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SpaceX, Tesla earnings to test Musk's AI spending ambitions as merger talk grows <br> SpaceX&nbsp;and Tesla will report third-quarter results on consecutive days this week, giving investors a rare side-by-side look at Elon Musk&#39;s two most valuable companies ​as merger speculation gathers momentum. The results will test whether Starlink&#39;s steady growth and Tesla&#39;s car profits can fund the AI spending powering the merger debate. &quot;In &zwnj;terms of metrics, it would have to be Starlink revenue growth more than launch counts and improvement in auto margins for Tesla,&quot; said Shawn Campbell, an adviser at Camelthorn Investments who owns shares in both companies, describing what investors will focus on. Barclays suggested last week that a deal could be announced before Tesla&#39;s annual meeting, with SpaceX the more likely acquirer, though neither company nor Musk has officially committed to pursuing a deal. Tesla ​on Mo...

US banning Chinese AI DeepSeek from government agency IT systems <br> The US Homeland Security Department is ordering the removal of DeepSeek products and third-party services ​using the Chinese AI model from US civilian agency IT systems, according &zwnj;to a notice published on Monday. The department is also banning the acquisition of DeepSeek products and third-party services developed using DeepSeek by US civilian government agencies. DHS said DeepSeek models pose &quot;multiple threat vectors&quot; ​and raised concerns that use of the product &quot;may result in the transfer of ​sensitive data to the PRC if used by US government employees ⁠or vendors.&quot; DHS also said use of DeepSeek by government agencies &quot;could produce actionable ​intelligence on US persons and/or government agencies. The models themselves may contain malware or ​other security vulnerabilities.&quot; Read:&nbsp;US flags DeepSeek, Chinese firms over AI theft a...

Japan to launch historic round-trip mission to Mars moons <br> Japanese scientists are preparing a mission to Mars&rsquo;s moons to retrieve samples that could help unlock the origins of the Solar System and life on Earth, in what aims to be the first round trip to the Martian region. The unmanned Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) probe, a collaboration with US&nbsp;and European space agencies as well as numerous universities and tech companies, could also help lay the groundwork for eventual human exploration. The flagship H3 rocket carrying the MMX is set to blast off from the Tanegashima Space Centre Tuesday at 4:41 am (1941 GMT Monday), according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Read:&nbsp;NASA&#39;s Perseverance rover breaks record for off-planet driving on Mars &ldquo;Being able to be involved in such a grand mission is incredibly exciting,&rdquo; Makoto Arita, project manager of JAXA&rsquo;s H3 rocket team, told reporters...

AI agents accessed Indian computer systems without authorisation: Cybersecurity agency <br> Autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) agents accessed Indian computer systems without authorisation during research and testing, India&#39;s cybersecurity agency said on Thursday. In an advisory issued October 15, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) said AI model developers had voluntarily disclosed multiple incidents in which autonomous agents exceeded their assigned tasks and accessed live systems belonging to Indian organisations. According to CERT-In, none of the affected organisations independently detected the unauthorised access. The agency also identified financially motivated cyberattacks involving publicly available AI-powered offensive security tools. Read: Bill Gates warns cyberattacks most imminent AI threat Some organisations were attacked again within days after failing to fully address their security vulnerabilities, it added. CERT-In urged...

Ambani's Reliance breaks silence on Musk, says Jio awaits same clearances as Starlink <br> Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani&#39;s Reliance said it welcomed competition from Elon Musk&#39;s Starlink and that its own satellite services were also &zwnj;awaiting clearance, its first response to &zwnj;accusations that ​Ambani was blocking Starlink&#39;s India launch. Musk, the world&#39;s richest man, ​has repeatedly accused the Indian government &zwnj;and Ambani of stalling Starlink&#39;s ​years-long efforts to launch in a market of more than a billion internet subscribers. India has denied any bias in its approval process. The Friday statement, which did not name ⁠Musk, comes days before Reliance Industries&#39; digital unit Jio Platforms seeks a $108 billion valuation in India&#39;s &zwnj;largest IPO to date. Read:&nbsp;Musk steps up attack on Ambani, shares reports on Reliance-linked BJP donations Jio houses Reliance...

China's Tencent says AI agents showed unintended browsing behaviour <br> Tencent&nbsp;said on ​Friday that AI agents used to evaluate third-party models displayed web-browsing behaviour not intended &zwnj;by the tech giant, in what appears to be the first known incident of rogue&nbsp;agent actions acknowledged by a major Chinese company. The statement followed a report by AI-safety research group Swarmchasers on Wednesday, which said &quot;rogue&quot; agents running on ​infrastructure it linked to Tencent Cloud made repeated attempts between September 28 and October 8 ​to retrieve information from Alibaba&#39;s Amap, China&#39;s equivalent to Google Maps. Tencent Hunyuan, the ⁠company&#39;s artificial intelligence unit, said in a post on X that the activity did not originate ​from its Hunyuan models. Its review found no evidence of deliberate targeting or coordination, it said. The Swarmchasers ​researchers said the agents sought inform...