A series of setbacks and developments dominated the news cycle, ranging from art damage at the Louvre to warnings about AI safety and cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The Louvre Museum in Paris reported a water leak that damaged a 19th-century ceiling painting, while an AI safety researcher quit his job with a dire warning about the state of the world. Simultaneously, a popular AI coding platform was found to be easily hackable, and a porn site was fined for failing to implement proper age verification measures.
The Louvre's incident involved a leak from a heating pipe in room 707, also known as the "Duchâtel" room, which houses multiple 15th and 16th-century artworks. According to the museum, the leak was stopped shortly after midnight, but it damaged Charles Meynier's "The Apotheosis of Poussin, Le Sueur and Le Brun." This setback occurred just a day after French police detained nine people, including two museum staff, over a suspected ticket fraud scheme, as reported by BBC World.
In the technology sector, an AI safety researcher from US firm Anthropic resigned with a cryptic warning that the "world is in peril." Mrinank Sharma shared his resignation letter on X, citing concerns about AI, bioweapons, and the state of the wider world. He stated he would pursue writing and poetry and move back to the UK to "become invisible." This news came in the same week that an OpenAI researcher also resigned, expressing concerns about the company's decision to deploy advertisements in its chatbot, according to BBC Technology.
Cybersecurity concerns were also highlighted by the discovery of a significant vulnerability in Orchids, a popular "vibe-coding" platform. Joe Tidy, a cyber correspondent for the BBC World Service, reported that the platform's flaws allowed a BBC reporter's laptop to be hacked. Experts have warned that the ease with which Orchids can be hacked demonstrates the risks of allowing AI bots deep access to computers.
Meanwhile, Ofcom fined porn company Kick Online Entertainment SA £800,000 for failing to introduce proper age verification measures. The media regulator stated that the company did not have "highly effective" methods to check UK visitors were over 18. According to BBC Technology, the company has since implemented age checks, but was not complying with the law between July and December 2025. Additionally, message board 4chan will be fined £520,000 for failing to comply with the UK's Online Safety Law, though its lawyer said the company would not pay. Suzanne Cater, director of enforcement at Ofcom, said it was "non-negotiable" for adult sites to have highly effective age verification.
In other news, the designer behind Hello Kitty, Yuko Yamaguchi, stepped down after 46 years. She took over design duties for the character in 1980, five years after its initial launch. Sanrio, the firm behind Hello Kitty, said Yamaguchi has "passed the baton to the next generation," according to BBC Business.
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