Anthropic warns self-improving AI is coming

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Anthropic warns self-improving AI may arrive soon LINK

• In a revised S-1A filing on Monday, Anthropic cautioned that it may soon reach its own internal benchmark for recursive self-improvement, the point where AI gets good enough at training itself to speed up its own progress.
• The lab said it has already used AI to build models whose jumps in skill it failed to spot at the time, and warned this growth could outrun its ability to add safety and security checks.
• Anthropic stressed that no current model has crossed the threshold yet, and it is weighing changes to its Responsible Scaling Policy to keep humans supervising the design of frontier models like Claude.

Google kills botnet hidden in 1.3M TV boxes LINK

• Google and its security partners took down the XCPE backdoor, which had turned more than 1.3 million Android TV set-top boxes into a botnet that a device maker, Videostrong, ran for profit.
• Google says Videostrong built the malware into many device models over years, then sold access to criminal affiliates who used the boxes for ad-fraud, residential proxy networks, and loading extra malware onto victims.
• Google cut ties with Videostrong, banned it from making certified Android devices, and took legal action against the control servers; it says disrupting affiliate domains should also cut off at least 10 million more infected devices.

🇨🇳 Nvidia tells cloud partners to favor non-China clients LINK

• Nvidia has told its data center partners to restrict sales to Chinese customers, asking cloud providers to direct at least 51% of their services to companies based outside China, according to a Financial Times report.
• The rule only covers new contracts and leaves existing deals in place, and Nvidia reportedly passed the instruction along verbally through its sales staff and regional teams rather than putting it in writing.
• The move adds another barrier for Chinese firms building AI models, since many rent computing power from providers outside China to train their systems, a route Washington has tried for years to shut down.

Report reveals how smugglers sneak memory chips into China LINK

• An investigation by The Information has exposed how a smuggler slips export-controlled HBM memory chips from South Korea into China by pairing them with cheap, low-performing processors that legally skirt U.S. and Korean export rules.
• Because the controls only check the server processor's performance, not its parts, the banned Samsung and SK hynix memory passes through Hong Kong into Shenzhen, where workshops heat the boards to lift the chips and toss the rest.
• Scarcity has pushed a single HBM3E unit from a few hundred dollars a year ago to around $4,000, letting one broker earn $24,000 to $32,000 per AI GPU as Chinese makers like CXMT still struggle with low output.

Apple's home robot arrives in 2027 LINK

• Apple is expected to release its first home robot, a mobile device that may cost $1,000 or more, in 2027, though delays could push the launch to 2028.
• Code-named J595 and possibly called HomeView Ultra, the AI-driven robot would roam around the house on its own, host FaceTime calls, and switch on lights when someone enters a room.
• The project began with prototypes in 2018 under then-CEO Tim Cook, and is now pushed by new CEO John Ternus, with engineers trying to add features beyond FaceTime to justify the high price.

OpenAI hires ex-Army Secretary Dan Driscoll LINK

• OpenAI has brought on Dan Driscoll, the former Secretary of the Army, as its Senior Counselor for National Security Modernization, a new role centered on national security, cybersecurity, and cooperation with U.S. allies.
• Driscoll, the 26th Army Secretary who oversaw resources for nearly a million soldiers and once served as Acting Director of ATF, will advise OpenAI's leaders and outside partners on turning AI into practical national-security tools.
• His job connects to Daybreak, OpenAI's cyber-defense program that pairs its models with the Codex tools, and the company is putting $1 billion toward subsidized Daybreak access for governments and infrastructure operators over six months.

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