All posts tagged: threatens

A rising tide of e-waste, made worse by AI, threatens our health, the environment and the economy

A rising tide of e-waste, made worse by AI, threatens our health, the environment and the economy

Published by skeptic

Our growing reliance on technology at home and in the workplace has raised the profile of e-waste. This consists of discarded electrical devices including laptops, smartphones, televisions, computer servers, washing machines, medical equipment, games consoles and much more. The amount of e-waste produced this decade could reach as much as 5 million metric tonnes, according to recent research published in Nature. This is around 1,000 times more e-waste than was produced in 2023. According to the study, the boom in artificial intelligence will significantly contribute to this e-waste problem, because AI requires lots of computing power and storage. It will, among other things, lead to more turnover of computer servers used in the data centres that support the extra computational needs of AI systems. This rising tide of e-waste, coupled with the limited lifetimes of hi-tech devices, could affect global sustainability goals. E-waste contain toxic and hazardous substances such as mercury, which can pose serious risks to human health and the environment. E-waste is among the fastest-growing types of solid waste globally: more than 5 …

OpenAI Threatens to Ban Users Who Probe Its ‘Strawberry’ AI Models

OpenAI Threatens to Ban Users Who Probe Its ‘Strawberry’ AI Models

Published by skeptic

OpenAI truly does not want you to know what its latest AI model is “thinking.” Since the company launched its “Strawberry” AI model family last week, touting so-called reasoning abilities with o1-preview and o1-mini, OpenAI has been sending out warning emails and threats of bans to any user who tries to probe how the model works. Unlike previous AI models from OpenAI, such as GPT-4o, the company trained o1 specifically to work through a step-by-step problem-solving process before generating an answer. When users ask an “o1” model a question in ChatGPT, users have the option of seeing this chain-of-thought process written out in the ChatGPT interface. However, by design, OpenAI hides the raw chain of thought from users, instead presenting a filtered interpretation created by a second AI model. Nothing is more enticing to enthusiasts than information obscured, so the race has been on among hackers and red-teamers to try to uncover o1’s raw chain of thought using jailbreaking or prompt injection techniques that attempt to trick the model into spilling its secrets. There have …

Trump Threatens to Imprison Mark Zuckerberg

Trump Threatens to Imprison Mark Zuckerberg

Published by José

In a forthcoming coffee table book titled “Save America,” former president Donald Trump accuses billionaire Meta-formerly-Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg of scheming to skew the 2020 election against him — and, as spotted by Politico, swears that Zuckerberg will “spend the rest of his life in prison” should he do so again. Per Politico, the coffee table literature features a photo of Zuck and Trump in the White House. To caption the image, Trump writes that the social media founder would “come to the Oval Office to see me” and “bring his very nice wife to dinners, be as nice as anyone could be.” But in a sudden turn, Trump then alleges — in his characteristically manic capitalization style — that the Facebook founder was secretly playing him by meanwhile “always plotting to install shameful Lock Boxes in a true PLOT AGAINST THE PRESIDENT.” With his “lock box” reference, as Politico notes, Trump seems to be referring to the hundreds of millions of dollars that Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan donated to election infrastructure initiatives …

Good Morning Britain’s Richard Madeley told off by bosses as he threatens to walk-off

Good Morning Britain’s Richard Madeley told off by bosses as he threatens to walk-off

Published by Sam

Tensions rose on Good Morning Britain when co-host Richard Madeley was given a stern telling-off by ITV chiefs. The moment unfolded as Olympic silver medallist Daryll Neita joined Madeley and fellow presenter Kate Garraway on the programme. An eager Richard exclaimed: “Let’s see it!”, in reference to the medal. Daryll happily responded, “Do you want to put it on?”, which led to an excited Richard asking: “Can I?!” while Kate chimed in with support: “Oh wow, go on! So exciting. You go for it.” As they admired the medal, Richard pondered how to wear it correctly, then proceeded with the interview. However, he soon revealed: “Oh, apparently I’ve got to hand it back. Why have I got to hand it back?!” Garraway firmly stated: “You’ve got to hand it back because we want to see her wearing it!”, reports the Mirror. Richard retorted: “Well she offered! I didn’t take it off her, I didn’t nick it.” To which Kate affirmed: “We won’t steal it, but we want to have the image of her with her …

Hezbollah’s Hasan Nasrallah threatens new attacks on Israel

Hezbollah’s Hasan Nasrallah threatens new attacks on Israel

Published by Sam

BEIRUT — The leader of Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group threatened Wednesday to target new areas in Israel if its military does not stop striking civilians in southern Lebanon. Hasan Nasrallah delivered his televised speech marking Ashura, a Shiite Muslim day of mourning, amid an increase in exchanges of fire along the Israeli-Lebanese border and fears that the all-out war in Gaza might expand to other fronts. “If Israeli tanks come to Lebanon, they will not only have a shortage in tanks but will never have any tanks left,” said Nasrallah. Listing towns and villages in southern Lebanon where he said Israeli strikes had killed civilians in recent days, Nasrallah vowed a stronger response if they continued. “The resistance missiles will target new Israeli settlements that were not targeted before.” The fighting on the northern border of Israel began just hours after the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on Israeli communities outside the Gaza Strip, with Hezbollah launching rockets in support of Hamas. The violence has resulted in deaths on both sides, losses in agricultural and …

Netanyahu Threatens Military Action Against Hezbollah as Biden Pushes for Truce

Netanyahu Threatens Military Action Against Hezbollah as Biden Pushes for Truce

Published by Sam

“The odor of blood in the hospital’s emergency room this morning was unbearable,” Karin Huster, a medical adviser for Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, said in a statement. “There are people lying everywhere, on the floor, outside.” Israel’s military said it was conducting military operations “above and below ground” against Hamas militants in Bureij and the eastern part of Deir al-Balah, both in central Gaza, and that it had “eliminated” several. Hamas also reported clashes with Israeli forces in the area, and said on Wednesday that it had fired missiles at Israeli troops in the east of Bureij. “There is no place to flee to now,” said Hani Ahmed, a teacher and father of five who lives near the center of Bureij. He said two buildings in his area had been struck. “Khan Younis is rubble. Rafah is under attack. The north is destroyed,” Mr. Ahmad said. “I might take my family in my small bus and live at the beach as I have no tent. We are terrified.” As the bloodshed in Gaza continued, …

RFK Junior Threatens to Eat “Five More Brain Worms”

RFK Junior Threatens to Eat “Five More Brain Worms”

Published by skeptic

Image by Andrew Lichtenstein / Corbis via Getty / Futurism After news of his alleged brain worm went viral, third-party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is back with a startling rejoiner: that he could out-debate the election’s frontrunners even if he ate five more. “I offer to eat five more brain worms and still beat President [Donad] Trump and President [Joe] Biden in a debate,” the son of the late Robert “Bobby” Kennedy posted on X-formerly-Twitter. “I feel confident of the result even with a six-worm handicap.” Earlier in the week, the New York Times dropped a bombshell report about Kennedy’s health struggles a decade or so back, in which he claims a doctor believed some cognitive issues he was having at the time were the result of an unknown parasite that had taken up residence in his cranium, eaten part of his brain, and subsequently died. In a 2012 deposition during his divorce from his second wife, the political scion also alleged that he’d been diagnosed with mercury poisoning after a diet heavy in …

School’s out: How climate change threatens education

School’s out: How climate change threatens education

Published by Sam

POOREST HIT HARDEST April marked the 11th straight month of record global heat and the pattern is clear in Bangladesh, said Shumon Sengupta, country director for non-governmental organisation (NGO) Save the Children. “Not only are the temperatures higher, the duration of the high temperatures is much longer,” he told AFP. “Previously, few areas used to have these heatwaves, now the coverage of the country is much higher,” he added. Schools across much of Asia are simply not equipped to deal with the growing consequences of climate change. Bangladesh’s urban schools can be sturdy, but are often overcrowded, with little ventilation, said Sengupta. In rural areas, corrugated metal roofs can turn classrooms into ovens and electricity for fans is unreliable. In Bangladesh and elsewhere, students often walk long distances to and from school, risking heatstroke in the process. But closing schools comes with serious consequences, “particularly for children from poorer, vulnerable communities who do not have access to resources such as computers, internet and books”, said Salwa Aleryani, UNICEF’s health specialist for East Asia and the …

Biden threatens to stop arm shipments if Israel invades Rafah

Biden threatens to stop arm shipments if Israel invades Rafah

Published by skeptic

INCREMENTAL PRESSURE The Biden administration has previously taken smaller steps to show displeasure with Netanyahu, including imposing sanctions on extremist Israeli settlers and letting through a United Nations Security Council resolution that supported a ceasefire. Major US interventions in the past have changed Israeli behavior. In 1991, Israel begrudgingly attended the Madrid conference that led to a peace process with the Palestinians after then-president George W Bush held up US loan guarantees to build settlements. In 1956, heavy US pressure including economic threats forced Israel as well as Britain and France to give up their grab of the Suez Canal from Egypt. But experts questioned if Israel could be persuaded this time as it sees its war in existential terms after Oct 7, the deadliest attack ever on the country. “I cannot imagine American displeasure with the prospect of a Rafah invasion doesn’t loom large in the Israeli government’s calculus,” said Jon Alterman, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “At the same time, Israelis have other calculations, too,” he said. …

Argentine president threatens to take back the Falkland Islands | World | News

Argentine president threatens to take back the Falkland Islands | World | News

Published by skeptic

Toning down his more recent sabre-rattling rhetoric, the right-wing leader pledged to eventually return the islands to his country’s rule, but by peaceful methods. He said it would be done through ­diplomatic channels and admitted there was “no instant solution”. In a candid interview with the BBC, President Milei also conceded it could take decades to try to gain the Falklands from the UK and said Argentina would not “seek conflict”. His nation has long claimed sovereignty over the islands in the south-west Atlantic ocean – 300 miles off its coast and 8,000 miles from the UK. But residents, who number less than 4,000, have repeatedly made it clear they wish to remain British. The UK’s Foreign Secretary, Lord Cameron, visited the islands in February and said their future was not up for discussion. And Mr Milei said: “If that territory is now in the hands of the UK, he has a right to do that. I don’t see that as a provocation.” The Argentinian leader also praised Margaret Thatcher who was the UK prime …