The NSA, CISA, and FBI are accusing (PDF) several Chinese AI companies of carrying out "industrial-scale" distillation campaigns against leading U.S. models such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Grok. Since at least 2024, the companies have allegedly routed millions of requests across accounts, APIs, proxies, cloud providers, and third-party aggregators to extract capabilities for their own models. "China-based artificial intelligence companies are conducting systematic extraction of proprietary functionalities and capabilities of U.S. AI companies' models through industrial-scale knowledge distillation campaigns that form the core -- not merely a supplement -- of their AI development strategy," the agencies wrote. CyberScoop reports: DeepSeek, for example, distilled frontier U.S. models to generate synthetic training data for its R1 and R3 models, including four different versions of Claude, two versions of Gemini, five versions of ChatGPT and Grok 4. Those models helped train DeepSeek's capabilities in areas like agentic functioning, question and answer optimization, creative and occupational writing and others.

Another Chinese company, Moonshot AI, allegedly distilled 18 different U.S. models -- including Fable 5, Anthropic's current, most advanced commercially available model -- to train its Kimi-K2 and Kimi K3 models. The company used millions of queries meant to extract enhanced capabilities in areas like agentic reasoning, coding and data analysis, computer vision, larger logical frameworks, visual processing and others.

Chinese AI companies manage a sophisticated set of tools and systems that route requests and prompts through multiple pathways to avoid detection. The advisory lists common tactics observed by Chinese companies, including spreading requests across different accounts, models and platforms, using native APIs, remote cloud providers, and third-party aggregators to obfuscate user metadata, and leveraging proxies and gray tech markets to get around geographic restrictions, terms of use and safeguards built into frontier models.

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Meta has launched Muse, a personal AI agent developed under chief AI officer Alexandr Wang. "The product, long in development, was touted as a key next step by CEO Mark Zuckerberg in his recent 6,500-word manifesto," reports Axios. From the report: Muse, as the agent is known, exists in a chat interface, similar to a text thread. It's designed to be more proactive and long-running than typical chatbots. Users can name their agent, create an avatar and customize how it communicates. The Muse agent runs on a dedicated virtual machine in Meta's cloud, using a built-in browser that's visible to the user.

Meta is offering a free tier of Muse, as well as two subscription options, at $20 per month and $100 per month. "For the vast majority of users, they should be able to do what they need to within the free tier," Wang told Axios. "But for real power users, you know, those subscription tiers help us cover the computer costs." There is no advertising within Muse, but Wang said the company is exploring commerce opportunities that could generate additional revenue. Initially Muse will be available in the U.S. and works on iOS, Android and the web, with support coming soon for Meta's AI glasses. "The full vision in the future is we want to develop personal superintelligence that helps people accomplish their goals, pursue their passions, build things that they never would have built if they didn't have the technology," Wang told Axios.

Meta offers users more privacy controls with Muse than in its previous AI products, including the option to prevent queries from being used by Meta and a planned confidential mode where the company cannot see activity inside a user's virtual workspace. There's also an entirely separate system called Sentinel that governs Muse's access to the internet and connected services.

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Australia is proposing the "My Feed, My Way" initiative that would force social media platforms to let users over 16 turn off algorithmic recommendations and instead see only posts from people and creators they follow. Platforms that fail to comply could face fines of up to $79 million. CNBC reports: The legislation, which is being drafted and released Tuesday for targeted consultation, would require platforms to send notifications to new and existing users so they can choose their default feed. [...] The measures, set to be introduced to the Parliament of Australia this year, will also require AI chatbots, online games and other digital services to take action to protect under-18s from addictive design features. "This is not about giving government control. It's about giving people control. It's about putting choice back into the hands of Australians online," said Prime Minister Anthony at a press conference on Tuesday.

"This is sensible, pragmatic, practical reform. It gives users choice, and it will hold the big tech companies responsible for inaction."

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Telluride just managed one of its best-kept secrets in years, per The Hollywood Reporter. On Sunday night, festival-goers filed into a 650-seat theater with their phones locked away, having no idea what they were about to see, told only that it ran nearly three hours, hadn't been shown anywhere, and that its principal creators would be in the audience. The surprise premiere they went on to enjoy is a new documentary from co-directors Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim about Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes.

Called "You Can See Everything," the film is said to capture Holmes and her husband, Billy Evans, in the 34 days before she reported to federal prison in May 2023 to begin an 11-year sentence for defrauding investors about her blood-testing technology. Since then, her legal fight has limped along without success. Her appeals to overturn the conviction and shorten her sentence were rejected in February of last year. She then went a different route last year, asking President Trump to commute her sentence. That clemency petition is still listed as pending, meaning it's officially been opened and remains under review.

Fielder apparently lived in the couple's guest house during filming -- the access they provided sounds shocking -- but some of the buzz also ties to an A-list actress who becomes part of the story itself. A24 is set to release the film in October. You can watch a trailer for the film on YouTube.

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A Gamers Nexus investigation found that LG smart TVs are almost constantly logging and uploading data about owners and their homes, even while they are offline or in standby mode. "The company's TV sets scan Wi-Fi networks for nearby devices, record audio logs through their microphones, and use audio and video sampling to recognize exactly what you're watching from across the TV inputs," reports The Verge. From the report: Gamers Nexus partnered with fellow YouTubers Level1Techs and independent security researchers for the investigation, which involved testing retail LG OLEDs. Packet captures showed the TVs scanning the local area network for nearby hardware like phones or smartwatches, as well as logging location data and details of nearby Wi-Fi networks, and feeding the information back to LG Ad Solutions. Perhaps more concerningly, the TVs were capable of recording microphone audio when in standby; this continued even after the TV was disconnected from the internet, with audio files stored offline and uploaded once a connection was restored. Earlier this year, LG was found to be silently installing an adware-like app on Windows PCs that ran pop-up ads for other LG apps and even McAfee antivirus.

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We look at the Spanish Grand Prix betting markets to predict the five most likely drivers to win at Madring.

The special livery will adorn the Williams car throughout the Spanish Grand Prix weekend at the Madring.

jasohill has added a photo to the pool:

Following surveys of butterflies, birds, oceans, and trees, the editors at Phaidon have settled on their next topic of inquiry: fungi. This October, the publisher will release an expansive tome gathering more than 200 photographs, artworks, historical objects, and more all devoted to the vast diversity and creative potential of mycology.

Fungi: The World of Mushrooms spans more than 200 pages and several millennia, compiling a breadth of imagery from ancient history to the present day. Included are the uncanny costumes shot in-situ by Riitta Ikonen and Anni Koponen, Hima af Klint’s delicate illustrations, and Carsten Höller’s disorienting installation of suspended toadstools.

Fungi is slated for release on October 15, and you can reserve your copy in the Colossal Shop.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Spanning 200+ Works, a New Book Celebrates the World of Fungi appeared first on Colossal.

ALKMAAR (ANP) - Het ziekenhuis waar de 66-jarige verdachte van seksueel misbruik van Filipijnse kinderen werkte, heeft via de media vernomen waar de arts van verdacht wordt. De Noordwest Ziekenhuisgroep met vestigingen in onder meer Alkmaar en Den Helder zegt "geschrokken en ontzet" te zijn door de verdenkingen.

De anesthesioloog uit het Noord-Hollandse Bergen heeft volgens het Openbaar Ministerie minstens vier Filipijnse kinderen misbruikt. Het jongste slachtoffer was drie jaar oud. De man werd in mei opgepakt. Dinsdag was een eerste zitting in zijn zaak.

Ook bij de anesthesiologen waren de verdenkingen niet bekend, meldt het ziekenhuis. De man nam zelf ontslag. Het ziekenhuis wist wel dat zijn afwezigheid en latere vertrek "verband hielden met privéomstandigheden, die losstonden van de zorg en zijn werkzaamheden als arts bij Noordwest".

Het ziekenhuis zegt dat er binnen Noordwest geen signalen bekend zijn die verband houden met de verdenkingen. Ook laat het weten dat een anesthesioloog altijd in teamverband werkt bij de behandeling van patiënten.

NEW YORK (ANP) - De aandelenbeurzen in New York zijn dinsdag met verliezen gesloten. Beleggers reageerden op de stijgende olieprijzen door de aanhoudende oorlog in het Midden-Oosten en de aanvallen op energiefaciliteiten in die regio.

Saudi-Arabië, een bondgenoot van de Verenigde Staten, heeft verschillende energie-installaties stilgelegd na aanvallen van door Iran gesteunde Houthi-rebellen. De Houthi's zeiden faciliteiten in Abha, Najran en Jazan te hebben aangevallen met ballistische raketten en drones. De prijs van een vat Brentolie, oftewel olie uit het Midden-Oosten, steeg dinsdag tot boven de 99 dollar.

De Dow-Jonesindex sloot 1,2 procent lager tot 52.786,07 punten. De brede S&P 500-index daalde 0,6 procent naar 7673,52 punten en techgraadmeter Nasdaq eindigde 0,3 procent lager op 26.421,41 punten. Maandag bleef Wall Street dicht vanwege Labor Day.

DUBLIN (ANP) - De Ierse mediawaakhond is een onderzoek gestart naar X vanwege zorgen dat het socialemediaplatform de regels voor leeftijdsgrenzen en ouderlijk toezicht heeft overtreden. De toezichthouder kijkt onder meer of X doeltreffende maatregelen heeft genomen om de leeftijd te controleren, zodat video's die voor volwassenen bedoeld zijn, in de regel niet door kinderen kunnen worden bekeken.

Volgens de wetgeving is leeftijdsverificatie op X verplicht om ervoor te zorgen dat kinderen geen video's zien met pornografie, extreem of grof geweld of wreedheden. De waakhond meldt dat er zorgen zijn dat de door X ingestelde systemen voor ouderlijk toezicht mogelijk niet effectief zijn, geen minimumeisen hebben en moeilijk te vinden zijn, wat wel vereist is.

Steeds meer landen komen met maatregelen om het gebruik van sociale media door kinderen te verminderen. Australië voerde vorig jaar als eerste land ter wereld een verbod in. Een aantal landen, waaronder Nederland, overweegt dat.

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Enzo Maresca admitted a liking for the “boom-boom” of house music, then oversaw a gritty performance that ended with Manchester City enjoying the sweet notes of victory.

They had lost six of their past nine away games in the competition and also lost the 2021 Champions League final at this venue, so to beat Porto and claim three points is a fillip for the manager’s nascent project.

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Centcom says ‘defective’ drone was surveilling regional waters and was not collecting sensitive data

Iranian forces claimed to have seized an American underwater drone in the strait of Hormuz that the US military said had “malfunctioned” more than a day earlier.

US Navy Capt Tim Hawkins, a United States Central Command spokesperson, said in a statement the drone was surveilling regional waters when it malfunctioned “more than a day ago”.

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Portraits of people with ginger hair across the US by photographer Kieran Dodds. An interesting cross-section of people with two things in common - they have red hair and they are American.