Author: Frank Salvato

A self-described hacktivist collective calling itself “Department of Peace” claims it breached systems associated with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and released internal records tied to Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractor relationships, exposing data tied to thousands of companies that have worked with federal immigration enforcement programs. According to reports, the allegedly stolen material—published through a transparency-oriented whistleblower platform—contains information linked to more than 6,000 contractor applicants and vendors that have participated in ICE-related projects, including technology firms, surveillance providers, and defense contractors. The data reportedly includes contract details such as awarded amounts as well as personal contact information…

A new initiative from Stripe is aiming to solve one of the most persistent economic problems facing the artificial-intelligence startup ecosystem: how to make money when the underlying computing costs fluctuate constantly. The fintech firm has previewed a new capability designed to help companies track the real cost of using AI models and automatically pass those costs on to customers—while still layering on their own profit margin. The move reflects a broader shift in the tech industry as startups that rely on large language models from providers like OpenAI or Anthropic struggle to reconcile expensive token-based pricing with traditional subscription…

A courtroom battle over social media’s impact on minors has intensified as internal company materials and testimony reveal that Instagram monitored increasing user engagement metrics while allegedly pursuing strategies aimed at younger audiences. Evidence presented in court indicates that Meta tracked the average amount of time users spent on Instagram, with daily usage reportedly rising from about 40 minutes in 2023 to roughly 46 minutes in 2026. Lawyers representing plaintiffs argue that company leadership celebrated these milestones and pursued internal goals designed to expand the time users spent on the platform even as executives acknowledged that large numbers of minors—including…

A recent psychology study shows that heavy smartphone use and feelings of disconnection feed into each other in a self-reinforcing loop, particularly among first-year college students: when students feel bored or unfocused in meaningful tasks, they tend to reach for their phones for relief, but that extra screen time tends to leave them feeling more disconnected and disengaged the next day, creating a day-to-day “snowball effect” of distraction and detachment that is hard to break without active efforts to replace scrolling with purposeful offline activities. Evidence from the study suggests that this cycle isn’t just a one-off state but a…

Reporting junk mail and suspicious messages on Apple devices isn’t a pointless gesture; according to a recent analysis, these user-submitted spam reports are used by Apple to train server-side machine learning filters to recognize new spam tactics, contribute to domain and sender blocklists, and feed into iMessage and FaceTime filtering systems that can block bad actors at the network level — making the ecosystem safer when enough users contribute data, even though most individual users never see an immediate drop in their personal spam volume and the process lacks transparency. Sources https://9to5mac.com/2026/02/28/security-bite-why-apple-still-needs-your-spam-reports/https://www.letsdatascience.com/news/apple-uses-user-reports-to-improve-spam-0b4592b9https://9to5mac.com/guides/security-bite/ Key Takeaways • Apple uses aggregated spam reports…

Anthropic, a leading artificial intelligence research firm once known for its strict safety-first approach, has officially revised its Responsible Scaling Policy to remove a self-imposed pledge to pause the training of AI models when their capabilities outpace safety research, opting instead for a more flexible, nonbinding safety framework that prioritizes transparency and competitiveness in the rapidly evolving AI landscape. This shift comes amid intense market and political pressures, including competitive dynamics with other AI developers, a standoff with the U.S. Department of Defense over ethical guardrails for military and surveillance uses of AI, and a broader industry discussion on how…

Apple is reportedly planning to retire its long-standing Core ML machine learning framework in favor of a modernized “Core AI” platform to be introduced at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June as part of the upcoming iOS 27 release, with the shift intended to better support contemporary artificial intelligence tools and make it easier for developers to integrate third-party AI models into apps while signaling a broader emphasis on advanced AI capabilities in Apple’s software stack. Sources https://9to5mac.com/2026/03/01/apple-replacing-core-ml-with-modernized-core-ai-framework-for-ios-27-at-wwdc/https://letsdatascience.com/news/apple-replaces-core-ml-with-core-ai-3eaa8e92https://www.mactech.com/2026/03/01/apple-may-update-its-core-ml-framework-to-a-core-ai-framework/ Key Takeaways • Apple is expected to replace its current Core ML framework with a new “Core AI” framework at WWDC 2026…

A major milestone in military aviation occurred when Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II fighter jet successfully integrated and used an artificial intelligence-enhanced combat identification system in flight, marking the first time that a tactical AI model generated independent target and threat identification on a pilot’s display during a test flight. The demonstration, part of what the company calls Project Overwatch and conducted at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, saw an onboard AI machine learning model analyze complex sensor data—especially ambiguous radio-frequency emissions—and present clearer target information to the pilot significantly faster than traditional methods. The capability aims to bolster…

Organised crime networks are increasingly exploiting popular gaming platforms like Roblox to target and groom children, using in-game chats and social interactions to establish contact with vulnerable youths, according to warnings from Victoria’s violence prevention officials and broader reports that have prompted government scrutiny and regulatory action amid growing concerns about child safety online. Evidence from cases and government statements suggests that predators and criminal recruiters are taking advantage of social gaming environments to build trust with minors and in some instances coerce them into harmful behavior or recruitment, leading to elevated warnings by officials and calls for more robust…

A new wave of AI-generated videos has surged across social media and the internet this week, showcasing both artistic creativity and stark questions about the technology’s trajectory. One viral piece included a 15-minute superhero short by The Dor Brothers, while another was a satirical commercial from startup AiCandy for “Energym,” where displaced workers power AI through exercise and are voiced by artificially aged versions of well-known tech leaders — underscoring concerns about AI’s rapid march toward lifelike content and potential misinformation. Critics have highlighted other instances of realistic generative video creation from tools like Seedance 2.0, which produced a hyper-realistic…