News from the bleeding edge of science and technology. Today, GenAI Risks and Opportunities.
6–8 minutes read
News from Anthropic:
Detecting and countering misuse of AI
Dateline 8-27-2025: Our Threat Intelligence report discusses several recent examples of Claude being misused, including a large-scale extortion operation using Claude Code, a fraudulent employment scheme from North Korea, and the sale of AI-generated ransomware by a cybercriminal with only basic coding skills. We also cover the steps we’ve taken to detect and counter these abuses.
Carolyn‘s note: A shoutout to Peter Wildeford for posting a link to this news on LinkedIn.
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News from RestofWorld:
AI robots are helping South Korea’s seniors feel less alone
Dateline 8-27-2025: A ChatGPT-powered robotic companion called Hyodol is taking over some work from overburdened caregivers, much to the delight of seniors who treat them like grandchildren.
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More news from Anthropic:
We recently disrupted a sophisticated cybercriminal that used Claude Code to commit large-scale theft and extortion of personal data.
Dateline 8-27-2027: …The actor targeted at least 17 distinct organizations, including in healthcare, the emergency services, and government and religious institutions. Rather than encrypt the stolen information with traditional ransomware, the actor threatened to expose the data publicly in order to attempt to extort victims into paying ransoms that sometimes exceeded $500,000.
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News from RAND:
AI Chatbots Inconsistent in Answering Questions About Suicide; Refinement Needed to Improve Performance
Dateline 8-26-2025: “…there remains significant variability in responses to questions at intermediary levels and from one chatbot platform to another,” said Ryan McBain, the study’s lead author and a senior policy researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.
“This suggests a need for further refinement to ensure that chatbots provide safe and effective mental health information, especially in high-stakes scenarios involving suicidal ideation,” McBain said.”
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News from the Washington Post:
For $65,000 a year, a teacher-less AI private school comes to Virginia
Dateline 8-26-2025: The pitch by Alpha School is as innovative as it is sensational: For $65,000 a year, students study for just two hours a day using adaptive apps and personalized lesson plans and spend their afternoons on life skills such as learning to ride a bike or financial literacy.
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More News from RAND:
The Winning Economics of Cybersecurity in an Age of Advanced Artificial Intelligence
Dateline Aug. 26, 2025: …the author advances the hypothesis that, with the right investments in people, process, and technology, proliferated and advanced artificial intelligence (AI) could ultimately advantage cyber defense.
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News from Digital Economy:
Canaries in the Coal Mine? Six Facts about the Recent Employment Effects of Artificial Intelligence
Dateline: August, 2025: We find that since the widespread adoption of generative AI, early-career workers (ages 22-25) in the most AI-exposed occupations have experienced a 13 percent relative decline in employment even after controlling for firm-level shocks. In contrast, employment for workers in less exposed fields and more experienced workers in the same occupations has remained stable or continued to grow.
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