CrowdStrike tells Congress it is “deeply sorry” for global outage
A CrowdStrike executive has told US lawmakers the company was “deeply sorry” for the global outage that grounded flights and left millions unable to work.
SVP of counter adversary Adam Meyers appeared before a US congressional committee to answer questions on the faulty software update that left millions of PCs disabled on July 19.
Lawmakers on the House of Representatives cybersecurity subcommittee pressed Meyers on how it occurred in the first place.
“A global IT outage that impacts every sector of the economy is a catastrophe that we would expect to see in a movie,” said Mark Green, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, in his opening remarks.
Meyers described the outage as a result of a “perfect storm” that was “due to a mistake”, adding that the cybersecurity firm is “determined to prevent it from happening again”.
Mr Meyers said the company would continue to act on and share “lessons learned” from the incident to ensure it would not happen again.
LinkedIn ditches UK data for AI training over regulator concerns
LinkedIn will cease using UK data to train its artificial intelligence models after the Information Commissioners Office raised concerns.
The Microsoft-owned platform admitted it had trained its AI using UK user data without seeking their explicit consent as part of an updated privacy policy that went into effect on September 18, 2024.
This prompted concerns from the regulator, ICO, who welcomed the latest announcement from LinkedIn, saying it would work with the company to develop its approach.
Stephen Almond, ICO executive director regulatory risk, said: “We are pleased that LinkedIn has reflected on the concerns we raised about its approach to training generative AI models with information relating to its UK users. We welcome LinkedIn’s confirmation that it has suspended such model training pending further engagement with the ICO.
“In order to get the most out of generative AI and the opportunities it brings, it is crucial that the public can trust that their privacy rights will be respected from the outset.”
FTX’s Ellison given two-year jail term for fraud
Former FTX executive Caroline Ellison has been sentenced to two years in prison for her role in the collapse of the currency exchange.
Ellison joins former partner Sam Bankman-Fried among those convicted over FTX’s collapse, which has been called one of the biggest financial frauds in cryptocurrency history.
Ellison accepted a plea deal that saw her admit to charges including wire fraud and money laundering. She also testified against Bankman-Fried, who has already been sentenced to 25 years in prison for stealing more than $8bn (£6.3bn) from customers.
Under the plea deal, Ellison has also agreed to forfeit more than $11bn (£8.2bn) to the court.
Apologising in court, she said: “On some level, my brain can’t even comprehend the scale of the harm that I caused.”
ChatGPT-founder Sam Altman outlines “superintelligence” timeline
We are as little as eight years away from the creation of artificial general intelligence, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
AGI, which Altman refers to as “superintelligence” in a recent essay, is a computer that can reason as well as or better than humans.
“It is possible that we will have superintelligence in a few thousand days; it may take longer, but I’m confident we’ll get there,” he wrote in the essay titled The Intelligence Age.
Altman, who helped build ChatGPT and usher in the latest generation of generative AI, used the 1,100-word essay to make a case for giving as many people as possible access to AI to facilitate a leap in human prosperity.
“In the future, everyone’s lives can be better than anyone’s life is now. Prosperity alone doesn’t necessarily make people happy. There are plenty of miserable rich people, but it would meaningfully improve the lives of people around the world.”
James Cameron joins board of AI startup
Hollywood director James Cameron has joined the board of UK-based AI startup Stability.
The Academy Award-winning director, famed for future-looking blockbusters including the Terminator series and Avatar, said he was interested in the intersection of CGI and GenAI in image creation.
Stability is the company behind the AI image model Stable Diffusion, which, alongside Midjourney, helped capture the initial mainstream interest in GenAI several months before ChatGPT’s release.
Cameron said: “The convergence of these two totally different engines of creation will unlock new ways for artists to tell stories in ways we could have never imagined.
“Stability AI is poised to lead this transformation. I’m delighted to collaborate with Sean, Prem, and the Stability AI team as they shape the future of all visual media.”
