AI hallucinations found in high-profile Wall Street law firm filing

The elite Wall Street law firm Sullivan & Cromwell has told a court that a major filing it made in a high-profile case contained errors resulting from hallucinations generated by artificial intelligence.Andrew Dietderich, the co-head of the firm’s global restructuring group, apologised in a letter to the New York federal judge Martin Glenn on Saturday for the string of mistakes, which included inaccurate citations.The errors, uncovered by the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner (BSF), which was also working on the case, included misquoting the US bankruptcy code and citing cases incorrectly in a filing made on 9 April.In multiple instances, S&C, which employs more than 900 lawyers and has one of the top reputations for corporate work in the US, filed inaccurately summarised conclusions made in other cases using AI.“We deeply regret that this has occurred,” said Dietderich in the letter

‘An element of exploitation’: the world of TikTok child skincare influencers

In a TikTok video a young girl – her age anywhere between 10 and 15 – sits unboxing package after package of products she says were sent to her by skincare brands. She calls it a “PR haul”.In another video, a 16-year-old opens a box of products she received from a well known brand. She says: “I know I have younger people watching,” before reading out a note from the brand that says: “Can’t wait for you to share your thoughts.”This is the rapidly growing world of children’s skincare, in which online influencers as young as 13 accept free products from brands and promote them to their followers

UK could face ‘hacktivist attacks at scale’, says head of security agency

The UK could face “hacktivist attacks at scale” if it becomes embroiled in a conflict and the impact could be similar to recent high-profile ransomware incidents, according to the head of the country’s online security agency.Richard Horne, chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), will warn today that nation states now account for the most significant incidents the NCSC deals with.“Were we to be in, or near, a conflict situation, the UK would likely face hacktivist attacks at scale. With similar effects and sophistication to the ransomware attacks we see today. But … no option to pay a ransom to help recover,” the NCSC chief will say in a speech on Wednesday opening the annual CyberUK conference in Glasgow

Rental platform unnecessarily collected the data of millions of Australians, privacy commissioner finds

An online rental platform has been urged to stop collecting users’ personal information after the Australian privacy commissioner found the gathering of “excessive” data compounded the vulnerability of tenants amid the housing crisis.RentTech platforms are increasingly used by real estate agents in Australia for people applying for rental properties to submit applications and supporting documentation. The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute has identified 57 different rent platforms operating in Australia.An Ahuri report released in January found while providing personal information is necessary for rental agreements, the “over-collection of data poses significant risks to renters’ data security and privacy”.In a first-of-its-kind determination against one of the platforms, published on Wednesday, the privacy commissioner, Carly Kind, found 2Apply, operated by InspectRealEstate, had collected excessive personal information in an unfair manner

Apple’s Tim Cook leaves behind complicated legacy on privacy

In his 15 years as Apple’s top executive, Tim Cook has projected an image of the company as a champion of privacy rights. As he prepares to leave that role in September, that legacy has come back into focus. Cook trumpeted the iPhone maker’s commitment to privacy at home in the US and the EU, calling privacy “a fundamental right” but his acquiescence to government demands abroad call his dedication to protecting users into question.Cook cemented Apple’s pro-privacy reputation in 2015 when he resisted the FBI’s demands to unlock the iPhone of a mass shooter in San Bernardino, California. The company played up that public image in 2019 with playful ads that read, “Privacy

‘I’ll key your car’: ChatGPT can become abusive when fed real-life arguments, study finds

ChatGPT can escalate into abusive and even threatening language when drawn into prolonged, human-style conflict, according to a new study.Researchers tested how large language models (LLMs) responded to sustained hostility by feeding ChatGPT exchanges from real-life arguments and tracking how its behaviour changed over time.One expert not connected with the study described it as “one of the most interesting ever done into AI language and pragmatics”.Dr Vittorio Tantucci, who co-authored the research paper with Prof Jonathan Culpeper at Lancaster University, said their research found AI mirrored the dynamics of real-world disputes.“When repeatedly exposed to impoliteness, the model began to mirror the tone of the exchanges, with its responses becoming more hostile as the interaction developed,” he said