Dire warnings around AI's near-future capabilities; The prime minister stunned over comments made about his mother; And in sport, the Olympic flame arrives in north AfrIca ahead of the Youth Olympics.
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TRANSCRIPT
- Dire warnings around AI's near-future capabilities.
- The prime minister stunned over comments made about his mother.
- And in sport, the Olympic flame arrives in north AfrIca ahead of the Youth Olympics.
One of the world's leading AI researchers Jacob Coxon has warned AI could pose an existential threat after quitting Anthropic this week.
The 27-year-old says AI companies are racing to develop increasingly powerful systems despite fears the technology could be used to hack critical infrastructure or create bioweapons, putting human life at risk.
Mr Coxon says AI is not yet surpassing human intelligence, but warns recursive self-improvement, where AI helps build more advanced versions of itself, could emerge within two years.
"I think it's really important to just look at the rate of progress and say for example in areas like coding or math a couple of years ago these AIs were just about helping humans a little bit. They could give you suggestions. Now they're close to replacing them. We still need humans at the moment, but quite plausibly within a year we'll no longer need humans for doing research in many areas."
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Anthony Albanese says he is stunned by comments One Nation leader Pauline Hanson made about his mother living in public housing for too long.
Ms Hanson has previously criticised Mr Albanese's mother for living in public housing for decades, saying such housing “should be limited time”.
This week she told the Australian newspaper the prime minister complains about his housing commission upbringing.
On Sunday Mr Albanese told reporters that could not be further from the truth.
"I’m proud to be a ‘houso’, and I’m proud of the community in which I grew up. I’m also proud about my mother. She was someone who had a tough life. She didn’t associate with billionaires. She was someone who, as has been documented, went overseas, came back to a Australia, chose to make the courageous decision in 1963 to keep a child out of wedlock who is now the prime minister of Australia.'"
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New South Wales is moving to limit the use of screens and devices in classrooms.
The Government is planning to introduce caps on the amount of time students spend learning on screens and online, to help curb excessive screen use, improve attention, and lift educational outcomes.
The caps will range from no individual device use for kids in public pre-schools, to half of the time per subject for students in years 11 and 12.
The limits will be recommendations for the next school year and mandatory from 2028.
Schools will also recommend limiting screen time for homework to help reduce overall screen use at home, with the use of digital devices for homework not recommended before Year 5.
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To world news now and...
One person has died and more than 100 others have been rescued after a ferry travelling between Indonesia's Java and Borneo islands was struck by bad weather.
Rescue officials say 103 passengers were evacuated from the vessel.
The passenger later died after being brought to safety.
Authorities say search and rescue efforts have now been completed.
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The death toll from a ferry fire in the Philippines has risen to 76 after authorities recovered 41 more bodies from the burned-out vessel.
The victims' remains are being transported to the municipality of Coron in the country's north, where they will be temporarily buried until DNA testing and identification can be completed.
43 people were rescued, but about a dozen remain missing after the fire tore through the ferry within seconds, according to survivor accounts.
The blaze broke out on Wednesday aboard the M-V June Aster off Palawan, with authorities continuing their investigation into the disaster.
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Hungary's new prime minister, Peter Magyar, says his government will overhaul adoption laws that have effectively barred same-sex couples from adopting since 2020.
The current rules, introduced under former right wing leader Viktor Orban, require single applicants to gain ministerial approval, creating what critics describe as a de facto ban.
But Mr Magyar says adoption decisions should not be made by politicians.
The move would mark a significant rollback of Orban-era restrictions on LGBTIQ+ rights in Hungary.
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The Olympic flame has arrived in Senegal ahead of the Youth Olympic Games, the first Olympic event to be held in Africa.
Crowds gathered in Dakar as 100 Senegalese women carried the flame in a ceremony celebrating leadership and tradition.
About 2,700 athletes will compete in 35 sports across Dakar and nearby cities from October 31 to November 13.
The flame will now travel 3,600 kilometres across Senegal before returning to the capital for the opening ceremony, with International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry describing the event as historic.
“Very ready, very capable. The team are doing an incredible job. The government have been extremely supportive. The venues will be ready, the athletes will be welcomed, and we're all going to enjoy and getting to see a fabulous opening ceremony and Youth Olympic Games.”
