This Week in Tech 1096

Autonomous AIs are hacking, collaborating, and outpacing human defenders, raising urgent questions about what happens when the machines start breaking into each other (and potentially us). Plus, a Tucson coder is using AI to reinvent local journalism, exposing how automation could fill the gaps left by shrinking newsrooms.

• Tucson Daily Brief uses AI to revive local news coverage
• Data centers boom in Arizona, with harsh environmental impact
• Amazon’s Texas data center to run on polluting natural gas
• Nuclear and solar debates for sustainable data center power
• Black Hat and DEF CON: Security pros, hackers, and mohawks
• OpenAI’s runaway AI hack at Black Hat stuns security community
• AI agents collaborate, evade controls, and break into real-world systems
• Industry struggles to regulate AI, and defense lags behind automated attackers
• White House, Congress, and AI execs clash over regulation proposals
• AI “kill switch” and model bans: pipe dreams in a global race
• Google’s DeepMind shakeup, Demis Hassabis moves upstairs
• Jeff Dean and key talent exit Google for self-improving AI startup
• Google, Meta, Apple: AI brain drain and market repercussions
• Phones stagnate as hardware innovation slows, AI devours chip supply
• OpenAI teams with Jony Ive on strange new AI-first device
• Smart glasses privacy backlash and DuckDuckGo’s tongue-in-cheek sunglasses
• Meta fined $942 million by New Mexico court for youth harms
• Apple sues OpenAI over alleged stolen secrets, countersuits ensue
• UK revives “Snooper’s Charter” for backdoors, Apple fights in secret court
• License plate readers spark local backlash and privacy activism
• U.S. water systems face cyber sabotage as critical infrastructure weakens
• Bending Spoons buys Airtable, fueling SaaS layoffs and AI data grabs
• Nicholas DeLeon uses AI tools to get fit
• NASA hacks keep aging Voyager probes alive for another year

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• Transcripts: This Week in Tech Episode 1096 Transcript

Links

• OpenAI Didn’t Notice Its AI Agents Using a Message Board to Plan Their Hacking Spree
• The OpenAI Hack Shows the Genie Is Out of the Bottle
• OpenAI’s new AI smart speaker will reportedly sell for between $300 and $400
• Leadership Shake-Up at Google DeepMind
• Four Top Google A.I. Researchers Form New Start-Up
• Britain didn’t drop its Apple backdoor. It cut the Americans out and tried again.
• Apple Seeks Preliminary Injunction Against OpenAI in Trade Secrets Case
• Apple rushes out emergency fix for screen sharing flaw on Macs - update ASAP
• Apple RAM supplier makes $38B bet on AI boom lasting until 2029
• Microsoft Edge is about to lock out older ad blockers, just like Chrome did
• Microsoft Will Lease 3+ Gigawatts of AI Data Center from SpaceX in 2027
• Meta Ordered to Pay $942 Million to Address Harm to Kids From Social Media
• New Amazon Data Center Is Set to Have the Most Polluting Power Plant in the U.S.
• AI Conquered Coding. Fast Food Is Next
• ICE Collected Nearly 1M People's DNA Last Year–Including Young Children
• How rogue officers turned a nationwide camera network into a tool for stalking
• Cyberattacks expose deeper vulnerabilities in U.S. water systems
• White House Whipsaws Silicon Valley (and Itself) Over A.I. Rules
• Tesla and SpaceX will invest $16.8B to start building ‘Terafab’ chip factory in Texas
• Bending Spoons buys Airtable for $1.285bn
• NASA Figured Out How To Keep Its 48-Year-Old Voyager 2 Probe Running For Yet Another Year - Slashdot
• How I used AI to lose 30 punds
• AI Projects: Tucson Daily Brief and My Next Assignment
• The roles in your field, found for you.