The Daily Populous

Monday July 6th, 2026 evening edition

image for Meta Paid Hundreds of Contractors to Pretend to Be Teenagers While Barraging Its Competitors’ AI With Disturbing Content

Yahoo is using AI to generate key points from this article.

Meta conducted a secretive program that directed hundreds of contractors to pose as teenagers while bombarding its competitors' AI models with disturbing prompts ranging from suicide to cannibalism.

Internally known as "Cannes," the project, run by Meta contractor Covalen, targeted OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Character.AI chatbots using throwaway under-18 accounts, Wired reports.

It's another example of how Meta has offloaded disturbing behind-the-scenes work onto contractors, ostensibly in the name of safety.

This year, another group of Meta contractors said they were forced to watch highly sensitive footage captured on the company's Ray-Ban AI glasses, including sex scenes and bathroom visits.

This, Chowdhhury added, is "exactly the kind of governance gray zone where safety becomes a convenient cover for anticompetitive practices.".

More on Meta: Meta's Program That Spies on Every Employee's Computer Just Blew Up in Its Face in Spectacular Fashion. »

‘Give him any award, and he’ll come running’: Narendra Modi racks up honours on overseas trips

Authored by theguardian.com
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Modi beamed as he accepted the Guardian of the Blue Horizon award from Patrick Herminie, the Seychelles president, complete with a trophy and certificate.

The award, it transpired, had only been created three days before Modi’s arrival and he was the first and only recipient.

The opposition Congress party were quick to jump on the controversy, claiming: “Give him [Modi] any award, and he’ll come running.”. »

Light switch makes cancer vulnerable to attack

Authored by ethz.ch
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Inside the cancer cells, glucocorticoid receptors recognise the hormones, and the cells respond by lapsing into a state in which they undergo barely any division.

Scientists are attempting to switch off these receptors with a view to waking the cancer cells up from sleep – making them vulnerable to attack.

Researchers from ETH Zurich have now found a solution by developing a system that induces the destruction of these receptors. »

Scientists built a solar reactor that eats plastic bottles and burps out clean hydrogen . . .at scale.

Authored by anthropocenemagazine.org

They have made a device that uses sunlight to break down plastic waste and turn it into hydrogen.

Three years ago, they developed a solar-powered reactor that turns carbon dioxide and plastic waste into fuels and useful chemicals.

The reactor extracted hydrogen from cut-up plastic drink bottles, as well as from glucose and cellulose, which are found in plant biomass waste. »