Aggregator

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that additional Venezuelan narco traffickers would 'face the same fate' as the 11 Tren de Aragua members who were killed in a U.S. military strike.

Switzerland has launched Apertus, a fully open-source, multilingual LLM trained on 15 trillion tokens and over 1,000 languages. "What distinguishes Apertus from many other generative AI systems is its commitment to complete openness," reports CyberInsider. From the report: Unlike popular proprietary models, where users can only interact via APIs or hosted interfaces, Apertus provides open access to its model weights, training datasets, documentation, and even intermediate checkpoints. The source code and all training materials are released under a permissive open-source license that allows commercial use. Since the full training process is documented and reproducible, researchers and watchdogs can audit the data sources, verify compliance with data protection laws, and inspect how the model was trained. Apertus' development explicitly adhered to Swiss data protection and copyright laws, and incorporated retroactive opt-out mechanisms to respect data source preferences. From a privacy perspective, Apertus represents a compelling shift in the AI landscape. The model only uses publicly available data, filtered to exclude personal information and to honor opt-out signals from content sources. This not only aligns with emerging regulatory frameworks like the EU AI Act, but also provides a tangible example of how AI can be both powerful and privacy-respecting. According to ETH Zurich's Imanol Schlag, technical lead of the project at ETH Zurich, Apertus is "built for the public good" and is a demonstration of how AI can be deployed as a public digital infrastructure, much like utilities or transportation. The model is available via Swisscom's Sovereign Swiss AI Platform. It's also available through Hugging Face and the Public AI Inference Utility.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Earlier this week, Duran Duran drummer Roger Taylor set social media on fire when he walked his daughter down the aisle in Italy.

Clock is ticking

US security leaders have urged lawmakers to reauthorize two key pieces of cyber legislation, including one that facilitates threat-intel sharing between the private sector and federal government, before they expire at the end of the month.…

The TV stars beamed as they stood on the red carpet for the launch of the new show, called Mitchell & Webb Are Not Helping.

Kemi Badenoch urged Keir Starmer to grow a 'backbone' and sack his deputy after she finally admitted failing to pay the full stamp duty due on a luxury £800,000 second home in Hove.

The cheapest beach getaways in Europe have been revealed - and for savvy travellers looking to stretch their money, the list offers everything from £33 return flights to £2 pints in picture-postcard locations. 

The star, 52, is a household name thanks to his unique sense of humour and hit television shows.

Michelle Keegan looked in good spirits as she posed with daughter Palma in her £1.2K iCandy pram on Instagram on Wednesday. 

MIKE KEEGAN: England versus Andorra may not appear to be an obvious occasion for a landmark, but should Spence make his Three Lions debut on Saturday then Villa Park will play host to history.

Sir Keir Starmer is 'exploring' the idea, No 10 admitted this week, after Emmanuel Macron demanded action that would make Britain less attractive to illegal migrants.

Google's September Pixel drop brings the new Material 3 Expressive UI, AI-powered Gboard writing tools, and Bluetooth Auracast upgrades to older Pixel devices, including the Pixel 6 and Pixel Tablet. "Among other tweaks, Google made it possible to add 'Live Effects,' including a few that cover the weather, to your phone's lock screen wallpaper," notes Engadget. "Material 3 Expressive also gives you more control over how the contact cards your phone displays when your friends and family call you look. Even if you're not one to endlessly tweak Android's appearance, as part of the redesign Google has once again reworked the Quick Settings pane in hopes of making it easier to use." On the audio front, Pixel Buds Pro 2 gain intuitive nod-and-shake gesture controls, Adaptive Audio for balanced awareness, and Loud Noise Protection to guard against sudden sound spikes. Voice clarity has also been improved with Gemini Live in noisy environments. A full breakdown of what's new can be found here.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Tory justice spokesman also argued that the points-based system created under previous governments was the 'worst policy mistake' in his lifetime.

The Reform leader warned that Americans - including tech moguls - could face arrest at Heathrow over online content disliked by British authorities in the wake of the arrest of Graham Linehan.

The tree, which stood next to Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, was cut down by two chainsaw-wielding men in September 2023.

When weddings are treated by our national broadcaster as a game show novelty, is it surprising that more than 40 per cent of UK marriages now end in divorce?

The Lion of Venice has looked down over the city's Piazza for more than 700 years. But it was actually made 6,000 miles away in Asia , according to a new study.

Rogue posters have appeared in the ritzy Big Apple neighborhood, blasting the unnamed woman who walked with a pup by her side.

Hugh Bonneville made a rare appearance with new girlfriend Heidi Kadlecova on Wednesday as they attended the Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale premiere. 

The Chancellor was warned the decision to hold the event so late in the year threatened to create months of damaging speculation about tax rises and will stunt growth.