The Register

Will now happily unleash the bots when 'likely overall benefits substantially outweigh the foreseeable risks'

Google has published a new set of AI principles that don’t mention its previous pledge not to use the tech to develop weapons or surveillance tools that violate international norms.…

Tech lobby isn't at the negotiating table, fears unintended consequences

Updated  US President Donald Trump has delivered on his campaign promise to introduce tariffs, by slapping a 25 percent duty on imports from Canada and Mexico, and an extra ten percent impost on goods from China. Industry groups quickly responded by saying this is not a great idea.…

Plus, Middle Kingdom announces levies and export controls of its own

Google is the latest target in the brewing US-China trade war, with Beijing hitting the search giant with an antitrust probe while rolling out fresh tariffs and export controls in response to new US levies on Chinese goods.…

Maybe Musk just wants the alien space tech that definitely doesn't exist?

A previously undisclosed group of FBI agents who investigate UFOs, or "unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs)," as the government calls them, are worried they may not survive an impending Trump-led political purge.…

Lawyers argue billionaire's 105-page complaint 'lurches from theory to theory'

Updated  Elon Musk's legal grudge against Sam Altman, OpenAI, and Microsoft could soon be over – again – if a California judge responds favorably to the latest filings in the case.…

Researcher says ecosystem's auto-caching is a net positive but presents exploitable quirks

A security researcher says a backdoor masquerading as a legitimate Go programming language package used by thousands of organizations was left undetected for years.…

Also, Netgear fixes critical router, access point vulnerabilities

Google has released its February Android security updates, including a fix for a high-severity kernel-level vulnerability, which is suspected to be in use by targeted exploits.…

Um, does anyone wanna switch seats?

Palantir CEO Alex Karp says one of his aims when building the controversial spy‑tech company was to "power the West to its obvious innate superiority."…

Contact info and partial payment details may be compromised

US food and grocery delivery platform Grubhub says a security incident at a third-party service provider is to blame after user data was compromised.…

Suspect, still at large, said to back concept that 'code is law'

New York feds today unsealed a five-count criminal indictment charging a 22-year-old Canadian math prodigy with exploiting vulnerabilities in two decentralized finance protocols, allegedly using them to fraudulently siphon around $65 million from investors in the platforms.…

Missed the AI processor boat, split with CEO savior, lost #1 seat to Samsung

Eight out of the top ten semiconductor vendors recorded healthy revenue growth last year, fueled by burgeoning GPU and AI processor sales to datacenter customers. Intel and Infineon were the notable exceptions.…

Healthcare chiefs say impact will persist for months

NHS execs admit that last year's cyberattack on hospitals in Wirral, northwest England, continues to "significantly" impact waiting times for cancer treatments, and suspect this will last for "months."…

Hey, it's not like any governments know what they are doing

The Republic of Ireland's new AI minister should probably consult ChatGPT immediately to ask for pointers on how to do her job.…

When cloud customers don't clean up after themselves, part 97

Abandoned AWS S3 buckets could be reused to hijack the global software supply chain in an attack that would make Russia's "SolarWinds adventures look amateurish and insignificant," watchTowr Labs security researchers have claimed.…

Everybody is going to play nice, OK?

Telecom watchdog Ofcom has granted a license application from Amazon Kuiper Services Europe for satellite connectivity in the UK.…

Tackle longstanding issues around productivity, cyber resilience and public sector culture, advises spending watchdog

The UK's government spending watchdog has called on the current administration to make better use of technology to kickstart the misfiring economy and ensure better delivery public services amid tightened budgets.…

Meanwhile, the Internet Archive races to save what it can – again

Vast numbers of webpages have disappeared from federal sites in an effort to meet the deadline to implement the Trump administration's executive orders targeting diversity initiatives and gender.…

GPU giant could just wait eight minutes for Donald to change his mind

US President Donald Trump loves his tariffs and it seems that not even a meeting with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang could persuade him to change course.…

Senators ask, Homeland Security watchdog answers: Is it worth the money?

The Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General has launched an audit of the Transportation Security Administration's use of facial recognition technology at US airports, following criticism from lawmakers and privacy advocates.…

Amid wildfire death and destruction, there are solutions, workable smart solutions, but who wants to talk about that?

Special report  We humans have gorged ourselves on fossil fuels for well over a century, and the bill for that delicious, civilization-enhancing meal has finally come due.…