Reuters: Former Tesla data labelers say FSD relies on laborious mapping for hazards; crash data analysis shows Tesla exaggerates FSD's safety via flawed methodology  —  Tesla says its Full Self-Driving software is up to 10 times safer than human drivers.  But the figures the company uses to support …

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. How a new extraction process could unlock the world’s lithium A new method for extracting lithium could cut costs and emissions from one of the world’s most important materials for EVs…

Plus: Claude Code's new Dynamic Workflows, Summer reading list, How Dropbox built its internal coding agent

How Braintrust engineers use Codex with GPT-5.5 to run experiments and code faster.

Boston Children’s Hospital uses OpenAI technology to improve patient care, reduce operational burden, and help diagnose more than 40 rare disease cases.

Your organization's security failures have consequences for everyone else as well since this criminal gang uses its cyber winnings to support more violent and widespread crimes.

Part 1: A practitioner's walkthrough of univariate, multivariate, covariate-informed, and cold-start forecasting. The post Five Questions About Chronos-2, the Time Series Foundation Model appeared first on Towards Data Science.

Evan Halper / Washington Post: Allegations that China is behind US data center protests draw criticism from allies of the AI industry, who say the industry and politicians are in denial  —  Claims that China and overseas propaganda drive Americans to rise up against data centers are based on scant evidence.  —  Summary

The alert was raised on May 5. Four health-care workers in the Ituri Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo had died from an unknown illness within four days. Rapid response teams were sent to investigate, and tests at a research center in Kinshasa revealed the culprit: the Bundibugyo virus, one of the viruses…

Co-founded by Molly Huyck and Amie Konwinski, Aequitas Invest's funding portal provides women-led businesses a way to raise capital. Crunchbase News recently spoke to the founders to learn more about their plans to help female entrepreneurs raise and hold on to more equity.

Founders should evaluate investors’ financial health as carefully as their market thesis, writes guest author Marc Schröder, who emphasizes they should also prepare for acquisition-focused exits since venture-backed M&A far outweighs IPO activity in the current market.

Cheng Ting-Fang / Nikkei Asia: MediaTek says it has started to use Intel Foundry's advanced chip packaging in addition to TSMC's, as the mobile chip designer bets on AI demand for growth  —  TAIPEI — MediaTek says it has started working with Intel for advanced chip packaging in addition to its existing relationship with TSMC …

Anthropic has released Claude Opus 4.8, an upgrade to Claude Opus 4.7 that the company says brings improved results for coding, agent work, reasoning, and knowledge work. The platform can be used through claude.ai, Claude Code and the Claude API, with the API name claude-opus-4-8. The company has also altered some of the details of […] The post Anthropic releases Claude Opus 4.8 appeared first on AI News.

Russia is converting a growing number of Shahed drones from one-way attack drones into operator-guided aircraft. 47th Mechanized Brigade via Ministry of Defense of Ukraine/Screengrab Russia's Shahed attack drones are typically launched with preset targets. But a growing number of them are being controlled by operators, a top Ukrainian defense official said. This allows the Shaheds to strike moving targets or evade Ukrainian interception attempts. KYIV, Ukraine — Russia is launching a growing number of one-way attack drones that are controlled remotely by operators, allowing them to hunt moving targets in Ukraine and also evade interception. Russia's deadly one-way Shahed-style attack drones are typically launched with pre-programmed coordinates; they fly in waves along fixed routes and strike planned targets in Ukraine. Many are shot down by air defense crews during nightly bombardments. However, Russia is increasingly deploying operator-controlled Shaheds in its attacks, Oleksiy Vyskub, Ukraine's first deputy defense minister, told Business Insider in a recent interview. Vyskub, speaking through a translator, said that Russian operators can maneuver the Shahed-type drones, flying them at low altitudes and evading interception, since they have more situational awareness than the autonomous ones flying toward pre-determined targets. These drones are also a greater threat to Ukraine. "The most critical component is that these controlled Shaheds may attack dynamic targets, which include our aircrews — our teams," he said. Ukrainian officials and drone experts have previously observed the emergence of Shaheds controlled by Russian operators, who can pilot them from hundreds of miles away in real time, as if they were traditional strike or reconnaissance drones or first-person-view (FPV) drones. Operator-guided Shaheds can evade Ukrainian interceptor drones. Yevhen Titov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images Russia is equipping its Shaheds with mesh modems to relay signals from drone to drone across the sky, or via antennas in occupied regions of Ukraine, Russia, or Belarus, Ukrainian officials have said. Samuel Bendett, an expert on Russian drones with the Center for Naval Analyses, a US research organization, told Business Insider that the operator-controlled Shaheds represent "a growing danger for Ukrainian civilian and military targets," given they are effectively precision-strike weapons like FPV drones. "Most Shahed targets included stationary civilian ones," he explained; however, "the new ability for the pilot to maneuver this drone enables the [Shahed] to target many moving military targets such as large vehicles, military systems," and people. Bendett said that because the Shaheds carry large warheads, "the damage from such a strike can be significant." One example of this is Russian drone attacks on Ukraine's rail network, which have proven deadly and destructive. Beyond being able to strike moving targets, Russia's operator-controlled Shaheds are a major challenge for Ukrainian air defenders because Russian pilots can use the built-in cameras to take evasive maneuvers against interceptors. The Shaheds can evade Ukrainian interceptor drones or engage Ukrainian helicopters used for air defense. Some Shaheds have been spotted carrying air-to-air missiles, making them a significant threat to aircraft. Mobile Ukrainian targets, including air defense crews, are vulnerable to operator-guided Shaheds. Nina Liashonok/Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images Neither Russia's defense ministry nor its US embassy responded to a request for comment on the tactic. More broadly, Russia is attacking Ukraine with a growing number of Shaheds as Moscow invests heavily in its drone production and expands launch infrastructure at various bases. Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's defense minister, recently told reporters that the number of Shahed launches has increased by 35% month over month since the start of the year. Russia launched over 6,500 Shahed-type drones in April, with an average daily launch rate of 219 drones — surpassing previous records of 208 in March and 203 in July 2025, according to data collected by the Institute for Science and International Security, a US-based think tank. Russia has also introduced new tactics during its drone attacks. Most bombardments typically occur overnight, but Moscow has started to launch prolonged strikes that begin during the day and last for hours into the night, eventually combining drones with missiles. Earlier this month, for instance, Russia launched some 1,500 drones and missiles at Ukraine in continuous waves over a period of nearly 24 hours, killing and injuring dozens of people. Read the original article on Business Insider

US Infectious diseases centers launched during COVID have lost their funding under Trump.

Maria Curi / Axios: OpenAI says it has briefed the White House on its new biodefense program, which uses GPT-Rosalind to help develop biodefense and pandemic preparedness tools  —  OpenAI is launching a tool to help develop new biodefense and pandemic preparedness capabilities, according to an announcement shared first with Axios.

The growing number and cheap cost of drones mean Russia can send more after every Ukrainian soldier. Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu via Getty Images Russia used to avoid using its drones against a lone Ukrainian soldier or a small group. Now, it's willing to send up to 15 drones after a single Ukrainian soldier, a defense official said. Drones are "very cheap" so they can be used at scale, "completely changing the nature of war." RIGA, Latvia — Warfighting drones have become so cheap that Russia has shifted from not wanting to waste one on a lone Ukrainian soldier to sending over a dozen after just one person, a Ukrainian defense official said this week. At the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, its forces "never attacked a single soldier, even a group of three soldiers" with drones. "They would definitely have more priority targets," like armored vehicles or tanks, Taras Berezovets, the head of the military cooperation department of Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces, a branch of the country's armed forces, said. But now, on the front lines, "they would use up to 15 drones to kill a single soldier," he said at Drone Summit 2026, a gathering of military officials and drone industry leaders in NATO member Latvia. Drones heavily define the war in Ukraine for both sides. Some drones surveil the battlefield, while others drop bombs or simply fly into targets and explode. The skies are confusingly crowded with drones, and maneuvering is exceptionally challenging for vehicles and dismounted troops alike. Drones have created miles-wide kill zones at the front-line, mid-range strike drones are devastating logistics operations, and long-range drones are damaging targets thousands of miles away. It's a brutal drone war that is becoming increasingly robotic. Drones have been especially effective for Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in March that 90% of Russia's front-line losses were being caused by drones. Russia, however, has also developed a substantial arsenal, which it uses to hunt, track, and attack Ukrainian soldiers. Drones are cheap, powerful weapons that have completely reshaped the war. Diego Fedele/Getty Images Berezovets said the increase in Russian drones going after individual Ukrainian soldiers stemmed from the abundance of low-cost drones, which, as attack and surveillance weapons, have developed an overwhelming presence in this war and fundamentally changed how it is being fought. Combat drones, especially inexpensive first-person-view quadcopters, are now "very cheap," Berezovets said. "You can destroy a tank which costs millions of euros with a single drone which costs $500, and that's the new economy of war, completely changing the nature of war, psychologically as well." In this war, drones have been used to destroy and damage high-dollar weaponry and assets, such as tanks, helicopters, and air defense systems. The value is clear, and Ukraine and Russia are producing these expendable weapons by the millions. It's low-cost, attritable mass, and it's a key element of modern war. Drone performance in Ukraine has driven Western militaries to develop larger fleets of uncrewed systems and better counter-drone defenses as potential adversaries, including Russia and China, build their own drone forces. The war in Ukraine has shown the battlefield benefits of employing a large mass of cheap, expendable weapons alongside the expensive, exquisite systems, often available only in limited stocks, that Western militaries have emphasized for decades. Western militaries may not need to rely on drones as heavily as Ukraine has, but officials across Europe, the US, and NATO acknowledge that their use is changing how future wars will be fought — and raising questions about whether the West is ready. Berezovets said that partner nations should "draw on our experience," learning from and with Ukraine on drone warfare. Alistair Carns, the UK's minister for the armed forces, said at the drone summit that "drones and unmanned systems are changing the very way in which we will collectively defend and fight future conflicts. They're changing the tactics, the operational structures, and we'll have to change our strategy. They will change the close battle, they will change the deep fight, and they will change how we protect the rear." Read the original article on Business Insider

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Martin Coulter / Sifted: London-based Inherent, which aims to combine human scientific research with AI to produce innovations, emerges from stealth with $50M led by Index Ventures  —  London-based Inherent has recruited Entrepreneurs First cofounder Matt Clifford as an adviser  —  London-based AI lab Inherent …

Pope Leo XIV’s new encyclical on artificial intelligence includes a statement that warrants serious attention from technologists and policymakers: “Technology is never neutral.” Magnifica Humanitas (“Magnificent Humanity”) is a clarion call to all people to act with courage and solidarity as we enter an age already being transformed by artificial intelligence, the greatest change in…