A partial government shutdown impacting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began Saturday after Democrats and Republicans failed to reach a funding deal, while U.S. special operations forces, aided by artificial intelligence, captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro last month. Additionally, police activity is underway near the home of missing mother Nancy Guthrie in Tucson, Arizona, and an AI safety researcher has resigned from Anthropic with a warning that the "world is in peril."
The government shutdown, the third in under six months, specifically affects DHS, leaving it without federal funding as of midnight, according to Fox News. The impasse arose from disagreements over President Donald Trump's immigration policies. Congress had completed funding for approximately 97% of its yearly spending responsibilities, but a deal on DHS proved elusive. The shutdown is expected to impact 250,000 employees, including those at FEMA, TSA, and the Coast Guard, as reported by Fox News.
In a separate development, U.S. special operations forces captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro last month, according to a Fox News report. The operation utilized Anthropic's artificial-intelligence tool Claude. Maduro and his wife were brought to the U.S. to face narcotics charges. The AI tool was deployed through Anthropics partnership with data company Palantir Technologies, whose tools are widely used by the Defense Department.
Meanwhile, police activity is ongoing near the home of Nancy Guthrie in Tucson, Arizona, in connection to her disappearance nearly two weeks ago, as reported by BBC World. Authorities are searching for the missing 84-year-old, who they believe was taken against her will. Investigators found DNA at Guthrie's address that did not belong to her or anyone close to her. Armed police teams have been seen in the area, with a sheriff's vehicle blocking the road.
In other news, an AI safety researcher, Mrinank Sharma, resigned from Anthropic, the company behind the Claude chatbot, with a stark warning about the state of the world. In his resignation letter shared on X, Sharma cited concerns about AI, bioweapons, and the wider world, according to BBC Technology. He stated he would be pursuing writing and studying poetry and moving back to the UK to "become invisible." This resignation comes in the same week that an OpenAI researcher also resigned, expressing concerns about the deployment of advertisements in its chatbot.
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