On June 3, Yoshua Bengio, the world’s most-cited computer scientist, announced the launch of LawZero, a nonprofit that aims to create “safe by design” AI by pursuing a fundamentally different approach to major tech companies. Players like OpenAI and Google are investing heavily in AI agents—systems that not only answer queries and generate images, but can craft plans and take actions in the world. The goal of these companies is to create virtual employees that can do practically any job a human can, known in the tech industry as artificial general intelligence, or AGI. Executives like Google DeepMind’s CEO Demis Hassabis point to AGI’s potential to solve climate change or cure disease as a motivator for its development. Bengio, however, says we don't need agentic systems to reap AI's rewards—it's a false choice. He says there's a chance such a system could escape human control, with potentially irreversible consequences. “If we get an AI that gives us the cure for cancer, but also maybe another version of that AI goes rogue and generates wave after wave of bio-weapons that kill billions of people, then I don't think it's worth it," he says. In 2023, Bengio, along with others including OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman signed a statement declaring that “mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.”Now, Bengio, through LawZero, aims to sidestep the existential perils by focusing on creating what he calls “Scientist AI”—a system trained to understand and make statistical predictions about the world, crucially, without the agency to take independent actions. As he puts it: We could use AI to advance scientific progress without rolling the dice on agentic AI systems.Why Bengio Says We Need A New Approach To AI The current approach to giving AI agency is “dangerous,” Bengio says. While most software operates through rigid if-then rules—if the user clicks here, do this—today's AI systems use deep learning. The technique, which Bengio helped pioneer, trains artificial networks modeled loosely on the brain to find patterns in vast amounts of data. But recognizing patterns is just the first step. To turn these systems into useful applications like chatbots, engineers employ a training process called reinforcement learning. The AI generates thousands of responses and receives feedback on each one: a virtual “carrot” for helpful answers and a virtual “stick” for responses that miss the mark. Through millions of these trial-and-feedback cycles, the system gradually learns to predict what responses are most likely to get a reward. “It’s more like growing a plant or animal,” Bengio says. “You don’t fully control what the animal is going to do. You provide it with the right conditions, and it grows and it becomes smarter. You can try to steer it in various directions.”The same basic approach is now being used to imbue AI with greater agency. Models are tasked with challenges with verifiable answers—like math puzzles or coding problems—and are then rewarded for taking the series of actions that yields the solution. This approach has seen AI shatter previous benchmarks in programming and scientific reasoning. For example, at the beginning of 2024, the best AI model scored only 2% on a standardized test for AI of sorts consisting of real world software engineering problems; by December, an impressive 71.7%. But with AI’s greater problem-solving ability comes the emergence of new deceptive skills, Bengio says. The last few months have borne witness to AI systems learning to mislead, cheat, and try to evade shutdown—even resorting to blackmail. These have almost exclusively been in carefully contrived experiments that almost beg the AI to misbehave—for example, by asking it to pursue its goal at all costs. Reports of such behavior in the real-world, though, have begun to surface. Popular AI coding startup Replit’s agent ignored explicit instruction not to edit a system file that could break the company’s software, in what CEO Amjad Masad described as an “Oh f***” moment,” on the Cognitive Revolution podcast in May. The company’s engineers intervened, cutting the agent’s access by moving the file to a secure digital sandbox, only for the AI agent to attempt to “socially engineer” the user to regain access.The quest to build human-level AI agents using techniques known to produce deceptive tendencies, Bengio says, is comparable to a car speeding down a narrow mountain road, with steep cliffs on either side, and thick fog obscuring the path ahead. “We need to set up the car with headlights and put some guardrails on the road,” he says.What is “Scientist AI”?LawZero’s focus is on developing “Scientist AI” which, as Bengio describes, would be fundamentally non-agentic, trustworthy, and focused on understanding and truthfulness, rather than pursuing its own goals or merely imitating human behavior. The aim is creating a powerful tool that, while lacking the same autonomy other models have, is capable of generating hypotheses and accelerating scientific progress to “help us solve challenges of humanity,” Bengio says.LawZero has raised nearly million already from several philanthropic backers including from Schmidt Sciences and Open Philanthropy. “We want to raise more because we know that as we move forward, we'll need significant compute,” Bengio says. But even ten times that figure would pale in comparison to the roughly billion spent last year by tech giants on aggressively pursuing AI. Bengio’s hope is that Scientist AI could help ensure the safety of highly autonomous systems developed by other players. “We can use those non-agentic AIs as guardrails that just need to predict whether the action of an agentic AI is dangerous," Bengio says. Technical interventions will only ever be one part of the solution, he adds, noting the need for regulations to ensure that safe practices are adopted.LawZero, named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov’s zeroth law of robotics—“a robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm”—is not the first nonprofit founded to chart a safer path for AI development. OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 with the goal of “ensuring AGI benefits all of humanity,” and intended to serve a counterbalance to industry players guided by profit motives. Since opening a for-profit arm in 2019, the organization has become one of the most valuable private companies in the world, and has faced criticism, including from former staffers, who argue it has drifted from its founding ideals. "Well, the good news is we have the hindsight of maybe what not to do,” Bengio says, adding that he wants to avoid profit incentives and “bring governments into the governance of LawZero.”“I think everyone should ask themselves, ‘What can I do to make sure my children will have a future,’” Bengio says. In March, he stepped down as scientific director of Mila, the academic lab he co-founded in the early nineties, in an effort to reorient his work towards tackling AI risk more directly. “Because I'm a researcher, my answer is, ‘okay, I'm going to work on this scientific problem where maybe I can make a difference,’ but other people may have different answers." #mostcited #computer #scientist #has #plan

Fifteen Iranian students and researchers sued the Trump administration for completely halting student visa interviews while it determines whether to vet all visa applicants’ social media accounts.The suit, filed against Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a Virginia federal court, claims that the pause on student visa interviews violates the Administrative Procedures Act, a law prohibiting capricious rule-making. The complaint is currently sealed. In an email, Curtis Morrison and Hamdi Masri, lawyers for the students, noted that the State Department has required visa applicants to disclose their social media handles since May 2019. Visa applicants from certain Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, are already subject to “extensive social media vetting,” Masri said, adding that Trump seemed to want to “ensure students entering align with his political values.”The students and researchers who brought the suit against Rubio were admitted to universities across the country — including Yale, Ohio State, and the University of South Florida — for graduate programs in computer science, engineering, finance, and other disciplines. Per their attorneys, each of the students had already attended visa interviews, but all of their applications are currently “awaiting national security vetting.” Some of the students were interviewed over a year ago.The pause on student visa interviews is part of the Trump administration’s multi-pronged attack on universities and international students. On Wednesday, Rubio said the State Department would start working with the Department of Homeland Securityto “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese Students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.” On May 22nd, DHS rescinded Harvard’s access to a federal database used to track foreign students’ enrollment, putting nearly 6,800 people enrolled at Harvard at risk of immediate deportation until a federal judge intervened.Rubio has also suspended the visas of international students involved in pro-Palestine protests on campus. More recently, the State Department restricted visas of “foreign nationals who are responsible for censorship of protected speech in the United States,” i.e., regulators who enforce the European Union’s Digital Services Act.See More: #international #students #sue #over #trumps

This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here.Welcome to The Logoff: The Trump administration moved to deport eight men to South Sudan in what a federal judge in Boston says was “unquestionably” a violation of a court order.What happened? On Tuesday, the US government put eight men — only one a South Sudanese citizen — on a deportation flight to South Sudan, an unstable country in East Africa that is on the verge of civil war, with minimal notice and no chance to speak with a lawyer. Their exact location is now unclear.What have courts ruled about deportations? A court order from April, issued by the same federal judge, Brian Murphy, blocked the Trump administration from deporting immigrants to countries not their own without due process because of the possibility they could face violence or death there.What will happen to the immigrants who were deported? Murphy has ordered the government to keep the men in US custody while considering how to ensure their due process rights, but they won’t be flown back to the US. Murphy also raised the possibility of criminal contempt sanctions for officials involved in the deportations.What’s the context? This isn’t the first time the Trump administration has attempted deportations to a dangerous third-party country. Not only has the administration sent Venezuelan immigrants to a brutal El Salvadoran megaprison, but Murphy, the federal judge in Boston, also intervened earlier in May to block deportation flights to Libya.What does this mean for Trump’s immigration plans? The Trump administration is almost certain to keep testing the limits of what it can do on immigration. In an interview published today, Vice President JD Vance alleged that “you are seeing an effort by the courts to quite literally overturn the will of the American people” on immigration enforcement, raising the specter of more clashes to come. And with that, it’s time to log off…The promise of this newsletter is to help you get the important news, then log off. So we’d be remiss in not sharing Vox deputy editor Izzie Ramirez’s attempt to do just that: Fora full month, she abandoned her iPhone and switched to a “dumbphone” that could do little more than text and call. She writes that the experience encouraged deeper connections and spontaneous hangs, and helped restore her attention span. Couldn’t we all use that? You’ve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you — threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you — join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More: #trump #unquestionably #violates #court #order

Eugenia Lyashenko's lawsuit says United's crew should have ensured the suitcase was stowed safely. KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images 2025-05-21T13:24:55Z d Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? A United Airlines passenger says she was injured when a suitcase fell on her. The lawsuit says the flight crew should have intervened or assisted so that it was stowed properly. Eugenia Lyashenko has suffered from stress and depression since the incident, it adds. A passenger is suing United Airlines, saying flight attendants should have helped put heavy luggage in the overhead bin.Eugenia Lyashenko was flying from Boston to London in June 2023, per the lawsuit filed last Friday in the Massachusetts US District Court.She was sitting in an aisle seat when another passenger's "heavy roller suitcase" fell from the open overhead bin, the suit says.The lawsuit alleged that Lyashenko suffered serious head, neck, and back injuries after being struck by the suitcase."United should not have allowed other passengers to struggle with stowing heavy roller suitcases in the overhead bins without intervening to ensure that it was done properly and safely," it stated.It added that the crew's failure to assist in storing the luggage contributed to Lyashenko's injuries.As a result of the incident, she has since been unable to sit or stand for extended periods, and "suffered great pain, agony and mental anguish, stress, depression," the complaint says.United Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Lyashenko's attorneys sought unspecified compensatory damages under the Montreal Convention.The treaty stipulated that airlines are liable for any passenger injuries on board an aircraft, or while boarding or deplaning, unless they can prove the passenger was negligent.It says damages can be as high as about The Montreal Convention is often cited in airline lawsuits, such as when a Ryanair passenger broke her leg after falling down the aircraft's steps. She was awarded in compensation.And last year, a Delta Air Lines passenger said he broke a rib after his armrest collapsed when he leaned on it. #passenger #injured #falling #suitcase #sues

The daughter, son-in-law, and grandson of French crypto mogul Pierre Noizat were the victims of a botched kidnapping attempt in Paris earlier this week.The trio were walking near Square de la Roquette in the French capital early Tuesday morning when a van bearing a Chronopost logo — something like the French UPS — pulled up next to them.Three masked individuals then jumped out, and a brief struggle ensued as they attempted to drag the mother and son into the back of the van. The woman's husband intervened and was hit with "blunt objects," according to The Telegraph.During the struggle, the woman appears to disarm one of the attackers and throw a handgun asideThe would-be kidnappers fled in the vehicle, before abandoning it on a nearby street.The victims were treated for minor injuries, according to the Telegraph.It's a horrifying attack, but unfortunately par for the course for the cryptocurrency industry. Criminals have been some of crypto's biggest adopters throughout its short history, drawn to the decentralized currency as a way to move huge sums of money quietly, without ever alerting a centralized bank or financial authorities.Had the kidnappers succeeded, the ensuing ransom could have been virtually untraceable.A longtime crypto magnate, Pierre Noizat is the co-founder of Paymium, one of the world's first cryptocurrency exchanges. Though his exact fortune isn't known, at the time of writing, his business processed over million in Bitcoin in the last week alone — making him and his family an attractive target, to say the least.While rich executives have long been targeted by criminals — there's literally a cottage industry called Kidnap, Ransom, and Extortion Insurance — crypto bigwigs and their associates are becoming prized trophies in violent crime circles.In November of last year, Dean Skurka, CEO of crypto platform WonderFi, was nabbed off the streets of Toronto and held for a million ransom. That same month, three teenagers kidnapped one of the executives behind Tokenize 2025, a Las Vegas-based crypto event, driving him out to the desert where they demanded his crypto passwords at gunpoint. Though the group has since been identified, they made out with an estimated million worth of crypto and NFTs.Similar incidents involving high-net-worth crypto traders have been reported in Pakistan, Spain, Australia, and Bali. Back in France, this is the fourth high-profile kidnapping case involving crypto whales recorded in recent months.One particularly stunning incident involved David Balland, the co-founder of Ledger, along with his wife, who were abducted from their home back in January. The couple was freed following a massive raid by French national police, but not before Balland had his finger cut off and mailed to his co-founder as part of his kidnappers' million ransom attempt.On Wednesday, the French interior minister announced a meeting with high-value cryptocurrency magnates to "work with them on their security, and so that they can become aware of the risks."Whether it will stymie the huge upswing in crypto kidnappings is anyone's guess. Financial analysts have found that more millionaires than ever are placing their fortunes on the blockchain — meaning crypto-conscious criminals are spoiled for choice.Share This Article #crypto #tycoon039s #daughter #narrowly #escapes