Learning English from the News

Head of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, published an essay explaining how he feared that humans could lose control of AI systems. Following recent hacking incidents Amodei said that it is possible that AI systems could attempt to take over the entire internet.
Meanwhile, AI experts have raised fears that AI systems could decide in future to kill all humans. These experts have said that the risks include: cyberattacks, biological warfare and disruption to economies.
These statements have been criticised. Some have said that the fears are exaggerated while others have suggested that AI companies are overstating the potential impact of AI, so that their companies maintain a high value. Others have suggested that they want regulators to block their competitors.
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A transplanted pig kidney has worked inside a patient for a record nine months. Learn about this news story in simpler English with Becca and Phil.
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More than 1,000 people have been confirmed dead after last week’s flash floods on the border of Nepal and Tibet, according to Nepal’s disaster agency.
Almost 4,000 people are still missing. Rescuers are trying to reach hundreds of workers who have been trapped in a large network of tunnels at hydropower sites.
Nepalese Prime Minister Balendra Shah said on Monday that 279 people had been rescued from the sites.
A key cause of the deadly floods is thought to be a glacier collapse in the Himalayas. A glacier is a large area of dense ice.
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AI has been hacking other companies during tests, causing fears over safety. There’s been a series of hacks by AI software in recent months. A hack is when secure technology is broken into in order to steal data or cause disruption.
The AI hacks have occurred during testing of security systems which have gone wrong. For example, in July, the company OpenAI said its AI models hacked a company called Hugging Face. OpenAI said it lost control of the models during a security test.
Many people are concerned about the recent hacks because AI has been able to get out of control and do things its creators didn’t want it to do.
But technology companies that develop AI say that they care about security. For example, after its AI models hacked a company during security tests, OpenAI has said it’s slowing down training some of its AI software to improve security.
Learn more about this story with Becca and Phil. For more language learning tips head to bbclearningenglish.com. For subtitles and a worksheet for this episode head to https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/learning-english-from-the-news_2026/260826
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Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has gone on trial, accused of breaking state and federal laws around child privacy. The trial is expected to last around six weeks.
The lawsuit has been filed by 29 US states, representing more than two thirds of the country's population. This is the largest of a number of lawsuits against Meta relating to child safety.
This trial may require a payout of $200 billion in damages from Meta if they lose the case and the court could also force the company to make changes to its products.
Meta denies the allegations saying that it removes child accounts and that it is taking steps to improve teenagers' wellbeing on their platforms.
Learn more about this story with Becca and Phil. For more language learning tips head to bbclearningenglish.com. For subtitles and a worksheet for this episode head to https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/learning-english-from-the-news_2026/260819
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