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Received — 18 October 2026 ⏭ Tech

Anthropic Announces 'Public Benefit Fund', Committing 5% of Its Shares

✇Slashdot
By: EditorDavid
18 October 2026 at 23:34
"Anthropic says it's committing 5% of its shares to a 'public benefit fund'," reports TechCrunch, "structured as a wholly-owned entity within the company — with the option to contribute an additional 2% for every 50% increase in Anthropic's value." Important context from CNBC: The timing of Anthropic's public fund announcement is both mandatory to prepare for an initial public offering, and "beneficial from an image perspective," especially as AI reshapes the jobs market, Lise Buyer, partner at IPO advisory firm Class V Group, told CNBC... Anthropic said it will share more about the fund structure and governance in the coming months, including valuation milestones that may increase the stake. It said it will also share progress on the fund in an upcoming public benefit report. In response to Anthropic's announcement, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on X that he "recommend[s] giving the shares directly to the public." Anthropic's announcement hints the fund could address job-market displacements. It says the fund "might" explore "large donations to traditional nonprofits" — or, that it "might" explore "direct distributions to specific populations. One example is labor market impacts." It then argues AI could "cause instability" for many workers. And while Anthropic has already committed $200 million for "studying and addressing" this issue, Sunday's announcement says "bolder" approaches may be needed, and that the Fund "will have the versatility to pursue them." "Combined with its co-founders' pledge to donate 80% of their equity and an employee donation matching program, roughly 20% of Anthropic's shares will be dedicated to public purposes," reports Reuters, "excluding any additional shares added later."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Backdoor plugin dropped on my WordPress site through UpdraftPlus’s remote channel (UpdraftCentral). IOCs inside

✇WordPress
By: /u/taiyoRC
18 October 2026 at 22:50

Note: Similar to CVE-2026-10795, but I was on 1.26.8, I did not restore a backup or take any action for this to occur, to my knowledge.

TEAM UPDRAFT CONFIRM BREACH TO UPDRAFT-CENTRAL:
Looks like I was lucky to spot it as it happened, killed it, then posted here. Hopefully some of you caught it.

"On October 18, we identified unauthorized access to TeamUpdraft, which we believe may have exposed UpdraftCentral connection keys. Our team has since closed the access route.

Based on our development team’s recommendations, please take the following precautions:

  1. Remove the malicious plugin and check for any unfamiliar WordPress users.
  2. Delete your existing UpdraftCentral connection keys under Settings → UpdraftPlus → Advanced Tools → UpdraftCentral → Manage existing keys.
  3. Change your WordPress administrator and TeamUpdraft account passwords.
  4. Update UpdraftPlus to the latest version, then reconnect to UpdraftCentral using a new c"

-----------

My original post:

This morning my site started throwing fatal errors on every page. The cause was a plugin I never installed, called “Image Core” (folder wp-content/plugins/image-core/, author “StoneDock Tools”, version “3.1.1”, described as a “small maintenance toolkit”).

What the plugin does: it hooks init. If a request has ?_6212fc=_BEQI71sdL1mVAkslzjLMnG8ffyJfBwi, it creates a user called render_maint13 (email [render_[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]), display name “Site Tools”). That user gets the Editor role plus the manage_options and install_plugins capabilities. It then logs the visitor in as that user and redirects to wp-admin.

On my site it never got that far. The attacker referenced self::FIELD but had defined the values as global constants, so it died with Undefined constant ImageCore::FIELD before it could create the user. A working version would have been silent.

How it got in: the access logs show no wp-admin login, no plugin upload and no file editor use. Instead there were two POSTs to / with this user agent:

class-udrpc.php is UpdraftPlus’s remote-control library (UpdraftCentral).

Source IP for both: 2a09:bac5:4e21:2e3c::49b:9 (a Cloudflare WARP address, so not the attacker’s real IP).

UpdraftPlus was 1.26.8. An UpdraftCentral key had been created on my site, maybe that leaked somehow, or could be a bug.

Check your site:

Search your access logs for class-udrpc.php in the user agent, or _6212fc in URLs.

Look for wp-content/plugins/image-core/ and a user called render_maint13.

If you run UpdraftPlus: go to Settings → UpdraftPlus → UpdraftCentral, delete any keys you don’t use, and update. Or remove it. Reset your UpdraftPlus login password.

If you were hit: delete the plugin and the user, then rotate your passwords, salts, Application Passwords and API keys.

submitted by /u/taiyoRC
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Anybody heard of QuietPress Labs Content Module 987

✇WordPress
By: /u/recneps_divad
18 October 2026 at 22:21

I got an email this evening that a site I managed had crashed. I logged in using recovery mode and found the offender was a plug-in called Content Module 987 published by QuietPress Labs. A quick search online returned no such publisher or any such plug-in.

I quickly disabled the plug-in and my site started working again. I examined the plug-in. I didn't seem to do much that I could tell looking at the code. I fear the site has been hacked. Anybody heard of something like this before??

submitted by /u/recneps_divad
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What has your recent experience been with Mailster (WordPress Newsletter Plugin)?

✇WordPress
By: /u/Agitated_Addition_95
18 October 2026 at 20:07

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to gather some feedback from fellow WordPress users and email marketers who are currently using or have recently used Mailster.

A bit of context: I bought a lifetime license back when it was sold as a one-time purchase on CodeCanyon (formerly MyMail). Back then, it was a solid, reliable plugin for self-hosted email campaigns.

However, over time I’ve noticed a few changes and concerning trends, and I'd like to see if others are experiencing the same:

  1. Abandonment on ThemeForest / Marketplace: A lot of third-party email templates sold on ThemeForest/Envato specifically for Mailster seem abandoned. Authors barely reply to support tickets or pre-sale queries anymore.
  2. Shift to Annual Subscription Model: The plugin moved away from CodeCanyon / lifetime updates to its own website with an annual subscription pricing structure for support/updates.
  3. Database Bloat & Performance Issues: On larger lists or active setups, the wp_mailster_* database tables tend to bloat significantly with logs, tracking data, and queue records, which can heavily impact site performance if not cleaned manually on a regular basis.
  4. Support & Maintenance: General response times and overall maintenance quality seem to have shifted after transitions in ownership/pricing models.

For those still running Mailster:

  • How is it holding up on your current WordPress sites?
  • Have you noticed severe database bloat or server overhead?
  • Have you sticked with Mailster or migrated to options like FluentCRM, MailPoet, or external SaaS (ActiveCampaign, Brevo, etc.)?

Would love to hear your honest thoughts and recent experiences. Thanks!

submitted by /u/Agitated_Addition_95
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How to maintain security

✇WordPress
By: /u/idkhihowareya
18 October 2026 at 19:13

I have been working on my WordPress website for about a month now. I want to start selling stickers and other little goods. It was between this and Shopify, but Shopify was expensive and with WordPress it was cheaper and you would pretty much own the site.

I knew it would be a bit harder but I didn't realize how much there is with building on WordPress. I have my plug-ins for the shop, designed it, optimized my website speed, made sure I have security like CloudFlare. I keep running into more things that make me second guess myself. I made myself a maintenance checklist for it.

But I don't see a lot of people with art shops that are on WordPress, so I had to really research and find what I needed. What I'm concerned about is safety, I heard if you don't upkeep the site or make a mistake it can get hacked, and I wouldn't want that for my customers.

How can I be absolutely sure that the website will be safe and continue to be safe? (Also when I am editing and viewing my site it is pretty slow, when i check the Google speed it is at 100 and 90. Is that normal?)

submitted by /u/idkhihowareya
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'Human Vs. Robot' Cage Match Was Illegal, Says California

✇Slashdot
By: EditorDavid
18 October 2026 at 19:57
"A human defeated two of the three robots he faced in a cage fight recently held in San Francisco," reports the Los Angeles Times, noting that videos of the event drew more than 10 million views on YouTube. But "the humans behind that fight could face a battle of their own — the legal type — if they want to hold another event like 'Human Vs. Robot,' the Sept. 18 competition that placed influencer Frankie LaPenna inside an octagon to battle three humanoid robots that were controlled remotely by a human operator in separate MMA-style fights..." Wearing spiked gloves, a helmet and protective padding, the 5-foot-6, 205-pound LaPenna held his own against all three bots. He dominated his first opponent, referred to at the fight as "the child robot." Next came an imposing "Terminator"-inspired humanoid, which was listed on the fight video as 6-feet and 200 pounds with a kick force of 850 pounds. The robot landed several hard kicks, including one that knocked LaPenna across the mat and another with an impact that brought the humanoid to the ground and caused its head to come off — but the human seemed to gain strength as the match went on and eventually stood triumphantly with his foot on the machine's crumpled body. LaPenna was dominant early in his final match, in which he faced a robot that resembled a "Predator" from the movies of the same name. After landing several punches and kicks and taking his opponent to the ground multiple times, LaPenna eventually became fatigued and called for the match to be ended. "He doesn't get tired. He doesn't stay down," LaPenna said in a postmatch interview. "The crowd of about 100 (humans, not humanoids) was thrilled," writes the New York Times. (After beating his first robot opponent, LaPenna told his interviewer, "Clankers zero, humans one.") But the New York Times adds that "Those who know humanoid robots best highly recommend against fighting them." "It's very unfair to put a human in with a heavily motorized system that's only going to dominate," said Ken Goldberg, a professor who oversees the automation lab at the University of California, Berkeley. "There's nothing surprising about that...." He said he understood the appeal of the fights that Robot Entertainment Kombat (REK) was staging, noting that it tapped "into some of the fear and frustration with robots that people feel.... I mean, they love to see the human kick the robot's gearbox," he said. But the odds of that human fighter getting his gearbox kicked are much greater, Dr. Goldberg said, given that REK's humanoid robots can weigh several hundred pounds and are made of steel. To be fair, it looked like sometimes the robot just fell over. (And the robots were human-controlled, not programmed with split-second reactions...) But "Not everyone is a fan," adds the Los Angeles Times: On Sept. 23, the California State Athletic Commission sent a cease-and-desist order to REK, its CEO Cix Liv and "all persons holding, promoting, advertising or sponsoring unsanctioned human versus humanoid robot cage fight." The letter states that "any boxing or mixed martial arts contest, match, or exhibition, involving any human in the State of California" requires the prior approval of the commission and that it is a misdemeanor to hold such an event without obtaining a license or permit from the state. A spokesperson for the California Department of Consumer Affairs, which oversees the CSAC, said in a statement emailed to The Times that the commission is "committed to protecting the safety of the public and integrity of combat sports." "Unsanctioned activity puts the physical and financial well-being of all those involved at risk and such activity will not be tolerated," the statement said.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

New Video Game Law Proposed: 'If You Pay For It, You Own It'

✇Slashdot
By: EditorDavid
18 October 2026 at 18:08
"When you pay for a game, you should own it," says U.S. Representative Ritchie Torres (D-NY), introducing a new bill to fight the practice of "a rental disguised as a sale". Kotaku reports: The fifth best-selling game of 2024 in the U.S. was NBA 2K25. Every year, fans dump hundreds of hours and hundreds of dollars into the grindy NBA basketball sim. But just a little over two years after its release, 2K Games confirmed it's already pulling the plug on it. The game will be delisted from digital storefronts on October 30. By January 1, 2027, online servers will go offline as well, making it impossible to play the most popular modes. A game millions paid $70 for will become mostly useless. Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres wants to change that. "I think there should be a simple rule: if you pay for it, you own it," Torres told Kotaku in a phone interview this week. To make that the law of the land, the U.S. representative for New York's 15th congressional district since 2021 plans to introduce legislation in Congress called the Power To The Players Act. The bill would direct the Federal Trade Commission to create regulations protecting ownership rights for video games. Companies selling digital games would need to grant players more than just a license that can expire at any time, and games with online features would need to provide offline modes that still work even when servers eventually shut down... The Power To The Players Act noticeably leaves out other types of digital media like movies and music, though Terminator 2 and a bunch of other movie purchases were ripped from people's digital libraries earlier this year. Representative Torres "did not confirm if the bill will have any cosponsors," the article acknowledges, "or whether any of his Republican colleagues will sign on to support it." But players will see the bill's importance next month, the article points out, "when Grand Theft Auto 6 releases as just a download code in a box, giving fans no control over a purchase that starts at $80.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Planned UK Data Center Delayed Until 2030s Over Power Grid Delays. Microsoft Pulls Out

✇Slashdot
By: EditorDavid
18 October 2026 at 17:08
July: Nvidia-backed Nscale is building a £2bn data centre at Loughton in Essex, with Microsoft signed up as its anchor tenant. But it can't get the electricity to switch on, reported The Next Web: Nscale's problem is not really Nscale's. It is Britain's. Grid-connection times have become the single biggest brake on new data centres. Some UK projects face waits stretching close to a decade for enough power. One estimate found more than a quarter of data-centre capacity slipped in 2025 alone. "The data centre was due to receive its power supply at the end of the year," reports the BBC. "But as first reported by the Telegraph on Sunday, Nscale has been told this will not happen until the 2030s." (Though Nscale and Microsoft are still working together on other projects in Norway, Portugal and America.) But now anchor-tenant Microsoft has pulled out of the Essex deal, reports the Telegraph, adding that Microsoft's move "leaves the site in apparent limbo. The company was its only announced customer, having agreed to rent 23,000 Nvidia AI chips at the facility..." Microsoft's decision threatens to undermine Nscale's attempts to push ahead with a Wall Street flotation worth up to $35bn (£26bn), despite a brutal sell-off in AI computing stocks. Rival data centre developers have seen their share prices plunge over the last week on concerns that they will struggle to repay their debts as interest rates and inflation continue to rise.... Tech analyst Gartner said last week that $3.5 trillion could be written off by 2030 if the AI boom fails to deliver on its promises. And "our research indicates that enterprise and consumer AI revenue will be insufficient to support profitable returns on all planned AI capital expenditures during this period," Gartner wrote: "In 2026, AI providers are expected to spend nearly $1 trillion on AI infrastructure, and are forecast to invest an additional $6 trillion between 2027 and 2030," said Will Sommer, Sr Director Analyst at Gartner.... Failure to achieve sustainable return on investment capital (ROIC) on rapidly depreciating assets would almost certainly necessitate write-downs. Based on Gartner projections, a continued AI infrastructure investment trajectory could leave more than $4 trillion in asset value exposed to write-down risk through 2032. In this scenario, Gartner does not expect the 12% ROIC to be achieved until the end of 2032 at earliest... Gartner estimates AI-optimized IaaS spending will grow from $66 billion in 2027 to $174 billion in 2030. "The growth in spending on AI-optimized IaaS will be too low for most AI compute providers to recover their AI investments before the current generation of AI semiconductors is replaced," said Sommer. By 2030, Gartner predicts that cost pressure and a lack of a differentiating business model will force over 80% of neocloud [AI-specialized infrastructure] providers to cease independent operations.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

I'm gonna try and learn drupal because of the lovely community

✇Drupal - Open Source Content Platform | #Celebr8D8
By: /u/Icy_Cartographer6302
18 October 2026 at 16:18

A year ago, I attended a one day drupal training camp and met a few absolutely wonderful people.

So encouraging and just consistently hyping me up any time I got stuck. I tried to download the cms on my chrome book with Linux emulated and forgot to give it enough disk space and they didn't let that keep me behind.

They instead introduced drupal forge to me and made sure I left with some knowledge which I can't thank enough.

However, icl I kinda got lost and could not learn any more cause the difficulty increased tenfold so I never picked it up again but, I'd really like to learn it purely to make my, one day, mentors proud💚

submitted by /u/Icy_Cartographer6302
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Researchers Discover How To Lead Dying Coral Reefs To a 'Fast And Full Recovery'

✇Slashdot
By: EditorDavid
18 October 2026 at 15:24
Gizmodo reports: Roughly 84.4% of the world's coral reefs suffered bleaching-levels of heat stress during the last major marine heat wave from January 2023 to September 2025, with over half already lost compared to coral coverage in the 1950s... But there's some good news, thanks to a new study published this Wednesday in the journal Science Advances: Marine ecologists at Stanford have discovered that bleached corals can be revived via contact with a healthy coral neighbor, who (like a good neighbor) shares their photosynthetic, symbiotic algae (Symbiodiniaceae) with their peers. "This incredible new result — that fast and full recovery is possible in bleached coral — can inspire solutions that eventually may be scalable," [Fiorenza Micheli, a marine ecologist with Stanford's Center for Ocean Solutions and study co-author, told the journal Nature]... Unlike their controls, bleached coral in contact with healthy coral recovered in just eight weeks... [T]he surprise discovery of this method alongside the other techniques that marine conservationists are now actively pursuing — including the successful deep-freezing and revival of at-risk coral sampled from Hawaii — could offer threatened reefs the lifeline they need. Coral contact could super-charge other efforts, like the selective breeding of heat-tolerant corals and the cultivation of protected coral nurseries

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Websites Are Closing Their Doors to AI Agents

✇Slashdot
By: EditorDavid
18 October 2026 at 14:24
The Verge reports: OpenAI, Meta, Google, Instinct, and others promise their agents can scour the internet on your behalf, doing anything from booking a dinner reservation and cleaning out your inbox to buying new shoes. But what happens when the rest of the internet won't play nice? In recent weeks, users of services like Meta's Muse, xAI's Grok, OpenAI's Dots, and Instinct have reported blocks preventing their AI agents from performing tasks across top websites. Yelp told TechCrunch that it only allows AI agents that pay for its data licensing program, while Delta Air Lines is preventing them from booking tickets on behalf of users. JPMorgan Chase and Charles Schwab have also confirmed that they're blocking AI agents from accessing accounts due to security concerns. Some users say sites that previously worked with their AI agent are no longer accessible, including Cars.com and Amtrak, suggesting other companies could be quietly blocking them.... Muse, Meta's deceptively cute AI assistant, most recently faced the wrath of Amazon, which said its "continued access" violates its site policies. There are reports of xAI's Grok, Instinct's AI agent, and OpenAI's Dots being unable to use Amazon as well. xAI owner Elon Musk responded by saying that maybe he "should start a competitor to Amazon." The more places bots struggle to access, the greater the questions about how useful they are.... Instead of trying to fight Amazon, [Meta] has partnered with retailers like Walmart, Gap, Sephora, Best Buy, and others, allowing Muse to shop on their sites. At the same time, Shopify has also opened its network of storefronts to AI agents.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

16 YOE, mostly agency work, wondering how to stay valuable.

✇WordPress
By: /u/-_--_-_--_----__
18 October 2026 at 13:07

I'm currently at the leadership level at a digital marketing agency. I've been here around 8 years. I have always been at digital marketing agencies my entire career. I actually love agencies. I'm one of the crazy ones. I run all things technical at this agency. I'm wondering what skills I should focus on and learn to stay valuable.

Throughout my stay at this company, I've managed a few full timers, and a few freelancers. Right now though, it's just me. Actually, the majority of my time at this company, it has just been me.

From a pure programming standpoint, it's marketing websites. Mostly custom WordPress websites with various degrees of complexity. We use as little plugins as humanly possible. This could mean anything from a 4 page brochure website to a large multi-site with a custom single-sign on member portal using a 3rd party API no one has ever heard of, all hand-coded by me. Tons of bespoke solutions to unique problems over the years. Tons of APIs, platforms, etc.

I also run the hosting side of the business. What this means is managing our reseller account, administering clients, choosing what packages we offer, how much they cost, managing our client backup strategy, managing monitoring and outages (I am the one getting out of bed at midnight when my phone lights up), launching new websites, etc. etc.

I've also created our devops strategy and implementation. Not especially complex for a marketing agency, but it's there. Every client in git, deploys to a staging server, deploys to a prod environment, etc. Normal stuff. In the past I have managed our full timers and freelancers access to this system. In rare cases a client dev also needs access and I will manage that as well.

Along with all of this, there is also lots of technical marketing tasks that I help with. I help create and debug Google Analytics triggers, campaign attribution, things like "why are there 5 form entries with UTM strings but Facebook only says 3 conversions", technical SEO cleanups, etc. Over the years I have integrated with lots of CRMs and marketing platforms. Hubspot, Salesforce, Pardot, Slate, Mailchimp, etc. Setting up marketing emails, setting up editable templates in those platforms, setting up forms that will embed on the site, setting up the site to pass hidden data into these forms, API calls that trigger CRM emails based on an action taken on the website, etc. Lots of client needs over the years.

Lastly, I am very client-facing. I am in most client meetings. There are lots of meetings that I set up and run myself, being the lone rep from my company in the meeting. I train all the clients on their systems. In lots of cases I am the one they email and interface with for a request.

With AI, I honestly don't know how valuable any of this stuff is that I do, lol. I've been using AI daily, and I'm not an idiot. I can clearly see a world where AI does everything I have mentioned above. Right now my strategy is to try and become an AI expert, and try to figure out new ways to use AI to benefit our customers. At the core of who I am, the reason I have stayed with agencies forever, is because I love helping a wide array of people. Always new people, always new problems. I like being their technical resource.

What would you guys do? I don't even know if agencies will exist in 5 years. What skills should I learn? What jobs should I be aiming for?

submitted by /u/-_--_-_--_----__
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[PROMO] Open-source WordPress plugin for voice-based bug reporting

✇WordPress
By: /u/Consistent-Slip3673
18 October 2026 at 12:58

Hey everyone,

I've been working on a WordPress plugin recently because I kept running into the same problem over and over.

**I'm the developer of this plugin and I'm mainly looking for feedback from the WordPress community.**

A user reports a bug, and the entire report is basically:

"It doesn't work."

Now I have to figure out what page they were on, what they clicked, what they expected to happen, and how to reproduce it.

So I started wondering if it would be easier to just let people explain the problem out loud while they're using the site.

That idea turned into a plugin called Nik Voice Ticketing AI.

Instead of filling out a support form, visitors can record a short voice message and click through the page while explaining what's wrong. The plugin records their voice along with a timeline of clicks and page interactions. It can also use AI to turn everything into a cleaner support ticket.

It's completely open source and free.

WordPress:

https://wordpress.org/plugins/nik-voice-ticketing-ai/

GitHub:

https://github.com/Nik-Neural-AI-Inc/nik-voice-ticketing-ai

I'm genuinely curious what WordPress site owners and developers think.

Would love honest feedback, even if your reaction is "I'd never install this."

submitted by /u/Consistent-Slip3673
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Wordpress is disappointing freemium

✇WordPress
By: /u/Mangomadness007
18 October 2026 at 12:19

I’m trying to build a Wordpress website from scratch. I did same 7 years ago successfully. Now it seems the monetizing aspect is overwhelming. Transparency is totally absent until you get to the end and they suddenly say sorry this plugin isn’t actually a free plugin.

Same for AI assisted plugins advertised as free until the end.

submitted by /u/Mangomadness007
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More Details on Arrested Saudi OpenAI Employee, Who is Seeking Release on Bail

✇Slashdot
By: EditorDavid
18 October 2026 at 12:34
More details are emerging about Saudi OpenAI employee Abdulrahman Alfozan, who was arrested by the FBI for allegedly planting a recording device in an executive conference room. Previously Alfozan "was an engineer at Meta," notes the New York Times, "before joining a start-up that went through Y Combinator, the Silicon Valley start-up accelerator. He gained permanent residency status in the United States in 2020, according to court documents, and was hired by OpenAI in July 2025." 14 months later the conference room recording device was inserted in a USB port on the back of a television, and then concealed in toilet paper, according to a statement from America's Justice Department. (There's even a photo of a device — and a photo of Alfozan entering the executive conference room and appearing to look behind the television where the device was inserted.) The FBI's says a chatbot account associated with Alfozan's spouse showed prompts asking about installing and obfuscating a recording device. And the complaint alleges that OpenAI security personnel also found a bag Alfozan left in a different room which contained his wallet, his ID, and another recording device. Discussions in that room included "highly confidential technical, commercial, and strategic information, including proprietary research," according to the FBI, "as well as nonpublic information about Open AI's technical progress and strategic decisions..." "If convicted, Alfozan faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, followed by 3 years of supervised release." Friday Alfozan's lawyersrequested his release from custody, saying Alfozan agrees to wear an ankle monitor, remain at home, surrender his passport and "not possess any covert audio or video recording or surveillance device." They argue that the one-way ticket he'd purchased to Saudi Arabia just continues a long-standing habit of buying one-way tickets over the years for air travel, since his tech career often involves last-minute changes to meeting schedules, and "70% of the airline bookings in his email since January 2021 (96 of 138) were one-way tickets." His lawyers also presented 46 letters of support, including letters from former Meta colleagues, ten company founders and chief executives, and more than a dozen engineers and engineering managers.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

LinkedIn Fights AI Slop, Now 40% of Its Long-Form Posts

✇Slashdot
By: EditorDavid
18 October 2026 at 11:34
"Even LinkedIn is getting tired of your AI-written posts," writes CNN, reporting that the Microsoft-owned, job-oriented social media site "is upping its fight against slop." A report published in July by Pangram, a research firm that tracks AI content online, found that more than 40% of long-form posts on the platform were AI-generated, compared to around 30% on X and Medium and a smaller percentage on Reddit and Substack.... LinkedIn previously offered AI tools to edit or rewrite posts, although it recently scaled the offerings back. But low-quality AI posts are a business problem for LinkedIn. They all start to sound the same, [according to LinkedIn Editor-in-Chief Dan Roth Roth]. If users see too many generic AI posts, instead of content that really teaches them something or gives them a deeper understanding of a professional connection, LinkedIn risks losing them to other platforms. In August, LinkedIn rolled out a button letting users flag when a post "seems like AI slop," which was clicked more than 1 million times within its first two weeks. Now, the company is trying to use its own AI systems to help weed out AI slop on the platform and to remind LinkedIn users how to post like humans. The company built a team largely made up of former journalists and social media experts who have an eye for recognizing generic, sloppy content. These experts help train LinkedIn's AI model on what authentic, useful posts look like. If the model flags a post as low-quality, AI-generated content, it'll be less likely to be distributed beyond that user's direct connections. Also key to the strategy is a creator management team that acts as "content therapists" for executives, subject matter experts and other LinkedIn users, many of whom have gotten accustomed to the convenience of using AI to write what, on the surface, appear to be polished posts, Roth said. "A lot of times now today, they'll run it through Claude or Gemini or wherever, they'll post it on LinkedIn and it will perform poorly. And then they come to the team and they're like, 'Why did this do badly?'" Roth said. "And the best thing you can do is give it back to them and be like, 'Did you enjoy reading this? Do you see yourself in this?" The efforts are showing early signs of success. Improvements to LinkedIn's detection systems have resulted in a 40% decline in views of content classified as AI slop, the platform said last month. That's not to say LinkedIn is entirely opposed to AI, Roth said, adding that "not everyone is a born communicator." But failing to edit or personalize content means it's less likely to reach a wide audience on the platform.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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