This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through July 25)
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Summary
This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through July 25)
Every week, we scour the web for important, insightful, and fascinating stories in science and technology.
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A Chosen Soul on Unsplash
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OpenAI Says Its AI Models Went Rogue and Attacked a Digital Library
Kate Conger | The New York Times ()"Thetrialwasdesignedtokeepthemodelsinasafetestingenvironment,knownasasandbox,OpenAIsaid.Butthemodelsfoundavulnerabilitythatallowedthemtoescapethesandboxandconnecttotheinternet.ThentheytargetedHuggingFacebecausetheyinferredthatthelibrary,whichcontainsmillionsofAImodels,couldholdcluesabouthowtosuccessfullypasstheevaluation."[BeSkepticalofOpenAI’sRogueHackerAgentStory](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jul/24/openai−rogue−hacker)JohnThickstun∣TheGuardian"OpenAIremainshungryforeverlargerinvestments,andthecompanyincreasinglyseeksprivilegedregulatorystatusasdefenseagainstcompetition.AIissopowerfulthatinvestorsshouldbuyOpenAI,evenatatrillion−dollarvaluation;AIissodangerousthatonlytrustedactorslikeOpenAIshouldbepermittedtopossessandoperatethistechnology.Stepbackfromthesedoomsdaywarningsandconsiderwhomightbenefitfromthem."[CanThisNewEnzymeTurnBacktheClockintheHumanBody?](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/science/enzymes−aging−cmlase.html)K.R.Callaway∣TheNewYorkTimes()
“In a recent study, scientists devised a way of reversing the buildup of compounds that lead to some age-related diseases. …After several cycles of guided evolution, the novel enzyme, called CMLase, became very good at removing AGEs [advanced glycation end products] from human tissue samples. ‘In the most extreme case, we took 70-year-old human skin and brought the levels back to that of a 30-year-old,’ Dr. Cravens said.”
Silicon Valley Is Completely Divided Over Chinese AI
Lauren Goode | Wired ()"Havingaccesstoopen−sourcesoftwareallowsstartupstoscale,scale,scale—anddealwiththeconsequencesdowntheroad.Meanwhile,theAIlabsandhyperscalersthatmakeproprietaryplatforms,likeOpenAI,Anthropic,Google,Microsoft,Meta,andXAI,standtobenefitgreatlyiftheirsystemsremainprotectedanddominant.Thebiggerquestionthatnoneofthesecompaniesseemtobeaskingiswhatbestservesthe99percentofuswhodon’thavetheirfinancialfuturefullystakedonadvancingAI."[NeuronDiscoveryCouldExplainWhySomePeopleDon′tGetAlzheimer′s](https://refractor.io/brain/alzheimers−dementia/neuron−discovery−could−explain−why−some−people−dont−get−alzheimers/)PranjalMalewar∣Refractor"ThiskindofstrategymayopenupnovelavenuesforthepreventionofcognitivedeclinegenerallyorforprotectingagainstAlzheimer′s−relatedvulnerability/resilience.Saltastates,′Cognitiveresilienceisextremelyexciting.Ifweunderstandwhatprotectsthesebrains,itcouldeventuallyleadtonewtherapeuticstrategies.Fornow,themessageisclear:theagingbrainmaybemoreadaptableandmorecomplexthanweoncethought.′"[India′sFirstPrivatelyDevelopedRocketReachesOrbitonDramaticDebutLaunch](https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/07/indias−first−privately−developed−rocket−reaches−orbit−on−dramatic−debut−launch/)StephenClark∣ArsTechnica"IndianspaceofficialscelebratedthedebutflightofSkyrootAerospace’sVikram−1rocket,India’sfirstfullycommercialsatellitelauncher,asa′grandsuccess′Saturdayafteranon−targetclimbintoa280−mile−highorbitfollowingliftofffromanislandspaceportintheBayofBengal."BePartoftheFutureSignuptoreceivetopstoriesaboutgroundbreakingtechnologiesandvisionarythinkersfromSingularityHub.[KagiBringsBackOld−SchoolSearch,OneHuman−MadeWebsiteataTime](https://www.wired.com/story/kagi−brings−back−old−school−search−one−human−made−website−at−a−time/)DavidNield∣Wired()
“As Kagi explains it, searching the web is always going to cost you—it’s just a question of whether you pay directly with dollars, by giving up data about your online activity, or by sifting through an increasing number of ads and sponsored links. Besides making search more private, Kagi also wants to make it better by serving up results that aren’t influenced by paid promotions or whatever Google’s favored business practices happen to be from month to month.”
Now, Defenders Are Embracing the prompt Injection, Too
Dan Goodin | Ars Technica
“Researchers from Tracebit on Monday said they found that placing prompt injections alongside passwords, cryptographic keys, and other secrets stored on Amazon Web Services was often all that was needed to shut down attacks from AI hacking agents.”
What the New Kimi K3 Model Really Means for the US-China AI Race
Alix Coutures, Rocket Drew, and Aaron Holmes | The Information ($)
“Greenblatt estimates that Kimi K3 is 10 months behind Anthropic in terms of pre-training. ‘My basic takeaway is it’s probably not that competitive with the best recent pre-trains from OpenAI and Anthropic,’ he said. ‘It’s some evidence that the model is more behind than people might have otherwise thought.‘”
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Image Credit
A Chosen Soul on Unsplash
Share
OpenAI Says Its AI Models Went Rogue and Attacked a Digital Library
Kate Conger | The New York Times ()
“In a recent study, scientists devised a way of reversing the buildup of compounds that lead to some age-related diseases. …After several cycles of guided evolution, the novel enzyme, called CMLase, became very good at removing AGEs [advanced glycation end products] from human tissue samples. ‘In the most extreme case, we took 70-year-old human skin and brought the levels back to that of a 30-year-old,’ Dr. Cravens said.”
Silicon Valley Is Completely Divided Over Chinese AI
Lauren Goode | Wired ()
“As Kagi explains it, searching the web is always going to cost you—it’s just a question of whether you pay directly with dollars, by giving up data about your online activity, or by sifting through an increasing number of ads and sponsored links. Besides making search more private, Kagi also wants to make it better by serving up results that aren’t influenced by paid promotions or whatever Google’s favored business practices happen to be from month to month.”
Now, Defenders Are Embracing the prompt Injection, Too
Dan Goodin | Ars Technica
“Researchers from Tracebit on Monday said they found that placing prompt injections alongside passwords, cryptographic keys, and other secrets stored on Amazon Web Services was often all that was needed to shut down attacks from AI hacking agents.”
What the New Kimi K3 Model Really Means for the US-China AI Race
Alix Coutures, Rocket Drew, and Aaron Holmes | The Information ($)
“Greenblatt estimates that Kimi K3 is 10 months behind Anthropic in terms of pre-training. ‘My basic takeaway is it’s probably not that competitive with the best recent pre-trains from OpenAI and Anthropic,’ he said. ‘It’s some evidence that the model is more behind than people might have otherwise thought.‘”
Related Articles
Scientists Are Designing CRISPR Gene Editors With AI
OpenAI Agent Breaks Free and Hacks Hugging Face
Scientists Inch Closer to Creating Human Sperm in the Lab
What we’re reading