All posts tagged: blackmail

Anthropic says ‘evil’ portrayals of AI were responsible for Claude’s blackmail attempts

Anthropic says ‘evil’ portrayals of AI were responsible for Claude’s blackmail attempts

Fictional portrayals of artificial intelligence can have a real effect on AI models, according to Anthropic. Last year, the company said that during pre-release tests involving a fictional company, Claude Opus 4 would often try to blackmail engineers to avoid being replaced by another system. Anthropic later published research suggesting that models from other companies had similar issues with “agentic misalignment.” Apparently Anthropic has done more work around that behavior, claiming in a post on X, “We believe the original source of the behavior was internet text that portrays AI as evil and interested in self-preservation.” The company went into more detail in a blog post stating that since Claude Haiku 4.5, Anthropic’s models “never engage in blackmail [during testing], where previous models would sometimes do so up to 96% of the time.” What accounts for the difference? The company said it found that training on “documents about Claude’s constitution and fictional stories about AIs behaving admirably improve alignment.” Related, Anthropic said that it found training to be more effective when it includes “the principles …

4 Emmerdale spoilers next week: Moira seeks revenge as Joe blackmail exposed

4 Emmerdale spoilers next week: Moira seeks revenge as Joe blackmail exposed

Moira Dingle (Natalie J. Robb) finally gets some answers in Emmerdale next week. As viewers will recall, Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) planted passports of enslaved workers in her living room, leading to months behind bars on a double murder and human trafficking charge. He’d been forced to commit the act by Joe Tate (Ned Porteous), who was blackmailing his sister Vic (Isabel Hodgins) into handing over her share of Moira’s homestead Butler’s Farm.Now that the secret is out in the open, she plots revenge. Meanwhile, Paddy Dingle (Dominic Brunt) is concerned about his future and possible imprisonment, and Dr Todd (Caroline Harker) twists the knife with Jacob Sugden (Joe-Warren Plant) while finding a prospective new romance in the village.Here’s everything happening in Emmerdale between Monday 27, April and Friday, 1 May. 4 Emmerdale spoilers for next week 1. Robert Sugden comes clean, as Moira Dingle seeks revenge on Joe Tate Moira Dingle (Natalie J. Robb) aims a gun at Joe Tate (Ned Porteous). ITV Cain grows increasingly frustrated that Moira is spending her time at Emmerdale …

Iran Tightens Control of Strait of Hormuz, Trump Warns Against ‘Blackmail’

Iran Tightens Control of Strait of Hormuz, Trump Warns Against ‘Blackmail’

By Trevor Hunnicutt, Ariba Shahid and Muhammad Al Gebaly WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD, April 18 (Reuters) – Iran said it was tightening control over the Strait of ⁠Hormuz ⁠on Saturday, warning mariners the vital energy route was again closed, but ⁠President Donald Trump said Tehran could not blackmail the United States by shutting the waterway. Tehran said it was responding to a continued U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, calling ​it a violation of their ceasefire, while Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Iran’s navy was ready to inflict “new bitter defeats” on its enemies. Shipping sources said at least two vessels reported coming under fire and being hit while trying to transit the waterway. India later said the ‌Iranian ambassador in New Delhi had been summoned and that it ‌had expressed deep concern to him that two Indian-flagged ships had come under fire in the strait. State media in Iran quoted the Supreme National Security Council as saying Iranian control over the strait included demanding the payment of costs related to security, safety ⁠and environmental protection services. State television …

Former London Labour councillor denies Westminster ‘honeytrap’ plot

Former London Labour councillor denies Westminster ‘honeytrap’ plot

Steadman, who was working for the mental health charity Mind, did not enter pleas on Wednesday to charges of sending menacing messages to Mr Wragg, and sending indecent images to Ben Everitt, the former Conservative MP for Milton Keynes North, Luke Evans who was the Conservative MP for Hinckley and Bosworth, Ross Thomson, the Tory MP for Aberdeen South from 2017 to 2019, and a man called Ben Proctor. Source link

Former Labour councillor denies blackmail over ‘Westminster honeytrap’ saga – POLITICO

Former Labour councillor denies blackmail over ‘Westminster honeytrap’ saga – POLITICO

A trial lasting two to three weeks is only expected to start in October 2027 in England’s backlogged court system. Steadman is also charged with with five other offences of improper use of a public communications network. He is accused of sending a series of menacing messages to Wragg between February and March 2024, the same dates as the blackmail charge, and of sending an indecent image to each of four people including Luke Evans, Ben Everitt and Ross Thomson, who were Conservative MPs at the time. Steadman did not enter a plea to the other five charges at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday. The Metropolitan Police launched an investigation in April 2024 after POLITICO revealed that several men in Westminster, including MPs, had received unsolicited WhatsApp messages from users calling themselves alternatively “Abi” or “Charlie.” The series of events was quickly dubbed the “Westminster honeytrap scandal.” Wragg resigned the Tory whip, saying he had leaked colleagues’ personal phone numbers to a person he encountered on the dating app Grindr. He added in a later interview that …

Zelenskyy decries ‘blackmail’ by Europe over Druzhba oil pipeline – POLITICO

Zelenskyy decries ‘blackmail’ by Europe over Druzhba oil pipeline – POLITICO

Budapest has accused Kyiv of deliberately blocking progress on repairing the infrastructure in order to engineer an energy crisis in the Hungary. In response, Hungarian Prime Viktor Orbán has been blocking the release of a €90 billion tranche of EU funding for Ukraine needed to keep the war-torn country financially afloat. On Thursday, the European Commission proposed sending a fact-finding mission to inspect the damage to the Druzhba pipeline in an attempt to resolve the dispute. “If we have decided to restore Russian oil supplies, then I want them to know that I am against it. … But if I am given conditions that Ukraine will not receive weapons, then, excuse me, I am powerless on this issue; I told our friends in Europe that this is called blackmail,” Zelenskyy said in reported remarks. The price of oil has surged passed $100 a barrel in recent days due to disruptions linked to the war in Iran, which began with American-Israeli strikes on Tehran on Feb. 28. Washington has eased sanctions on certain Russian oil consignments …

Kyiv condemns ‘blackmail’ by Hungary, Slovakia as energy standoff escalates – POLITICO

Kyiv condemns ‘blackmail’ by Hungary, Slovakia as energy standoff escalates – POLITICO

In a statement posted on X late Saturday, Ukraine’s foreign ministry blasted the actions as “irresponsible,” saying they risked exacerbating the growing energy crisis that has followed months of Russian airstrikes against Ukrainian grids and power stations, leaving thousands of Ukrainians without heat and electricity in the depths of winter. “Such actions, in the context of massive and targeted Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and Moscow’s attempts to deprive Ukrainians of electricity, heating, and gas during extreme cold weather, are provocative, irresponsible, and threaten the energy security of the entire region,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “In doing so, the governments of Hungary and Slovakia are not only playing into the hands of the aggressor, but also harming their own energy companies that supply energy on a commercial basis.” Kyiv said it is also considering activating emergency energy supply measures under Ukraine’s association agreement with the EU. The European Commission has called an emergency meeting of the Oil Coordination Group for Wednesday to address a growing dispute over the Druzhba oil pipeline. …

Tony Gonzales accuses dead staffer’s husband of trying to blackmail him amid affair scandal

Tony Gonzales accuses dead staffer’s husband of trying to blackmail him amid affair scandal

Republican U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales of San Antonio on Thursday claimed he was being blackmailed by the husband of a former staffer who died by suicide. Earlier this week, the San Antonio Express-News reported that the staffer had confided in a colleague that she had an affair with the congressman while they were both married. “I WILL NOT BE BLACKMAILED. Disgusting to see people profit politically and financially off a tragic death,” Gonzales wrote in a social media post on X. He shared a screenshot of half of an email, which seems to indicate a lawyer for the staffer’s husband is requesting a settlement of up to $300,000 from Gonzales in exchange for a non-disclosure agreement. The email, which is not dated or timestamped, is signed by Robert Barrera, an attorney who is representing the staffer’s husband. In an interview Thursday night, Barrera said the first half of the email not included in Gonzales’ social media post described text messages between the former aide, Regina Santos-Aviles, and the congressman. At a “minimum,” Barrera said the …

Industrial Scale Blackmail Thanks to Agentic AI

Industrial Scale Blackmail Thanks to Agentic AI

By Richard W. Stevens As you and your spouse head off for a two-week Maui vacation, do you hand your 17-year-old boy a bottle of smooth whiskey and the keys to your spare Ferrari, bidding him “have fun while we’re gone”? Let’s assume sensible parents wouldn’t do that. Yet wizards of tech and captains of biz seem eager to unleash AI autonomous self-actuated (agentic) systems with greater powers of mischief and fewer restraints. Watching the 2016 Black Mirror episode, “Shut Up and Dance,” after reading more about the newest AI systems, conjured images of digital booze and fast cars. The episode delivers a precise blackmail scheme practically scripted for AI, even before the current era of agentic bots. Originally sci-fi, the episode describes a horror beyond shock. It comes from structure that AI today smoothly enables. Its entire blackmail scheme operates from text messages. Cameras Are Watching Here’s the story. Kenny comes home after work. Opening his laptop, he discovers it’s infected with malware. He installs what he thinks is protection. In fact, the protection …