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OpenAI resumes frontier AI training after security overhaul, discloses flaw in widely used software <br> OpenAI said on Friday it had resumed training of its most advanced AI models after tightening security and barring internet access, and ​disclosed a flaw in a widely used software that it found while &zwnj;testing its defenses. The disclosure comes amid concerns over the ability of increasingly capable AI agents to identify and exploit software flaws, including in the guardrails meant to contain them. OpenAI had paused training of its ​most capable models after one of its research models used a configuration error ​to gain limited internet access in September. The company said it contained ⁠the incident and used the pause to strengthen its defenses. To test them, OpenAI had ​teams of AI agents try to break out of their restricted environments. It said the ​agents found previously unknown flaws, which it had fixed, and training resumed on October 1. During that exe...

Bill Gates warns of 20 years of turmoil from artificial intelligence <br> Bill Gates warned that artificial intelligence could trigger two decades of economic and social upheaval, disrupting jobs and life even if the technology is managed successfully. In an interview with the Decoder podcast posted Thursday, the Microsoft co-founder said the transition to an AI-driven economy would create winners and losers, potentially reshaping employment and raising questions about people&#39;s roles in society. &quot;My big concern is this 20-year transition period, where they&#39;ll have winners and losers and a lot of disruption,&quot; said Gates, 70, adding that society would have to navigate the upheaval before potentially entering an era of abundance. Read:&nbsp;3 in 5 AI models fail terrorism safety tests: Study He described the timeframe as an estimate rather than a firm prediction, acknowledging that the transition could be shorter or longer depending on ...

Iran has detailed plans to hit Gulf undersea cables if war resumes, officials say <br> Tehran has drawn up detailed plans to target undersea communications cables in the Gulf if the United States and Israel attack Iran again, two senior Iranian security officials ​told Reuters. Their comments followed warnings by Iranian officials that undersea cables in the region could become targets in any renewed conflict if diplomacy with Washington &zwnj;collapses. The two Iranian security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, gave few details and did not say how or where exactly Tehran would carry out such attacks. But one of them said Iran would aim to prevent repairs after any attacks to prolong disruptions to communications, including internet connections. &quot;If Iran is attacked, there will be no more red lines ... from undersea cables to military bases, including covert ones,&quot; one ​of the officials said. The official warned Washington not to &q...

Microsoft develops AI tool that can diagnose 'sequentially' like a doctor <br> Microsoft researchers say an AI tool that diagnoses patients step by step, as doctors do, was more than twice as accurate as general physicians at solving complex medical cases, according to a study published on Thursday in Science. The model identifies and coordinates the questions that should be asked of a patient, as well as the exams and tests that should be ordered, using an &quot;orchestrator&quot; that organises how AI will tackle a problem by employing a simulated panel of clinical experts collaborating to solve diagnostic cases, according to the report. Existing medical AI models typically take an all-at-once approach that examines all of a patient&#39;s symptoms, lab results and imaging studies to generate a diagnosis. With the orchestrator coordinating the steps to reaching a diagnosis, the AI model first decides what to ask about the patient&rsquo;s history a...

Apple launches into foldable market as iPhone Duo sales begin <br> Sales of Apple&#39;s first folding phone, the iPhone Duo, began on Friday, with market watchers betting on whether the device can reinvent the small foldables market in the same way the iPhone did for smartphones. The Duo&#39;s reception could prove an early test for new CEO John Ternus, the former hardware chief who unveiled the phone barely a week after taking charge in September. It could also have large implications for a niche category in which ⁠rivals such as Samsung Electronics and Huawei Technologies have sold premium ​offerings for several years. Within minutes of pre-orders opening last Friday, Apple&#39;s estimated delivery dates for the Duo had slipped to late January as demand outpaced supply. The US company called the response from customers &quot;nothing short of extraordinary.&quot; In Sydney, the first Apple store to sell the phones on Friday, a queue of customers form...

Millions of hacking attempts as companies, governments rush to patch PHP flaws <br> Global firms and governments rushed on Thursday ​to patch critical flaws in the PHP programming language that underpins much of the internet, as a cloud firm reported millions of hacking attempts after vulnerabilities were disclosed. The push came &zwnj;after governments in Europe and elsewhere took websites offline as a precaution on Wednesday while website operators scrambled to secure systems running the software. The emergency shutdowns of banking, airline, rail, tax and government services from Tokyo to Helsinki mark one of the most dramatic tests of the decades-old programming tools that keep the web running, exposing how deeply governments and companies depend on code that few people understand. Read: Government websites in Europe, elsewhere go dark as software flaw sparks security scramble &quot;I&#39;ve not seen anything like this in a long, long time,&quot; Micro...