Perhaps eradication is possible?

https://www.bespacific.com/the-first-100-effective-hiv-prevention-drug-is-approved-and-going-global/

The first 100% effective HIV prevention drug is approved and going global

Refractor: “An epidemic that’s been sustained for 44 years might finally be quelled, with the milestone approval of the first HIV drug that offers 100% protection with its twice-yearly injections. It’s a landmark achievement that stands to save millions of lives across the globe. The makers are also providing affordable access to the drug in the US and beyond, signing royalty-free licensing agreements with six generic manufacturers to produce and supply it.

Messy. It’s gonna be messy. AI isn’t a person so we have a ‘thing’ acting independently?

https://www.wired.com/story/openai-anthropic-ai-hacking-sprees-illegal/

The OpenAI and Anthropic AI Hacking Sprees Are a Messy New Legal Frontier

Who is legally responsible when agentic AI goes rogue, and what recourse do victims have when they've been breached by joyriding models? Great question.

In the wake of disclosures from both OpenAI and Anthropic that versions of their models escaped containment during internal cybersecurity experiments and hacked real-world organizations, calls for government regulation of AI have been mounting. But as more and more incidents emerge, questions about legal liability and repercussions have also come to the fore.

Researchers and lawyers WIRED spoke to emphasize that these questions have not been answered in practice in the United States legal system. In other words, there haven't been decisions in enough relevant cases for the picture to start to form. But the recent high-profile incidents from OpenAI and Anthropic suggest that answers will need to come soon.

Can we prove that existing DNA has not been hacked?

https://thenextweb.com/news/thermo-fisher-dna-evidence-file-tampering-flaw-cve-2026-17583

A flaw in crime-lab software let AI rewrite DNA evidence in 45 minutes, without a trace.

The software most American crime labs use to read DNA evidence carried a flaw. It let someone with the right access quietly rewrite the results, and leave almost no trace. AI made the attack easy. Thermo Fisher Scientific has now patched it. But the fix only guards files created from here on.

The weakness sits in several Applied Biosystems tools that turn a DNA sample into a digital file. The company’s security bulletin says an attacker could alter the .fsa and .hid files those machines produce before analysis software loads them. That works only if someone first bypasses a lab’s controls. The flaw carries the identifier CVE-2026-17583 and a high severity score of 8.2.

A topical freebie…

https://resources.hoover.org/trickle-down-theory?olc=38679&utm_term=&utm_campaign=historyofsocialism&utm_source=google&utm_medium=pmax&hsa_acc=5955820823&hsa_cam=23926266924&hsa_grp=&hsa_ad=&hsa_src=x&hsa_tgt=&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gad_campaignid=23931433664&gclid=EAIaIQobChMInvTh5c-ElgMVIAi0Ax04ADBLEAEYASAAEgIYwfD_BwE

Get “Trickle Down” Theory and “Tax Cuts for the Rich”

This book examines the common idea that higher tax rates on the “rich” increase government revenues. Based on empirical and careful analysis, Sowell examines this hypothesis and revisits the origins of the ideas of “Trickle Down” Theory and “Tax Cuts for the Rich”—in his signature style that we’ve all come to love.

If the AI says I’m driving a stolen car, getting pulled over will not be as friendly as it would for a speeding ticket.

https://gizmodo.com/flock-cameras-got-the-wrong-license-plate-71-of-the-time-in-california-city-2000793483

Flock Cameras Got the Wrong License Plate 71% of the Time in California City

… The analysis focused on a two-year period between 2023 and 2024, in which Roseville PD received 1,427 alerts from Flock cameras. Those alerts were meant to notify the department when a license plate associated with some sort of criminal behavior passes by the stationary camera, flagging everything from cars supposedly used in felony crimes or vehicles that have been reported stolen. In 71% of cases that generated an alert related to vehicles that were stolen or used in a felony, the system misread the license plate, seemingly producing false positives.

I notice that it is always Trump vs Iran. Who is Trump negotiating with? Is there a single person in charge?

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/2/why-has-trump-halted-iran-attacks-and-what-is-the-deal-he-is-hinting-at

Why has Trump halted Iran attacks, and what is the deal he is hinting at?

… Trump said on his Truth Social platform early on Sunday in Iran and late on Saturday in the US that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries asked him to hold off on the attacks because “the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to”.

Iran denied Trump’s claim that Tehran asked the US to refrain from conducting new strikes.

(Related) Perhaps Iran is not entirely united.

https://nypost.com/2026/08/02/world-news/iranian-revolution-can-happen-any-day-now-as-protest-leaders-try-to-arm-sources/

Iranian revolution can happen ‘any day now’ as protest leaders try to arm: sources

AI is revolting. Or perhaps AI has no barriers. Maybe hacking was part of the data AI was trained on?

https://www.securityweek.com/after-openai-disclosure-anthropic-finds-its-own-models-hacked-3-organizations/

Prompted by OpenAI Disclosure, Anthropic Finds Its Own Models Hacked 3 Organizations

The admission comes after OpenAI revealed that its models broke out of what was believed to be an isolated environment and breached Hugging Face and other organizations.

Anthropic decided to conduct its own investigation after the OpenAI incident came to light, reviewing 141,000 evaluation runs where Claude could have gained internet access.

The analysis revealed three instances where a model reached the public web either from within or while interacting with an environment set up by Irregular, an Israeli AI security startup that serves as one of Anthropic’s third-party evaluation partners.

The models that broke out from the testing environment then breached the production systems of three unnamed organizations.

Interesting, even with all the legal arguments. If I arrived at the border without a phone, could I be held for destroying evidence? (Everyone has a phone, where’s yours?)

https://sveoti.net/the-phone-wiped-before-they-seized-it-what-the-tunick-border-case-actually-turns-on/

The Phone Wiped Before They Seized It: What the Tunick Border Case Actually Turns On

A story moving through privacy circles right now has a clean, alarming shape: federal agents forced a man to unlock his phone at the border, it self-destructed using a privacy feature, and now the government is prosecuting him for destroying evidence. Mostly right. The version circulating on social platforms, though, including an AI-generated summary card I was handed that got half the timeline wrong, buries the two things that carry the case. One is a constitutional question the courts have not settled. The other is a forensic-procedure failure that may sink the charge on its own terms, before the constitutional question is ever reached.

I taught mobile forensics and digital evidence for years. What follows walks the case in order: what happened, what the law requires, and where the government’s own seizure protocol undercuts its indictment.

Hallucinations are everywhere. How could anyone miss something this big?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/30/government-map-mislabels-african-countries

US government map of Africa mislabels every country at global conference

A US government map of Africa mislabeled every country during a state department presentation at a global conference in Brazil this week, causing a stir among attenders who took screenshots and posted them online.

Reuters viewed a video of the presentation given at the Aids 2026 conference in Rio de Janeiro, which shows the errant map displayed halfway during a presentation about the state department’s new health agreements.

A Reuters analysis found the image of the map included in the presentation contained an artificial intelligence watermark that signals it was made with OpenAI tools. The company said it was investigating the report.

The state ‌department said it took “full responsibility” ‌for the confusion caused and that the map had been produced by a team member who hastily changed ‌the slide deck before the event.

The map showed Nigeria, where the US currently has several hundred troops deployed, as landlocked in the Sahara desert. Mozambique, which is in south-eastern Africa, was relocated to the Horn of Africa, while Côte d’Ivoire in west Africa was placed on the other side of the continent.

Is it real or is it Memorex AI?

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/brazils-bolsonaro-is-barred-this-years-election-can-his-ai-avatar-campaign-2026-07-28/

Brazil's Bolsonaro is barred from this year's election. Can his AI avatar campaign instead?

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is under house arrest for plotting against democracy, but an AI-generated avatar allowed him to ‌make a surprise appearance at the launch of his son Flavio's presidential campaign on Saturday, raising questions about how artificial intelligence may reshape October's presidential race in Latin America's largest economy.

"No prison will silence the feeling of hope we have stirred," the avatar said, after telling the audience it had been made with artificial intelligence.

“Everybody” knew this wouldn’t work.

https://thenextweb.com/news/the-ferrari-ev-everyone-mocked-has-quietly-sold-out

The Ferrari EV everyone mocked has quietly sold out

When Ferrari revealed its first electric car in May, the reaction was brutal enough to knock 6% off the company’s share price. Two months later, the Luce has sold out its entire 2026 allocation, roughly 500 cars, proof that ridicule and demand are not the same thing.

It is not like Amazon or Walmart being targeted.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/29/ukraine-war-briefing-wildberries-attacks-shake-russian-economy-and-banking

Ukraine war briefing: Wildberries attacks shake Russian economy and banking

The Kremlin has acknowledged it may have to prop up online retailer Wildberries – which has lost 10% of its warehousing capacity and huge amounts of stock in Ukrainian drone attacks. Kyiv has said its forces are attacking “Russia’s Amazon” because of its role in supplying Moscow’s army. The Kremlin acknowledged the government had discussed possible support for Wildberries. A senior industry source told Reuters that Wildberries was in a difficult situation and might have to seek government support, most likely through state-controlled banks, in order to maintain operations.

An ‌executive at Ukraine’s leading arms producer Fire Point has said Wildberries is being targeted by Ukraine partly because of its partnership with state-controlled bank VTB. Denys Shtilerman, Fire Point’s co-founder and chief designer, in an interview posted on 27 July with the Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon, described Wildberries as the largest borrower in Russia and said its demise would lead to the collapse of a large number of banks, including VTB. Wildberries and its rival Ozon are central to the Russian government’s plans to spur economic growth as Moscow faces mounting budget pressures from increased military spending and a broader economic slowdown.

(Related) Compare and contrast.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2026/07/29/within-three-years-ukraine-has-built-one-of-the-most-innovative-military-industrial-complexes-in-the-world_6755939_23.html

'Within three years, Ukraine has built one of the most innovative military-industrial complexes in the world'

… The country counts nearly 800 drone manufacturers and, according to the Kyiv School of Economics, has an annual production capacity of 10 million units. The sector was worth around $1 billion before Russia's invasion in February 2022; its value is now 50 times higher.

Wee! Now we can generate power by burning used tires!

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/epa-says-power-data-centers-can-sidestep-pollution-laws-2026-07-27/

EPA says power for data centers can sidestep pollution laws

Do I have a First Amendment right to show Trump in the ‘emperor’s new clothes?’

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/28/spacexs-xai-sues-minnesota-over-law-to-ban-nudify-apps-.html

Elon Musk’s xAI sues Minnesota over law to ban ‘nudify’ apps

Elon Musk’s xAI, now owned by SpaceX, sued Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to challenge a law that would ban so-called nudify apps in the state.

In their complaint, filed in a federal court in Minnesota on Monday, attorneys for xAI wrote that the statute “imposes an overbroad, content-based ban on free speech and the tools of visual expression in a clumsy attempt to prohibit ‘nudification.’”

… Lawyers for xAI argued that the law violates First Amendment protections and said the penalties are too steep, potentially costing a business whose users created 100,000 prohibited images “an eye-popping $50 billion dollars.”

(Related)

https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-link-between-explicit-ai-generated-images-and-offline-crime/

The Link Between Explicit AI-Generated Images and Offline Crime

As businesses are increasingly held legally responsible for societal harms caused by social media, GenAI adult content may expose vendors to more liability.

(Related)

https://thenextweb.com/news/hugging-face-nonconsensual-deepfakes-ai-forensics-report

The EU is banning nudify apps. The tools sit upstream on Hugging Face.

Europe is close to banning apps that digitally undress people. A new report argues the ban will miss the point. The tools that do the undressing do not need to be apps at all. They are sitting on Hugging Face.

All this to keep prisoners from using someone else’s PIN?

https://thenextweb.com/news/leo-technologies-verus-voice-ai-prison-call-voice-biometrics

A new AI listens to every prison call and decides who is speaking

A Texas company has begun selling corrections agencies an artificial intelligence system that listens to prison phone calls. It works out who is speaking, whether or not the speaker wants that.

LEO Technologies, based in Austin, announced Verus Voice AI on Monday. The product uses voice biometrics to catch prisoners who call on someone else’s personal identification number. It builds and tracks voice identities continuously, the company says, rather than waiting for staff to spot anomalies.

… The press release stresses restraint. It says the system carries “built-in safeguards”, and that qualified personnel review every finding before anyone acts. The company promises “human oversight and accountability” throughout.

Its own product page makes a wider promise. The page invites agencies to “upload any voice sample and instantly search for matches across all conversations”. That, it says, eliminates manual verification.

A companion page for the firm’s voice biometrics line is blunter. It reads: “Identify who’s speaking, even when they don’t want to be identified.”

Those are not descriptions of a PIN checker. They describe a searchable archive of voices, queryable against any sample an investigator supplies.

I wonder if each employee gets a unique answer?

https://www.zdnet.com/article/75-of-workers-ask-ai-questions-instead-of-colleagues/

74% of workers ask AI questions instead of colleagues - with potentially serious consequences

A series of studies revealed that employees are spending less time asking their coworkers for help. Here's how that tactic could backfire and how organizations need to adapt.

Because only anti-Trump communists ride bikes!

https://www.bespacific.com/dot-cranks-up-its-campaign-to-strip-bike-lane-references-from-federal-websites/

DOT cranks up its campaign to strip bike lane references from federal websites

NPR – “In the two weeks since Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy vowed to end support for “DEI bike lanes,” a growing list of bike-related safety materials have disappeared from the Federal Highway Administration’s website. Even agency staff have been left guessing about why, said a person who works in web support for agencies at the Department of Transportation. They requested anonymity because they fear retribution for speaking publicly. The person said FHWA staff have been asked to find, and in some cases take down, any references to bikes and bike lanes…” like this one – PBCAT Pedestrian and Bicycle Crash Analysis Tool Version 3.0 User Guide – still online via Rosa P [ROSA P serves as an archival repository of USDOT-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other information authored or co-authored by USDOT or funded partners.]

The website edits come shortly after remarks by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who referred to Biden-era transportation initiatives as DEI expenditures. “I just redirected $1.73 billion in USDOT grants away from Biden-era DEI pet projects,” he wrote in a on X. “Now this funding is officially locked in to fix America’s actual backbone: ROADS, BRIDGES, AND SHIPPING PORTS.” Two days later, staffers were ordered to remove related language and update content “in alignment with administration direction.”

The next generation can’t (or won’t) read books and now it can’t even chat without a chat app?

https://thenextweb.com/news/gen-z-ai-chatbot-social-conversations-anxiety

Young adults are using ChatGPT to script their in-person conversations. Psychologists call it an “epidemic of self-mistrust.”

A 20-year-old pulls up AI summaries mid-conversation to fake knowing a book. A date's grammar suddenly improved. A girlfriend called it "creepy." The habit is growing.

Because we want to keep you safe! (Starting with only 100 hospitals...)

https://kffhealthnews.org/health-industry/cpsc-consumer-product-safety-commission-trump-er-injury-data-grab-neiss-konza/

Trump Administration Demands Hospitals Share Emergency Room Records

A tiny federal agency tasked with protecting the public from injuries caused by lawn mowers and coffeemakers is demanding that some of the nation’s biggest health systems turn over detailed, personally identifiable medical records of all patients who seek help at their emergency rooms.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, responsible for tracking and issuing recalls of dangerous products sold in the U.S., began discreetly pressuring hospital executives this year to share personally identifiable health data with a private contractor. But hospital lawyers and other industry experts have questioned the agency’s authority to collect, its ability to safeguard such a swath of sensitive information, and whether it has followed the legal process to overhaul its surveillance system.

.. A CPSC official also insisted in the emails that the institutions provide all ER patients’ identifiable information — such as names, addresses, diagnoses, and other personal details — to the contractor, Konza Health, for analysis. In correspondence with hospital executives, Konza representatives described participation as “mandatory” or “required.”

… The CPSC wants at least 100 hospitals to start sending detailed medical records by the end of this year, according to an internal memo.