See at ESPN Plus Watch Du Plessis vs. Strickland Watch UFC on ESPN Plus in the US See at ESPN Plus See more details See at TNT Sport Watch UFC events live in the UK with TNT Sports TNT Sports See at TNT Sport See more details See at Kayo Watch Du Plessis vs. Strickland at UFC 312 Watch UFC on Kayo in Australia See at Kayo See more details See at ExpressVPN Best VPN for streaming ExpressVPN See at ExpressVPN See more details Table of Contents UFC makes a rare visit down under on Saturday, with Dricus Du Plessis putting his middleweight title on the line against Sean Strickland as the headlining act for UFC 312 in Sydney, Australia.The main act marks the second meeting between the two fighters after South African star Du Plessis claimed the title from California's Strickland with a split decision in January of 2024.Having made a successful first defense of his belt against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 in August, Du Plessis now takes on Strickland again at the top of a bill that also sees women's strawweight belt holderZhang Weiliattempt to defend her title against Tatiana Suarez.Catch all the action live by following our guide to watching UFC 312 no matter where in the world you are. Dricus Du Plessis, left, will attempt to defend his title as he faces Sean Strickland at UFC 312. Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC UFC 312 Start timeThe UFC 312main card gets going at 2 p.m. AEDT local time in Sydney, making it a 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT) on Saturday, Feb. 8. Here are all the details for multiple time zones. US and CanadaThe main card starts Feb. 8, 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT).The prelims start Feb. 8, 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT).The early prelims start Feb. 8, 6 p.m. ET (3 p.m. PT). UK The main card starts Feb. 9, 3 a.m. GMT.The prelims start Feb. 9, 1 a.m. GMT.The early prelims start Feb. 8, 11 p.m. GMT. Australia The main card starts Feb. 9, 2 p.m. AEDT.The prelims start Feb. 9, 12 p.m. AEDT.The early prelims start Feb. 9, 10 a.m. AEDT. Main event start time It's hard to say exactly when the main event will take place, but if you're looking toonlywatch the fight between Du Plessis and Strickland, ring walks will start no earlier than 12 a.m. ET (9 p.m. PT). How to watch UFC 312 in the USThe UFC has a long-running partnership with ESPN. That's great news for the UFC and the expansion of the sport of MMA, but it's bad news for the consumer choice of US UFC fans. In the US, if you want to watch UFC 312, you'll find the fight night only on pay-per-view through ESPN Plus. The cost structure is a bit confusing, but here are the options to watch UFC on ESPN, according toESPN's site: Existing annual ESPN Plus subscribers can order the upcoming UFC card for $80.New ESPN Plus subscribers can buy a bundle of the UFC 312 PPV event (streaming in HD) and an ESPN Plus annual recurring subscription for $135. This is a decent deal. The ESPN Plus annual ESPN subscription will auto-renew after one year, at the price of an ESPN Plus annual subscription at the time of auto-renewal.You can do all of the above at the link below. Folks in the US can watch UFC 312 for $80, above and beyond the ESPN Plus subscription price ($11 per month for the stand-alone service, or $110 per year). Alternately, you canbundle ESPN Plus with Disney Plus and Hulustarting at $15 per month for the ad-supported plan. See at ESPN Plus How to watch UFC 312 in the UKMMA fans in the UK can watch all the action from New York via TNT Sports and the surprisingly good news is that, unlike some UFC events on the network, this event won't be PPV. Coverage gets underway on TNT Sports 1 with the prelims at 1 a.m. GMT in the early hours of Sunday morning. TNT Sports TNT Sports is the exclusive UK broadcaster for all numbered UFC events in the UK. You can access TNT Sports in exactly the same way as its predecessor BT Sport, including via Sky Q as a TV package, as well as the option of streaming online. It costs 30 either way and comes in a package that includes Discovery Plus' library of documentary content. See at TNT Sport How to watch UFC 312 in AustraliaYou can watch UFC 312 through Main Event on Foxtel. That means you can also watch online via sports streaming service Kayo for AU$60. You can check out the PPV on Kayo in Australia. See at Kayo How to watch UFC 312 in CanadaUFC 312's main card is available to watch through a variety of PPV providers, including cable operators such as Bell, Rogers and Shaw, as well as streaming services such as DAZN, Sportsnet Plus and UFC Fight Pass. Whichever option you opt for, it's a PPV fee of CA$70 across the board.It's also worth noting that early prelims will be available to stream viaUFC Fight Pass, while the event's Prelims will be shown on Sportsnet andTVA Sports. Full fight card Main card Dricus Du Plessis (C) vs. Sean Strickland 2 (middleweight title fight) Zhang Weili (C) vs. Tatiana Suarez (women's strawweight title fight) Justin Tafa vs. Tallison Teixeira (heavyweight) Jimmy Crute vs. Rodolfo Bellato (light-heavyweight) Jake Matthews vs. Francisco Prado (welterweight) Prelims Jack Jenkins vs. Gabriel Santos (featherweight) Tom Nolan vs. Viacheslav Borshchev (lightweight) Wang Cong vs. Bruna Brasil (women's flyweight) Colby Thicknesse vs. Aleksandre Topuria (bantamweight)Early prelims Rongzhu vs. Kody Steele (lightweight) Jonathan Micallef vs. Kevin Jousset (welterweight)How to watch UFC 312 online from anywhere using a VPNIf you find yourself unable to view UFC 312 locally due toincorrectly applied blackout restrictions, you may need a different way to watch the bout and that's where using a VPN can come in handy. A VPN is also the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds on fight night by encrypting your traffic, plus it's a great idea for when you're traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network, and you want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins.With a VPN, you're able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the matchup. So if your internet provider or mobile carrier has stuck you with an IP address that incorrectly shows your location in a blackout zone, a VPN can correct that problem by giving you an IP address in your correct, nonblackout area. Most VPNs, like ourEditors' Choice, ExpressVPN, make it really easy to do this.Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US and Canada, as long as you've got a legitimate subscription to the service you're streaming. You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks: Even where VPNs are legal, the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions.Looking for other options? Be sure to check out some of the other greatVPN dealstaking place right now. James Martin/CNET 2024 Price $13 per month, $100 for the first 15 months (then $117 per year) or $140 for the first 28 months (then $150 per year)Latest Tests DNS leaks detected, 35% speed loss in 2025 testsNetwork 3,000 plus servers in 105 countriesJurisdiction British Virgin Islands ExpressVPN isour current best VPN pickfor people who want a reliable and safe VPN, and it works on a variety of devices. It's normally $13 a month, but if you sign up for an annual subscription for $100 you'll get three months free and save 49%. That's the equivalent of $6.67 a month.Note that ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. 61% off with 2yr plan (+4 free months) See at ExpressVPN Quick tips for streaming UFC 312 using a VPNWith four variables at play -- your ISP, browser, video streaming provider and VPN -- your experience and success when streaming UFC 312 may vary.If you don't see your desired location as a default option for ExpressVPN, try using the "search for city or country" option.If you're having trouble getting the fight after you've turned on your VPN and set it to the correct viewing area, there are two things you can try for a quick fix. First, log into your streaming service subscription account and make sure the address registered for the account is an address in the correct viewing area. If not, you may need to change the physical address on file with your account. Second, some smart TVs -- like Roku -- don't have VPN apps you can install directly on the device itself. Instead, you'll have to install the VPN on your router or the mobile hotspot you're using (like your phone) so that any device on its Wi-Fi network now appears in the correct viewing location.All of the VPN providers we recommend have helpful instructions on their main site for quickly installing the VPN on your router. In some cases with smart TV services, after you install a cable network's sports app, you'll be asked to verify a numeric code or click a link sent to your email address on file for your smart TV. This is where having a VPN on your router will also help, since both devices will appear to be in the correct location.And remember, browsers can often give away a location despite using a VPN, so be sure you're using a privacy-first browser to log into your services. We normally recommendBrave.

See at ExpressVPN Best VPN for streaming ExpressVPN See at ExpressVPN See more details See at ESPN Watch the FA Cup in the US from $12 per month ESPN Plus See at ESPN See more details See at ITV Carries 2025 Six Nations games for free in the UK ITV See at ITV See more details See at SN Now Watch the FA Cup in Canada for CA$15 a month Sportsnet See at SN Now See more details See at Optus Watch the FA Cup in Australia from AU$7 a month Optus Sport See at Optus See more details Table of Contents Brighton will look to put last weekend's Premier League humiliation behind it as the team turns its attention to the FA Cup and a tough fourth-round test at home on Saturday against Enzo Maresca's Chelsea.Seagulls boss Fabian Hrzeler faces a challenge in lifting the spirits of his players after they crashed to a 7-0 humbling at the hands of Nottingham Forest last weekend.Brighton faces a Chelsea team that looks likely to be a rotated line up after the Blues' disappointing display in the team's London derby clash against West Ham on Monday, which they surprisingly won 2-1.Below, we'll outline the best live TV streaming services to use to watch the game live, wherever you are in the world. Pedro Neto scored for Chelsea in its 2-1 win at home against West Ham in the Premier League on Monday. Bryn Lennon/Getty ImagesBrighton vs. Chelsea: When and where?Brighton take on Chelsea in this FA Cup fourth-round match at the Amex Stadium onSaturday, Feb. 8. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. GMT local time in the UK, which is 3 p.m. ET or 12 p.m. PT in the US and Canada, and7 a.m. AEDT in Australia early on Sunday morning. How to watch the Brighton vs. Chelsea game online from anywhere using a VPNIf you find yourself unable to view EPL matches locally, you may need a different way to watch the games -- that's where using a VPN can come in handy. A VPN is also the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds on game day by encrypting your traffic, and it's also a great idea if you're traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network and you want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins.With a VPN, you're able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the game. Most VPNs, like our Editors' Choice, ExpressVPN, make it really easy to do this.Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US, UK and Canada, as long as you have a legitimate subscription to the service you're streaming. You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks: Even where VPNs are legal, the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions. James Martin/CNET 2024 Price $13 per month, $100 for the first 15 months (then $117 per year) or $140 for the first 28 months (then $150 per year)Latest Tests DNS leaks detected, 35% speed loss in 2025 testsNetwork 3,000 plus servers in 105 countriesJurisdiction British Virgin Islands ExpressVPN isour current best VPN pickfor people who want a reliable and safe VPN, and it works on a variety of devices. It's normally $13 a month, but if you sign up for an annual subscription for $100 you'll get three months free and save 49%. That's the equivalent of $6.67 a month.Note that ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. 61% off with 2yr plan (+4 free months) See at ExpressVPN Livestream the Brighton vs. Chelsea game in the USThis clash is streaming exclusively live in the US on ESPN Plus. Kickoff is at 12:45 p.m. ET on Saturday. ESPN Plus ESPN's standalone streaming service costs $12 a month or $120 for an annual subscription. With it, you'll be able to watch all of this season's FA Cup fixtures.Read our ESPN Plus review. See at ESPN Can I livestream the Brighton vs. Chelsea game in the UK?The great news for footy fans in the UK is that free-to-air broadcasters the BBC and ITV are sharing live duties for this season's FA Cup, with this game being shown on ITV4. That means the game will be available to stream on ITVX. Coverage begins at 7:15 p.m. GMT ahead of the 8 p.m. kickoff. ITV ITV's streaming online streaming service is free to viewers in the UK, with dedicated apps available for Apple and Android devices, as well as most smart TVs. See at ITV Livestream Brighton vs. Chelsea in CanadaCanadian soccer fans looking to watch this FA Cup fixture can watch all the action live via Sportsnet. Sportsnet Sportsnet is available via most cable operators, but cord-cutters can subscribe to the network's standalone streaming service Sportsnet Plus instead, with prices starting at CA$25 per month or CA$200 per year. See at SN Now Livestream the Brighton vs. Chelsea game in AustraliaFootball fans Down Under can watch FA Cup matches live on streaming service Optus Sport. Optus With exclusive rights to stream select FA Cup and all Premier League matches live this season, as well as German Bundesliga and Spanish La Liga games, streaming service Optus Sport is a particularly big draw for Aussie soccer fans.If you're already an Optus network customer, you can bag Optus Sport for a reduced price, with discounts bringing the price down to as low as AU$7 a month. If you're not, a standalone monthly subscription to the service starts at AU$25. See at Optus Quick tips for streaming the FA Cup using a VPNWith four variables at play -- your ISP, browser, video streaming provider and VPN -- your experience and success when streaming FA Cup matches may vary.If you don't see your desired location as a default option for ExpressVPN, try using the "search for city or country" option.If you're having trouble getting the game after you've turned on your VPN and set it to the correct viewing area, there are two things you can try for a quick fix. First, log into your streaming service subscription account and make sure the address registered for the account is an address in the correct viewing area. If not, you may need to change the physical address on file with your account. Second, some smart TVs -- like Roku -- don't have VPN apps you can install directly on the device itself. Instead, you'll have to install the VPN on your router or the mobile hotspot you're using (like your phone) so that any device on its Wi-Fi network now appears in the correct viewing location.All of the VPN providers we recommend have helpful instructions on their main site for quickly installing the VPN on your router. In some cases with smart TV services, after you install a cable network's sports app, you'll be asked to verify a numeric code or click a link sent to your email address on file for your smart TV. This is where having a VPN on your router will also help, since both devices will appear to be in the correct location.And remember, browsers can often give away a location despite using a VPN, so be sure you're using a privacy-first browser to log into your services. We normally recommendBrave.

Demand for Warframe's 10th fan convention, TennoCon 2025, was so high it sold out in less than 35 minutesThe art of war.Image credit: Digital Extremes / Eurogamer News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on Feb. 8, 2025 Tickets for Warframe's annual convention, TennoCon 2025, sold out in less than an hour.Tickets went on sale at 7pm UK time last night, but demand for Digital Extremes' 10th celebration "of all things Warframe" was so high, all tickets had gone by 7.35pm.Warframe: 1999 gameplay trailer.Watch on YouTubeThis year's convention will take place in-person in London, Ontario, Canada, on 18th-19th July, 2025.Fans can expect merchandise sales and autograph signings as well as the annual TennoCon Cosplay Contest, and the first ever TennoConcert. There'll also be panels, autograph sessions, community art, deep dives with devs, and "a look at the evolution of TennoCon over the years".We're so thankful for your sold-out interest in TennoCon 2025! As we provide advance notice of ticket availability, this can result in a longer queue than the number of tickets.Please know that tickets are nontransferable and we diligently validate tickets at every TennoCon! PlayWarframe (@warframe.com) February 7, 2025 at 9:22 PMTo see this content please enable targeting cookies."We're so thankful for your sold-out interest in TennoCon 2025!" the team said on Bluesky shortly after the tickets were snapped up. "As we provide advance notice of ticket availability, this can result in a longer queue than the number of tickets."Fans not lucky enough to get a physical ticket this time around, however, can still participate via the virtual experience on 19th July."Our team is still hard at work to bring you an incredible virtual experience on July 19, as well as our upcoming TennoCon 2025 Digital Pack and more! We hope to see you all online for a very special day and can't wait to share what we've been working on."Digital Extremes also gently reminded players that tickets are nontransferable and it "diligently validates tickets at every TennoCon".Warframe's long-awaited 1999 expansion - first announced during TennoCon 2023 - finally released in December. It's available on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and PC.

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ByEstelle Nilsson-Julien Published on 07/02/2025 - 17:11 GMT+1 Ahead of Germanys federal elections, fake news and AI-generated propaganda is multiplying online. ADVERTISEMENTAs German federal elections draw closer, TikTok videos allegedly showing hundreds of thousands of people marching for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) have gone viral. German media outlet Correctiv revealed the videos had been manipulated as a Euroverify investigation can confirm. The videos posted by a range of AfD supporters' accounts consist of footage of crowds accompanied by captions claiming that they represent hundreds of thousands of people gathering for the far-right party.A simple TikTok search with keywords like pro-AfD and protest returns a string of videos of the sort. Euroverify ran the videos through a series of AI image detectors. Although many of the videos are not AI-generated, the footage is not from pro-AfD demonstrations but has been taken from other events, including protests against the German party. In some TikTok videos, AI audio detectors reveal that the soundtracks have been manipulated. In multiple videos like this one an AI-generated audio track of a crowd chanting "east, east, east" has replaced the original audio.Although this is not a chant typically used by AfD supporters, the eastern German states of Thuringia and Saxony are party strongholds. Footage in one video appears to date back to a January 2024 protest in Hamburg, when tens of thousands of people marched against the far right and not in favour of the AfD. The protests were triggered by public outrage over the revelation of a secret meeting between far-right groups in north-eastern Germany. AfD party members were among those who participated in talks which centred on how millions of immigrants including those with German citizenship could be systematically relocated to another country should these groups come to power. Wider mass protests across GermanyIn recent weeks, there have been no outdoor AfD gatherings attended by hundreds of thousands of people which once again underlines the fact that these TikTok videos are fake. Tens of thousands of people in Germany did take to the streets last weekend but to protest the leader of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Friedrich Merz and his parliamentary proposal on stricter migration rules. The proposal was supported by the AfD, which proved to be a red line for many Germans. As for AfD gatherings, in December, 3,500 supporters not hundreds of thousands gathered for a memorial rally following the Magdeburg Christmas market attack. The car-ramming attack, carried out by a Saudi-born doctor who had voiced support for far-right narratives online, killed six and injured more than 200 others. Last month, South Africa-born billionaire Elon Musk made a surprise appearance at an AfD campaign event in the eastern German city of Halle, which 4,500 people attended. Fake news and AI-generated propaganda are a growing concern ahead of Germany's elections.In recent weeks, authorities have also warned that a disinformation campaign originating from Moscow could be trying to influence their outcome. Go to accessibility shortcuts You might also like

Welcome back to Week in Review. This week were diving into Google quietly removing its pledge to not build AI weapons for surveillance; how Elon Musk and DOGE are facilitating the biggest breach of U.S. government data; researchers who were able to re-create a premium reasoning model for $50; and more! Lets get into it.Representatives of Elon Musk and DOGE were granted full access to the U.S. Treasury payments system, which is used to disperse trillions of dollars to Americans each year. Senatornational security risk. Its the latest reported effort by Musk to infiltrate the inner workings of the federal government.proposed a bill called the Elon Musk Act, which stands for Eliminate Looting of Our Nation by Mitigating Unethical State Kleptocracy.One of Metas earliest employees is suing the company for sexual harassment, sex discrimination, and retaliation. Kelly Stonelake, who spent 15 years at the company, alleges that Meta failed to take action after she reported sexual harassment and assault; retaliated against her after she flagged a video game product as racist and potentially harmful to minors; and was routinely passed over for promotions in favor of men on her team.Google removed a pledge to not build AI for weapons or surveillance from its website this week. In an update to its public AI principles page, the company erased a section titled applications we will not pursue. The company pointed TechCrunch to a blog post on responsible AI, which notes that Google should work together with governments and organizations to create AI that protects people, promotes global growth, and supports national security.This is TechCrunchs Week in Review, where we recap the weeks biggest news. Want this delivered as a newsletter to your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here.NewsImage Credits:DubTikTok meets Wall Street: Dub is a trading app focused on picking people over stocks. The app allows users to follow the strategies of traders, hedge funds, and even those mimicking high-profile politicians. Read moreThe war on : According to a New York Times report, the U.S. governments General Services Administration removed the spoon emoji from its videoconferencing work platform after workers embraced the emoji to protest the Trump administrations Fork in the Road resignation offer. Read moreChatGPT for deep research: OpenAI is announcing a new AI agent designed to help people conduct in-depth, complex research using ChatGPT. Instead of getting a quick answer or summary, the function pulls information from multiple sources. Read moreThe EU bans risky AI: Regulators in the EU can ban the use of AI systems they deem to pose unacceptable risk or harm. Companies could be on the hook for up to $36 million, or 7% of their annual revenue from the prior fiscal year, whichever is greater. Read moreMajor cuts at Workday: The enterprise HR platform laid off 1,750 employees this week, affecting roughly 8.5% of its total head count. Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach told employees that the company needs a new approach and plans to hire AI talent. Read moreA new AI productivity app: What if your apps for notes, schedule management, and to-dos were all in one place? Hero, an all-in-one productivity app with an AI assistant, aims to do just that and take on the competition. Read moreA $50 reasoning model: Researchers at Stanford and the University of Washington trained an AI reasoning model for under $50 in cloud compute credits. The model, known as s1, performs similarly to models like OpenAIs o1 and DeepSeeks R1 on math and coding tests. Read moreAn adult app for EU iOS users: A native pornography app for iOS is coming to the EU via the approved alternative app store AltStore PAL, thanks to the Digital Markets Act. Hot Tub offers iOS users a way to search and play videos from a variety of adult websites. Read moreCuts at Cruise: Cruise is laying off nearly 50% of its workforce, including top executives like CEO Marc Whitten, as it prepares to shut down operations. What remains of the autonomous vehicle company will move under General Motors. Read moreX is suing more advertisers: This comes after the alleged boycott on the platform. The amended complaint includes Nestl, Abbott Laboratories, Colgate, Lego, Pinterest, Tyson Foods, and Shell. Read moreAnalysisWere experiencing the biggest breach of U.S. government data: Elon Musks DOGE has taken control of large swathes of Americans private information held by the U.S. government despite questions about their security clearances, their cybersecurity practices, and the legality of Musks activities. As Zack Whittaker writes, whether DOGE staffers are bad actors misses part of the point. Acts of subterfuge, espionage, or ignorance could produce the same outcome: exposure or loss of the nations sensitive datasets. Read more

In BriefPosted:9:56 AM PST February 8, 2025Image Credits:Kimberly White / Getty ImagesAI pioneer Fei-Fei Li says AI policy must be based on science, not science fictionFei-Fei Li, the Stanford computer scientist and startup founder sometimes known as the Godmother of AI, has outlined three fundamental principles for the future of AI policymaking ahead of next weeks AI Action Summit in Paris.First, Li said policy must be based on science, not science fiction. In other words, policymakers should focus on the current reality of AI, not on grandiose futuristic scenarios, whether utopia or apocalypse.In particular, Li said that its critical for policymakers to understand that chatbots and co-pilot programs are not forms of intelligence with intentions, free will or consciousness, so they can avoid the distraction of far-fetched scenarios and focus instead on vital challenges.Second, she argued that policy should be pragmatic, rather than ideological, by which she means it should be written to minimise unintended consequences while incentivising innovation.Lastly, Li said these policy must empower the entire AI ecosystem including open-source communities and academia.Open access to AI models and computational tools is crucial for progress, she said. Limiting it will create barriers and slow innovation, particularly for academic institutions and researchers who have fewer resources than their private-sector counterparts.Topics

Theres a new idea making the rounds about how to organize our LLM models and new technologies to better leverage their power. Its not very mainstream yet, because people are still getting used to the idea of AI in general, but it is popping up in some areas of academia and business.One of those places is the MIT Media Lab, where researchers continue the work of great individuals like Marvin Minsky, Seymour Papert and others. Its actually the 40th anniversary of the lab this year, and what were finding is that this research institution is offering some pretty good ideas for how to move forward in the AI era.One of those ideas is to decentralize AI platforms. Its something Ive been hearing about in the context of planning what the next generation of services and deployments will look like. What is decentralized AI, and why is it important?The Power of Decentralized AISome of the best advocates for decentralized AI are pointing out that within the current centralized and monolithic models, some big companies are dominating the use of data to feed systems.One of these analysts is my friend and colleague Ramesh Raskar. In making the case for decentralized AI, he points out that companies are centralizing data, compute, and even governance, in concerning ways, and that they often dont want to share data in constructive ways.MORE FOR YOUHe cites distrusting, disconnected and disinterested parties without a real incentive to work together.Against that idea, proponents of decentralized AI put forward the possibility of a mixture of experts design where the interplay between reinforcement learning and supervised fine-tuning creates a workflow for success. That, some suggest (including in this Venturebeat article) is where DeepSeek came in using the more brute-force aspect of RL to jump ahead on LLM efficiency, and bypassing SFT.But beyond DeepSeeks model coup, theres the idea that the companies on the vanguard of innovation are themselves vulnerable. This Grayscale article points out how, just after DeepSeeks announcement, the company fell victim to a hack that represents the kinds of things that decentralized AI could potentially solve.Four Pillars of Decentralized AIWhen you listen to Ramesh or somebody else talking about the principle of decentralized AI, they point to four overarching goals for these processes, as follows:Privacy how do you keep an individuals data safe and private?Incentives what are the incentives for the various parties to work together?Verification - how do you verify whether someone is a good actor or not?Dashboard there has to be some kind of interface for this type of collaboration.I also came across this interesting analogy for decentralized AI that has to do with the development of the Internet. Web one was that series of websites and pages that composes the global Internet. Web two was social media. Web three is the Blockchain, a truly decentralized system in which nodes and components interact with sovereignty.What else goes into decentralized design?Decentralization and The History of AI TheoryAnother way to think about this is to go back to the old days when people were first theorizing the concept of AI itself.For example, the idea of decentralized AI echoes some of the work of Marvin Minsky himself in his book, Society of mind. In it, he suggests that the best AI system should function like the human brain, which is essentially not one computer, but a series of interconnected computers working together.As for risks, those who are trying to prepare for decentralized systems point out that some of these constructions can be vulnerable to crashing, or hostile takeovers in a case of a 51% attack.On the other hand, they can expedite complex buy-in if the system is smart enough to vet the agents to make sure that theyre trustworthy.And that is, in large part, what it comes down to: trust. We might each have our own individual AI agents acting on our behalf or we might just have large networks of real life non-player characters, so to speak. We have to be able to have some framework for establishing trust, and the rest will fall into place.There are billions of agents. They all want to talk to each other, but they don't trust each other. They don't even know where they are. They don't even know what they do. Like if I meet you today.if I meet somebody else, I don't know their name, I don't know their expertise and how to figure out whether we should collaborate or not, right? Ramesh RaskarThink about the possibility of decentralized AI systems for everything that were designing now from recommendation engines to autonomous driving, to insurance and loan systems, or AI planners for smart cities. With artificial intelligence, were operating at a birds-eye view level, understanding the full picture and all of the details at once. Its a powerful thing, but it has to be harnessed and deployed correctly, which is why a lot of these experts have one more suggestion:Its that we need to first deploy our pioneer systems in low-stakes environments. Then we continue to work on them until we can trust them, and only then can they be put into mission-critical systems. So lets remember that as we move forward.

Your security has now at riskGetty ImagesWe live in dangerous times. As is being widely reported, Apple is being forced to add a backdoor to iCloud, which opens up access to all your iPhone, iPad content backed up to iCloud, whether its end-to-end encrypted or not. And according to reports, the iMaker is not even allowed to let you know this is being done or your security has changed. As EFF warns, the demand for "Apple to break encryption is an emergency for us all."You can read all about the implications of this proposed change here.Apples excellent Advanced Data Protection (APD) is central to this new furor. This applies end-to-end encryption to almost all the sensitive data on your iPhone, including your iCloud drive, photos, messaging and more. It removes previous loopholes, where Apple had access to the encryption keys to unlock your messages, by way of example.This high-risk mandate comes courtesy of the UK government, which has issued a so-called technical capability notice, demanding Apple add a backdoor to iCloud for UK intelligence and law enforcement to tap into fully encrypted content.MORE FOR YOUSpeculation as to what will happen next includes removing end-to-end iCloud encryption from UK accounts or an appeal and fightback. According to reports, though, Apple cant await the results of an appeal before making changes and the changes must apply to all iCloud users, not just those in the UK, negating the first option as well.What you can do is demonstrate the importance of fully encrypted content to protect your own data. APD comes with some health warnings, primarily that if you lose your backup key or control of your trusted devices you will also lose your data. By its very nature Apple cant unlock this for you thats kind of the point.Apples instructions set out how to add ADP to your account and the device-by-device requirement to ensure all will be able to access your iCloud data once ADP is enabled.Here are the requirements:An Apple Account with 2FA enabled.A passcode or password set on all your devices.An account recovery contact or recovery key, which you can set up durting the ADP enablement process.iOS/iPadOS 16.2 or newer, macOS 13.1 or newer, watchOS 9.2 or newerWith that done, heres how you enable ADP:"On iPhone or iPad:Open the Settings app.Tap your name, then tap iCloud.Scroll down, tap Advanced Data Protection, then tap Turn on Advanced Data Protection.Follow the onscreen instructions to review your recovery methods and enable Advanced Data Protection.On Mac:Choose Apple menu > System Settings.Click your name, then click iCloud.Click Advanced Data Protection, then click Turn On.Follow the onscreen instructions to review your recovery methods and enable Advanced Data Protection."It wont protect you if Apple does make changes, but we dont know much for sure yet; at the very least it makes the right statement that this is critical to millions of users.

Why it matters: When Obsidian's upcoming RPG, Avowed, launches on February 18, players who access the game through Game Pass or purchase a digital copy outside of Steam will be able to play it on Xbox Series consoles, Microsoft's Xbox app for PC, or Blizzard's Battle.net launcher. Whether future Microsoft-published games will support Battle.net cross-buy remains unclear, but this move suggests a potential expansion of Blizzard's platform within Microsoft's ecosystem. Microsoft's Game Pass subscription has garnered praise for offering relatively low-cost access to a consistent stream of new and popular titles. However, PC subscribers have long expressed frustration with the Xbox app used for installing games through Game Pass. Blizzard's games still rely on the company's well-regarded Battle.net launcher, and Obsidian's Avowed is the first non-Blizzard title that allows subscribers and buyers to choose between the Xbox app and Battle.net, possibly indicating a shift in policy.Following Microsoft's historic $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Blizzard's library was added to Game Pass, but its games remained tied to Battle.net instead of being transitioned to the Xbox app. While most Game Pass titles run through Microsoft's storefront, playing Diablo, Diablo 4, Overwatch 2, and StarCraft on PC Game Pass requires installing Battle.net.Also see: Most Anticipated PC Games of 2025 (Avowed is one of them)Although PC users often bemoan the need for additional launchers, Blizzard fans likely prefer Battle.net to the Xbox app. The latter has faced years of criticism due to bugs and a relatively light feature set. Although Battle.net mostly only hosts Blizzard titles, fans consider it more reliable by comparison.Non-Blizzard games like Call of Duty and Crash Bandicoot have been available through Battle.net for years, but Avowed's inclusion suggests that Microsoft may be willing to bring more of its first-party catalog to the platform. Moreover, Avowed is the first title to allow non-subscribers to seamlessly switch between playing on Xbox consoles, the Xbox app, or Battle.net. // Related StoriesTo enable cross-buy, users must link their Battle.net and Microsoft accounts by logging into Battle.net, clicking on their username in the top-right corner, navigating to Account Settings > Connections, and selecting Xbox Network to log into their Microsoft account.In addition to providing an alternative to the Xbox app, this integration also creates a potential pathway for Game Pass subscribers to play Avowed on the Steam Deck. Hopefully, Microsoft extends Battle.net cross-buy to other in-house titles like the upcoming Doom: The Dark Ages and South of Midnight, or recent releases like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.Avowed is an open-world action RPG set in the Pillars of Eternity universe, heavily focusing on nonlinear quests. The game launches on Xbox consoles, Game Pass, Battle.net, and Steam on February 18. Players who purchase the premium edition will gain early access starting February 13. The game requires 75GB of storage space, and Obsidian recommends an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT for smooth gameplay.