Android smartphones now have a built-in feature called “Sound Notifications” that helps you stay alert to important noises in your environment — even if you’re not actively watching your phone. By going to Settings → Accessibility → Hearing enhancements → Sound Notifications (or installing the “Live Transcribe & Notifications” app), you can enable your device…

Researchers at Icaro Lab (with the safety group DexAI and Sapienza University in Rome) have discovered that rewriting harmful prompts as poetry—what they call “adversarial poetry”—allows them to bypass safety filters in major AI chatbots from OpenAI, Google, Meta, Anthropic, and xAI. In testing 25 leading models, the team found that hand-crafted poetic prompts coaxed…

A coordinated hacking campaign has launched widespread brute-force login attempts against GlobalProtect VPN portals from Palo Alto Networks, followed by a second wave of scanning that targeted SonicOS API endpoints used by SonicWall firewalls. The activity began December 2, 2025, and has been traced to over 7,000 IP addresses belonging to German hosting provider 3xK…

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has alerted the public to a surge in “virtual kidnapping” scams in which criminals grab photos from social media or other publicly available sites, digitally alter them, then send them as “proof-of-life” to extort ransom money from victim families. Scammers often contact targets via text message, claiming to have kidnapped…

Apple and Google have issued a fresh wave of cyber-threat warnings to users across the world, alerting them they may have been targeted by state-backed hackers or commercial spyware operators. The alerts were sent Dec. 2 and Dec. 3, respectively, as part of an ongoing effort by the tech giants to shield customers from surveillance…

A new evaluation by the Future of Life Institute finds that eight leading AI companies—including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta and xAI—are failing to adequately plan for extreme risks posed by future AI systems that could match or exceed human-level intelligence. The “Winter 2025 AI Safety Index” scored these firms across several areas, including safety…

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators, led by Pete Ricketts (R-Nebraska) and Chris Coons (D-Delaware), introduced the “SAFE CHIPS Act” on December 4, 2025. The bill would require the Commerce Department to reject export-license applications for advanced artificial-intelligence chips — such as those made by Nvidia — destined for China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and…

The New York Times has filed a federal lawsuit against AI search company Perplexity, accusing it of copying and republishing millions of its articles — including pay-walled content — without permission or payment. The suit claims Perplexity’s AI engine produces “verbatim or near-verbatim” reproductions of Times journalism, repackaging it as responses to user queries and…

Pet-supplies retailer Petco recently disclosed a security lapse that made certain customer files publicly accessible due to a misconfigured setting in one of its software applications. The issue was discovered internally, and the company immediately removed access and deployed additional security controls. The notice to customers, filed with California’s Attorney General, does not reveal how…

Autolane, a Palo Alto startup, has raised $7.4 million to build what it calls “air-traffic control for autonomous vehicles,” a system designed to coordinate where and how self-driving cars pick up and drop off passengers or deliveries. The firm has already struck a deal with retail real estate giant Simon Property Group to deploy its…

Senator Edward Markey, in a recent interview and follow-up actions, sharply criticized the Trump administration’s approach to online platforms, free speech, and tech policy. In an appearance on The Verge’s “Decoder” podcast, Markey accused the Federal Communications Commission under Chairman Brendan Carr of undermining First Amendment protections by coercing media companies and said Trump’s handling…

Amazon has unveiled a new AI-powered capability for Fire TV that lets viewers jump directly to a particular movie moment simply by describing it to the voice assistant Alexa+. Users can say things like “Jump to the scene in Mamma Mia where Sophie sings ‘Honey Honey’” or “Take me to the card scene in Love…

TikTok has introduced a new “Nearby Feed” feature to help users discover content posted by creators and businesses near their current location. Initially launching in the UK, France, Italy, and Germany, the feed is accessible directly from the app’s home screen under a tab labeled with the user’s region. The feed curates public videos based…

New revelations suggest that Intellexa — already sanctioned by the U.S. — had more intrusive involvement in government-led spyware operations than previously believed. A leaked training video shows company staff using remote desktop tools to access live customer surveillance dashboards belonging to Intellexa’s “Predator” system, including personal photos, messages and other sensitive data from real…

California regulators have proposed new rules at the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) that would allow self-driving trucks to test—and eventually operate—on public highways, potentially ending a long-standing prohibition on heavy autonomous vehicles. The draft regulations include a phased permitting process similar to that for robotaxis: companies would first be allowed to test with…