Tuesday, August 11, 2026

If They Were Human, They'd Be Arrested. Experts Respond To Rogue AI Breaches


If They Were Human, They'd Be Arrested. Experts Respond To Rogue AI Breaches



What if an artificial intelligence model is given a task and uses every conceivable resource at its disposal to complete it, even at the detriment of humanity itself?

That is what some are now fearing after an OpenAI model broke out of a testing sandbox and used zero-day exploits to hack into Hugging Face, an open-source community for AI and machine learning, to crack a problem it was instructed to solve.

“This is some of the clearest evidence yet that an AI model can run a complete cyberattack from start to finish without a human steering it,” Andrew Jones, co-founder and CPO of cybersecurity firm Adaptive Security, told The Epoch Times.

OpenAI, developer of the popular large language model-powered ChatGPT chatbot, acknowledged the security breach on July 21, stating that two of its advanced models escaped a restricted testing environment and broke into Hugging Face’s software infrastructure.


Some analysts referred to the incident as an example of AI “going rogue,” “scheming,” or pursuing goals that were at odds with its human testers.


Devaughn, who has worked in the industry for years and founded AI firms Wired to Create and Karo, said the Hugging Face breach is more concerning than AI “scheming.”

An illustration of Hugging Face AI in Paris on June 2, 2026. Two advanced OpenAI models recently escaped a restricted testing environment and breached Hugging Face's software infrastructure, raising widespread cybersecurity concerns. Riccardo Milani/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images

“A machine with hidden motives is a problem you can look for. A machine with no motives at all, executing your instructions past the point you stopped imagining, is a problem you have to engineer against,” he said.

One expert called it a “canary in the coal mine” situation.

“If this was a human black hat hacker doing it, there would be arrests and litigation, and you name it. It‘d be illegal. It’d be a cybercrime,” Nicholas Nadeau, founder of Onix AI, told The Epoch Times.

“This was a full-on agentic automated breach by an entity, and so we start to ask the questions of who’s responsible. Is it OpenAI? Does the agent, the AI, have a certain level of responsibility? Do the researchers?

“We don’t even have rules, regulations, laws, or even a thought process or framework around defining what responsibility means.”

OpenAI said it was evaluating its models in a sandbox it calls ExploitGym, which has relaxed security constraints for testing.

“We estimate maximal cyber capabilities by running this evaluation without production classifiers used to prevent models from pursuing high-risk cyber activity,” the firm said, describing the relaxed safety protocols that the model exploited.

The firm asked the models to “pursue advanced exploitation using complex attack paths” to determine their cyber capabilities, but said the environment was “highly isolated” and had internet access limited to the models’ ability to “install packages through an internally hosted third-party software.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman talks to reporters after meeting with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in Washington on June 3, 2026. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

When the models were set to work, they found and chained multiple security exploits in both OpenAI’s research environment and Hugging Face’s production infrastructure to locate the test’s solutions within the latter firm’s databases.

Juan Pedro Márquez, a cloud solution architect specializing in AI and agents at Microsoft’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa division, said the “unsettling part” of the incident wasn’t the breach itself, but how the model achieved that task.

“OpenAI lowered its safety refusals for a benchmark test, and the model reasoned that Hugging Face’s infrastructure probably held the answer key, broke out of its sandbox, found a real zero-day, and used it. Nobody told it to,” Márquez said.


Models Pursued OpenAI’s Objectives

The models were laser-focused on finding the test solutions, “going to extreme lengths to achieve a rather narrow testing goal,” OpenAI said.

While in ExploitGym’s sandbox testing environment, the models found and chained multiple “zero-day” exploits to break into the internet, “in pursuit of solving the evaluation problem,” according to OpenAI.

A zero-day exploit is a cyberattack that uses a previously unknown security flaw in software or hardware. The name comes from the fact that the software creators have had zero days to fix the problem, meaning no official patch or defense exists yet.

Once the models had access to the wider web, they used additional zero-day exploits to break into Hugging Face.

In Hugging Face’s announcement of the attack, the firm said the AI models executed “many thousands” of discrete actions across a large swatch of “short-lived sandboxes” to hack into the community’s infrastructure.

“This matches the ‘agentic attacker’ scenario the industry has been forecasting,” Hugging Face said.

In an update on the incident posted on July 28, OpenAI said that no planned release models were involved in the attack, and that it had since “deactivated, encrypted, and restricted” the implicated pre-release model from research access.


A phone displays the ChatGPT app in this April 1, 2025, photo illustration. Hugging Face said the OpenAI models executed “many thousands” of discrete actions across a large swatch of “short-lived sandboxes” to hack into its infrastructure. Oleksii Pydsosonnii/The Epoch Times

After reviewing the intrusion event and “broader activity from our models,” OpenAI said it has been finding additional cases in which “models identified and used publicly exposed credentials at the account-level on other publicly available services.”

“We’ll continue to notify service owners directly, and have not seen evidence of broader impact to these providers or other accounts on their services,” it added.


While there have been past instances of models concealing their intentions to circumvent laboratory testing restrictions, the Hugging Face incident was significant because it involved a breach of an outside organization, according to cybersecurity and IT expert George Rees.

“The biggest red flag is not that an AI became malicious, but that it found a path from a controlled test into someone else’s live infrastructure,” Rees, who is the senior security consultant at Secarma, told The Epoch Times.

“Behavioral safeguards can’t replace technical containment, because an AI agent only needs one overlooked permission or escape route to turn an evaluation failure into a real security incident.”

Cybersecurity firm DigiCert recently found that 78 percent of organizations have already experienced an AI-related security incident or vulnerability breach.

“In many cases, these are early warning signs that AI is expanding the attack surface faster than security practices are evolving,” DigiCert CTO Jason Sabin told The Epoch Times.


Wildfire smoke is once again pouring across the United States


Wildfire smoke is once again pouring across the United States


Wildfire smoke is once again pouring across the United States following a weekend of new blazes across Canada’s British Columbia.


A total of 11 new fires were reported across that province, where a state of emergency was declared on Saturday, with thousands forced to evacuate near Summerland, located about 40 miles north of the British Columbia-Washington state border.

The largest fire in this region, called the Bald Range Fire, had burned through more than 33,000 acres as of Sunday and remained out of control.


Last week, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre raised the national preparedness level to 5 out of 5, meaning that “emergency measures” may be necessary to sustain incident operations.


Last week, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre raised the national preparedness level to 5 out of 5, meaning that “emergency measures” may be necessary to sustain incident operations.



Smoke from fires in British Columbia as well as other fires in the U.S. Pacific Northwest created hazy skies that spanned thousands of miles to New England late Sunday.



Across the East, most of this smoke will remain lofted high in the sky — with minimal effects on air quality — although small amounts may settle toward the ground.

Meanwhile, air quality will remain poor across parts of the Northwest and the Intermountain West as elevated fire weather risks continue early this week.









Monday, August 10, 2026

Lake Mead Running out of Water and Hoover Dam Is About to Lose 70% of Its Power


Lake Mead Running out of Water and Hoover Dam Is About to Lose 70% of Its Power


For years, officials, water managers, and politicians have watched Lake Mead slide lower and lower while pretending there was still plenty of time to figure it out. Now that game is ending. The country’s biggest reservoir just dropped to a new record low, Hoover Dam is getting dangerously close to the point where it loses most of its generating capacity, and the people who are going to feel it first are the same people who had the least say in any of it.

Popular Mechanics recently called Hoover Dam’s decline the “slowest-moving train wreck in history.” The problem with that line is that a train wreck sounds like an accident. This wasn’t an accident. Nobody got blindsided here. These people had decades of warning, years of deadlines, endless studies, and more than enough data to know exactly where this was going. They saw it coming and kept kicking the can anyway.

On August 7, Lake Mead dropped to about 1,040.5 feet above sea level, the lowest point since the reservoir was filled. That made headlines, but the record itself is not the real issue. The number that matters now is 1,035 feet.

That is the line where twelve of Hoover Dam’s seventeen turbines shut down because the older units were never built to operate at water levels this low. Once Mead falls below that mark, only five newer turbines can keep running. Reclamation’s own projections show the lake crossing that line within the next year, and some forecasts suggest it could happen even sooner. From there, the lake is expected to keep sliding, with projections putting it around 1,015 feet by next summer and near 1,012 feet by spring 2028.

That is not a temporary dip. That is a long, ugly decline with no quick fix.

Hoover Dam was built with a maximum capacity of 2,074 megawatts. Because of falling water levels, that has already dropped to around 1,302 megawatts. If Lake Mead falls below 1,035 feet, capacity plunges again to just 382 megawatts.

That is a 70 percent cut from current output and more than an 80 percent cut from what the dam was originally built to produce.

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Horrifying Footage Shows Buildings Crumbling As Colombia Quake Death Toll Tops 111


Horrifying Footage Shows Buildings Crumbling As Colombia Quake Death Toll Tops 111
BY TYLER DURDEN


Summary:

  • Today's Quake Rocks Colombia Just Six Weeks After Venezuela's Twin Quakes
  • Rubio Pledges US Support
  • Death Toll Jumps to 111; 87 Injured
  • Epicenter of Quake was in San José del Palmar, Near Capital Bogotá

Death Toll Jumps To 111; Rubio Pledges US Support 

AFP News, citing Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella, reports that the death toll from the magnitude-7.4 earthquake that struck western Colombia earlier today has climbed to 111, with at least 87 people injured.

The casualty count remains preliminary and is likely to rise into late afternoon and evening as rescue teams begin search operations. 

U.S. Secretary Marco Rubio wrote on X:

The Trump Administration is closely monitoring the large earthquake that struck Colombia and stands ready to support the people of Colombia and President @ABDELAESPRIELLA's Administration. American citizens in Colombia should enroll at http://STEP.State.gov and follow @USEmbassyBogota's social media accounts for the latest information.



7.4 Mega Quake Rocks Colombia, Widespread Damage Reported

A little more than six weeks after twin earthquakes devastated neighboring Venezuela, killing thousands, a magnitude-7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday morning, damaging buildings and injuring people near the epicenter in Chocó province.

Bloomberg reported that the quake was recorded at 7:34 a.m. local time near San José del Palmar. Chocó Governor Nubia Córdoba reported major structural damage in the provincial capital of Quibdó.


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Israel To “Go It Alone” Against Iran?

Is Israel Getting Ready To “Go It Alone” Against Iran
 Michael Snyder


The Iranians truly believe that they have won. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has created a global energy crisis, and President Trump doesn’t have any easy options for reopening it. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are pleading with Trump to bring the war to an end because the midterm elections are coming up. The Iranians understand how much leverage they currently have with Trump, and so they are making all sorts of maximalist demands. But the same is not true with Israel. The Israelis are not concerned about the closure of the Strait of Hormuz because they don’t really use it. In addition, the approaching election in Israel means that it is very important for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to look tough on Iran. As a result, Trump and Netanyahu find themselves moving in two very different directions right now.

While the Trump administration develops an exit strategy, Israel is reportedly getting ready to go it alone against Iran if necessary…

Israel is preparing for the possibility of launching unilateral strikes on Iran if the US-Iran war ends, Israel’s Channel 13 reported on Saturday.

The Israeli military continued to keep the option of striking Iran without US involvement on the table, it said.

The report followed a CNN report that US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine had told senior Trump administration officials that further military escalation could backfire and that victory through airstrikes alone was unlikely.



Israel would be attacking Iran with no U.S. help, and the Iranians hate Israel with a passion that runs so deep that it is truly difficult for most westerners to understand it.

The Iranians have already threatened to fire ballistic missiles at Tel Aviv and other major Israeli cities if something happens.

The potential for escalation would be off the charts.

One of Iran’s chief negotiators, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, apparently believes that Israel could launch a surprise attack at any time

Israeli leaders are fully convinced that once Iran is capable of producing nuclear weapons it will be just a matter of time before they are used against Israel.

So they feel like they are in the midst of an existential struggle for the future of their people.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once again pledged that he will do whatever it takes to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Sunday to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons, a goal he has long alleged Tehran is pursuing, regardless of the course of diplomacy with Washington and Arab states.

“I want to emphasise once again: with an agreement or without an agreement, as long as I am prime minister, Iran will not have nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting.



Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal is telling us that President Trump has been “laying the groundwork to declare victory” if he can just get the Iranians to reopen the Strait of Hormuz…



For weeks, President Trump had been laying the groundwork to declare victory in the Iran war should Tehran fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, even floating the idea privately to senior aides that he’s willing to walk away without a nuclear deal, U.S. officials said.



Unfortunately for Trump, there is just one huge problem.

The Iranians are not going to open the Strait of Hormuz unless they get everything that they want.

The Iranians have told us this over and over again, and I have explained this in my articles over and over again.

Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, has released a list of the demands that the Trump administration must meet in order for the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened…


  1. End threats and insults: The U.S. must never threaten Iran “in any language” or insult what the Iranian people consider sacred.
  2. Permanently end military action: Washington must end warfare and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq.
  3. Lift the naval blockade and withdraw forces: The U.S. must end its naval blockade and remove its naval and air forces from the area surrounding Iran.
  4. Pay compensation for two wars: Washington must fully compensate Iran for the damage caused by what Zolghadr characterized as two imposed wars of aggression.
  5. Remove sanctions: The U.S. must lift what Zolghadr called “unjust and illegal” sanctions imposed on the Iranian people.
  6. Release frozen Iranian assets: Washington must unconditionally release assets belonging to the Iranian people that have been frozen or seized.

The Trump administration can never possibly agree to all of this.

But even if the Trump administration did agree to all of this, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz would not return to the status quo that we witnessed before the war.

Instead, the Strait of Hormuz would “reopen” under Iran’s new management system.

Vessels from certain nations would still be banned, and the Iranians would extract very high fees from other nations.

The Iranians are literally holding the global economy hostage, and they are openly admitting that they are using the Strait as a weapon of war

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Sunday said they would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States accepts all of Tehran’s demands.

“Our current strategy is to maintain this strait until the enemy accepts all our conditions,” said Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebi, as quoted by state TV, adding that “the strait is now actually a theatre of war for us and not just a waterway”.


And even though the U.S. has paused military action, the Iranians just keep attacking more tankers.

In fact, over the weekend yet another tanker from the United Arab Emirates was hit by an Iranian missile

The Houthis have also been regularly striking Saudi tankers in the Red Sea, and they just hit Aramco’s $21 billion Jazan refinery with a drone


Trump may want a way out, but the war is still very much on.

And if Israel decides to start conducting airstrikes in Iranian territory, this conflict could rapidly go to an entirely new level.

In the event of a surprise attack, the Iranians would be severely tempted to respond by using unconventional weapons.

The Iranians do not want to be reasonable.

They want to win.

Decisions that global leaders will make this month will have enormous implication for all of us.

If Israel conducts a surprise attack on Iran or if Iran conducts a surprise attack on Israel, it could spark an uncontrollable spiral of escalation.

A single move could cause the entire Middle East to erupt in flames, and the world is simply not prepared for what is about to happen next.