Author: damazah@gmail.com

Remember when tech leaders would tell their employees to “move fast and break things”? It seemed that would be the way of AI too. But after a summer where rogue AI agents became reality, and researchers warned that AI could kill us all, a number of leading US AI companies are publicly suggesting it’s time to pump the brakes and “pace the frontier” of bleeding-edge AI development. Their motivations are suspect, but leaders at major AI companies — including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and X — are at least paying lip service to the idea of a superintelligence slowdown. Will…

Tiny particles from space are passing through Earth all the time, even though we cannot see, hear, feel, taste, or smell them. Many of these particles are linked to cosmic rays, extremely energetic particles that can come from exploding stars and other violent events far beyond our solar system. When cosmic rays strike atoms high in Earth’s atmosphere, they create showers of secondary particles. Among them are muons, which can travel through the atmosphere and even penetrate underground. University of Delaware physics professor Spencer Axani has developed a device called CosmicWatch that makes it much easier to detect these otherwise…

Former Presiding Officers of State Houses of Assembly in Nigeria (FOPSHAN) have reiterated their support for the re-election of President Bola Tinubu in 2027 ‎They made the declaration on Thursday during the 2026 FOPSHAN national summit held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.‎‎The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the summit is themed “Bold Leadership, Bold Reforms, From Subsidy to Renewed Hope-Assessing the Economic Trajectory and Visionary Leadership of President Tinubu’s Administration.”‎The forum deliberated on good governance, fiscal reforms, and national development.‎It acknowledged the momentary economic hardships that followed the petroleum subsidy removal by the Tinubu administration. Members of the…

The founder of Addison Lee owes £20.5m in tax after a tribunal dismissed a claim that he should be treated as a nom-dom despite living in the UK since childhood.John Griffin had argued he should be treated as a nom-dom due to his connection to Ireland, saying: “I was and am besotted with Ireland, infatuated with Ireland. I believe that I have always been and am Irish.”HM Revenue and Customs challenged the domicile status on Griffin’s self-assessment tax returns from 2013 to 2020, which would have allowed the 84-year-old to not pay UK tax rates on foreign earnings kept outside…

•Rejects one-size-fits-all net-zero pathway By Obas Esiedesa, Bangkok Nigeria is targeting a significant expansion of its natural gas production to supply up to 70 per cent of Africa’s gas demand, leveraging its estimated 215 trillion cubic feet (TCF) reserves to address energy poverty across the continent, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has said. The Commission’s Chief Executive, Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, disclosed this during a panel session at the 2026 Gastech conference in Bangkok, Thailand, saying Nigeria was positioning natural gas as a strategic fuel for domestic energy supply, exports and financing its energy transition. Eyesan said Nigeria currently…

The Federal Aviation Administration has been struggling to manage an air traffic control shortage throughout the country. The reasons for the shortage are diverse, but the government has made it known that it’s on the lookout for innovative solutions to the problem. One of those solutions appears to be an $875 million AI software program that is expected to help air traffic controllers manage their workflows and more safely navigate flight routes. The Wall Street Journal reports that the FAA will soon launch Smart, which stands for Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories — an automated software program designed…

Gold panning is not permitted on NRW-managed land because of the potential damage to river ecosystems. The environment body said the excavation of gravel and the removal of minerals could disturb riverbeds, impacting habitats that wildlife rely on. It said that although many were unaware of the repercussions, gold panning could lead to prosecution and sentencing “where it risks disturbing spawning fish and impacting river habitats”.It also said Wright, from Henley On Thames, Oxfordshire, had been sentenced for similar offences in May 2022.NRW manager for north-west Wales, Euros Jones, told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that gold panning was “damaging” and…

Labor ‘worked through all the policy issues’ on immigration, Burke saysCaitlin CassidyThe home affairs minister, Tony Burke, has defended the time Labor has taken to release its immigration plan and laid blame with the Coalition, who he believed “might have more of an appetite for legislation”.Burke appeared on ABC’s 7.30 program after releasing the plan was released on Thursday, and was asked “what took you so long” given he was meant to speak at the National Press Club six weeks ago.He said the Labor party had spent time “working through all the policy issues”, and navigating the visa system was…

I first crossed paths with Oludotun Baiyewu Jacobs—fondly known to many of us as Uncle Olu Jacobs in 1978. A small collective of Nigerian classmates at the London Film School, including Adefolu, George, Femi Aloba, and yours truly, had banded together for our final graduation project. We set out to adapt Amadu Maddy’s novel ”No Past, No Present, No Future” into our diploma film, ”Trying Times.” We were young, ambitious, and eager to carry home tangible proof of our training in the art and technique of cinema from that historic institution. At the time, Olu Jacobs was a vibrant presence…

As AI companies propose slowing down model development on concerns about the technology’s rapid and scary advancements, another issue on the hardware side of the industry might be forcing them to decelerate. Manpower is at the heart of the world’s ability to make enough chips to power artificial intelligence, and the U.S. now faces a shortage of up to 157,000 semiconductor workers by 2030, according to a new report from McKinsey and the SEMI Foundation.”I’m concerned,” said Jon Taylor, executive vice president of Samsung’s semiconductor division in Austin, Texas, in an interview with CNBC. “We just don’t see that there’s…