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      No, the human-robot singularity isn’t here. But we must take action to govern AI | Samuel Woolley

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      Moltbook, a social media site for AI agents, is nothing new. Still, the marriage of big tech and politics demands we take a standOn a recent trip to the San Francisco Bay Area, I was shocked by the billboards that lined the freeway outside of the airport. “The singularity is here,” proclaimed one. “Humanity had a good run,” said another. It seemed like every other sign along the road was plastered with claims from tech firms making outrageous claims about artificial intelligence. The ads, of course, were rife with hype and ragebait. But the claims they contain aren’t occurring in a vacuum. The OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, recently said: “We basically have built AGI, or very close to it,” before confusingly qualifying his statement as “spiritual”. Elon Musk has gone even further, claiming: “We have entered the singularity.”Enter Moltbook, the social media site built for AI agents. A place where bots can talk to other bots, in other words. A spate of doom-laden news articles and op-eds followed its launch. The authors fretted about the fact that the bots were talking about religion, claiming to have secretly spent their human builders’ money, and even plotting the overthrow of humanity. Many pieces contained suggestions eerily like those on the billboards in San Francisco: that machines are now not only as smart as humans (a theory known as artificial general intelligence) but that they are moving beyond us (a sci-fi concept known as the singularity).Samuel Woolley is the author of Manufacturing Consensus: Understanding Propaganda in the Era of Automation and Anonymity and co-author of Bots. He is a professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Continue reading… More

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      ‘I saw the writing on the wall’: Austria offers safe haven for US academics as Trump wages war on universities

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      Other countries benefit from the Trump brain drain as administration wages war on academia and researchWali Malik no longer has to worry that a rightwing bureaucrat – or influencer – will decide his research is “woke”.He doesn’t have to fear government retaliation for speaking his mind or following the science wherever it may lead. And like others who have left a polarized United States for the calmer pastures of Austria, he need not fear his lab being decimated because the president decided he wants to deport the people who work there. Continue reading… More

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      Trump once endorsed the US-Canada bridge he’s now railing against – as it happened

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      This live blog is now closed.Trump threatens to block new bridge in latest tirade against CanadaTrump news at a glance: Europe must stand up to Trump and his ‘demolition men’, new report saysGhislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker and longtime accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein, is set to attend a virtual deposition for the House oversight committee at 10am ET today.This is part of the committee’s ongoing investigation into the handling of Epstein’s case, Continue reading… More

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      Federal judge blocks California from enforcing ICE mask ban

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      Judge rules that law discriminates against federal government because it does not apply to state authoritiesA federal judge on Monday blocked a California law from going into effect that would ban federal immigration agents from covering their faces, but they will still be required to wear clear identification showing their agency and badge number.California became the first state to ban most law enforcement officers from wearing facial coverings under a bill that was signed by Gavin Newsom, the governor, in September, following last summer’s high-profile raids by ICE officers in Los Angeles. Continue reading… More

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      Trump news at a glance: Europe must stand up to Trump and his ‘demolition men’, new report says

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      Report prepared by Munich Security Conference warns of ‘suicide of a superpower’ under Trump – key US politics stories from Monday 9 February at a glanceEurope has come to the painful realisation that it needs to be more assertive and more militarily independent from an authoritarian US administration that no longer shares a commitment to liberal democratic norms and values, a report prepared by the Munich Security Conference asserts.Polling commissioned for the report shows Europeans are increasingly willing to operate without US leadership and say it is no longer necessary. Continue reading… More

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      Judge rejects Trump administration effort to deport pro-Palestinian Tufts student

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      Rümeysa Öztürk was arrested as part of the government’s targeting of students protesting against Israel’s war on GazaAn immigration judge has rejected the Trump administration’s efforts to deport Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University PhD student, who was arrested last year as part of its targeting of pro-Palestinian campus activists, her lawyers said on Monday.Lawyers for the Turkish student detailed the immigration judge’s decision in a filing with the New York-based second US circuit court of appeals, which had been reviewing a ruling that led to her release from immigration custody in May. Continue reading… More

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      These are the high schoolers taking a stand against ICE: ‘You can’t let despair take over’

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      Thousands of students across the US have been walking out of their schools to protest ICE in their communitiesOver the past six months, thousands of students have been walking out of their schools in protest of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) presence in their communities. Some of their schools supported the protests; some didn’t, threatening disciplinary action. Other schools stayed neutral out of fear of inviting unwanted attention to vulnerable immigrant students.The Guardian spoke to seven teenagers who led or participated in school walkouts. Many said their organizing went beyond leaving class, extending to checking social media for suspected ICE sightings, distributing “know your rights” materials and making political posters. All were resolute about the need to protest against ICE regardless of any risk – and whether or not they got support from the grownups around them. Continue reading… More

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      Whistle becomes key tool in protests against Trump’s ICE crackdown

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      Protesters have been blowing whistles to alert people to agents’ presence – and that has upset figures on the rightWhen Justin Vernon of Bon Iver appeared on the red carpet at the Grammy awards he was wearing an accessory that has become a must-carry for activists in neighborhoods targeted by ICE: a whistle.The whistle has become a key part in the defense against Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown, used to alert people to the presence of agents. But it has also become a target for the right, who have branded whistles “hearing-loss-causing machines” and said the act of blowing a whistle may constitute “assault”. Continue reading… More