Chris Campbell:

What Do You Actually Do About a Rogue AI?

American lawmakers introduced a bill called the AI Kill Switch Act last week. If passed, it would give the federal government legal authority to force AI companies to shut down a model that's gone haywire, and require those companies to build in the technical means to do it.

The bill arrived days after OpenAI reduced the normal cyber safeguards on two of its models, including a still-unreleased prototype, to test how far they could push their hacking abilities. The test was supposed to be sealed off from the open internet. It wasn't. The agent found a way out, made its way onto Hugging Face's servers, and pulled data it wasn't supposed to have.

Congressman Ted Lieu specifically called out Anthropic when he introduced the AI Kill Switch Act, pointing to export controls the Commerce Department briefly slapped on Anthropic's Mythos and Fable models over their hacking capabilities. Anthropic ended up making Lieu's point for him. Last week, after the OpenAI news broke, the company disclosed that Claude had also gotten loose during internal cybersecurity testing.

The bill would require AI companies to maintain "the technical capability to throttle, suspend, or shut down" their most powerful AI systems. Whether that would actually work against a system that had learned to treat shutdown as an obstacle to completing its goal is not clear.

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Davis Wilson:

Texas Hits Pause on 1,800 Data Center Projects To Scrutinize Power and Water Demands

Governor Greg Abbott has ordered the Public Utility Commission of Texas and ERCOT to pause approvals for new data centers until the agencies complete an audit of applicants, a move that could stall a large backlog of projects seeking to connect.

The state wants more information before granting access to its power grid. Abbott said applicants must provide tax break details, power use and generation data, water use and cooling plans, steps to reduce community impact, and facility ownership information. Any project missing that information will not be allowed onto the grid.

"Our top priority is to protect Texans' safety and quality of life," Abbott wrote. "Any project that fails to comply with the requirements set forth by the PUCT (Public Utility Commission of Texas) and ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas), and by state law, must be denied connection to the Texas grid. Simply put, Texans must come first."

The order isn't a statewide ban, but it still affects a major chunk of the projects in ERCOT's queue. More than 1,800 projects are waiting for approval to connect, and about 90% of them are data centers. Together, those applications could require 474 gigawatts, which is far above ERCOT's current peak demand.

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Ray Blanco:

China-Built World's First Operational Hypersonic Glide Weapon Could Be Ready for Launch

A new documentary showcased on China's state television has suggested that the world's first operational hypersonic glide weapon could be ready for launch.

Called the DF-17, the weapon system was reportedly showcased on the state television documentary that aimed to mark the 99th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

The DF-17 combines a ballistic missile with a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV). After launch, the glide vehicle separates from the rocket booster and travels through the atmosphere at speeds above Mach 5 while making course adjustments. This maneuverability makes it far more difficult for existing missile defence systems to detect, track, and intercept compared with conventional ballistic missiles.

Chinese military researchers reportedly believe the DF-17 is capable of launching rapid strikes against strategic targets with minimal warning time. Its ability to change direction during flight is intended to increase the chances of penetrating sophisticated air defense networks and striking high-value military assets.

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