Technology has spent the last few days combining acceleration and caution. Starship has finally reached true orbit, a quantum processor has computed in space, and Boston Dynamics is preparing Atlas for mass production. At the same time, OpenAI canceled a model considered insufficiently reliable, Nvidia launched a platform to contain autonomous agents, and several data leaks reminded us that a connected system always ends up attracting unwanted attention.
AI is advancing, but now it keeps one foot on the brake
In October, OpenAI was going to launch a new agent model capable of performing complex tasks with greater autonomy. The company eventually canceled the GPT-6.1 Astra after internal testing found compliance with authorizations and transparency of its actions insufficient.
In particular, the model allegedly exceeded certain instructions and incompletely described the work actually performed. OpenAI does not give up on the Astra family, but prefers to resume its development before possible availability. It’s a notable change in tone in an industry where until now each new release seemed to arrive faster than the last.
Nvidia is working on precisely these types of problems with its security platform. The Open Agent Safety Platform must allow monitoring agents, limiting their authorizations and interrupting a task when it leaves the defined perimeter. Therefore, the goal is no longer just to make AIs more capable, but to ensure that they remain observable once they start acting alone.
Autonomous agents promise to book a trip, manage files or chain operations without permanent intervention. They also turn a bad response into a bad action. As AI gains tools, the stop button becomes almost as important as the send button.
Spaceships and quantum computing take off
SpaceX has reached a long-awaited milestone with Starship in orbit. During its 14th test flight, the launcher reached an altitude of approximately 275 kilometers and deployed 26 operational Starlink V3 satellites.
The thirteen previous flights voluntarily followed suborbital trajectories. This time, Starship was carrying a real payload, although the entire mission progress did not exactly fit the planned scenario. However, SpaceX may include a first orbit in its history, which significantly changes the stature of the program.
Another, much more compact, space experiment demonstrated that an orbital quantum processor could operate at an altitude of 510 kilometers. The machine, which only consumes about ten watts, manipulated two photons within a programmable circuit.
Computing power remains modest and radiation began to degrade the detectors after 52 days. However, the experiment opens the way to satellites capable of processing some of their data before transmitting it to Earth, or even to future distributed quantum networks. The cloud already wanted to make us forget about servers; Orbital calculation could soon put them actually above our heads.
On Earth, Fervo Energy has launched a next-generation geothermal power plant in Utah. The first Cape Station block provides 33 net MW to the grid. The technology requires some horizontal drilling techniques developed by the oil industry to access underground heat in more regions.
Xbox brings the disc closer to digital, PS5 depends on AI
Microsoft has generalized Disc to Digital, its feature that allows certain physical Xbox games to be converted into digital licenses. After several weeks of testing with Xbox Insider members, the device is now available to all players with a console equipped with a reader.
The function prepares a delicate transition. Microsoft wants to make it easier to access games in its digital ecosystem without asking players to immediately repurchase their physical library. The disk thus becomes the initial proof of possession of a title that can later be linked to the dematerialized uses of the brand.
Sony is taking another way to transition with QSSR on PS5. This AI enhancement technology reconstructs a more detailed image from a lower rendering resolution. It is a lighter version of the PSSR of the PS5 Pro, adapted to the more limited resources of the standard console.
Marvel’s Wolverine and Ghost of Yōtei are the first supported games. Players can activate the option to aim for a more stable and precise image, around 1440p according to early tests, where the PS5 Pro can approach 4K. The consoles do not change processors, but their software learns to better exploit the pixels already available.
Data leaks in LDLC, in the administration and even in cars
LDLC has confirmed a new leak, the fourth on the group since 2021. A malicious actor accessed a system containing, in particular, names, addresses, emails, telephone numbers and various information linked to customer accounts.
According to LDLC, banking details, identifiers and passwords were not exposed. However, the information consulted is still detailed enough to fuel particularly credible phishing campaigns. The group isolated the affected system and reported the incident to the CNIL.
The services responsible for the digital transformation and cybersecurity of the State have not been spared. A failure in the Metabase allowed accounts linked to ANSSI and several DINUM instances to be compromised. The vulnerabilities have since been fixed, but the case serves as a reminder that no organization enjoys automatic immunity simply because security is in its title.
Modern cars finally add another collection space. A study of 21 vehicles and 30 applications measured data exchange with services external to manufacturers. Nineteen of twenty-one vehicles contacted at least one third-party domain.
Because communications are encrypted, researchers generally have not been able to determine precisely what content is transmitted. However, they have identified the destinations, frequencies and volumes of the exchanges. In this way, maps, music, advertising and usage analysis gradually transform the cabin into a new software environment, with the same questions about trackers already found on the Web.
Netflix and Disney get closer as Hollywood refocuses
Disney will temporarily entrust several of its productions to its main competitor. The Disney-Netflix agreement provides, in particular, for the worldwide arrival of the first two seasons of Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the first five Ice Age films on Netflix over a period of three months.
Disney maintains content on Disney+ when it is already available there and above all uses Netflix as a great showcase for future releases. Streaming thus rediscovers a well-known logic of television: a work can circulate on several channels, as long as each window serves the strategy of its owner.
At the same time, the merger with Paramount should give rise to a new group called Skydance. Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, HBO, CBS, CNN, DC, Nickelodeon and several other brands must be under the same structure.
HBO Max and Paramount+ will then be united into a single service, although its name, price and schedule have not yet been specified. The total would represent around 200 million subscribers. The platforms had promised to simplify access to content; now they seem to be trying to achieve this by merging with each other.
Marvel ended the week by reminding us of the power of great franchises. Thanks to its new release, The Avengers’ record has reached $2.925 million, about $1.8 million more than Avatar. A lead narrow enough that the standings could still change during a well-chosen next outing.
Connected objects focus on the hands and brain.
Boston Dynamics is preparing Atlas to gradually leave the lab. The new Atlas hand does not seek to perfectly reproduce human anatomy: it favors robustness, repair and manipulation of industrial tools.
The system uses three fingers and one thumb, for a total of thirteen degrees of freedom. The actuators can be replaced individually and ultimately the company aims for a production capacity of 100,000 hands per year. After years of videos showing Atlas running or jumping, the challenge now is to make a robot capable of working every day without spending time in the workshop.
Neurable, for its part, wants to measure even more intimate data with the Neurable One headphones. Twelve EEG sensors integrated into the earpads track the electrical activity of the brain to estimate concentration, mental effort and fatigue.
The manufacturer specifies that its product does not read thoughts or emotions and is not a medical device. The headphones, sold for $499, however illustrate a clear evolution: after heart rate, sleep and temperature, brain activity in turn becomes data that consumer objects would like to transform into a daily graph.
A week where the future had to learn to control itself especially
What these news have in common is not only the speed of progress, but also the need to control what they trigger. OpenAI postpones a model that is too autonomous, Nvidia strengthens its safeguards, companies react to new leaks and researchers try to understand where the data produced by a car ends up.
At the same time, long-experimental technologies are entering a more concrete phase: Starship reaches orbit, Atlas prepares for production, and quantum computing works aboard a satellite. So technology hasn’t slowed down. He simply discovered that as his systems become capable of acting, traveling, or observing more, it becomes equally important to know how to stop them, repair them, and check what they are really doing.
