Critical Themes
K2 Horizon is putting a new definition of “open AI” into the spotlight. The Abu Dhabi-based Institute of Foundation Models (IFM), part of Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, has released six AI models along with their weights, code, training data, methodologies and intermediate development checkpoints. The September 3 release is notable because researchers … Read more
The most dangerous AI “tools” in 2026 are not cartoon villains. They are dual-use systems—frontier models, agentic frameworks, unguarded chat interfaces, and generative media tools—that already scale fraud, cyber operations, deception, and planning assistance far beyond what isolated humans could do. The danger is speed, reach, and the shrinking need for specialist skill. Here is … Read more
Astra is the upcoming OpenAI model that has crossed a new safety threshold for cybersecurity capabilities. OpenAI says the model can identify previously unknown security vulnerabilities and develop exploitation methods against well-protected systems with little or no human guidance. That capability has prompted the company to introduce stronger safeguards before releasing it more broadly. What … Read more
A 23-year-old malware operation called Sality has just suffered one of its biggest setbacks. On September 1, 2026, U.S. authorities, CrowdStrike and international law-enforcement agencies announced a coordinated operation to disrupt the Sality botnet, a sprawling network of infected computers that had survived for more than two decades. The operation involved authorities in the United … Read more
Tencent has released Hy4 preview, a new open-source AI model with 770 billion parameters and a context window exceeding 1 million tokens. The model is designed less as a general chatbot novelty and more as a productivity engine for coding, office work, scientific research and data-heavy tasks. The release adds another major contender to China’s … Read more
NASA has demonstrated a new way for spacecraft to navigate without relying on GPS. Its experimental FALCON system allows a satellite to identify other spacecraft and orbital debris as reference points, helping it determine its own position in space. The breakthrough comes from NASA’s Starling mission, a four-CubeSat swarm designed to test autonomous spacecraft technologies. … Read more
Sam Altman recently posted a simple yet powerful message on X: “we made a chip and it is fast.” This announcement centers on OpenAI’s first custom AI inference chip, named Jalapeño, developed in partnership with Broadcom. The news marks a major step in OpenAI’s strategy to control more of its AI infrastructure and reduce reliance … Read more
Xiaomi has unveiled the Xring O3, its latest in-house smartphone processor, marking another major step in the Chinese company’s attempt to reduce dependence on Qualcomm and MediaTek. The timing is significant. As smartphone makers increasingly compete on on-device AI, power efficiency and custom software, designing their own silicon gives companies greater control over how hardware … Read more
Fresh water is becoming one of the world’s most valuable resources. But there is another source of water almost everywhere around us: the atmosphere. Atmospheric Water Generation (AWG), also called atmospheric water harvesting, uses technology to capture water vapour from air and convert it into usable water. Once considered too energy-intensive for widespread use, the … Read more
AI chatbots are becoming more powerful, but generating answers quickly remains one of the biggest computing challenges. Now, Cerebras Systems has launched the CS-4, a new AI system designed specifically to accelerate this process, known as inference. Unlike conventional AI hardware that connects many smaller chips, Cerebras is betting on an unusual idea: make the … Read more