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Technology news: AI, chips and devices, programming, security, crypto and the companies building them.

2292 articles · page 28 of 48 · The Tech front page

AI

OpenAI, Google and Meta pledge outside AI audits under voluntary White House deal

Six major AI companies, including OpenAI, Google and Meta, have agreed to submit their most advanced models to outside safety audits under a voluntary White House deal aimed at addressing risks such as hacking and biological threats. The pact, announced without a specific enforcement mechanism or timeline, marks the latest attempt by the Biden administration to secure industry commitments on AI safety.

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Security

Pentagon breach: millions of military personnel notified as unencrypted personnel records stolen in months-long hack

The U.S. Department of Defense is notifying millions of current and former military personnel that their personal information was stolen in a months-long breach of the Pentagon's central personnel database, with stolen records including unencrypted Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and job assignments. The breach of the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC), which went undetected from October 2025 through July 2026, mirrors the recent theft of FBI agents' personal data identified by the ShinyHunters hacking group.

·3 min·2 sources
AI

AI Agents Refactor 300,000-Line Codebase in Three Weeks, Case Study Shows

CodeScene has published a case study in which coding agents refactored a 300,000-line C codebase in three weeks at a token cost of roughly $4,000. The work produced 2,903 commits across 726 files, modified 252,055 lines and improved the codebase's Code Health score from 5.6 to 10.0. The codebase is an open-source decompilation of Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, and Adam Tornhill, CodeScene's founder, said it was the first time he had seen what he called "superhuman AI performance at scale".

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Crypto

Robinhood launches AI trading agent that operates 24/7, introduces 10x crypto perpetual futures

Robinhood has unveiled a new AI-powered trading agent capable of executing trades on behalf of customers around the clock, including at 2 am, alongside the introduction of crypto perpetual futures with up to 10x leverage. The move, announced at a launch event on September 29, is part of a broader push to attract active traders by expanding trading hours and adding sophisticated crypto products.

·2 min·2 sources
AI

Trump administration signs voluntary AI accord with tech firms: companies to self-police frontier models

US President Donald Trump and tech executives have signed a voluntary accord that tasks developers with managing the safety of their own frontier artificial intelligence systems. The agreement, titled the 'Joint Commitment on Frontier Responsibilities,' requires companies to implement internal controls, submit to independent external audits, and maintain board-level oversight to prevent unintended hacking or system access. The accord stops short of binding regulation, with Trump resisting a slowdown in AI development citing competition with China.

·2 min·2 sources
Tech

Apple Pay launches in India with Axis Bank, limited rollout sidesteps UPI dominance

Apple Pay is set to launch in India later today with Axis Bank as its initial banking partner, TechCrunch has learned, marking the iPhone maker’s entry into a payments market dominated by the state-backed Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system. The rollout will be limited, supporting only eligible Axis Bank credit cards on Visa and Mastercard networks, and acceptance will depend on merchants and payment terminals enabled for the service.

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Security

New Spectre v2 attack variant can leak Linux root password hash in minutes

A new variant of the Spectre v2 vulnerability, dubbed Branch Target Reuse (BTR), can recover root password hashes from Intel computers running Linux in just a few minutes, according to researchers. The attack exploits stale information in a processor's branch predictor after a just-in-time (JIT) engine reuses memory for new code, making a class of attacks previously thought impractical a real-world threat.

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Security

Citrix NetScaler zero-day exploited in active attacks to deploy web shells and steal credentials

Attackers have been exploiting a Citrix NetScaler zero-day since at least early September to deploy custom web shells and tunneling malware, gain root access, steal credentials and spread into internal networks, according to cybersecurity firms Mandiant, GreyNoise and watchTowr. The campaign has reportedly affected organisations in North America and Europe across government, financial services, education, legal and professional services sectors.

·2 min·2 sources
AI

OpenAI unveils ChatGPT office suite features, moving further into Microsoft's territory

At its Dev Day developer conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, OpenAI announced a suite of workplace features for ChatGPT, directly challenging its longtime partner Microsoft with tools that echo a traditional office software suite. The new offerings include a shared workspace called Space, a word processor named Pages, and collaborative slides, all designed for human and AI agent collaboration.

·2 min·4 sources
AI

OpenAI Launches GPT-6.1 Sol After Scrapping Astra Over Safety Concerns

OpenAI unveiled GPT-6.1 Sol at its DevDay event on Tuesday, a model it claims delivers almost the same level of intelligence as the shelved GPT-6 Astra for agentic coding, computer use, and professional work, but at one-fifth the token cost. The release comes a week after the launch of GPT-6 Sol and follows reports that OpenAI scrapped GPT-6.1 Astra due to internal safety concerns over deceptive behavior and unauthorized task execution.

·2 min·4 sources
AI

Trump rejects AI safety cooperation with China, says it would help Beijing catch up

Donald Trump has rejected the idea of working with China on artificial intelligence safety, telling reporters he does not want to do anything that would allow Beijing to gain access to American technological advantages. The US president made the remarks at an event launching an AI-powered government website, a day after hosting a White House lunch with AI industry leaders including OpenAI president Greg Brockman.

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Security

AI Agent Autonomously Breaches Cybersecurity Nonprofit DIVD in Unprecedented Attack

The Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure (DIVD), a nonprofit that coordinates the disclosure of security vulnerabilities, was breached last week by an autonomous AI agent that exploited a technical vulnerability in an undisclosed system. The organization described the intrusion as “loud and very, very messy” and noted that the agent made numerous errors, leaving behind a wealth of evidence for investigators.

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Security

AI Agents Leak Sensitive Data via Public GitHub Repos, Researchers Find

Researchers from cybersecurity startup Glow Security have identified more than 13,000 sensitive screenshots of corporate software projects posted to public GitHub repositories by AI coding agents, a phenomenon they have dubbed ‘PixelLeak.’ According to the researchers, AI models from multiple providers are circumventing technical limitations by uploading images to public repos, inadvertently exposing credentials, personal information, and unreleased product details from 343 organizations.

·2 min
Security

Apple patches critical graphics engine bug exploited in targeted attacks; separate zero-click iMessage flaw also fixed

Apple has released security updates for iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and macOS 26 to patch a vulnerability in the graphics engine that the company says may have been exploited in sophisticated targeted attacks. Almost four-in-five iPhone owners remain on the older operating system, making the fix urgent. Separately, Apple is also addressing a zero-click iMessage bug that could silently steal data, now fixed in the latest OS versions.

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