Author: NY TIMES

A group of OpenAI insiders is blowing the whistle on what they say is a culture of recklessness and secrecy at the San Francisco artificial intelligence company, which is racing to build the most powerful A.I. systems ever created.The group, which includes nine current and former OpenAI employees, has rallied in recent days around shared concerns that the company has not done enough to prevent its A.I. systems from becoming dangerous.The members say OpenAI, which started as a nonprofit research lab and burst into public view with the 2022 release of ChatGPT, is putting a priority on profits and growth…

The Israeli military said on Monday that four more hostages who were abducted in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks had died months ago in Gaza, a disclosure that was likely to add pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to move forward with a cease-fire deal.Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Israeli military, said at a news briefing on Monday that the four hostages were believed to have been killed together “several months ago” near Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, while Israeli forces were operating in the area. The military identified the men as Haim Perry, Yoram Metzger, Amiram…

June 4, 2024, 7:21 a.m. ETJune 4, 2024, 7:21 a.m. ETCongress party supporters celebrating at the party headquarters during vote counting in New Delhi on Tuesday.Credit…Atul Loke for The New York TimesIn India’s last general election, in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party won 303 of 543 parliamentary seats — nearly six times as many as the main opposition party, the Indian National Congress. It was a stinging electoral blow for the Congress, a once-dominant party that has appeared greatly diminished in recent years, and exit polls in this year’s election had not suggested it would fare much better.But early…

A new tourist fee in Bali. Higher hotel taxes in Amsterdam and Paris. Stricter rules on public drinking in Milan and Majorca. Ahead of the summer travel season, leaders in many tourist spots have adopted measures to tame the tourist crowds — or at least earn more revenue from them.All of this may pose headaches for travelers, although in most cases, the new fees or tax increases represent only a tiny fraction of the total cost of a trip. The goal is to ensure that tourism functions smoothly for visitors and locals alike, said Megan Epler Wood, managing director of…

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, will square off on Tuesday evening in their first debate of Britain’s general election. But it is a third man, Nigel Farage, who has seized the spotlight in a race defined, until now, by a fading incumbent and a rising opponent.Mr. Farage, a gleeful insurgent who has long roamed the right-wing fringes of British politics, said he would run as a candidate for Reform U.K., a party he co-founded. That has shaken up the race and threatens to siphon off votes from Mr. Sunak’s Conservative Party,…

Larry Bensky, a radio journalist whose reporting on major political events made him the signature voice of Pacifica Radio, a network of progressive, listener-supported stations, died on May 19 at his home in Berkeley, Calif. He was 87.His wife, Susie Bluestone, said he died in home hospice care.Mr. Bensky’s gavel-to-gavel coverage of the congressional Iran-contra hearings of 1987 put the Pacifica network on the map, earning him a prestigious Polk Award for radio reporting.Mr. Bensky, who called himself an activist-journalist, brought leftist views to reporting — often on people and issues under-covered by other news outlets — which he hoped…

Ten years after Narendra Modi was first elected prime minister, India’s economy is roughly twice as large. That is what happens when a country grows at 7 percent a year, as India has been doing, on average, since it opened its markets to international competition in 1991.That steady growth has been skillfully repackaged to promote an image of one man’s leadership making it all happen. Along with nationalism and Hindu pride, the idea that Mr. Modi can make the economy move has been central to his appeal since the beginning.And Mr. Modi has burnished India’s economy in ways that count…

FORT WORTH, Texas — What do you get for the nine-time national all-around champion who has it all? Apparently an engraved silver belt buckle.On Sunday night, Simone Biles won the USA Gymnastics Championships with a total score of 119.750 (60.450 on Day 1, 59.300 on Day 2) to win the trophy that is the symbol of Texas. She also won all the individual events.The 27-year-old’s biggest mistake over the course of two nights was over-rotating her Yurchenko double spear jump and landing on her back. Even with the fall, she still scored 15,000 points because the vault was so difficult…

Chinese people know their country’s internet is different. There is no Google, YouTube, Facebook or Twitter. They use euphemisms online to communicate the things they are not supposed to mention. When their posts and accounts are censored, they accept it with resignation.They live in a parallel online universe. They know it and even joke about it.Now they are discovering that, beneath a facade bustling with short videos, livestreaming and e-commerce, their internet — and collective online memory — is disappearing in chunks.A post on WeChat on May 22 that was widely shared reported that nearly all information posted on Chinese…

Brother Marquis, the rapper and member of the hip-hop group 2 Live Crew, whose sexually explicit lyrics prompted a debate about race and artistic freedom in the 1980s and ’90s, has died.His death was announced on 2 Live Crew’s social media accounts on Monday night. The posts did not provide a cause or location of death.2 Live Crew was founded in 1984, and Brother Marquis, born Mark Ross, joined after the group moved from California to Miami. He became part of its most well-known lineup alongside Christopher Wong Won (Fresh Kid Ice); the group’s leader, Luther Campbell (Luke Skyywalker); and…