Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

OpenAI acknowledged Friday that its artificial intelligence tools had posted images from ChatGPT users onto online sites without the company’s knowledge, the latest example of AI agents operating outside their bounds. The company also confirmed a New York Times report that its tools had accessed websites of US federal agencies, saying they retrieved only publicly available information. Read moreAI leaders urge caution at UN, with Anthropic chief pledging to slow down Links to the 53 uploaded images were not publicly listed and were accidentally posted on image-hosting sites, according to OpenAI. Most have been removed with the help of the…

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has said she is concerned about Labour’s proposals to change visa rules, which would make it harder for foreign workers to secure permanent residency in the UK.In an interview with the Times, external ahead of Labour’s annual conference, Rayner questioned Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s plans, saying they are unfair because they “change the goalposts”.Under the proposals, most migrants would have to wait 10 years to qualify for residency – instead of the current five – while foreign workers on health and social care visas would face a 15-year wait.Mahmood said the government would make a decision…

Exa has released Agent Ultra, the highest effort level of its Exa Agent API. It is built for research that must run to exhaustion: large list building, entity enrichment, and questions that need thousands of sources. Exa team reports that Ultra beats Opus 5.5, GPT-6 Astra, and Perplexity Agent, each at maximum effort, on 4 research benchmarks. Is it deployable? Yes, as a hosted API. Agent Ultra is live today on the Exa API by setting effort: “ultra”. It is not open weights and cannot be self-hosted. What is Exa Agent Ultra? Exa Agent splits…

Microsoft announced it will deprecate the Windows Deployment Services (WDS) server role starting with the next Windows Server release. WDS is a revised version of Remote Installation Services (RIS) that lets IT administrators remotely install Windows operating systems on fleets of dozens or hundreds of computers over a network. After deprecating WDS in the next Windows Server version, Microsoft will stop active development and plans to retire and remove it completely. The company partially deprecated WDS, removing boot.wim support in 2021 and hands-free deployment in January 2026 (this is now disabled by default for all customers who installed the April…

You don’t have to own Bitcoin to make money from people getting excited about it. On X, just posting about it can be a business in itself, and the company now wants £207,384 back from people it alleges took that business a bit too far.In its Sept. 17 lawsuit, X accuses Vivek Kumar Sen, Zamyang Sherpa, and unidentified operators of running a coordinated account network that manipulated engagement to collect creator payments.If £207,000 seems like very little money for a company the size of X, that’s because it absolutely is. So why is a company that was bought for $44 billion…

KEN CARYL, Colo.—A new residential development south of Denver is the testing ground for an unusual partnership that could transform home heating and cooling across the country.  Dandelion Energy, a geothermal startup, and Lennar, one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, recently completed construction of nearly 100 homes at the base of Colorado’s Front Range, each equipped with its own ground-source heat pump. The systems use less electricity than even the most efficient air-source heat pumps, potentially helping Colorado meet its climate goals while reducing peak energy demand and eliminating the need for new gas pipelines.  Ground-source heat pumps draw on…

Reporting Highlights Recklessness Rewarded: I blew $1,800 in one night by chasing my losses with bigger bets, a classic sign of problem gambling. The next day, DraftKings invited me to audition for its VIP program. Casino Craze: Sportsbooks want to expand into online casinos, where you can lose a lot fast. I played 500 rounds of blackjack in a weekend — about half of my total bets over 10 weeks. Profit Over Protection: The responsible gaming prompts telling me to pump the brakes were no match for the product design and promotions pushing me to do more gambling. These highlights…

Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Latin America Brief. The highlights this week: Acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez attends the United Nations General Assembly, oil-rich Guyana prepares to launch a development bank, and a Bolivian biologist discovers a new cat species. Latin America was in the spotlight this week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Venezuela saw a reentry of sorts into the international community, as acting President Delcy Rodríguez became the first Venezuelan leader to address the gathering in-person in eight years. Her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, avoided the event in part due to fear of being arrested…

US broadcaster CNN has been barred from travelling with President Donald Trump on Air Force One for a trip to Tennessee on Saturday.The move is the latest in a battle between the White House and the media after it was forced to lift its ban on some news outlets.CNN was scheduled to fly with Trump for his trip to Tennessee for a college American football game until a note released on Friday night by the White House did not list the broadcaster on the media schedule. The BBC has requested comment from the White House.CNN has reported that no other…

Young people whose complex disabilities mean they have little prospect of getting a paid job should get fast-track access to disability benefits, an official review of youth employment will say.The review, by the former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn, will say 16- to 24-year-olds with the most severe lifelong needs should be guaranteed swift and unconditional benefit support rather than having to prove they cannot work.Currently, many disabled youngsters and their families have to endure repeated lengthy, adversarial and often distressing assessments to access personal independence payment (Pip) and universal credit health benefits.The guarantee could include young people with profound…