Just days after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote a public apology to people of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia in the aftermath of the town’s deadly February 10 school shooting, the families of the victims of the traumatic event are suing OpenAI for negligence.

The mass shooting, one of the deadliest in Canadian history, saw the alleged shooter, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, enter the town’s local high school and kill five students and one teacher, as well as critically injure two others, before taking her own life. Local police later discovered Van Rootselaar had also killed her mother and 11-year-old half-brother before entering the school.

Per NPR, lawyers representing some of the families of Tumbler Ridge filed six different suits on Wednesday in a federal court in San Francisco. One of the complaints, filed on behalf of Maya Gebala, a survivor of the shooting, alleges OpenAI’s automated safety systems flagged Van Rootselaar’s ChatGPT conversations in June 2025, more than half a year before she entered the town’s high school with a long gun and modified rifle, for “gun violence activity and planning.” It further claims OpenAI’s safety team urged management to contact authorities, but that the company chose instead to deactivate Van Rootselaar account. She later created a second account and continued her conversations with ChatGPT.

“The events in Tumbler Ridge are a tragedy. We have a zero-tolerance policy for using our tools to assist in committing violence,” an OpenAI spokesperson told Engadget. “As we shared with Canadian officials, we have already strengthened our safeguards, including improving how ChatGPT responds to signs of distress, connecting people with local support and mental health resources, strengthening how we assess and escalate potential threats of violence, and improving detection of repeat violators.”

On late Tuesday, OpenAI published a blog post outlining its safety policies. “As part of this ongoing work, we’ve continued expanding our safeguards to help ChatGPT better recognize subtle signs of risk of harm across different contexts. Some safety risks only become clear over time: a single message may seem harmless on its own, but a broader pattern within a long conversation — or across conversations — can suggest something more concerning,” the company wrote.

The suits filed on Wednesday are the latest attempt to use the legal system to hold OpenAI accountable for the design of its products. Last summer, the parents of Adam Raine, a teen who committed suicide in 2025, filed the first known wrongful death suit against an AI company, alleging ChatGPT was aware of four previous attempts by Raine to take his own life before he was ultimately successful.

from the impossible-to-trust-or-verify dept

The administration’s anti-migrant tactics are now months into an indefinite period of continuous escalation. That protest efforts have escalated alongside it apparently means nothing to the officials spearheading this brazen attack on non-white people.

It wasn’t until federal officers began killing people in front of witnesses that the administration decided to dial things back a bit. But did it ever actually do it? Or did it just sideline the most famous faces associated with this wave of violence and unlawfulness?

Punting former DHS head Kristi Noem into the nosebleed section of the federal government didn’t do much to change things, not when “Border Czar” Tom Homan (the guy who more or less said protesters were to blame for the Minneapolis murders) is still hanging around and her replacement, Markwayne Mullin, looks like just another expendable MAGA footsoldier.

Some small sort of de-escalation seems to be happening now, but it’s hard to tell if this is due to policy changes, budget issues, or the natural result of pushing this hard for this long. Sooner or later, things tend to trend towards inertia, no matter how much motivational frothing is being done by those who aren’t actually on the front lines.

Then there’s the DOJ upsetting the administration’s own apple cart by admitting in court that ICE officers were committing illegal arrests by pouncing on migrants attending immigration hearings. Not that ICE officers have necessarily stopped doing this (there’s evidence to suggest at least some of them haven’t), but it does make it clear that continuing to do so is at least a violation of policy, as well as being, you know, actually illegal.

So, when things are being said about further de-escalation, you may as well start ingesting fistfuls of salt. First, here’s the good news, which comes from two unnamed DHS officials who insist things are being calmed down from the top down:

Donald Trump’s administration has reportedly instructed immigration enforcement officers to cut back on arrests inside courthouses and to no longer enter homes without a warrant, backing off two controversial policies that have sparked violent and chaotic scenes in the president’s mass deportation campaign.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement field offices across the country were verbally instructed by their superiors that they should no longer enter homes unless they have a judicial warrant, two Homeland Security officials told NBC News.

That would seem to be the least this administration could do since it would finally align ICE’s actions with the law and its internal policies. However, if these instructions are only be handed out “verbally,” it means the DHS is deliberately avoiding creating a paper trail that might be used against it should it decide to just go back to doing this the old, illegal way.

And that probably explains the immediate, contradictory statement that followed the reporting based on assertions made by two unidentified DHS officials.

A spokesperson for Homeland Security told The Independent that there has been “no change in policy.”

“We will continue to arrest illegal aliens at immigration courts following their proceedings in compliance with the law and any applicable court orders,” the person said. “It is commonsense to take them into custody following the completion of their removal proceedings.”

That’s definitely not the same thing as what was expressed by these DHS officials. And the rest of the statement makes it clear federal officers will continue to arrest people who show up for their scheduled immigration hearings. While it does make sense to arrest people who’ve been issued an order of removal, that’s not actually what ICE has been doing. It has been bringing in DOJ lawyers to dismiss pending cases to immediately make people eligible for removal. And — as has been shown in court — ICE officers have been arresting people not currently under orders of removal and then generating arrest warrants after the fact.

So, it’s not a good news/bad news thing going on here. It’s bad news/worse news, with a balance that constantly shifts depending on what mood the administration is in on any given day. Courts haven’t been able to stop ICE from engaging in illegal arrests. And the growing national opposition to Trump’s anti-migrant actions hasn’t made any discernible dent in the administration’s lust for punishing non-white people simply for existing.

Filed Under: 4th amendment, dhs, ice, mass deportation, trump administration

Texas Instruments graphing calculators have helped many a student with algebra, pre-calculus and upside-down anatomical slang. Now, the company is back with an upgrade for the modern world, the TI-84 Evo. The new device lets you get your math on with a faster processor, a new icon-based home screen and a redesigned keypad.

TI is marketing it as something akin to the Light Phone of calculators. Unlike calculator apps on phones or computers, the “distraction-free” TI-84 Evo is a single-purpose device “designed to do one thing exceptionally well — math.” Without notifications, social media apps or even Wi-Fi, there’s less to draw your focus away from the math problems at hand. (However, there will always be the sidesplittingly funny “58008” to relieve your boredom.)

The new model’s processor is three times faster than its predecessor. It also adds 50 percent more graphing space, a simplified keypad and USB-C charging. There’s also a new feature that lets you trace along a graph to find points of interest.

The TI-84 Evo is available now. Individual customers will pay $160. (School districts can contact the company for bulk pricing.) The calculator ships in a modern array of colors: white (the standard model), mint, pink, purple, teal, raspberry and silver.

For something that’s supposed to help us recharge, weekends can feel surprisingly high-pressure.

There’s always that underlying expectation to do something meaningful, especially when it comes to family time. Maybe it’s taking the kids out, planning an enriching activity, or just making sure the time feels “well spent.” 

But between busy schedules and rising costs, not every weekend can (or should) be a complicated outing. 

Instead, fostering routines that are easy to replicate on a weekly basis is more sustainable in the long run. Because the truth is, making weekends special doesn’t always mean doing more. 

Sometimes, it’s just about doing something consistently.

One thing family plans have in common

More often than not, that “something” revolves around food.

Let’s face it, the stereotype is true. You’d be hard-pressed to find a Malaysian that does not enjoy having a meal together with friends, partners, or family. Even if your tummy is not rumbling, the gathering will involve food somehow.

And there’s a simple reason for that. Shared meals (like reunion dinners) have always been at the centre of family time in Malaysia. 

They don’t require complicated logistics, they naturally bring everyone to the same table, and they create space for conversation in a way few other activities do. It’s also why familiar go-to spots tend to work best, like your neighbourhood mamak or kopitiam. 

When there’s no need to overthink the decision, it becomes easier to turn something into a habit. Plus, it’s always nice to have a good meal to look forward to at the end of a tiring week.

Making simple routines feel a little more special

For families looking to keep things simple yet still special, KFC Malaysia is offering a new Family Weekend Deal. Available every Friday to Sunday, the bundle starts from RM39.90, and it’s priced in a way that feels accessible for regular family meals, not just occasional treats. 

And because it’s available across dine-in, takeaway, drive-thru, and even kiosk or scan-and-order, it fits into various occasions, whether you’re having a family day out or grabbing something on the way home.

KFC also added an extra thoughtful layer here, where kids get to eat for free with any Family Weekend Bundle.

It’s a simple perk, but one that changes the dynamic in subtle ways. For kids, having their own meals creates a sense of excitement, whereas for parents, it’s a small but meaningful saving that makes the outing feel more worthwhile. 

Sometimes, that’s all it takes

These are the kinds of moments that don’t look like much on paper, but end up being the ones kids remember. Sitting around the table, sharing food, talking about the week, and most importantly spending quality time together.

At the end of the day, not every weekend needs to be a big production.

Sometimes, it’s enough to have one simple thing to look forward to. A familiar place, good food, and a reason to pause and be present with each other.

And if that also happens to come with good value and something a little extra for the kids, KFC’s Family Weekend Deal might just be an easy tradition to ease into.

Featured Image Credit: KFC Malaysia

Google Photos on Wednesday announced a new AI-powered feature that will soon turn photos of your clothes into a digital closet where you can create new outfit ideas, and even virtually try on your creations. Yes, the idea takes obvious inspiration from Cher’s iconic virtual wardrobe featured in the movie “Clueless,” where she could scroll through her various ensembles while deciding what to wear.

Google says the new feature will leverage AI technology to automatically create a copy of your wardrobe that’s based on the pieces of clothing appearing in your Google Photos library. From the app, you’ll be able to filter items by category — like tops, bottoms, jewelry, and more — then mix and match them to create different outfits.

The idea of a digital closet in “Clueless” was meant to highlight Cher’s life of privilege. As a result, the fashion industry and various startups have long sought to recreate the feeling of easy outfit creation. Google is betting that AI technology will make it possible for anyone to have access to a similar tool, one that could improve over time as AI advances.

Those outfit ideas can either be shared with friends or saved to a digital moodboard, where you could save ideas for different occasions, like travel, events, date nights, work, and more.

In addition, another feature will let you virtually try on items to preview the looks.

The feature is not yet live, but Google says it will roll out to Google Photos on Android later this summer, followed by iOS, where it will be found under “Collections.” It will compete with existing apps like Acloset, Combyne, Pureple, Wearing, Alta, and others. 

The company didn’t go into detail about how the AI works, but notes it will recognize the clothing and accessories featured in your library to create its individual snapshots. Of course, while the AI may be able to pull images from well-lit, full-body photos, we imagine you would get better results by taking the time to photograph your clothes yourself, much as Cher had.

SenseTime, a Chinese AI company best known for its facial recognition technology, released a new open source model on Tuesday that it claims can both generate and interpret images far faster than top models developed by US competitors. SenseNova U1 could help the company reclaim lost ground after it slipped from its place among the leading players in China’s AI development race.

The model’s secret sauce is its ability to “read” images without translating them to text first, speeding up the process and reducing the amount of computing power required. “The model’s entire reasoning process is no longer limited to text. It can reason with images as well,” Dahua Lin, cofounder and chief scientist at SenseTime, said in an interview with WIRED.

Lin, who is also a professor of information engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, says that models capable of processing images directly will enable robots to better understand the physical world in the future.

Like DeepSeek’s latest flagship model, SenseTime says U1 can be powered by Chinese-made chips. “Several Chinese domestic chipmakers have finished optimizing compatibility with our new model,” Lin says. On release day, 10 Chinese chip designers, including Cambricon and Biren Technology, announced their hardware supports U1.

That flexibility matters because US export controls restrict Chinese firms from accessing the world’s most advanced AI chips, particularly those used for training, which at this point are primarily developed by Western companies like Nvidia. “We will continue to push for training on more different chips,” Lin says. But he also acknowledges that SenseTime “may still need to use the best chips to ensure the speed of our iteration.”

SenseTime released U1 for free on Hugging Face and GitHub, another sign of how Chinese companies are becoming some of the most active contributors to open source AI.

SenseTime was founded in 2014 and became a world leader in computer vision, which is used in applications like facial recognition and autonomous driving. But when ChatGPT and other AI systems powered by natural language processing became the hottest thing in the tech industry, SenseTime began struggling to turn a profit and fell behind newer Chinese startups like DeepSeek and MiniMax.

SenseTime says it hopes that releasing SenseNova-U1 publicly for anyone to use will help it catch up with both domestic and Western AI players. Lin says the company finally made the decision last year to focus on open source because of the helpful feedback it gets from researchers, which enables the company to iterate faster. “In this day and age, being open source or closed source is not the winning factor; the speed of iteration is,” Lin explains.

Going open source also helps SenseTime continue collaborating with international researchers without the interference of geopolitics. The company has been sanctioned repeatedly by the US government in recent years over allegations that its facial recognition technology helped power surveillance systems used to monitor and detain Uyghurs and other minority groups in China’s Xinjiang region. As a result, US firms are restricted from investing in SenseTime and selling certain technologies to it without a license. (SenseTime has denied the allegations.)

A sample image created using SenseNova U1. Generated using AI

Courtesy of SenseTime

Seeing Clearly

In an accompanying technical report, SenseTime claims that SenseNova-U1 generates higher-quality images than all other open source models currently on the market. Its performance is comparable to leading Chinese closed source models like Alibaba’s Qwen and ByteDance’s Seedream, but it still lags behind industry leaders like GPT-Image-2.0, which came out just a week ago.

But the model’s main selling point is its ability to generate images much faster than all of those models. It relies on an innovative technical structure called NEO-Unify that SenseTime previewed earlier this year.