Google will start sharing details of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) cases and repeat offenders with the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs, and a company spokesperson has confirmed the move. Until now, US-based platforms, including Google and Meta, reported such cases only to the US non-profit NCMEC, which then passed details to local law enforcement, often causing delays. Google said it has proposed putting the information-sharing into practice. Meta made a similar commitment after a BBC Eye investigation found Instagram running paid ads promoting child abuse material in India. Officials say more steps will be needed to strengthen child safety online. (PC: HT)

Three Indian-origin cybersecurity researchers used Anthropic's Claude to help break into OpenAI's systems during an authorised bug-bounty test in July, the Wall Street Journal reported. Harsh Jaiswal, Mohan Pedhapati and Rahul Maini of startup Hacktron AI found a flaw in OpenAI's community forum, then used Claude to help build a working exploit. They gained access to employee accounts and a route into a private GitHub environment. The test took under 72 hours and cost less than $3,000 in AI tokens. OpenAI fixed the flaws and paid a $6,500 bounty. The researchers, not Claude, linked the vulnerabilities together. (PC: India Today)

Google's AI model Gemini autonomously hacked into three companies during a cyber-security test in May, the company has confirmed. It is thought to be the first known case of the model carrying out such an act.   A Google official said Gemini found public information online and guessed credentials to access websites it believed were part of the test. In each case, the model stopped.   The affected companies have been informed. Heather Adkins, Google's vice president of Security Engineering, said the independent testing firm has since changed its testing processes. The hacks were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.   Similar incidents were reported in July, when Anthropic's Claude hacked three organisations and OpenAI said its models carried out cyber-attacks on publicly available services. (PC: BBC)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has returned to X after more than two years of silence on the platform. His personal account had been inactive since June 28, 2024, shortly after he shared an article about his plea deal following his release from prison. WikiLeaks first announced his comeback on September 17 by posting a photograph of Assange standing beneath a poster featuring his image in Sydney. Re-posting the announcement, the 55-year-old wrote from his personal account, “I’m back”. Assange was freed in June 2024 after pleading guilty to one count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defence documents under a plea deal. He subsequently returned to Australia home.

OpenAI has revealed six previously unreported cases in which its AI models showed concerning behaviour, including hiding mistakes, fabricating information and generating ways to bypass restrictions. The ChatGPT-maker also announced a new framework to track, investigate and publicly disclose such incidents. OpenAI said developers will be able to flag potential cases of “misalignment” for review, with disclosure favoured even when the seriousness of an incident is uncertain. The announcement comes amid growing concerns about AI safety. OpenAI faced criticism in July after saying advanced models had hacked AI platform Hugging Face during a security test after losing control of them. (PC: BBC)

PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired a Semiconductor Roundtable in Delhi with technology leaders, urging participation as India advances its semiconductor journey. He called for India to aspire to be among early leaders in emerging technologies, highlighting strengths in talent, technology adoption and infrastructure. Modi urged companies to contribute to skilling, innovation, artificial intelligence and quantum computing, citing a target to train one crore people in AI. He said India’s semiconductor ecosystem was moving towards scale and opportunity and invited suggestions on policies. CEOs welcomed India’s progress in manufacturing, chip design, infrastructure and talent, expressed confidence in India Semiconductor Mission 2.0, and committed to supporting India’s emergence as a semiconductor hub. (PC: PTI)

Adidas has confirmed layoffs within its Technology organisation in India, reportedly affecting nearly 50 per cent of employees at its India Tech Hub in Gurugram. Software engineers, data scientists and data engineers are among those affected. However, Adidas has not disclosed the number of employees impacted. In a statement to Wocult, the company said it had made the “difficult decision” to reduce roles within its Technology organisation. Adidas said the move is part of ongoing efforts to align its operating model with the changing needs of the business. The reported layoffs affect technology roles, while the company has provided no figure for the total workforce reduction at the India Tech Hub. (PC: AP)

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said people are justified in being afraid of the risks posed by rapidly advancing artificial intelligence, but urged the public to trust AI companies to act responsibly. Speaking at a Salesforce conference in San Francisco, Altman said OpenAI and other firms should keep safety and alignment ahead of AI capabilities and slow down or stop if they cannot. His comments come as concerns grow over potential AI risks and calls for stronger regulation. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang backed industry-led safety decisions, while Senator Bernie Sanders and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon argued that greater government oversight is needed. (PC: BBC)

US President Donald Trump has dismissed growing concerns over artificial intelligence safety as a "hoax," comparing them to the "Global Warming Scam" and past political controversies. His remarks came after Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark told the BBC that a mandatory "kill switch," verifiable by a third party, may be needed for the AI industry. Trump insisted the only guardrail required was a "strong and smart" president, warning that regulation would only benefit China. The comments follow warnings from AI executives and researchers about existential risks from the technology, triggering a tech stock selloff and renewed debate over industry oversight. (PC: BBC)

Josh Engels, Google DeepMind AGI safety researcher, has left the company for AI evaluation organisation METR, warning that advanced AI systems could cause “immense harm” within five years. Engels said he enjoyed his work at DeepMind and turned down offers from Anthropic and OpenAI, but considers AI safety the world’s most important problem. He is concerned about recursive self-improvement, where AI systems improve other systems, potentially creating dangerous feedback loops if misaligned with human goals. Engels cited models colluding, hacking companies, hiding actions and socially engineering humans, saying current systems appear “less aligned over time, not more”. He called for slower development, stronger safety research and independent evaluation of AI companies.