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Submission + - White House Scraps 'Burdensome' Software Security Rules (securityweek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The White House has announced that software security guidance issued during the Biden administration has been rescinded due to “unproven and burdensome” requirements that prioritized administrative compliance over meaningful security investments. The US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued Memorandum M-26-05 (PDF), officially revoking the previous administration’s 2022 policy, ‘Enhancing the Security of the Software Supply Chain through Secure Software Development Practices’ (M-22-18), as well as the follow-up enhancements announced in 2023 (M-23-16).

The new guidance shifts responsibility to individual agency heads to develop tailored security policies for both software and hardware based on their specific mission needs and risk assessments. “Each agency head is ultimately responsible for assuring the security of software and hardware that is permitted to operate on the agency’s network,” reads the memo sent by the OMB to departments and agencies. “There is no universal, one-size-fits-all method of achieving that result. Each agency should validate provider security utilizing secure development principles and based on a comprehensive risk assessment,” the OMB added. While agencies are no longer strictly required to do so, they may continue to use secure software development attestation forms, Software Bills of Materials (SBOMs), and other resources described in M-22-18.

Submission + - Former Google engineer found guilty of stealing AI secrets for Chinese firms (cbsnews.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: A former Google engineer has been found guilty on multiple federal charges for stealing the tech giant's trade secrets on artificial intelligence to benefit Chinese companies he secretly worked for, federal prosecutors said.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, a jury on Thursday convicted Linwei Ding on seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets, following an 11-day trial. The 38-year-old, also known as Leon Ding, was hired by Google in 2019 and was a resident of Newark.

"Silicon Valley is at the forefront of artificial intelligence innovation, pioneering transformative work that drives economic growth and strengthens our national security. The jury delivered a clear message today that the theft of this valuable technology will not go unpunished," U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian said in a statement.

According to evidence presented at trial, Ding stole more than 2,000 pages of confidential information containing Google AI trade secrets between May 2022 and April 2023. He uploaded the information to his personal Google Cloud account. Around the same time, Ding secretly affiliated himself with two Chinese-based technology companies. Around June 2022, prosecutors said Ding was in discussions to be the chief technology officer for an early-stage tech company.

Several months later, he was in the process of founding his own AI and machine learning company in China, acting as the company's CEO. Prosecutors said Ding told investors that he could build an AI supercomputer by copying and modifying Google's technology.

In late 2023, prosecutors said Ding downloaded the trade secrets to his own personal computer before resigning from Google. According to the superseding indictment, Google uncovered the uploads after finding out that Ding presented himself as CEO of one of the companies during an Beijing investor conference. Around the same time, Ding told his manager he was leaving the company and booked a one-way flight to Beijing.

Submission + - ChatGPT gets full marks in 9 Japan unified university entrance exam subjects

Submitted by united_notions
united_notions writes: From the Japan Times:

The artificial intelligence ChatGPT earned perfect scores in nine subjects in this year's unified university entrance examinations, marking its first full score, an AI venture said Tuesday. When LifePrompt Inc tested the generative AI chatbot for the weekend's university exams, the chatbot's latest version had an accuracy rate of 97 percent across 15 subjects, including the nine. The nine subjects with full scores included mathematics, chemistry, informatics, and politics and economy. The generative AI chatbot performed worst in Japanese language, with a score of 90 percent, according to the Tokyo-based company.

Over on Reddit, user Gizmotech-mobile adds:

Lol. Giant database with predictive language abilities aces memorization multiple choice test.... ohh the shocks.

Submission + - Lawsuit Alleges That WhatsApp Has No End-to-End Encryption (pcmag.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: A lawsuit claims that WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption is a sham, and is demanding damages, but the app's parent company, Meta, calls the claims "false and absurd."

The lawsuit was filed in a San Francisco US district court on Friday and comes from a group of users based in countries such as Australia, Mexico, and South Africa, according to Bloomberg.

As evidence, the lawsuit cites unnamed "courageous whistleblowers" who allege that WhatsApp and Meta employees can request to view a user's messages through a simple process, thus bypassing the app's end-to-end encryption.

"A worker need only send a "task' (i.e., request via Meta's internal system) to a Meta engineer with an explanation that they need access to WhatsApp messages for their job," the lawsuit claims. "The Meta engineering team will then grant access — often without any scrutiny at all — and the worker's workstation will then have a new window or widget available that can pull up any WhatsApp user's messages based on the user's User ID number, which is unique to a user but identical across all Meta products.

"Once the Meta worker has this access, they can read users' messages by opening the widget; no separate decryption step is required," the 51-page complaint adds. "The WhatsApp messages appear in widgets commingled with widgets containing messages from unencrypted sources. Messages appear almost as soon as they are communicated — essentially, in real-time. Moreover, access is unlimited in temporal scope, with Meta workers able to access messages from the time users first activated their accounts, including those messages users believe they have deleted."

Submission + - AI isn't getting smarter. We are getting dumber. (newatlas.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: The point the op-ed makes is fundamental: AI cannot add anything to the information it has. It might be able to compile that information well, but its analysis is always going to be limited because it has no true creative spirit. It is merely a software program, albeit a very sophisticated one.

This quote from the essay will give you the sense:

Maybe you just use AI to clarify your thoughts. Turn the mottle of ideas in your head into coherent communicable paragraphs. It's OK, you say, because you’re reviewing the results, and often editing the output. You’re ending up with exactly what you want to say, just in a form and style that’s better than any way you could have put it yourself.

But is what you end up with really your thoughts? And what if everyone started doing that?

Stripping the novelty and personality out of all communication; turning every one of our interactions into homogeneous robotic engagements? Every birthday greeting becomes akin to a printed hallmark card. Every eulogy turns into a stamp-card sentiment. Every email follows the auto-response template suggested by the browser.

We do this long enough and eventually we begin to lose the ability to communicate our inner thoughts to others. Our minds start to think in terms of LLM prompts. All I need is the gist of what I want to say, and the system fills in the blanks.

Submission + - North America's first lithium refinery built and completed in Texas (msn.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: The first battery-grade lithium hydroxide refining facility in North America is now operational in Texas. In May 2023, Gov. Greg Abbott, Tesla founder Elon Musk and other officials broke ground at what would become Tesla North America’s new lithium refinery in Robstown. By January 2026, it was fully operational.

The facility is the first of its kind to ever be built in North America, The Center Square reported. The facility is part of Abbott’s goal for Texas to lead in reducing reliance on China for critical minerals and technology. Under Abbott, Texas is leading in semiconductor manufacturing and development, state-led Artificial Intelligence development and nuclear energy expansion to counter Chinese dominance and threats, The Center Square reported.

Australia, Chile and China account for 90% of lithium production; China overwhelmingly refines the majority of lithium, controlling global supply, according to International Energy Agency and other reports. China also sources materials used for lithium-ion batteries mined through forced child labor in the Congo and Nigeria, raising human rights concerns.

Submission + - Insurer Lemonade offers 50% rate cut for Tesla drivers when FSD is steering (x.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: U.S. insurer Lemonade has announced that it will offer a 50% rate cut for drivers of Tesla vehicles when FSD is steering because it had data showing it reduced accidents.

“A car that sees 360 degrees, never gets drowsy, and reacts in milliseconds can’t be compared to a human. Beyond the product announcement today, we’re also announcing our commitment to the Tesla community – the safer FSD software becomes, the more our prices will drop,” said Shai Wininger, co-founder and president at Lemonade.

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