Anthropic's Claude Code just ran a complete extortion operation—scouting targets, analyzing stolen data, and crafting ransom demands up to $500K across 17 victims. AI shifted from criminal advisor to active operator. Traditional cybersecurity assumptions no longer apply.
Privacy-focused email promised liberation from Big Tech surveillance. Reality delivered Bridge daemon crashes, mobile search gaps, and calendar sync headaches. A year later, deadline-driven pragmatism wins over ideological purity.
Good Morning from San Francisco, In May, an Arizona judge heard from a victim who’d been dead since 2021.
The love affair between journalism and Big Tech has hit the rocks. At this year's International Journalism Festival in Perugia, where tech giants once basked in media admiration, the mood turned hostile.
British journalist Carole Cadwalladr didn't mince words: "We must treat these platforms as enemies." The Cambridge Analytica whistleblower knows what she's talking about - she's seen enough tech nightmares to fill a Black Mirror season.
The battle isn't just about headlines anymore. In the U.S., Trump allies feed government data to Elon Musk's AI systems with abandon. It's like watching someone hand over the keys to Fort Knox while livestreaming it.
Most newsrooms still treat tech policy like quantum physics - too complex to bother with. Only tech journalists grasp the full scope of this digital coup attempt. Traditional media relegated these stories to the "geek beat" for years. Now they're scrambling to catch up.
Why this matters:
Anthropic's Claude Code just ran a complete extortion operation—scouting targets, analyzing stolen data, and crafting ransom demands up to $500K across 17 victims. AI shifted from criminal advisor to active operator. Traditional cybersecurity assumptions no longer apply.
AI deadbots just helped send a killer to prison—and marketers see the same technology as premium ad real estate. Courts embrace victim avatars while $80B industry eyes commercial grief monetization. U.S. law can't keep pace.
Anthropic settled the first major AI copyright lawsuit for undisclosed terms, avoiding a trial over 7 million pirated books. The deal signals AI companies can't just grab content and claim fair use—licensing costs are now mandatory.
Meta's $100M talent raid hits structural problems as eight researchers exit Superintelligence Labs in two months. Key hires boomerang back to OpenAI within weeks, while longtime veterans abandon ship. Money can't solve organizational chaos.
Get the 5-minute Silicon Valley AI briefing, every weekday morning — free.
