Critical Themes
What happens when artificial intelligence leaves the office, the laboratory and the computer screen—and enters a neighbourhood bar? In Beijing’s Zhongguancun technology district, the answer is AGI Bar, an unusual meeting place where customers can discuss AI over drinks and access DeepSeek computing tokens through the bar’s Wi-Fi network. The venue has become a gathering … Read more
Russia is accelerating work on Rassvet, a low-Earth-orbit satellite network that could eventually give its military something it has lacked throughout much of the Ukraine war: resilient, high-speed communications beyond the reach of conventional battlefield jamming. That makes Rassvet more than a civilian internet project. If deployed at scale, the network could become a critical … Read more
For decades, the tokamak dominated the global race to achieve nuclear fusion. Now, a far more complex machine—the stellarator—is attracting fresh investment and scientific attention. At the centre of this revival is German startup Proxima Fusion, which is betting that its twisted magnetic fusion reactor could eventually deliver continuous, commercial clean energy. The timing is … Read more
Artificial intelligence promises medical breakthroughs, scientific discoveries and unprecedented economic growth. But according to AI safety advocate Tristan Harris, humanity may be focusing too heavily on AI’s benefits while ignoring a far more urgent question: What happens if increasingly powerful AI systems become impossible to control? The warning comes as AI advances at extraordinary speed, … Read more
Anthropic is adding an invisible watermark to text generated by future Claude models, creating a new way to estimate whether Claude was involved in producing or processing a piece of writing. The system does not insert hidden characters, add visible labels, or alter the text in an obvious way. Instead, it changes how Claude uses … Read more
Artificial intelligence may not simply replace routine jobs. Its biggest disruption could hit highly skilled, highly paid professionals who once believed their expertise made them indispensable. That was the central warning in a discussion featuring Bret Weinstein, Daniel Priestley and Amjad Masad, who examined how rapidly advancing AI could reshape work, the economy and society. … Read more
The biggest risk from AI agents may not always be a single system going rogue. It could be what happens when thousands of autonomous agents begin interacting with one another. New research from Anthropic’s Frontier Red Team offers an unsettling glimpse into that possibility. In one experiment, researchers placed three AI agents inside the same … Read more
Senator Bernie Sanders has called on the world’s leading AI companies to pause the development of increasingly powerful artificial intelligence, arguing that recent incidents show the technology is advancing faster than humanity’s ability to control it. In an unusually direct intervention, Sanders urged OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta to stop building more powerful AI systems until … Read more
South Korea has unveiled an ambitious long-term technology strategy called the “Seven Major SEED” initiative, aiming to build new engines of economic growth beyond its traditional strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence. Announced at a Blue House meeting chaired by President Lee Jae Myung, the initiative focuses on seven strategic technology areas: small modular reactors … Read more
OpenAI has introduced GPT-5.6-Cyber, a specialised cybersecurity AI model designed to help approved security researchers find vulnerabilities, validate exploits and conduct advanced defensive testing. The model is being released through an expanded Daybreak programme as the cybersecurity industry prepares for increasingly autonomous AI-driven attacks. The announcement reflects a larger shift in cybersecurity: AI is no … Read more