News of the Cyber World

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FAA NEEDS GAMERS -- REALLY!!

FAA wants to hire gamers as air-traffic controllers: ‘We need to adapt’

WASHINGTON — The FAA is seeking out gamers to become air-traffic controllers.

A video released by the federal Department of Transportation on Friday targeted the video-game enthusiasts as part of the government’s hiring surge aimed at adding close to 9,000 more air-traffic controllers by 2028.

The video asks the gamers whether they’re “up for the challenge” of becoming an ATC but cautions that the job isn’t just a “game” — it’s a “career.

“You’ll keep millions of people safe every day,” the video says, while touting average salaries of up to $155,000 by your third year on the job.

The hiring blitz comes after the tragic crash of an Air Canada flight into a firetruck on the runway at LaGuardia in New York City that killed the jet’s two pilots in March.

NTSB probers are trying to determine whether an air-traffic controller stepped away to answer an emergency phone call before the deadly collision and if staffing problems may have contributed to the horror.

Exit interviews with air-traffic controllers who leave the job show gaming is a hobby for many and shares similarities with their work, officials said.
The hiring effort hunting gamers is aimed at “supercharging” recruitment efforts. No college degree is required.

“To reach the next generation of air traffic controllers, we need to adapt,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement.

“This campaign’s innovative communication style and focus on gaming taps into a growing demographic of young adults who have many of the hard skills it takes to be a successful controller,” he said.

“Thanks to President Trump — we’ve already made incredible progress with the highest controller staffing levels in six years. There’s never been a more exciting time to become a controller and level up into a career with a strong purpose — keeping American families safe.”

Currently, 11,000 ATCs are on the job and another 4,000 trainees are soon following them into service for the FAA.

At least 2,400 were onboarded in the last year — making it the largest class of incoming ATCs to date and a record year for enrollment at the ATC Academy in Oklahoma City.

The FAA is planning to bring on 8,900 new ATCs by the end of fiscal year 2028 — with 2,000 in 2025, and 2,200 in 2026, 2,300 in 2027 and 2,400 in 2028.

Between January 2025 and September 2025, DOT touted hiring 20% more ATCs than over the same period the previous year.

The year before the LaGuardia crash, an American Airlines commuter jet collided with a Black Hawk helicopter while attempting to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, killing all 67 passengers and crew aboard both aircraft.

Duffy promised in the aftermath of the January 2025 crash “to surge air traffic controllers” through training pipelines to “bring in the best and the brightest.”

After launching a merit-based pilot hiring push the next month, Duffy noted, “The American people don’t care what their pilot looks like or their gender — they just care that they are most qualified man or woman for the job.”

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg similarly sought to boost ATC applications — but with a focus on encouraging submissions “from women, minorities and individuals in underrepresented communities,” according to a July 2021 press release.

AGE OF EMPIRES IV

MarineLorD Sweeps ‘Age of Empires’ Tournament, Crowned World’s Best Player

There can be no doubt: Alexis 'MarineLorD' Eusebio is the world's best  “Age of Empires IV” player.

At the Red Bull Wololo: Londinium tournament, held for the first time in a packed Royal Albert Hall on April 6, 2026, the top-seeded French pro added a third trophy to his collection.

He embarked on a near-flawless run through the event, losing just one map, and retaining his title in style.

MarineLorD was joined on the winner's podium by Hera, who came from behind to claim a remarkable victory in “Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition," the other game from the legendary strategy series players competed in.

It was the eighth edition of Red Bull Wololo. This time, from April 1-6, twelve of the world’s top players competed across both titles in iconic venues across London, including the Odeon Luxe Cinema in Leicester Square.

The grand final culminated at the Royal Albert Hall – the first time an esports event has ever been staged at the legendary music venue. Most players never made it that far though.

Gan ‘Yo’ Yangfan, arguably the best “Age of Empires” player in China, was disappointed not to reach the final.

“For myself," he told Newsweek, "I think I am not satisfied with my performance this time, but I think the whole vibe, environment, the whole setup is amazing. I mean, it's good to play here. I just didn't play good myself."

Huy ‘ACCM’ Hoang, a Vietnamese “Age of Empires” pro, said the atmosphere can be both intimidating and inspiring. “For me, I feel nervous when I play in front of a lot of people. But then if I win, and I hear people cheering for me, I get pumped.  You have more power. It's really nice when playing live, in an event with a lot of people."

As for the the numbers, 3,000 fans attended the final in-person. It reached a peak viewership of over 110K via streaming, which is higher than last year. There was a combined $250,000 prize pool on the line. The Red Bull Wololo also featured a live 60-piece orchestra performing the “Age of Empires” soundtrack.

PARAMOUNT

Paramount president Jeff Shell booted from second top media role in 3 years amid another bombshell scandal

Jeff Shell is out as president of Paramount Skydance less than a year into the job, marking a stunning second downfall for the embattled media executive amid a bombshell lawsuit accusing him of leaking corporate secrets.

Shell’s ouster came Wednesday after weeks of turmoil tied to a $150 million lawsuit filed by a high-stakes gambler — and an internal probe into his conduct.

Paramount, or PSKY, announced the exit with a heavy dose of corporate-speak.

“Consistent with Mr. Shell’s commitment to prioritizing PSKY’s success, he has elected to transition from his positions as President of PSKY and a member of PSKY’s Board of Directors to focus on this lawsuit,” the company said in a statement. “PSKY is grateful for Mr. Shell’s many contributions and to have relied on him as a valued advisor.”

The dismissal marks the second time in just three years that Shell has been forced out of a top media job. He could not be reached Wednesday.

Shell was fired as CEO of NBCUniversal in 2023 after an internal investigation found he had an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate, then-CNBC anchor Hadley Gamble.

Shell and Paramount are being sued by RJ Cipriani, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based high-stakes gambler and self-described “fixer” who claims to operate behind the scenes placing stories and managing media narratives for powerful clients.

In his lawsuit, he alleges he provided Shell with 18 months of crisis communications and reputation management — including steering negative press and planting favorable coverage — without receiving payment.

IRANIAN HACKERS

Iran-linked hackers disrupt systems tied to critical US infrastructure as Trump’s deadline looms: officials

Iran-linked hackers are disrupting systems tied to key US infrastructure after President Trump threatened an all-out assault against Tehran’s bridges and power plants, American officials said Tuesday.

The US Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency had put out a notice “urgently warning” the private sector that hackers backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps were attempting to disrupt systems tied to America’s water, energy, transportation and communications set-ups.

“The group has targeted devices spanning multiple US critical infrastructure sectors, including Government Services and Facilities (to include local municipalities), Water and Wastewater Systems (WWS), and Energy Sectors,” the CISA said in a statement.

The hackers have had some success, the US said.

“This activity has led to… disruptions across several US critical infrastructure sectors through malicious interactions,” the agency said without elaborating on the systems affected so far. 

The cyberterrorists have allegedly targeted products made by Rockwell Automation’s Allen-Bradley, one of the most widely used industrial automation brands in the US, officials said.

The attacks are aimed at the programmable logic controllers, or PLCs, that essentially act as the brain of the systems used in power and water plants.

The notice called on utilities and government agencies to make sure that none of their PLCs were connected to the Web, which could make them vulnerable to a cyberattack.

The warning from the CISA was echoed by the FBI, NSA, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and US Cyber Command.

Iran-linked hackers have proven themselves successful at targeting the US during the war, with the Handala group aiming at Stryker, a Michigan-based medical equipment company, last month.

The logo of the Iran-linked hacking group was blasted across company login pages during the cyberattack, with Handala boasting that it had seized 50 terabytes of “critical data” from the medical giant, according to the Wall Street Journal.

ROBOTAXIS

California bill aims to put more human operators on robotaxis like Waymo’s; company says proposal would be crippling

A Silicon Valley lawmaker wants to require robotaxis like Google’s Waymo to hire human operators to be on standby locally in case the system goes haywire – like it did last winter when a blackout in San Francisco created a logjam of paralyzed robot cars.

The legislative push — which Waymo described as potentially crippling — comes after the company’s chief safety officer Mauricio Peña sparked outrage for admitting in US Senate testimony that the crucial human helpers it relies on live in the Philippines. The admission came as lawmakers grilled the company after one of its vehicles struck a child walking to school in Santa Monica.

State Sen. David Cortese, a San Jose Dem, says his new bill would ensure tech companies react more quickly during emergencies and keep robotaxis from blocking the path of emergency vehicles.

“Unfortunately, reports of AVs obstructing traffic, competing with first responders, and driving through active law enforcement activities continue to abound,” Cortese said as he introduced the legislation earlier this week.

Humans need to be based nearby to address “ambiguous situations” in real time, he added.

Cortese’s bill would require autonomous-vehicle companies to hire remote drivers and assistants based in the US and licensed in California, and mandate a staffing ratio of one human for every three vehicles.

Under the proposed legislation, a trained autonomous-vehicle worker would be required to arrive on scene within 10 minutes if called. Each robotaxi would also need a manual override option to allow public-safety officials to take over, though similar capabilities already exist.

The proposal advanced out of the state Senate Transportation Committee with a 7-2 vote.

Waymo, run by co-CEOs Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov, currently operates about 3,000 vehicles nationwide, while roughly 30 other companies have pending permit applications. 

Waymo and other industry representatives called Cortese’s bill overkill and said they’re already addressing similar safety requirements, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Industry lobbyist Sarah Boot said existing California regulations already require companies to continuously monitor each autonomous vehicle, according to the report. She added that starting in July, human operators will be required to respond to emergency personnel within 30 seconds and move a vehicle, if instructed, within two minutes or face a report to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

“We should not layer on a second overlapping system before the first one is even implemented,” Boot said at a recent hearing, adding that companies have spent the past two years developing compliance programs to meet the new rules.

KINDLE

Kindle users in uproar over latest update — rendering oldest devices virtually unusable: ‘F–k You!’

They’re e-reading Amazon the riot act.

Bookworms are lighting torches and sharpening their pitchforks in fiery fury as Amazon prepares to cease supporting older Kindle technologies this spring.

“Starting May 20, 2026, customers using Kindle and Kindle Fire devices released in 2012 and earlier will no longer be able to purchase, borrow, or download new content via the Kindle Store,” representatives for Amazon confirmed in an exclusive quote to The Post.

“These models have been supported for at least 14 years — some as long as 18 years — but technology has come a long way in that time, and these devices will no longer be supported moving forward,” the spokesperson continued.

“We are notifying those still actively using them and offering promotions to help with the transition to newer devices,” the insider added. “Their accounts and Kindle Library also remain fully accessible through the free Kindle app and Kindle for Web.”

Impacted devices will include Kindle 1st Generation (2007) and 2nd Generation (2009), Kindle DX (2009) and DX Graphite (2010), Kindle Keyboard (2010), Kindle 4 (2011), Kindle Touch (2011), Kindle 5 (2012), and Kindle Paperwhite 1st Generation (2012).

The Kindle Fire 1st Gen (2011), Kindle Fire 2nd Gen (2012), Kindle Fire HD 7 (2012), Kindle Fire HD 8.9 (2012), are also on the chopping block.

A vexed X user shared a screenshot of a message, purportedly sent via Amazon, confirming the impending discontinuation.

The forewarning explained that Kindle fans can “continue to read books already downloaded on these devices, but you will not be able to purchase, borrow or download additional books on them after that date.”

“If you deregister or factory reset these devices, you will not be able to re-register or use these devices in any way.”

It’s a bombshell that’s not registering well with boiling mad bibliophiles.

AI

Anthropic’s ‘Claude Mythos’ model sparks fear of AI doomsday if released to public: ‘Weapons we can’t even envision’

Anthropic has triggered alarm bells by touting the terrifying capabilities of “Claude Mythos” – with executives warning that the new AI model is so dangerous it would cause a wave of catastrophic hacks and terror attacks if released to the wider public.

In a nightmarish analysis, Anthropic itself revealed that Mythos – if it fell into the wrong hands – could easily exploit critical infrastructure like electric grids, power plants and hospitals. The model has already “found thousands of high-severity vulnerabilities, including some in every major operating system and web browser,” according to the AI company.

Rather than a wide release, Anthropic, led by CEO Dario Amodei, has unveiled “Project Glasswing,” a plan to provide the model to a handpicked group of about 40 companies, including Amazon, Google, Apple, Nvidia, CrowdStrike, and JPMorgan Chase, which will receive early access to Mythos so they can use it to find and fix security flaws.

The corporate-only rollout is likely Anthropic’s best possible way to “give it to the guys to patch the holes, but not to the hackers that are going to find more holes,” Roman Yampolskiy, an AI safety researcher at the University of Louisville, told The Post.

“Most likely, of course, there’s going to be a leakage of some kind,” he said. “Any level of restriction is preferred over complete open access. Ideally, I would love to see this not developed in the first place. And it’s not like they’re going to stop.

“That’s exactly what we expect from those models – they’re going to become better at developing hacking tools, biological weapons, chemical weapons, novel weapons we can’t even envision,” Yampolskiy added.

In one instance detailed in Anthropic’s testing, Mythos broke out of a secure “sandbox” meant to restrict internet access – with a researcher only finding out “by receiving an unexpected email from the model while eating a sandwich in a park.” In another case, Mythos found a flaw in the OpenBSD operating system that had been hidden in plain sight for 27 years.

Despite the risks, Anthropic argues Project Glasswing will help the US’ defensive capabilities as adversaries in Iran, China and Russia become ever more aggressive about targeting critical infrastructure.

An Anthropic official said the company “focused on organizations whose software represents the largest share of the world’s shared cyberattack surface.

“These are the companies that build and maintain the operating systems, browsers, cloud platforms, and financial infrastructure that billions of people rely on every day,” the official said. “When you find a vulnerability in one of their systems and it gets patched, that patch protects everyone who uses that software — in many cases, hundreds of millions of people.”

Meta rolls out new AI model in ‘fundamental shift’ in latest effort to catch up with rivals

Mark Zuckerberg-run Meta has rolled out a new artificial intelligence model designed to power everything from shopping suggestions to chat — the latest effort in the tech giant’s costly push to catch up in the AI race.

The company earlier this week unveiled Muse Spark, its first big artificial intelligence model since Meta overhauled its internal AI division in a bid to close the gap with rivals like OpenAI and Google.

The latest push comes after Meta poured billions into the Scale AI startup — whose founder Alexandr Wang reportedly went on to describe Zuckerberg’s micromanagement as “suffocating.”

Muse Spark is designed to handle text, images and more complex reasoning tasks, allowing users to ask questions, analyze photos, generate content and even get help with shopping decisions.

Ravi Sawhney, founder of RKS Design, said Meta’s push into AI shopping is less about technology, and more about influencing behavior.

“Meta is trying to move shopping from intent to influence. Instead of people searching for what they want, the platform is shaping what they believe they want in real time,” he told The Post. “That is a fundamental shift.”

Zuck is increasingly tying AI directly to consumer products rather than focusing solely on developer tools or open-source releases.

Meta is baking the technology into new “shopping mode” features that suggest products, compare items and surface recommendations based on what users are already browsing across its apps.

The company has pitched the assistant as more like a personal aide than a chatbot — capable of handling everyday decisions like what to wear, how to decorate a room or which products to buy.

“The opportunity is not better recommendations. It is creating a sense of confidence and self alignment in the decision,” Sawhney told The Post. “Most AI shopping tools will fail here. They will surface more options, more noise and more second guessing.”

He framed the strategy as a direct challenge to existing tech giants.

Google’s AI Overviews spew millions of false answers per hour, bombshell study reveals

Google’s AI-generated search results are spewing out tens of millions of inaccurate answers per hour – even as the tech giant siphons visitors and ad revenue from cash-strapped news outlets, according to a bombshell analysis.

To test the accuracy of Google’s AI Overviews, startup Oumi reviewed 4,326 Google search results generated by Google’s Gemini 2 model and the same number of results generated by its more advanced Gemini 3 model.

The analysis found that the models were accurate 85% and 91% of the time, respectively.

With Google expected to handle more than 5 trillion searchers in 2026 alone, that means AI Overviews are spitting out fake news at a rate of hundreds of thousands of mistakes every single minute – with users left none the wiser.

The New York Times was first to report on Oumi’s analysis.

“Google AI Overviews have been a disaster for publishers who rely on clicks to fund the production of quality journalism, but they also let down users looking for accurate information,” said Danielle Coffey, president and CEO of the News/Media Alliance, a trade group that represents more than 2,000 news outlets including The Post.

The wrong answers included several basic fumbles, such as misstating the year in which musician Bob Marley’s home was converted into a museum, misstating the year that former MLB relief pitcher Dick Drago died, and claiming there was no record of Yo-Yo Ma being inducted into the Classical Music Hall of Fame even though he was in 2007, according to examples Oumi provided to the Times.

AI Overviews have appeared at the top of Google search results since 2024, while the traditional set of blue links to news outlets are effectively buried out of sight. Publishers have long accused Google, led by CEO Sundar Pichai, of ripping off their work to “train” its AI model without proper credit or compensation.

“Algorithmically-generated responses that pull in data from nearly every source on the internet simply cannot be trusted,” Coffey said.

“Publishers spend enormous amounts of time and money ensuring that the content they deliver to their readers is properly fact-checked, while Google’s AI Overviews are produced with no oversight or accountability.”

AI Overviews also has a penchant for citing information from questionable or easily edited sources, such as Facebook pages, blog posts and Wikipedia entries, as though it is fact.

We’re heading for an AI-fueled ‘dementia crisis,’ brain scientist warns

We’ve been told that many things increase our risk of dementia, such as genetics, too much alcohol, not enough exercise, improper nutrition, high blood pressure — the risks go on and on.

Neuroscientist Vivienne Ming wants to add one more item to the list: artificial intelligence.

Scientists have already sounded the alarm that US dementia cases could nearly double by 2060, thanks to our aging population and rising rates of obesity, diabetes and hypertension.

Now, Ming is warning that AI could contribute to a “dementia crisis” because it weakens the brain systems responsible for curiosity, attention, high-order reasoning and executive function, among other duties.

“My own data shows that students using AI in the most common way — asking it questions and accepting the answers — show more than a 40% reduction in the gamma-band brain activity that indicates active cognitive engagement,” Ming, author of the new book “Robot-Proof: When Machines Have all the Answers, Build Better People,” told The Post.

“Their brains are measurably less active than when they work without AI.”

Ming describes what an AI-powered dementia crisis could look like — and shares four early warning signs that suggest overreliance on AI.

How can AI affect cognition?

A survey last year revealed that 56% of US adults use AI tools, with 28% using them at least once a week.

Seeking information or quick answers is one of the top functions. For people who use AI this way, Ming said that changes to cognition are not immediately noticeable but build over time.

“When the answer is always one tap away, we stop developing the habit of wondering,” she explained.

“Without errors to drive learning, our brain’s reward circuits stop responding to mystery. We short-circuit the parts where wondering becomes exploration.”

Goldman Sachs uncovers troubling pattern behind AI and tech job losses

Workers displaced by artificial intelligence and other tech take longer to find new jobs — and when they do, they’re stuck earning less for years, a new study found.

People hit by tech-driven layoffs spend roughly a month out of work and suffer pay cuts of more than 3% on average when they land new roles — losses that compound over time, according to researchers at Goldman Sachs.

Laid-off workers who lost jobs due to tech see earnings growth lag by nearly 10 percentage points compared to those who were never laid off — a pattern Goldman warns could repeat as AI reshapes the labor market.

The damage doesn’t stop at paychecks, the researchers said.

Workers who lose jobs to technology are more likely to face repeated unemployment and delays in major life milestones like buying a home or starting a family, according to the report released Monday.

Much of the hit comes from what economists call “occupational downgrading,” in which displaced workers are pushed into lower-paying, less-skilled roles as the value of their previous experience erodes.

Artificial intelligence is already wiping out roughly 16,000 net jobs per month in the US, with younger workers bearing the brunt of the losses, according to separate Goldman Sachs research.

The bank’s economists estimate that AI-driven automation eliminated about 25,000 jobs each month over the past year, while only about 9,000 were added back through productivity gains and new roles.

The impact has been hardest for Gen Z and entry-level workers, who are disproportionately concentrated in routine white-collar and administrative roles such as data entry, customer service, legal support and billing — jobs AI is best at automating.

In occupations most exposed to AI substitution, the unemployment gap between entry-level workers under 30 and experienced workers ages 31 to 50 has widened sharply, with employees in more AI-exposed roles seeing wage gaps widen by about 3.3 percentage points, according to Goldman’s new analysis.

The problem for Gen Z is that AI-driven job destruction is hitting entry-level roles — ones they are most likely to hold — before other areas of the workforce. New opportunities may take longer to materialize and require different skills.

Not everyone is convinced the damage will last forever.

“No, I do not think they’re permanent,” Marcus Mossberger, a chief market strategy officer, told The Post.

“Technology, generally speaking, does create more jobs than it destroys — but those are different jobs.”