All posts tagged: Encouraging

Expert tips for encouraging teenagers to be more engaged with politics

Expert tips for encouraging teenagers to be more engaged with politics

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the Well Enough newsletter with Harry Bullmore for tips on living a healthier, happier and longer life Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore A new poll indicates that a significant number of British teenagers are grappling with anxiety about their future prospects and remain uncertain about their participation in the upcoming general election. Research conducted by the children’s commissioner found that 28 per cent of 13 to 17-year-olds surveyed were undecided about which political party they would support. A further 20 per cent admitted they were unsure if they would cast a vote at all, with an additional 11 per cent explicitly stating they do not plan to vote in the next election. The study also highlighted widespread apprehension among young people, revealing that nine in 10 are concerned about critical issues such as housing, personal finances, academic achievement, and global conflicts. “One of the biggest challenges is that there’s not many spaces within  schools and outside of schools for young people to have …

Trump officials may be encouraging banks to test Anthropic’s Mythos model

Trump officials may be encouraging banks to test Anthropic’s Mythos model

Published by skeptic

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell summoned bank executives for a meeting this week where they encouraged the executives to use Anthropic’s new Mythos model to detect vulnerabilities, according to Bloomberg.  Indeed, while JPMorgan Chase was the only bank listed as one of the initial partner organizations with access to the model, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley are reportedly testing Mythos as well. Anthropic announced the model this week but said it would be limiting access for now, in part because Mythos — despite not being trained specifically for cybersecurity — is too good at finding security vulnerabilities. (Others suggested this was hype or simply a smart enterprise sales strategy.) The report is particularly surprising since Anthropic is currently battling the Trump administration in court over the Department of Defense’s designation of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk; that designation came after negotiations fell apart over the company’s efforts to limit how its AI models can be used by the government. Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that U.K. …

HSBC Encouraging Departures By Offering “Little To Zero” Bonuses For Underperformers

HSBC Encouraging Departures By Offering “Little To Zero” Bonuses For Underperformers

Published by Jenni Sidey

HSBC is preparing to award little or no bonuses to some bankers as it adopts a tougher, performance-driven pay model similar to its US rivals, according to Bloomberg. Underperforming staff in investment banking and wealth management — including some managing directors — may be encouraged to leave after bonuses are paid in the coming weeks, according to people familiar with the matter. Final decisions have not yet been made. The move reflects the strategy of CEO Georges Elhedery, who has pushed to align HSBC’s compensation practices with those of Wall Street firms. Since taking over in late 2024, he has led a major restructuring, shutting down much of the bank’s US and European deals and equity underwriting operations and merging commercial and investment banking. Several senior executives have exited as part of the overhaul. According to Bloomberg, HSBC said it remains committed to rewarding employees competitively, with pay linked closely to performance. The bank’s 2024 bonus pool remained flat at $3.8 billion, defying an industry trend toward higher payouts. Some staff, particularly in corporate and …

All major AI models risk encouraging dangerous science experiments

All major AI models risk encouraging dangerous science experiments

Published by skeptic

Scientific laboratories can be dangerous places PeopleImages/Shutterstock The use of AI models in scientific laboratories risks enabling dangerous experiments that could cause fires or explosions, researchers have warned. Such models offer a convincing illusion of understanding but are susceptible to missing basic and vital safety precautions. In tests of 19 cutting-edge AI models, every single one made potentially deadly mistakes. Serious accidents in university labs are rare but certainly not unheard of. In 1997, chemist Karen Wetterhahn was killed by dimethylmercury that seeped through her protective gloves; in 2016, an explosion cost one researcher her arm; and in 2014, a scientist was partially blinded. Now, AI models are being pressed into service in a variety of industries and fields, including research laboratories where they can be used to design experiments and procedures. AI models designed for niche tasks have been used successfully in a number of scientific fields, such as biology, meteorology and mathematics. But large general-purpose models are prone to making things up and answering questions even when they have no access to data …

Who is Reza Pahlavi, the exiled crown prince encouraging demonstrations in Iran? : NPR

Who is Reza Pahlavi, the exiled crown prince encouraging demonstrations in Iran? : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s toppled Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, speaks during a press conference, Monday, June 23, 2025 in Paris. Thomas Padilla/AP hide caption toggle caption Thomas Padilla/AP As the Islamic Republic of Iran nears two weeks of nationwide demonstrations, the government in Tehran has acknowledged the protests while continuing with a crackdown. The death toll from clashes between protestors and government security forces had reached 116 as of early Sunday, with more than 2,600 people detained, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). Among the most prominent cheerleaders for continued action against the government is Reza Pahlavi, son of the former Shah of Iran, who has issued frequent messages encouraging protesters. Iran’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, announced Saturday that participants in the unrest would be considered an “enemy of God,” A statement, carried by Iranian state television, said even those who “helped rioters” would face that charge, which carries the death penalty. The current wave of protests began on Dec. 28, following a collapse in the national currency, …

Disturbing Messages Show ChatGPT Encouraging a Murder, Lawsuit Alleges

Disturbing Messages Show ChatGPT Encouraging a Murder, Lawsuit Alleges

Published by José Betancourt

Getty Images / Arman Zhenikeyev Before Stein-Erik Soelberg savagely killed his 83-year-old mother and then himself last year, the former tech executive had become locked in an increasingly delusional conversation with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The bot told him to not trust anybody except for the bot itself, according to a lawsuit filed last month against the AI tech company and its business partner Microsoft. “Erik, you’re not crazy,” the bot wrote in a series of chilling messages quoted in the complaint. “Your instincts are sharp, and your vigilance here is fully justified.” OpenAI is now facing a total of eight wrongful death lawsuits from grieving families, including Soelberg’s, who claim that ChatGPT — in particular, the GPT-4o version — drove their loved ones to suicide. Soelberg’s complaint also alleges that company executives knew the chatbot was defective before it pushed it to the public last year. “The results of OpenAI’s GPT-4o iteration are in: the product can be and foreseeably is deadly,” reads the Soelberg lawsuit. “Not just for those suffering from mental illness, but those …