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AI Engineer

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2026-08-02

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Simon Willison's Weblog Aug 2 Score 0.8943167689814814

Open letters about AI development

Open letters about AI development I wrote this summary of the past few weeks of open letters as a section of my sponsors-only newsletter but I've decided to share it here as well. Open Weights and American AI Leadership was shepherded by Microsoft, dated July

AI aillmsengineeringanalysis
Simon Willison's Weblog Aug 2 Score 0.8942005652777777

July 2026 newsletter

The June edition of my sponsors-only monthly newsletter is out. If you are a sponsor (or if you start a sponsorship now) you can access it here . This month: Accidental cyberattacks by OpenAl and Anthropic models under test GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra, and Luna Claude

AI aillmsengineeringanalysis
Simon Willison's Weblog Aug 1 Score 0.8846741763888888

Quoting Greg Brockman

at openai, many people hook their chatgpt up to slack. people really don't like when a coworker's chatgpt contacts them asking for help with a task, even when they'd be perfectly happy doing that same work if asked by that coworker. reinforces how much people

AI aillmsengineeringanalysis
Simon Willison's Weblog Aug 1 Score 0.882846398611111

datasette-apps 0.2a0

Release: datasette-apps 0.2a0 Changes that improve Datasette Apps when created and edited using Datasette Agent : New app_debug() tool allowing agent to open an app (invisibly) and test it using JavaScript. #33 New app_list() tool for listing apps the user has

AI aillmsengineeringanalysis
Simon Willison's Weblog Aug 1 Score 0.8814820467592591

Ten advances in mathematics and theoretical computer science

Ten advances in mathematics and theoretical computer science A few days ago it was Anthropic discovering cryptographic weaknesses with Claude using Mythos Preview, spending $100,000 on tokens and with prompts that included "again we are not looking for low han

AI aillmsengineeringanalysis
The Guardian — World Aug 2 Score 0.8188533791666668

Anti-LGBTQ+ laws are on the rise across west Africa, campaigners warn

Activists in the region say politicians regard LGBTQ+ people as ‘the easiest scapegoats to maintain their power’ A growing number of west African countries are implementing or strengthening anti-LGBTQ+ laws, amid local political pressures and a global pushback

Geopolitics geopoliticsworld-newsinvestigative
BBC News — World Aug 2 Score 0.8130127662037038

Tourist plane crashes in Peru, killing 13

The small plane was flying over the Nazca Lines ​archaeological site when it crashed, according to local reports.

Geopolitics geopoliticsbbcworld-news
The Guardian — World Aug 1 Score 0.8097154162037038

Tourist plane crashes during flight over Peru’s Nazca Lines, killing 13

Aircraft crashes into field after departing from nearby city of Pisco, according to local authorities Police in Peru report that 13 people, among them foreign tourists, have been killed in a plane crash in southern Peru, near the Nazca Lines. Local authorities

Geopolitics geopoliticsworld-newsinvestigative
The Verge Aug 1 Score 0.8080536486111112

Pixel 11 specs and price leak with no surprises

Android Headlines claims to have the specs and price for the entire Pixel 11 lineup. What the site shared basically lines up with everything else that we've heard in the lead-up to the August 12th event. The Pixel 11 is expected to get a $100 price hike, start

Technology technologygadgetsconsumer
The Verge Aug 1 Score 0.8059314263888889

Angela Nissel faces down grief with a laugh

Angela Nissel's latest book, Good Grief, Pass the Bread, Mom Is Dead, is my kind of memoir. Sure, it's a deeply emotional tale about caring for a terminally ill parent. But it's delivered with the sort of gallows humor that I often turn to to get me through to

Technology technologygadgetsconsumer
The Guardian — World Aug 1 Score 0.803949675462963

EU to hold urgent meeting of interior ministers on Tuesday over Ceuta crisis

Divisions remain in the bloc over mass crossing of migrants into Spanish territory in north Africa The EU is to hold an urgent meeting of interior ministers on Tuesday amid continued divisions in the bloc over the arrival of more than 50,000 migrants in the Sp

Geopolitics geopoliticsworld-newsinvestigative
The Verge Aug 1 Score 0.8027369819444445

Is this Billboard Hot 100 hit AI slop?

Fenix Flexin is best known as a member of Shoreline Mafia, a rap duo from Los Angeles. But he's recently found solo success with the track "Rubberz," which has climbed to number 58 on the Billboard Hot 100. Almost immediately, though, questions were raised abo

Technology technologygadgetsconsumer
The Verge Aug 1 Score 0.8005203152777779

Spider-Man: Brand New Day leak racks up millions of views

A bootleg of Spider-Man: Brand New Day was up on X for over seven hours before eventually being pulled. During that time, it reached over 5.9 million accounts and accumulated over 143,000 likes. Other accounts have reposted the leaked film, but none have laste

Technology technologygadgetsconsumer
The Verge Aug 1 Score 0.7978365189814816

Trump blames Tim Walz for water hacks even though it’s probably Iran

The FBI, the EPA, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have stopped short of officially blaming Iran for a spate of cyberattacks on Minnesota's water systems, but consensus is that Iran is likely behind them. That, of course, hasn't

Technology technologygadgetsconsumer
BleepingComputer Aug 1 Score 0.7960845620370371

Rails patches critical Active Storage flaw with RCE potential

A critical vulnerability in the Active Storage framework can allow an unauthenticated attacker to read arbitrary files from a Rails application, and potentially escalate to remote code execution (RCE). [...]

Security securitymalwarevulnerabilities
Wired — Security Aug 1 Score 0.7896814569444445

7 States’ Water Systems Hit by Cyberattacks Likely Tied to Iran

Plus: The FBI eyes AI-powered tech to detect future crimes, Russia charges Telegram’s founder, xAI sues to stop a state’s “nudification” ban, and the Democrats learn a lesson about getting scammed.

Security securityprivacysurveillance
NBER New Working Papers Aug 2 Score 0.7875000000000001

Trading Off Openness: Economic Information and Immigration Policy Preferences -- by Cristina Cattaneo, Daniela Grieco, Nicola Lacetera, Mario Macis

We conducted a survey experiment with over 8,000 participants in Germany, Hungary, and Italy to examine how information about the economic impact of immigration affects the support for more open immigration policies. Respondents who received projections showin

Economy economyresearchworking-papersnber
NBER New Working Papers Aug 2 Score 0.7875000000000001

Self-Fulfilling Credit Scores -- by Victor Duarte, Julia Fonseca

A decline in credit scores can worsen the borrower's financial position, making default a self-fulfilling prophecy. We estimate the causal effect of credit scores on default using a rule that counts multiple inquiries within 14 days as one, moving scores witho

Economy economyresearchworking-papersnber
The Guardian — World Jul 31 Score 0.7596603236111111

HIV prevention drug could reduce cases globally but USAID cuts prevent access, say experts

Injectable PrEP drug holds promise but investment in HIV prevention has declined dramatically worldwide Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email New innovations in HIV prevention could dramatically reduce the number of new HIV cases around the globe,

Geopolitics geopoliticsworld-newsinvestigative
Quanta Magazine Jul 29 Score 0.751991011574074

Physicists Solve a Big Quantum Mystery. Now, Old Results Don’t Add Up.

New calculations seem to have put a 25-year-old particle physics puzzle to rest. But they’ve also created a clash with other experimental results. The post Physicists Solve a Big Quantum Mystery. Now, Old Results Don’t Add Up. first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Science sciencemathematicsphysicsbiology
InfoQ Aug 2 Score 0.7476533189814815

Cloudflare Introduces Meerkat for Strongly Consistent Global Coordination

Cloudflare recently introduced Meerkat, an internal globally consistent control-plane service based on the QuePaxa consensus algorithm. Unlike Raft, it allows leaderless writes while preserving strong consistency, improving availability across Cloudflare's glo

IT itengineeringarchitecture
Econbrowser Aug 2 Score 0.7414859634259259

Pecking Order and AI Capex Spending

I think of this graph as the most important graph for thinking about sustained AI related Capex spending: Source: Fazzari et al. (1988) as modified by Chinn. The lowest flat portion represents financing cost out of cash flow. Until now, the demand curve inters

Economy economymacroeconomicsenergyresearch
TechCrunch — AI Aug 1 Score 0.7301189578703704

YouTuber Hank Green says his AI usage is ‘not healthy’

Green offered a remarkable apology, saying that "the level of dopamine that I've been getting from interacting with LLMs ... is not healthy for me or good for the world."

AI aiindustrystartups
The Hacker News Aug 1 Score 0.7259974611111111

Coldcard Hardware Wallet Flaw Linked to $70 Million Bitcoin Theft in 41 Minutes

An attacker drained 1,196 Bitcoin addresses in 41 minutes on July 30, taking 1,082.65 BTC worth about $70.2 million at the time. Galaxy Research mapped the sweep and tied it to a firmware flaw in Coldcard, the Bitcoin-only hardware wallet made by Canadian firm

Security securityhackingvulnerabilities
Econbrowser Aug 1 Score 0.7248785560185185

"Core GDP" and AI Related Imports and Investment Contribution to GDP

Following further on Jim's assessment on slow but steady headline GDP growth, core GDP growth remains strong. But GDP growth relies on AI related investment spending. Figure 1: Final sales to private domestic purchasers (bold black), 2023/24 trend (gray), CBO

Economy economymacroeconomicsenergyresearch
ScienceDaily — Top Science Aug 1 Score 0.7201651125

NASA’s Curiosity rover finds a mysterious honeycomb landscape on Mars

NASA’s Curiosity rover has entered a Martian valley covered by an astonishing “sea” of tiny polygon-shaped fractures. The honeycomb patterns, each only a few inches wide, stretch across the landscape and even wrap around a nearby 20-foot-tall butte.

Science scienceresearchdiscoveries
Federal Reserve Press Releases Jul 29 Score 0.7196814958333333

Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement

Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement

Economy economyfederal-reservemonetary-policyunited-states
Bellingcat Aug 1 Score 0.715598449537037

Welcome to Dubai: Kinahan Cartel's Visas Revealed

This article is the result of a collaboration with The Sunday Times. You can find their corresponding piece here. A key leader of the Kinahan cartel who is wanted by authorities around the world and has been living in hiding in Dubai for a decade has just had

Security securityosintinvestigations
The Hacker News Aug 1 Score 0.7122682944444444

Hackers Poison Adform Script to Swap Crypto Wallet Addresses Across Customer Sites

Attackers modified a JavaScript file served by advertising technology company Adform, turning it into a browser-side tool that rewrites cryptocurrency wallet addresses. Adform detected the incident on July 27, 2026, removed the malicious code, notified affecte

Security securityhackingvulnerabilities
CISA Cybersecurity Advisories Jul 30 Score 0.7121817875

MikroTik RouterOS

View CSAF Summary Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to extract the router's WireGuard private key in plaintext using only low‑privilege API access, enabling full VPN impersonation and decryption of all associated traffi

Security securitycisaadvisoriesvulnerabilities
CISA Cybersecurity Advisories Jul 30 Score 0.7121817875

Open Source Software: Security Principles and Practices

Open source software (OSS) is embedded in nearly every modern system, from business applications to critical infrastructure. Our new Open Source Software: Security Principles and Practices guidance helps agencies securely use, evaluate, and publish open source

Security securitycisaadvisoriesvulnerabilities
Marginal Revolution Aug 2 Score 0.7111993944444444

Taiwan fact of the day

[Annualized] 14% GDP growth in the first half of 2026 The post Taiwan fact of the day appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION .             Related Stories Mexico (Taiwan) fact of the day More math breakthroughs from GPT models Immi

Economy economyeconomicscommentaryblog
Rock Paper Shotgun Aug 2 Score 0.7100606268518518

The Sunday Papers

Sundays are for looking back at the week and honestly just thinking, yeesh, what are you doing , working in an industry that’s succumbed so deeply and so wilfully to moral decay. The publishers sold to executioners . The naked attempts at thought manipul

Gaming gamingpcnewscriticism
The Hacker News Aug 1 Score 0.7092011648148148

Adobe Campaign Classic CVSS 10.0 Flaw Could Run Code Without User Interaction

Adobe has released security updates to address a maximum-severity security flaw in Campaign Classic (ACC), its enterprise-focused marketing automation platform, that could result in arbitrary code execution. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-48449, carrie

Security securityhackingvulnerabilities
ScienceDaily — Top Science Aug 1 Score 0.7082502976851852

Superheated magma may power towering lava fountains

Scientists studying magma from the 2021 Tajogaite eruption on La Palma have discovered that extreme heat can dramatically change how an eruption unfolds. When magma becomes superheated, it can dissolve the tiny crystal seeds that normally trigger crystallizati

Science scienceresearchdiscoveries
The Hacker News Aug 1 Score 0.7079895907407407

Hijacked Hotel Wi-Fi Pushes Fake Updates to Deliver Surveillance Malware

A fake browser update served over hijacked hotel Wi-Fi has been used to deliver CornFlake, a remote access trojan (RAT) that can capture webcam images, microphone audio, and keystrokes, Microsoft said in its latest report. Researchers track the operation as Ca

Security securityhackingvulnerabilities
Marginal Revolution Aug 2 Score 0.7073443018518517

Mexico (Taiwan) fact of the day

Mexico has quietly become a cornerstone of the AI boom, providing 40 per cent of US imports this year of the computer servers that are widely used in the data centres powering artificial intelligence. Taiwanese manufacturers are rapidly expanding factories in

Economy economyeconomicscommentaryblog
Lobsters Aug 2 Score 0.7011159513888888

The Fixi Project

Comments

IT itprogrammingsystemscommunity
ScienceDaily — Top Science Aug 1 Score 0.700476686574074

Scientists found two mysterious ‘ghost’ ancestors hiding in our DNA

Modern humans carry DNA from two mysterious extinct lineages in addition to Neanderthals and Denisovans. Their hidden genetic legacy shows that our evolutionary past was shaped by repeated mixing among many different human groups.

Science scienceresearchdiscoveries
ScienceDaily — Top Science Jul 31 Score 0.6763077050925925

A 42-year-old childhood obesity theory may be wrong

New research challenges the decades-old idea that children experience an “adiposity rebound” when their BMI begins rising around age 6. Although BMI returns to earlier levels, a more reliable measure showed that body fat does not rebound at all. The increase a

Science scienceresearchdiscoveries
ScienceDaily — Top Science Jul 31 Score 0.6710285384259259

Black holes may spit out nearly as much matter as they swallow

A black hole observed during a dramatic 2023 eruption did not simply devour gas from its nearby companion star. It also expelled large amounts of material through powerful jets and winds, even after the outburst had nearly faded. The results suggest black hole

Science scienceresearchdiscoveries
Phys.org Aug 2 Score 0.6630155069444444

Fluorescent probes offer sharper view of plant tissues

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) and the Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Faridabad, have developed and tested a new class of fluorescent probes that enable scientists to visualize xylem, the specialized tissue responsibl

Science sciencephysicstechnology
Phys.org Aug 1 Score 0.6616266180555556

How new informatics tools help turn biodiversity data into policy insights

Biodiversity loss has been among the central topics in public, policy and scientific debate for several decades. While its accelerating pace and impacts are well recognized, translating the vast amounts of biodiversity data into reliable indicators that can in

Science sciencephysicstechnology
MIT News — AI Jul 30 Score 0.6514871601851852

Connecting research to policy on Capitol Hill

MIT students and postdocs discussed science funding and research with policymakers in Washington during the MIT Science Policy Initiative’s annual Congressional Visit Days.

AI aimitresearch
Google Cloud Blog Jul 31 Score 0.6463473796296295

What’s new with Google Cloud

Want to know the latest from Google Cloud? Find it here in one handy location. Check back regularly for our newest updates, announcements, resources, events, learning opportunities, and more. Tip : Not sure where to find what you’re looking for on the Google C

IT itgcpcloud