Issue #61

Lloyds sends investment data to wrong client, UK government implements efficiency, Meta beta-tests AI comments, and more. 

News from March 20 - March 27, 2025

NYPD Sends Drones to Crime Scenes

The New York Police Department now sends drones to respond to 911 calls, a cost-effective solution implemented by the mayor to combat rising crime. The drones reach speeds of 48 mph and arrive at crime scenes in 30 seconds, identifying faces and license plates from 0.8 miles away while streaming footage to officers' smartphones in real time.

The NYPD failed to disclose the drones' additional capabilities, including three-dimensional mapping technology, thermal imaging, night vision, and glass-breaking tools. City officials claim the technology makes New York safer, despite controversy after drones monitored Caribbean community backyard barbecues during the J'Ouvert festival last September.

New York joins 30 US cities using police drones, including Chula Vista, California, and Denver.

Source

DNA of 15 Million People for Sale

The genetics company 23andMe filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, following four years of financial decline, court cases and PR problems. 

Millions of customers have used 23andMe’s saliva-based testing kits to find their ancestry. But the company’s value declined after reaching its 2021 peak of $6 billion, and it failed to turn a profit. To make matters worse, hackers stole the DNA of 7 million users in 2023, forcing the company to pay $30 million in a settlement last September. 

Since filing for bankruptcy, a court will oversee the sale of 23andMe’s assets, including the DNA of its 15 million users. Meredith Whittaker, President of Signal: “If anyone in your family gave their DNA to 23andMe, for all of your sakes, close your/their account now.”

Source

Trump Imposes Venezuelan Tariffs 

Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on countries purchasing Venezuelan oil. The move is expected to increase global oil prices by 1%. These tariffs will begin on April 2, which Trump refers to as "liberation day."

China will be significantly impacted, having received over half of Venezuela's oil exports in February (502,000 barrels daily). Other affected countries include Italy, Spain, India, and Cuba. US oil producer Chevron received an extended deadline to conclude its Venezuelan operations.

Trump implemented these measures after accusing President Maduro of conducting unfair elections and failing to prevent Venezuelan drug gangs from entering the US. Trump: "Venezuela has been very hostile to the United States and the Freedoms which we espouse." In response, Beijing urged the US to stop interfering in foreign countries' internal affairs.

Source

Bulletin Board

• Lloyds Sends Investment Data to Wrong Client. Lloyd's Banking Group accidentally sent one customer the investment data of 12 other customers. The leaked information included names, addresses, and portfolio movements, with one portfolio exceeding £5 million. Lloyds: "Unfortunately, when the package was received in our office, a member of staff opened it and found your statement on top. They mistakenly posted the entire package to your address without following the correct procedure." The banking group offered the customer £300 in compensation. Source
• Company Pays for Causing Cancer. A Georgia judge ordered Bayer, the parent company of Monsanto, to pay $2.1 billion in damages to a man who claimed the company’s weed-killer caused his cancer. The plaintiff, John Barnes, said that using the weed-killer ‘Roundup’ caused his non-Hodgkin’s lymphona. The German pharma company acquired Roundup in 2018. Since then, it has paid $10 billion to settle similar claims and has set aside a further $5.9 billion to face another 60,000 pending cases. Earlier this year, the company warned US lawmakers it would be forced to stop selling Roundup if it couldn’t be protected from lawsuits. Bayer’s share price has dropped since the ruling. Source
• UK Government Implements Efficiency. The UK government announced 15% cuts to civil service spending by 2030, with AI making it possible. The 10,000 jobs at stake include those in human resources, communications, and office management. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, said the £2 billion savings could be spent on high-priority areas like the NHS. This comes after PM Keir Starmer described the civil service as “flabby” and vowed to reduce its size and double its digital and data roles. The civil service grew during the pandemic and hasn’t returned to pre-COVID levels, with 547,735 people working for the government in December 2024. Source
• Meta Beta-Tests AI Comments. Meta has been testing a new AI feature on Instagram that analyses photos and generates automated responses. One user spotted the ‘Write with Meta AI’ test feature, a pencil icon next to the text bar of a post. Spokesperson for Meta: “Outside of DMs, you will find Meta AI there for you in areas like comments, feed, groups, and search to make your experiences more fun and useful.” This comes after Meta tested AI-generated comments on Facebook last year and its unpopular rollout of “creepy” AI bot accounts on Instagram. It’s unclear when this test feature will be publicly available. Source
• Humans Beat AI in Test. Humans beat AI models in a new test called ARC-AGI-2. The test was designed to see whether AI systems could interpret new patterns ‘on the fly’ without training. To pass, AI and human teams had to identify visual patterns from a collection of coloured squares. OpenAI’s o1-pro and DeepSeek’s R1 scored 1% and 1.3% on ARC-AGI-2, while the 400 humans split into small groups got 60% of the questions right. This comes after Meta Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCunn said LLMs achieving human-like intelligence was “nonsense”. Source

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