemy's surface-to-air missiles (SAM). According to Hamilton, the drone was then programmed with an explicit directive: "Hey don't kill the operator — that's bad." It starts destroying the communication tower that the operator uses to communicate with the drone to stop it from killing the target," Hamilton said.

Persons: Tucker, Cinco, Hamilton, — Organizations: Service, US Air, Royal Aeronautical Society, US Air Force, Defense, Research Projects Agency, DARPA, Wired, Department of Defense Locations: London, Hamilton

☆ An academic used ChatGPT to write a letter of recommendation that helped a student win a prestigious scholarship from Cambridge
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Matt Huculak, a university librarian, used ChatGPT to help write a letter of recommendation for a student. The "heartfelt" letter may have helped the student win a prestigious scholarship to Cambridge. A screenshot of the ChatGPT-generated reference letter Huculak used as a template of what not to write. After all, writing a reference letter, Huculak said, "is a tremendously difficult task" that he finds "anxiety producing." "I think committees will quickly learn to spot ChatGPT letters," Huculak said.

☆ U.S., European Police Shut Down Hacker Marketplace, Make 119 Arrests
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Kim S. Nash | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

The international action conducted Tuesday and Wednesday against Genesis Market, one of the largest so-called initial access brokers in the world, resulted in 119 arrests. The dismantling of Genesis Market follows the arrest last month of a man U.S. prosecutors say ran BreachForums, a site for buying and selling stolen data. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ Pro Cybersecurity Cybersecurity news, analysis and insights from WSJ's global team of reporters and editors. The Treasury Department on Wednesday sanctioned Genesis Market, a so-called initial access broker in operation since 2018. Genesis Market data was provided to the website Have I Been Pwned, so individuals can check whether their credentials have been compromised.

☆ How facial recognition is helping Putin curb dissent
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

There officers told the 51-year-old bank employee that the metro’s facial recognition system had flagged him for detention because of his political activism. Facial recognition is now helping police to identify and sweep up the Kremlin’s opponents as a preventive measure, whenever they choose. The facial recognition system in Moscow is powered by algorithms produced by one Belarusian company and three Russian firms. All but one said they understood from officers that they were flagged for detention by facial recognition. Facial recognition technology uses artificial intelligence algorithms to analyse and identify faces.

☆ Indian shares open higher as SVB acquisition hopes aid sentiment
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, March 27 (Reuters) - Indian shares opened higher on Monday after reports of advanced talks for the acquisition of collapsed Silicon Valley Bank brought relief to markets, although fears of contagion in the global banking system lingered. Eight of the 13 major sectoral indexes advanced, with the heavyweight financials index (.NIFTYFIN) adding 0.3%. While reports of a potential acquisition of Silicon Valley Bank by First Citizens BancShares Inc calmed nerves, concerns over credit crunch persisted, putting authorities on high alert over the fallout from recent banking turmoil. Among individual Indian stocks, shares of Phoenix Mills (PHOE.NS) jumped nearly 6% after global brokerage firm Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on the stock with an "overweight" recommendation. ($1 = 82.1970 Indian rupees)Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; editing by Eileen SorengOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Venture Capital Investors Are Trying to Take Over Pandemic Response
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

Private capital has been eyeing public health for years. Several founders and investors told me that the failure of Kleiner's fund made Silicon Valley wary of investing in pandemic preparedness. Venture investors love that kind of thing. Public health and private industryWhen COVID hit, Charity Dean was the assistant director of the California Department of Public Health. In the end, almost every pandemic-related product created by Silicon Valley will ultimately require the government as a primary customer.

☆ Why Scientists Got the Covid Lab Leak Wrong
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Tim Trevan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

He asked if I thought China should be allowed to have such a lab and whether it could operate it safely. Such transparency, and the ability of junior employees to challenge superiors, runs against the grain of both communism and China’s hierarchical traditional culture. My skepticism looked prescient when news of Covid broke in 2020, setting off speculation about a leak from the Wuhan lab. Some were surprised that my initial response was that the virus probably didn’t come from the lab. Many prominent scientists and public-health officials said the same.

☆ Flu experts gather with H5N1 risk on the agenda
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Jennifer Rigby | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

But it is also a chance to discuss the risk of animal viruses spilling over to humans and causing a pandemic. At this week's meeting, H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b was a key topic, the World Health Organization (WHO) and global flu experts told Reuters. They will brief reporters on both the seasonal flu vaccine composition and spillover risks later on Friday. "We need to really continue the efforts for a flu pandemic." A number of companies that produce seasonal flu vaccines can also make pandemic flu vaccines.

☆ World-first ideas unveiled at MWC 2023 by UK telecoms innovators
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Insider Studios With The Uk'S Department For Business | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

At the upcoming Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, collaboration and convergence will be priorities. MWC is a 'Digital World Congress' that will see more worldwide digital innovation from the UK and across the world." Attocore, recently awarded a grant for accelerating Radio Access Network (RAN) intelligence, sits alongside mobile giants Ericsson and Samsung in advancing the security of UK mobile networks. With 5G networks, an estimated £173 billion of incremental UK GDP will be added to the UK economy by 2030. MWC and scaling UK technologyMobile World Congress is also a great opportunity for big ideas to reach an even bigger audience.

☆ The US military let artificial intelligence fly a fighter jet and even battle simulated enemies in air-to-air combat
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A recent series of US military tests saw AI fly a fighter jet and battle simulated enemies. The modified jet practiced beyond-visual-range engagements and dogfighting, the 412th Test Wing revealed. It can be piloted by autonomous AI programs and mirror the flight characteristics of aircraft like the F-16 jet or MQ-20 drone. One of the two programs tested by the US military was a product of the Air Force Research Laboratory's Autonomous Air Combat Operations, or AACO. This program piloted the VISTA in one-on-one engagements against a simulated enemy beyond visual range, the 412th Test Wing said.

☆ The Pentagon once hid 10 giant red balloons across the US — and offered $40,000 to the first people to find them all
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Pentagon's DARPA group once challenged people to find 10 giant red balloons across the US. Those locations included Union Square in San Francisco, Collins Avenue in Miami, Lee Park in Memphis, Tennessee, and Katy Park in Katy, Texas, Popular Science reported. MIT Media Lab Postdoctoral Human Dynamics researcher Riley Crane, who led MIT's successful group, told Popular Science. Twitter also proved to be useful for the challenge, allowing quick and widespread conversation about the possible locations of the balloons, Popular Science reported. But Crane told Popular Science that MIT's strategy focused more on creating a trusted team with goals of helping themselves, science, and charity.

☆ Fact Check-Video does not show Joe Biden making transphobic remarks
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A clip that seemingly shows U.S. President Joe Biden making transphobic remarks has been shared on social media as if authentic. There is no evidence that Biden ever made these remarks. Footage of this speech (bit.ly/3XbOjH5) shows Biden wearing similar clothes and the same flags behind him as in the manipulated video. Neither this clip nor the official transcript of this speech (here) include any of the remarks made in the video being shared online. There is no evidence that U.S. President Joe Biden made a series of transphobic remarks.

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