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    AI godfather Geoffrey Hinton: ‘We’re creating alien beings. I’m willing to be selfish and choose humans’

    The pioneering computer scientist on why Trump is using ‘superintelligence’ wrong, whether AI could wipe out humanity – and how our biggest challenge will be accepting we’re not the only intelligent beingsDonald Trump is a “corrupt, senile felon” whose fixation on the term superintelligence proves he knows nothing about AI, said Geoffrey Hinton, “godfather” of the technology, in a wide-ranging interview where he doubled down on recent warnings that AI models pose an existential threat to humanity and scoffed at claims the industry could regulate itself.The pioneering computer scientist, whose work helped lay the foundations of modern AI, has since become one of the technology’s most vocal critics. His latest remarks come after a tumultuous month during which a growing list of senior AI scientists and researchers have joined Hinton in ringing the alarm about how the technology he helped create could ultimately escape human control, sparking an industry crisis, the hasty assembly of congressional meetings and a rare global consensus that something must be done. Continue reading… More

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    Democrats rebuke federal raid of Ilhan Omar’s home: ‘rogue abuse of power’

    Top House Democrats question the ‘corrupt weaponization’ of federal government against Trump’s adversariesIlhan Omar’s Democratic colleagues have condemned federal agents’ search of the Minnesota congresswoman’s home on Monday morning, describing it as “deeply disturbing” and emblematic of the Trump administration’s “corrupt weaponization” of the US government.House Democratic leaders, including minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, party whip Katherine Clark and caucus chair Pete Aguilar, issued a joint statement excoriating the president for the search. Continue reading… More

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    Judge halts tree removal at Washington golf course Trump eyes for expansion

    Ana Reyes demands Trump officials explain East Potomac tree cutting and says it will likely cause ‘irreparable harm’US district judge Ana Reyes on Monday ordered a 24-hour halt to tree cutting at the historic East Potomac golf course while she decides on an emergency order from plaintiffs concerned that Donald Trump’s plans for the course are moving forward despite a pending court case challenging them.“Tree removal for routine maintenance is not exempt from this order,” Reyes’ wrote. “Plaintiffs are likely to suffer immediate and irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief. Continue reading… More

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    If the US livestreams an execution, it will be an act of terror | Brief letters

    Pete Hegseth | Pre-loved | Marlborough man | Canterbury tale | Newt kids on the blockPete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, has authorised the livestreaming of an execution by firing squad (Report, 9 October). Morally this is no different from a terrorist group posting a video of a beheading. It marks yet another step in the brutalising of American society under the second Trump administration. Britain stopped holding public executions in 1868.John BoalerCalne, Wiltshire• I find nearly all the “pre-” expressions irritating, but the term pre-loved (Letters, 7 October) is, in this one instance, justifiable. Items that have been passed on due to the owner’s lack of affection are exactly in a state of “pre‑lovedness”, waiting for the buyer who will truly cherish them.Paola McClureDundee Continue reading… More

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    Ilhan Omar says she will not be silenced after federal agents raid her home

    Trump and key allies have accused Omar of immigration fraud, and have called to expel her from the countryFederal agents searched Representative Ilhan Omar’s home on Monday morning as part of a criminal investigation, according to the Department of Justice and reports in the Associated Press and Fox News.In a social media post later on Monday, Omar criticized the raid as an attempt by the Trump administration “to target political enemies and weaponize law enforcement” and said she would “not be silenced”. Continue reading… More

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    Anti-vaxxers target Texas measles doctors to cast doubt on deaths amid outbreak

    Children’s Health Defense and RFK Jr publicly dispute recent measles deaths to ‘distract’ from damage caused and question vaccines, experts sayThe six-year-old girl at the children’s hospital in Lubbock, Texas, burned with fever and struggled to breathe. Doctors soon put her on a ventilator, snaking a thick tube down the child’s throat so a machine could breathe for her; they placed IVs to rehydrate her tiny body and they prescribed antibiotics for any bacterial infections that may have taken hold in the weeks she had spent at home battling measles.But it was too late. Within a day of being ventilated, the child went into shock, her blood pressure crashed and she went into cardiac arrest. She could not be resuscitated. Her family, and the nation, mourned: she was the first child to die of measles in the US in a decade. Continue reading… More

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    This Georgia county is one of the US’s most diverse – and that could flip multiple elections

    Gwinnett county is home to many immigrants and other newcomers, and how it votes could be decisive for CongressJohanna Park might just be an ambassador for Gwinnett county, Georgia, one of the 10 most ethnically diverse counties in the United States.Park owns Cafe Amico at Suwanee Town Center, one of her three Italian coffee shops in the area just north of Atlanta. She was born in Korea and lived much of her life in Argentina and Peru. She’s been in Gwinnett for more than 20 years, part of an early wave of Korean immigration that’s built Korean American car dealerships, banks, insurance agencies, supermarkets and restaurants like her own. It’s also a population that’s increasing in influence and not just numbers. Continue reading… More