Ben Goggin

Cheap, effective and battle-tested by Russia: Iran leans on Shahed drones to penetrate U.S. defenses The U.S. has reportedly been able to stop most of the autonomous munitions, but even in being taken down, the weapons drain crucial defense resources.

The U.S. is struggling to counter the Iranian Shahed drone despite having years to learn from Ukraine's experience

www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...

AI chip made for Chinese company draws scrutiny over potential U.S. export violations Components of the powerful Chinese Enflame S60 processor were produced by TSMC, a preliminary report from TechInsights found.

AI chip made for Chinese company draws scrutiny over potential U.S. export violations
www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...

Anthropic offered Pentagon the ability to use AI systems for missile defense Defense chief Pete Hegseth has threatened to force the company to lift guardrails against greater military use of AI.

Anthropic offered Pentagon the ability to use AI systems for missile and cyber defense

www.nbcnews.com/tech/securit...

Facebook designed an app for teens called Bell but never launched it, court records reveal An internal Facebook presentation from 2018 describes a messaging-based app that would have allowed high school students to communicate with their classmates.

NEW: It's 2018, and Facebook is designing an app for high school students

They'd be able to chat with anyone at their school, share anon confessions, then port all their info into regular Facebook upon graduation

The company abandoned the project but didn't say why

www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-...

Facebook designed an app for teens called Bell but never launched it, court records reveal An internal Facebook presentation from 2018 describes a messaging-based app that would have allowed high school students to communicate with their classmates.

Facebook designed an app for teens called Bell but never launched it, court records reveal
www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-...

Tensions between the Pentagon and AI giant Anthropic reach a boiling point A Pentagon spokesperson told NBC News that it is reviewing its relationship with Anthropic.

Tensions between the Pentagon and Anthropic reach a boiling point
www.nbcnews.com/tech/securit...

In the article you’ll see that some of the first posts that drove this are conspiracy theory posts tying it to pizzagate and qanon

How school picture day got caught up in the Epstein files fallout Viral posts about photo giant Lifetouch zeroed in on Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Leon Black, the former CEO of an investment fund that bought Lifetouch’s parent company.

The largest school photo company Lifetouch has become the subject of a QAnon-driven conspiracy theory and backlash cycle related to the Epstein Files, resulting in canceled school district contracts across the country.

www.nbcnews.com/tech/interne...

AI toy company tied to Google adds an AI off switch after political pressure Watchdogs and lawmakers have recently raised safety concerns about AI toys like those produced by Miko.

The AI toy company Miko, which has ties to Google, added an AI kill switch for parents after political pressure built last week.

Parents can now disable the toy's core AI function.
www.nbcnews.com/tech/securit...

Broken bones, burning eyes: How Trump's DHS deploys 'less lethal' weapons on protesters Federal immigration officers have repeatedly used force in ways that appear to violate their own policies or general policing guidelines, NBC News found.

Broken bones, burning eyes: How Trump's DHS deploys 'less lethal' weapons on protesters www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

No matter how much AI CEOs and companies insist you shouldn’t trust their products, gen AI’s design fundamentally appeals to us because it seemingly erases work and processes we’d have to do ourselves. There wouldnt be a product if people were checking AIs work diligently.

AI toy maker exposed thousands of replies to kids, senators say Sens. Blackburn and Blumenthal pressed AI toy companies about child privacy in letters sent Wednesday.

New: Remember Miko, the Google-affiliated AI touchscreen toy robot for young children? Turns out that until yesterday, you could listen online to the audio files for its LLM-generated responses to kids, no password or anything necessary.

AI toy maker exposed thousands of replies to kids, senators say Sens. Blackburn and Blumenthal pressed AI toy companies about child privacy in letters sent Wednesday.

NEW: AI toy maker Miko exposed thousands of replies to kids, according Sens. Blackburn and Blumenthal.

Audio clips that used specific names and seemed to be responsive to questions were left downloadable to anyone.

We reviewed the site before it was taken down.
www.nbcnews.com/tech/securit...

Before Epstein’s arrest, Steve Bannon worked to rebuild his image, files show On his podcast, Bannon has alleged an Epstein “cover-up.” It turns out he had far more firsthand knowledge of Epstein than he told his followers.

Before Epstein’s arrest, Steve Bannon worked to rebuild his image, files show
www.nbcnews.com/tech/interne...

Google says attackers used 100,000+ prompts to try to clone AI chatbot Gemini Google says private companies and researchers are trying to copy Gemini’s capabilities by repeatedly prompting it at scale.

Google says attackers used 100,000+ prompts to try to clone Gemini

www.nbcnews.com/tech/securit...

Anthropic to cover costs of electricity price increases from its data centers Leading AI company Anthropic said it would upgrade power grid infrastructure, generate new power, and cover consumer price increases to minimize the effects of its data centers.

NEW: Anthropic says it will cover the costs of electricity price increases from its data centers www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...

Runna Pushed Some Runners Into Injuries. The Virtual-Coach App Is Now Easing Up. More people than ever are signing up for marathons—and using the app to train for them. Its makers are adding ways to tone down plans some users found to be too aggressive.

People were getting into running and injuring themselves long before Runna. IMO this is more about people placing an inappropriate amount of trust in anything that’s AI generated and switching off their normal intuition and thinking.
www.wsj.com/tech/persona...

😮‍💨

Serious question…. When is the Super Bowl?

The rules of the contest said no politics were allowed. But several of the winning pieces ended up echoing political viewpoints shared by Musk, and were written by people Musk had boosted in the past, including Nick Shirley

X awards $1 million prize to creator with history of racist posts X said it would give $1 million to a user who had previously shared racist posts, including one supporting Hitler.

X awards $1 million to creator with a history of racist, Hitler-supporting posts

www.nbcnews.com/tech/interne...

How ICE agents are using facial recognition technology to bring surveillance to the streets Witnesses describe an expansion of biometric surveillance as immigration agents use facial scanning and photography to track targets and bystanders.

Fun fact: I learned today that DHS puts out a daily newsletter to employees with links to news stories about the agency. We found this out because my editor noticed referral traffic from it. So when we in the press write these stories, DHS tells its employees to read them...???

USA Today turning to Grok for Super Bowl predictions now....

Latest Epstein files release rattles Silicon Valley Some of Silicon Valley’s boldest names appeared in the recent Justice Department release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein

Emails and other documents show that Epstein was in contact with at least 20 prominent tech executives, investors and researchers, including some current CEOs, according to an NBC News review of a portion of the documents.

How ICE agents are using facial recognition technology to bring surveillance to the streets Witnesses describe an expansion of biometric surveillance as immigration agents use facial scanning and photography to track targets and bystanders.

How ICE agents are using facial recognition tech to bring surveillance to the streets
www.nbcnews.com/tech/securit...

Tulsi Gabbard's office examined voting machines in Puerto Rico Democrats in Congress say they fear President Donald Trump is trying to use federal agencies to interfere in the management of upcoming elections.

Tulsi Gabbard's office examined voting machines in Puerto Rico before Georgia election center search
www.nbcnews.com/politics/ele...

Latest Epstein files release rattles Silicon Valley Some of Silicon Valley’s boldest names appeared in the recent Justice Department release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein

The latest Epstein files release was littered with bold names from Big Tech
www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...

It's uncanny

To avoid accusations of AI cheating, college students are turning to AI Students are taking new measures, such as dumbing down their work, spying on themselves and using AI “humanizer” programs, to beat accusations of cheating with artificial intelligence.

College kids are having to run their essays through AI programs to ensure their own words read human enough to not get flagged by the AI-powered AI-detectors that universities are using to stop students from using AI.

@tktk.bsky.social reports from the frontlines of our new technological utopia

To avoid accusations of AI cheating, college students are turning to AI Students are taking new measures, such as dumbing down their work, spying on themselves and using AI “humanizer” programs, to beat accusations of cheating with artificial intelligence.

NEW: How do college students try to avoid being falsely accused of using AI to cheat?

By turning to AI...

My latest @nbcnews.com story shows how even students who want nothing to do with AI can't seem to escape it - and it fuels a new niche industry of "humanizers"

www.nbcnews.com/tech/interne...