James Altucher:

Anthropic Warns of "First-Ever" AI-Driven Hacking Campaign, Linked to China

A team of researchers has uncovered what they say is the first reported use of artificial intelligence (AI) to direct a hacking campaign in a largely automated fashion.

The AI company Anthropic said this week that it disrupted a cyber operation that its researchers linked to the Chinese government. The operation involved the use of an artificial intelligence system to direct the hacking campaigns, which researchers called a disturbing development that could greatly expand the reach of AI-equipped hackers.

While concerns about the use of AI to drive cyber operations are not new, what is concerning about the new operation is the degree to which AI was able to automate some of the work, the researchers said.

“While we predicted these capabilities would continue to evolve, what has stood out to us is how quickly they have done so at scale,” they wrote in their report.

“Agents are valuable for everyday work and productivity — but in the wrong hands, they can substantially increase the viability of large-scale cyberattacks,” the researchers concluded. “These attacks are likely to only grow in their effectiveness.“

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Enrique Abeyta:

Burry’s Depreciation Gripe Shines Spotlight on Big Tech Profits

Big Tech’s ability to churn out ever-increasing profits has underpinned investors’ ongoing enthusiasm for the stocks regardless of their soaring valuations. But what if those numbers are overstated?

Micheal Burry, the head of Scion Asset Management who’s best known for his bet against the U.S. housing market before the 2008 global financial crisis, suggested this week that the lengthening depreciation schedules for computing gear from technology behemoths like Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc. enables them to artificially pad their earnings growth.

These kinds of accounting moves aren’t secrets and most investors are betting that the hundreds of billions of dollars being spent on chips and other data center equipment will eventually pay off. Shares of the four biggest spenders on artificial intelligence infrastructure — Meta, Alphabet, Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. — are in the green this year.

But the involvement of Burry is putting a spotlight on the risks of such massive spending when depreciation expenses are skyrocketing even with the accounting moves.

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Ray Blanco:

Blue Origin Sticks First New Glenn Rocket Landing and Launches NASA Spacecraft

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has landed the booster of its New Glenn mega-rocket on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean on just its second attempt — making it the second company to perform such a feat, following Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

It’s an accomplishment that will help the new rocket system become an option to send larger payloads to space, the moon, and beyond.

Thursday’s launch wasn’t just about the landing attempt, though. Roughly 34 minutes after takeoff, the upper stage of New Glenn successfully deployed the rocket’s first commercial payload: twin spacecraft for NASA that will travel to Mars to study the red planet’s atmosphere.

The pair of achievements are remarkable for the second-ever launch of such a massive rocket system. And it could put Blue Origin in position to compete with SpaceX, which dominates the world’s launch market with its Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Starship rockets.

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