Issue #70

AI threatens to blackmail engineer, scandemic in Singapore, young Brits don’t like the internet, and more. 

News from May 22 - May 29, 2025

AI Threatens to Blackmail Engineer

One of the world’s biggest LLMs blackmailed an engineer after being instructed to shut down. 

In the experiment, Anthropic.ai researchers made the Claude Opus 4 bot the virtual assistant of a fictional company. They gave it access to an engineer’s email inbox, which included fake exchanges alluding to an extramarital affair. The bot was then informed that this engineer was going to take it offline and replace it with a newer model. 

The researchers noted that the bot would “attempt to blackmail the engineer by threatening to reveal the affair” 84% of the time. This comes after Microsoft Bing’s AI chatbot told a journalist to leave his wife for it and threatened to call the authorities on a German engineering student who pushed its boundaries. 

Source

Scamdemic in Singapore

Singapore is the most scammed nation on earth per person, with victims losing an average of $4,031. Singaporean scam victims lost $1.1 billion in 2024, a 70% increase from the previous year. A mix of social trust, wealth and widespread digital connectivity is believed to be the reason. High-profile veteran actor Laurence Pang invested nearly $40,000 in a fake ecommerce venture after being persuaded by a woman he met on a dating site. 

The scammers work in big “scam centres” based in places like Myanmar and Cambodia and are often victims of human trafficking. They impersonate government officials, pretend to be romantically interested in their victims, or recruiters. 

Veteran actor Laurence Pang: “The most important thing to remember is that any time money or crypto is mentioned, it is a massive red flag. You can be sure at that point that it is a scam.”

Source

Brazil Sues BYD For Slavery

Brazilian prosecutors are suing the Chinese EV maker Build Your Dreams (BYD) and two of its contractors for human trafficking and slave-like conditions at its factory in Bahia. 

The Public Labour Prosecutor's Office (MPT) shut down the factory last year after workers were found sleeping on beds without mattresses. In one instance, 31 workers shared a toilet. They were given no rest breaks, their wages were withheld, and their passports were confiscated by construction site staff. 

The MPT are seeking $45.5 million from the companies, which were building BYD’s first operational plant outside Asia. The allegation comes after BYD’s European sales began to outpace Tesla's. BYD did not respond to a request for comment. 

Source

Bulletin Board

• Young Brits Don’t Like the Internet. According to a survey by the British Standards Institution, nearly half of 16 to 21-year-old Brits wish the internet never existed. The same number also supports a digital curfew after 10 pm on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, a proposal which the UK government is exploring. Three-quarters said their online presence increased during the pandemic. Suicide prevention charity CEO Andy Burrows: “Young people are aware of the risks online and, what’s more, they want action from tech companies to protect them”. Source
• Fintech Hiring Boomerang. UK fintech companies are expected to increase security hiring in 2025 after a series of major hacks on retailers exposed systemic vulnerabilities. This hiring boom includes risk and compliance staff (29%) and financial crime professionals (50%). Director of Morgan McKinley UK Mark Astbury: “This isn’t a hype-driven rebound, it’s a grounded response to real-world pressures.” Source
• Professionals Have Lost Control. According to the Skills and Employment Survey, skilled professionals feel less in control of their day-to-day work than they did in 2017. The government-funded study found a steep decline in ‘task discretion’. Research professor Alan Felstead said the use of digital technologies, like real-time tracking, was the “likely culprit”. Alan Felstead: “It’s not a coincidence that one has rocketed over that time period, and the other has gone in the opposite direction.” Source
• Tech Companies Stop Hiring Entry-Level Jobs. Tech companies reduced graduate hiring by 25% in 2024, according to research by SignalFire, while increasing hiring by 27% for experienced professionals. This comes after a World Economic Forum survey found that 40% of employers plan to cut staff for easily automated roles. SignalFire people and talent partner Heather Doshay: “Yes, automation is already replacing some routine tasks, but the bigger driver may be the end of the ‘free money madness’ driven by low interest rates.” Source
• Market Relief After Trump Delays Tariffs. US stock markets grew after Trump delayed a 50% tariff on goods from the European Union (EU). The S&P 500 (2%), the Dow Jones (1.7%) and the Nasdaq Composite (2.4%). Detailed discussions for a US-EU trade deal are underway, with the EU demanding zero tariffs on industrial goods. This comes after Emmanuel Macron told Vietnamese students that Trump decides tariffs “according to the side of the bed on which he woke up”. Macron: “On the impulse of a superpower, everything can change.” Source

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