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The Office of the Secretary of Defense Chief Digital and AI Office (CDAO), Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, U.S. Army Pacific Command and the U.S. Air Force will host a multi-classification hackathon – BRAVO 11 – open to all U.S. citizens, Feb. 5 – 9, 2024. Registration is open, details here. Chief Digital…
As we first reported back in March (The Future of Bitcoin and the Exponential Growth of and Risks Posed by Ordinal Inscriptions), we kind of saw this one coming. Details about the addition of Bitcoin Ordinals to the U.S. NVD can be found here.
Cybersecurity incidents are unavoidable, but boards can govern in ways that make it much harder on adversaries to put the business at risk.
After decades of stagnation, space innovation keeps pushing the boundaries of the possible with new firsts emerging on a monthly basis. This topic was explored at length OODAcon 2023, with a deep dive into the emerging opportunities, economies, and risks associated with the rapid development of space-based technologies, resource acquisition, and shift from the public…
This post provides insights which can help us all contemplate the future in a digital world.
Recently, a Russian cybersecurity company published a report on nation-state offensive cyber campaigns that have been targeting Russia in 2023. Perhaps more surprising were the alleged sources of this activity, using telemetry data from Russia’s largest telecom to identify threat actors from China and North Korea as driving the majority of what the company observed during the year. Per…
The next ten years will be marked by all the uncertainties and unintended consequences that underpin so many doom and gloom scenarios. It is time to start tracking the abundance and breakthroughs that will also come fast and furious in the next decade – equally as overwhelming, while also breathtaking, positive, highly technical and scientific…
What is the future of blockchain innovation? And how might blockchain technologies enable new models for business and governance? The topic of building trust back into the blockchain was examined at length at OODAcon 2023.
2023 has been marked by what some are characterizing as the double exponential pace of artificial intelligence innovation and commercial deployment. Following are some of the most prescient developments of the last few weeks.
How do we maintain societal trust as individuals migrate from platform to platform, identities get impersonated, and technologies like ChatGPT and Midjourney produce conversations and images indistinguishable from the truth through malicious prompts or hallucinations? This topic was examined at length OODAcon 2023, exploring the trust threats and emerging trust wars and looking to identify…
We frequently ask members of the OODA Network for insights into the environment. In this post we get the views of Robert Shaughnessy on the dynamics around AI, national security and critical infrastructure with a focus on near term developments.
As we discussed at OODAcon 2023, historically unprecedented technological disruption is now well underway on an exponentially accelerated timeline. The challenge now is activating positive outcomes while mitigating risk (ideally, with an eye towards proactive containment of unintended consequences by way of preventative strategies). Grand Challenges and Innovation Accelerators will be central to these global…
This post captures the gist of a discussion at OODAcon 2023 between Michael Gibson, author of Paper Belt on Fire and founder of the 1517 Fund, and OODA CEO Matt Devost.
Jake Sotiriadis, Ph.D. is the Director of The Center for Futures Intelligence at the National Intelligence University. Sotiriadis and his co-authors have penned an impressive article on the potential for the use of generative AI in scenario planning and foresight strategy – including a simulation run by the authors to inform the insights of the…
The revolution in Generative AI is one of many factors changing the cybersecurity equation. OODAcon 2023 examined this topic by bringing together leaders who have been making a difference in this domain for years.
Quantum computing remains something of a holy grail in the world of technology: it promises a huge leap in computing power, but only if someone can figure out how to square away the fault rates that prevent any scaling of the tech. Now, one of the more promising quantum startups in Europe is announcing a…
China appears to be building a large laser-ignited fusion research centre in the southwestern city of Mianyang, experts at two analytical organisations say, a development that could aid nuclear weapons design and work exploring power generation. Satellite photos show four outlying “arms” that will house laser bays, and a central experiment bay that will hold…
Updates to OpenAI’s world-conquering AI chatbot ChatGPT are coming thick and fast, but the latest might just be the most significant leap forward yet. When ChatGPT launched just a little over two years ago, it was quite “bare bones” compared to today. Since then, it’s evolved to browse the web, understand images, remember things, reason…
1X has acquired Kind Humanoid, the Norwegian robotics startup told TechCrunch on Monday. The deal marks a small but key consolidation for a humanoid robotics industry on the brink of a major moment in 2025. TechCrunch spoke with Kind Humanoid in October, when the then-three-person startup announced that it had enlisted famed designer Yves Béhar…
DeepSeek is a new artificial intelligence chatbot that’s sending shock waves through Wall Street, Silicon Valley and Washington. The app, name after the Chinese start-up that built it, rocketed to the top of Apple’s App Store in the United States over the weekend. According to some experts, DeepSeek’s success and a technical paper it published…
A standoff at a Ukrainian procurement agency is threatening to disrupt Ukraine’s weapons supply as the confrontation escalated on Monday. The dispute began four days ago when Ukraine’s defense minister fired Maryna Bezrukova, the official in charge of procuring weapons. However, Bezrukova has vowed to remain as her contract was renewed by her agency’s supervisory…
Denmark has revealed new plans to increase its military presence in the Arctic and North Atlantic region. On Monday, Denmark announced that it would pump an additional $2.05 billion into security measures. This announcement comes as the country faces demands from U.S. President Donald Trump to give the U.S. control of Greenland. Greenland has significant…
M23, a rebel group backed by Rwanda, announced that they captured the city of Goma on Monday. The capture of the city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is a major victory for the group, and is seen as one of the conflict’s most significant escalations in years. The M23 militia had briefly occupied Goma…
Swedish authorities boarded a ship which they believe is connected to “gross sabotage” on an undersea communications cable on Sunday. The ship was then escorted to Sweden’s coast for further investigation. Authorities have not yet made public the exact damage to the undersea cable. This recent incident comes after multiple other suspected sabotage attempts to…
Attackers are again impersonating the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). This time, attackers are using a wide scale mobile phishing campaign that takes advantage of people’s trust in PDF files. The SMS phishing (smishing) attacks use SMS messages to inform victims that their package cannot be delivered, then directing the victim to click on a PDF…
ENGlobal Corporation, an energy sector contractor, has confirmed that personal information was accessed during a November 2024 ransomware attack. In December 2024, the company stated that some data on its systems had been encrypted in the attack, but did not mention data theft. However, in a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission…
Researchers from the Florida Institute for Cybersecurity Research and the North Carolina State University discovered a slew of flaws in critical LTE and 5G infrastructure. The vulnerabilities, some of which are remotely exploitable, could result in persistent denial-of-service (DoS) conditions for entire cities. The researchers discovered 119 vulnerabilities in total. Each of the vulnerabilities could…
New evidence has been reported, suggesting that over half of the U.S. population was affected by a ransomware attack on UnitedHealth subsidiary Change Healthcare. In one of the largest data breaches ever recorded, it was originally believed that 100 million Americans were impacted. However, UnitedHealth is now reporting the number to be approximately 190 million,…
Researchers at the University of Limerick in Ireland have developed a new method to grow organic crystals that can harvest energy. This energy is generated by applying pressure to amino acid molecules, which are the fundamental building blocks of proteins found in the human body. Piezoelectricity, a term derived from Greek meaning “pressing electricity,” is…
DeepSeek R1’s Monday release has sent shockwaves through the AI community, disrupting assumptions about what’s required to achieve cutting-edge AI performance. Matching OpenAI’s o1 at just 3%-5% of the cost, this open-source model has not only captivated developers but also challenges enterprises to rethink their AI strategies. The model has rocketed to the top-trending model…
Tech investor and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is teaming up with cancer researcher Siddhartha Mukherjee on an artificial-intelligence drug discovery startup that is launching with $24.6 million of initial funding. The company, named Manas AI, will first focus on breast cancer, prostate cancer and lymphoma before broadening its scope to include other illnesses. Hoffman led…
Traditional computers rely on electrons to perform computational tasks, but electrons can never match the speed and processing power offered by photons, tiny packets of light that travel at an astonishing 300,000 km/s. Unfortunately, we cannot make classical computers run on photons because they need electric charges to process and store information. On the other…
The AI community is abuzz over DeepSeek R1, a new open-source reasoning model. The model was developed by the Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, which claims that R1 matches or even surpasses OpenAI’s ChatGPT o1 on multiple key benchmarks but operates at a fraction of the cost. “This could be a truly equalizing breakthrough that is…
By 2026, we should have humanoid robots in private homes helping with laundry, vacuuming, and the dishes, at least in beta testing, says Peter Diamandis. By 2040, there could be as many as 10 billion globally in all areas of the economy, and their labor might be as cheap as $10 a day. “If you…
A jolt of panic hit big technology stocks on Monday, with investors rattled by fears that advances in artificial intelligence by Chinese upstarts could threaten the moneymaking power of tech giants in the United States, Europe and beyond. The chipmaker Nvidia was one of the hardest hit, falling about 13 percent in early trading, a…
The US and Lebanon say the ceasefire deal with Israel – which had been due to expire on Sunday – has been extended until February 14. The deal gave Hezbollah 60 days to end its armed presence in Southern Lebanon and required Israeli forces to withdraw over the same period. The negotiations will now begin…
U.S. President Donald Trump said Jordan and Egypt should take in Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza, a suggestion rejected by Hamas. Both countries and other Arab nations reject the idea of Palestinians in Gaza being moved to their countries. Jordan’s Foreign Minister told reporters that the country’s stance against any displacement of Palestinians from Gaza remains…
The sale of United States military equipment to foreign governments in 2024 surged 29 percent to a record $318.7bn, the US State Department said. Sales approved in 2024 included but were not limited to $23bn in F-16 jets and aircraft upgrades to Turkey’s military, $18.8bn worth of F-15 fighter jets to Israel, and $2.5bn in…
Colombia has backed down from a looming trade war with the United States hours after US President Donald Trump threatened Bogota with tariffs and visa restrictions for turning away US military aircraft carrying deported migrants. Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced that he had refused the deportation flights to send a message that the US “cannot…
The surge in popularity of Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) app DeepSeek has overtook rivals such as ChatGPT to become the top-rated free app on Apple’s App Store. The app has grown in popularity since its launch, challenging the belief that the US is the unassailable leader in AI. DeepSeek’s emergence comes as the US is…
Vulnerabilities in Git’s credential retrieval protocol could have allowed attackers to leak users’ credentials, security researcher RyotaK says. Git retrieves login information stored in system-specific credential helpers using the credential protocol. RyotaK discovered that a feature in GitHub Desktop that automatically supplies credentials to a Git client contains a vulnerability that allows a malicious repository…
U.S. search engine startup Perplexity AI has revised the merger proposal it had submitted to TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance to create a new entity combining Perplexity and TikTok U.S. The proposal calls for the U.S. government to own up to 50% of the new company upon a future initial public offering (IPO). Under the proposal,…
A vulnerability in Subaru’s Starlink connected vehicle service provided unrestricted access to the accounts of customers in the US, Canada, and Japan, security researcher Sam Curry says. Starlink, the in-vehicle infotainment system for Subaru vehicles, provided remote functionality that could be accessed from an administrator portal that only employees should have access to. Access to…
In this engaging session, two long term members of the OODA Network, Jen Hoar and Johnny Sawyer, explored the evolving global threat landscape, offering insights tailored for executives and corporate board members. The discussion opened with a timely focus on the transition to a new Trump presidency and what that transition may look like (he…
In this session, Jay Healey and Dor Sarig explored the implications of generative AI and emerging quantum technologies for cybersecurity. The discussion centered on whether these technologies would benefit attackers or defenders more, emphasizing the importance of applying established frameworks like the Cyber Kill Chain and NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) to structure the analysis. Dor…
Shenzhen-based startup Engine AI recently released a demo video of its SE01 humanoid robot, highlighting its remarkably lifelike walking gait. The video earned praise from a senior Nvidia scientist. Engine AI aims to penetrate China’s competitive robotics market by offering cost-effective solutions. A video released by Shenzhen Special Zone Daily shows an adult-sized humanoid robot…
AI, biotech and affordable clean energy will be the focus of an EU drive to make the bloc globally competitive and ensure it keeps pace with rivals the United States and China, according to a draft European Commission paper seen by Reuters. The European Union is under pressure from member countries like France to simplify…
The AI world was abuzz this week with the release of the DeepSeek R1 models, from Chinese AI lab DeepSeek. The free large language model is impressing the AI community for being one of the first free “reasoning” models that can be downloaded and run locally. One thing really caught people’s attention: it appears to…
China has developed multiple tech-industrial ecosystems that overlap in terms of the firms and technologies involved. China doesn’t just have a smartphone industry or a battery industry or an electric vehicle industry. It has all of these industries and more. China’s strength across multiple overlapping industries creates a compounding effect for its industrial policy efforts.…
Bitcoin and crypto prices have swung wildly this week as traders brace for U.S. president Donald Trump to drop a bitcoin price bombshell. The bitcoin price surged to an all-time high on Monday but has dropped back alongside Trump’s new memecoin. Now, as fears grow of U.S. dollar crisis at the Federal Reserve, BlackRock chief…
Hugging Face has achieved a remarkable breakthrough in AI, introducing vision-language models that run on devices as small as smartphones while outperforming their predecessors that require massive data centers. The company’s new SmolVLM-256M model, requiring less than one gigabyte of GPU memory, surpasses the performance of their Idefics 80B model from just 17 months ago…
Scientists say artificial intelligence (AI) has crossed a critical “red line” and has replicated itself. In a new study, researchers from China showed that two popular large language models (LLMs) could clone themselves. “Successful self-replication under no human assistance is the essential step for AI to outsmart [humans], and is an early signal for rogue…
Gabon will hold a presidential election on April 12. Gabon’s parliament has adopted legislation which allows for a presidential election to be held on April 12. The Cabinet has also authorized the electoral process to begin. However, the legislation that the parliament approved is controversial as it allows currently serving members of the military to…
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister has visited Lebanon for the first time in a decade. Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister has visited Lebanon for the first time in a decade. The visit comes as Lebanon is navigating a ceasefire with Israel and contending with the fall of the Assad Regime in Syria. The visits comes after Lebanon…
Pakistan’s parliament has passed a bill to grant the government more power over social media. Pakistan’s ruling party has passed a bill through the lower house of the parliament to give the government more power over social media. The opposition party boycotted the session in protest of the bill. Advocacy groups has expressed concerns that…
Ukraine is seeking to attract younger recruits to increase enlistment rates. Ukraine is seeking to attract younger recruits to serve in its armed forces. The initiative comes as the war with Russia is entering its 3rd year and manpower levels are getting low. The recruitment campaign seeks to reassure young people that the military will…
PayPal has been fined for exposing New Yorker’s social security numbers. New York has fined PayPal $2 million for failing to protect the data of New Yorker’s. The company was found to be using under-trained staff to manage customer data. This left customer’s personal vulnerable to theft. PayPal has taken steps to better secure customer…
A database containing information on nearly all Georgian citizens was found to be exposed. Researchers discovered a database containing the personal information of nearly Georgian citizens. The database was found to be unsecured and had no clear owner. The database has sense gone missing. Researchers said the data within it appeared to be related to…
The Department of Justice has arrested several individuals related to a North Korean program. The Department of Justice has arrested several individuals who were involved with a North Korean program to trick companies into hiring North Koreans for remote positions. The FBI has said that the operation involved North Korean agents using several different identities…
A Department of Defense contractor has been the victim of a cyberattack. Stark AeroSpace has been the victim of a ransomware attack. The company is a key contractor for the US military and is involved with missile production. The INC ransomware group claimed to have stolen hundreds of documents from the company and is threatening…
Daniel Ek’s body-scanning start-up Neko Health has raised $260mn in new capital to fuel expansion of its clinics to the US, as the Spotify founder aims to build what he called the Apple of healthcare. Ek co-founded Neko in Sweden alongside entrepreneur Hjalmar Nilsonne, its chief executive, in 2018, financing the venture for its first…
The Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and several collaborating institutions have successfully demonstrated a machine-learning technique to accelerate the discovery of materials for film capacitors—crucial components in electrification and renewable energy technologies. The technique was used to screen a library of nearly 50,000 chemical structures to identify a compound with record-breaking…
An international team of researchers have unveiled a hybrid quantum-classical model that successfully designed two promising small molecules to target a protein implicated in cancer, marking a significant step in the use of quantum computing for drug discovery. The study, published in Nature, demonstrated how combining quantum and classical computational tools could enhance the design…
The day after Christmas, a small Chinese start-up called DeepSeek unveiled a new A.I. system that could match the capabilities of cutting-edge chatbots from companies like OpenAI and Google. That alone would have been a milestone. But the team behind the system, called DeepSeek-V3, described an even bigger step. In a research paper explaining how…
If you’re looking for a new reason to be nervous about artificial intelligence, try this: Some of the smartest humans in the world are struggling to create tests that A.I. systems can’t pass. For years, A.I. systems were measured by giving new models a variety of standardized benchmark tests. Many of these tests consisted of…
The US Army is taking the next step in recompeting its multi-billion dollar mixed-reality goggle production contract with an official ask to industry to send in viable options. The service published its new Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) Next request for information today, giving interested companies until Feb. 26 to respond with their solutions for…
We may look back at 2024 as the year when LLMs became mainstream, every enterprise SaaS added copilot or virtual assistant capabilities, and many organizations got their first taste of agentic AI. CIOs were given significant budgets to improve productivity, cost savings, and competitive advantages with gen AI. AI at Wharton reports enterprises increased their…
The security of Haiti’s capital is in question as gang violence continues to increase. Rising gang violence in Haiti’s capital has lead to concerns that the government will collapse. Haiti’s interim government has asked for the international police mission to be replaced by a UN backed peacekeeping force in order to restore order. The United…
The M23 rebel group has begun to advance on a major city in eastern Congo. The M23 rebel group has begun to advance on Goma which is one of the largest cities in eastern Congo. The rebel advance was confirmed by Congolese authorities. The advance has also caused thousands of civilians to flee the area…
Israel has launched a series of raids across the West Bank. Israel has launched a series of raids across the West Bank targeting which have targeted several cities and villages. The raids come as a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip has just commenced. There have also been reports of Israeli settlers attacking Palestinians across the…
Italy has faced criticism for releasing an individual accused of war crimes. Italy has faced criticism after it released a Libyan warlord. An Italian Court ruled that the arrest of the warlord was illegal and ordered him released. The International Criminal Court and rights groups have criticized Italy for allowing the warlord to return to…
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has advanced considerably in recent years, particularly in the domain of language. However, despite its rapid commodification, its use in biomedical research is still in its infancy. The two main avenues for using large language models (LLMs) are end-user-ready platforms, which are usually provided by large corporations, and custom solutions developed…
Dynamic circuits are powerful tools that give us the ability to measure qubits in the middle of a quantum circuit execution, and then perform classical logical operations within the circuit based on the outcome of those mid-circuit measurements. All of this occurs in the blink of an eye, before the circuit execution is complete, allowing…
The US military is reportedly considering a tactic that involves deploying a submarine near the Chinese coast to release a large number of drones from under the water. These drones would then form a swarm in the air and launch surprise attacks on the People’s Liberation Army fleet during any potential attempt to land in…
Santee Cooper, the big power provider in South Carolina, has tapped financial advisers to look for buyers that can restart construction on a pair of nuclear reactors that were mothballed years ago. The state-owned utility is betting interest will be strong, with tech giants such as Amazon.com and Microsoft in need of clean energy to…
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