OUR PICKSSecurity Hole at the Heart of ChatGPT | It’s Time to Regulate Solar Geoengineering | Reinventing America’s Approach to Technology Innovation

The Security Hole at the Heart of ChatGPT and Bing  (Matt Bugess, Wired)
The Bring Sydney Back incidents are largely efforts by security researchers who are demonstrating the potential dangers of indirect prompt-injection attacks, rather than criminal hackers abusing LLMs. However, security experts are warning that not enough attention is being given to the threat, and ultimately people could have data stolen or get scammed by attacks against generative AI systems.

Congress Really Wants to Regulate A.I., But No One Seems to Know How  (Sue Halpern, New Yorker)
Figuring out how to assess harm or determine liability may be just as tricky as figuring out how to regulate a technology that is moving so fast that it is inadvertently breaking everything in its path.

Solar Geoengineering Is Coming. It’s Time to Regulate It.  (Janos Pasztor, Cynthia Scharf, and Kai-Uwe Barani Schmidt, Foreign Policy)
Interest in—as well as concerns about—solar radiation modification (SRM, also known as solar geoengineering) has gathered momentum in recent months: from stunt deployment by a commercial startup to objections expressed in the media that Africa be used as a laboratory for environmental manipulation and the reactions to them, from plans by eminent scientists to refreeze the Arctic to rare bipartisan U.S. Senate support for scientific research into the idea.
Governments, the United Nations, and even the private sector are devoting greater attention to the possible risks and benefits of using these techniques to help manage the perils from temporarily overshooting the temperature goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
But with increasing knowledge, critical questions have emerged. Should there be a single finger on the global thermostat? Under which international process or institution would momentous decisions on whether or not to deploy be made, and will all countries and concerns be represented? Will more research and further awareness of SRM undermine global momentum to reduce emissions, remove atmospheric carbon, and strengthen adaptation? What would be the implications of unilateral deployment? How would an international agreement on SRM—of any nature—be enforced?

How America Can Reinvent Its Approach to Technology Innovation  (Siddhartha Kazi, National Interest)
Despite the United States continuing to spend the most on research and development (R&D) of any nation, the United States is lagging behind in spearheading new technologies. The issue isn’t a lack of R&D spending but rather an inability to implement new technologies or maintain a market edge over other nations. In other words, we are still the greatest innovators in the world, but we cannot successfully commercialize our innovations. The major reasons for this are a shift away from industrial policy to science policy, industry consolidation, and a lack of financing for small and medium enterprises. If we wish to correct course, it is necessary to look at the history of R&D in the United States.

Snowpack in the West is melting rapidly. Where will all that extra water go?  (Julia Jacobo, ABC News)
It’s getting hot out West — and those scorching temperatures are rapidly thawing the incredible amounts of snowpack that accumulated in the mountain ranges over a very active wet season.
Now, water utility experts and environmental experts are working to ensure the freshwater running down the mountainsides won’t go to waste.