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China's Xi pitches open-source AI zone for BRICS <br> China will lead the creation of an open-source artificial intelligence zone for BRICS countries, President Xi Jinping has proposed, placing access to AI technology, large language models and digital skills at the heart of Beijing&rsquo;s broader push to reshape global technology governance. Addressing the BRICS summit in New Delhi, Xi unveiled an &ldquo;open-source and inclusive AI initiative&rdquo; under which China would pioneer a BRICS AI open-source community, support cooperation in developing and applying large language models, and organise specialised AI seminars and training courses. The objective is to build an &ldquo;open ecosystem&rdquo; in which BRICS members can cooperate on AI development and applications rather than remain dependent on technology controlled by a handful of companies and countries. China is turning open-weight models into an international technological public good. ...

OpenAI's Altman won't do IPO this year, calls AI extinction risk 'unacceptable' <br> OpenAI will not go public in 2026, Chief Executive Sam Altman said in remarks published &zwnj;on Saturday, citing safety concerns over artificial intelligence that render &quot;unacceptable&quot; even a 10% risk that AI could cause human extinction by decade&#39;s end. The comments come as more U.S. lawmakers urge new rules to govern AI systems after dire warnings from two researchers from OpenAI rival Anthropic that rapidly progressing AI could lead to the extinction of ​the human race in the not-too-distant future. &quot;I actually think that, given everything happening with safety, right now would be an ill-advised ​moment to go public, and we don&#39;t feel pressure on that,&quot; Altman told business magazine Fortune. Asked if there ⁠was a 10% chance of AI-driven extinction, Altman said he did not know how such an estimate could be made, bu...

China's Z.AI raises $5 billion from new share, convertible bond sales, filing shows <br> Beijing-based artificial intelligence company Z.AI Co Ltd raised a total of $5 billion from a Hong ​Kong share placement of about $2 billion and a concurrent convertible &zwnj;bond sale of about $3 billion, the company said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing on Sunday. Z.AI launched the sales on Friday, offering 21.97 million new ​Hong Kong shares at HK$714 ($91.05) each, a 10% discount to ​Friday&#39;s closing price of HK$793. The company also raised 20.14 billion ⁠yuan ($3 billion) of zero-coupon bonds due in September 2027, the ​filing showed. The yuan-denominated bonds will be settled in US dollars. The bonds ​were issued at 100.5% of their face value, the filing showed. The initial conversion price is HK$892.50, a 25% premium to the HK$714 share placement price. Z.AI can ​redeem all, but not part, of the bonds from February 18, ​2027, if its shares trade at or abov...

New iPhone Duo gives the internet a new reason to make memes <br> Apple may have unveiled what it called one of the biggest changes in iPhone history, but the internet had already found a more important use for the new device: making fun of it. With the iPhone Duo set to hit stores on October 23, social media wasted little time reviving an annual tradition that arrived almost as reliably as the new iPhone itself: memes about our old phones suddenly becoming ancient, questionable spending decisions and the eternal question of whether we actually needed the upgrade in the first place. This time, however, Apple had given the internet something new to work with after launching the $1,999 passport-shaped foldable phone, called Duo. The iPhone Duo was the company&rsquo;s first iPhone designed to open in half, marking a major departure from the familiar smartphone design. Apple called it &ldquo;the biggest change in iPhone history since the original model&rdquo;. An...

Anthropic says Yemen fighters used AI to seek guided weapons <br> A group in Yemen attempted to use Anthropic&#39;s Claude chatbot to build guided rockets and missiles, the US firm has revealed, as Iran-backed Houthi rebels are on the offensive in the country. In a report published Thursday on how it had prevented illegal uses of Claude in several countries, Anthropic said it had &quot;identified a cell of threat actors based in northern Yemen running three weapons development programs&quot;. Those were &quot;a guided rocket that used a commodity phone-class flight computer with final-phase homing guidance; a multi-stage ballistic missile with a stated range goal above 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles); and a multi-variant missile... that included a hypersonic glide vehicle variant&quot;. The cell used Claude to develop guidance, navigation and control software for the airborne weapons that would have otherwise required a team of engineers. &quot;We ...

More US lawmakers seek new AI rules after Anthropic researchers warn of human extinction <br> Growing numbers of US lawmakers are calling for new rules to govern AI systems after dire warnings from two Anthropic researchers that rapidly progressing artificial intelligence could lead to the extinction of the human race in the not-too-distant future. Alarm about the potential harm from AI grew this week when Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon said he had resigned, and that the &quot;people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.&quot; Anthropic scientist Evan Hubinger chimed in, saying Coxon was correct. &quot;We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans,&quot; Hubinger wrote on X. &quot;I personally think it is &gt;10% within the next decade.&quot; Jacob is correct here&mdash;we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is &gt;10% within the next deca...