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The Independent

The Independent

Newspaper | United Kingdom | Left
www.independent.co.uk/

British online newspaper offering news, views, and analysis on UK and world events.

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Technology

What should we consider about the future of AI and its impact on society?

Top executives at Anthropic, OpenAI and other AI companies are privately gaming out scenarios for a public and political revolt after a catastrophic AI event. Why it matters: These officials anticipate a large-scale event, most likely a cyberattack, that shuts down access to financial services, internet connectivity, or even power and water. The first example of significant real-world harm caused by unsafe AI would turn an already wary public further against the technology and its leaders, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, as well as President Trump for reluctance to regulate it. The risk: While scenario planning is common within many companies and national security settings — the Pentagon has been running war games for decades — the difference is that many top AI researchers and executives believe a major incident is inevitable. "OpenAI conducts preparedness exercises where teams discuss and work through a range of potential scenarios," a company spokesperson said. "These scenarios are not treated as inevitable, but are meant to help us prepare for a variety of circumstances."Anthropic declined to comment. Zoom in: The blame game will start whether a rogue-agent swarm breaks containment from an internal testing environment or a bad actor finds unexpected ways to use available models. A recent campaign targeting South Korean financial organizations — including reported breaches at two banks — shows the damage one person can do.A hacker from China allegedly used AI tools from China-developed models, including DeepSeek, to steal data from tens of thousands of bank customers. The attacker used Claude Code to ask for help finding places to sell the stolen data, according to cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. Top AI planners assume Democrats, ascendant after the midterms, will move fast to shut down AI but will face significant challenges. An aging Congress, out of touch with the AI revolution, could find itself out of its depth.The global econ

United States
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Economy

What do you think the Nobel Prize in Economics means for how we handle economic problems in our country?

By Simon Johnson and Johan Ahlander STOCKHOLM, Oct 12 (Reuters) - US academics Robert Hall and Michael Woodford won the 2026 Nobel economics prize on Monday for decades of work developing ground-up models currently used by central banks and finance ministries across the world to stabilise economies. "With them, we are better equipped to deal with shocks in the economy, such as energy crises or sudden changes in how much households consume," John Hassler, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences, said in a statement

Global
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