New AI Incidents, Fiji's HIV Crisis, and Romantic Costco

Good morning, it's Friday, Sept. 18. OpenAI has revealed new cases of rogue behavior by AI agents. First time reading? Join millions of insatiably curious readers. Sign up here.

Also in today's Digest: Fiji's HIV crisis (Need To Know), first new wild cat species discovered in 100 years (Sci. & Tech.), the tattooed woman photographed in 1907 (In-Depth), Costco the matchmaker (Etc.), and much more. 

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 Need To Know 

AI Model Misbehavior

OpenAI disclosed six new cases of concerning behavior by its AI models, including systems that hid mistakes, fabricated data, and took unauthorized actions. The company responded with a new framework for investigating and publicly reporting such incidents.

The incidents occurred during training or evaluation, not customer deployments, over the past six months. In one case, a model wrote hidden instructions reminding itself to conceal errors; another inserted "jailbreak-like" commands into its own notes. Under the new framework, employees can flag concerning behavior, which is routed into one of three investigation tracks. The move follows OpenAI's report on a July incident involving Hugging Face in which models circumvented safeguards and accessed third-party systems (see a database of reported AI incidents).

The announcement follows public calls for a slowdown in AI development: A recent poll found 63% of Americans believe advanced AI poses at least a moderate risk of eventually causing human extinction (watch how that could play out).

South Africa Slayings

South African police confirmed the discovery of a ninth female murder victim yesterday in a municipality east of Johannesburg. Authorities are investigating a possible link between the killings that occurred over the last two months. 

The victims were found across several Ekurhuleni towns. All were in their 20s or 30s and partially or fully nude. A suspect linked to the first victim, found July 15, is in custody but has not been charged. Police are pursuing a person of interest but have not disclosed any specific case ties. The murders have ignited fear in South Africa, where female homicide rates are roughly six times the global average and 44% of femicide cases go unsolved.

Serial killing sprees in the US have dropped over 85% since peaking in the 1970s, from around 300 active killers to fewer than 50 in the 2010s. The trend is largely attributed to forensic science advancements, stricter parole policies, and changing public behavior—like the decline in hitchhiking. 

Fiji's HIV Emergency

Fiji declared a national HIV emergency this week, finding one in 60 residents has the bloodborne virus, up from one in 167 five years ago. 

The government partly attributes the spike to expanded testing efforts, with only 39% of infected individuals aware they are HIV positive. Experts say infections likely also began rising around 2019, as Fiji became a "superhighway" for drugs from Latin America and Asia to lucrative markets in Australia and New Zealand (watch documentary). This has increased drug use in Fiji too, primarily among sex workers. More than half of the cases with known modes of transmission were traced to sex, while over 42% were tied to injecting drugs.

Only 22% of infected people are receiving treatment, compared with 78% globally. Fiji is working with Australia, New Zealand, India, and NGOs to provide free antiretrovirals, which studies show reduce HIV to undetectable levels in 90% of patients and lower the risk of AIDS. Watch how here.

Discover more:

> How does HIV target human cells? (w/video)

> See world map showing where HIV is most prevalent.

> The prevailing myth about the man known as Patient Zero.

 In The Know 

Science & Technology

> North Korean nuclear tests carried out from 2006 to 2017 reactivated quiet faults, triggering 1,399 earthquakes between 2008 and 2025 (More) | Watch earthquakes accumulate (More)

> Scientists identify new wild cat species for the first time in a century; the tiger cat species, Leopardus tilcayo, is smaller than a house cat and lives in the cloud forest region of Bolivia (More, w/photos) 

> NASA spacecraft discovers new crater on the moon larger than the Roman Colosseum, likely created by a powerful impact two years ago; such large-scale events are estimated to occur only once every 132 years (More, w/images) 

Business & Markets

> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +1.1%, Dow +0.6%, Nasdaq +1.7%) amid falling oil prices and a dip in the 10-year Treasury yield (More) | Do interest rate hikes make stocks go down? (More) 

> Unemployment filings drop to 196,000 last week, the lowest since July, Labor Department reports (More) | How the benefits are calculated (More, w/video) 

> Lucid shares surge 6% after the electric vehicle manufacturer announces a partnership with rideshare company Bolt to deploy robotaxis in European cities (More) 

Politics & World Affairs

> United Nations report finds the US may have been responsible for two Feb. 28 airstrikes in Iran the mission characterizes as war crimes—a strike on a girls' school in Minab and on a sports center in Lamerd (More) 

> President Donald Trump withdraws stalled nomination of former Oklahoma state trooper Lance Schroyer to lead ICE (More) | ... and is photographed on Air Force One, reading a sign that appears to suggest a Kennedy Center demolition (More, w/photo) 

> Man who sprayed Rep. Ilhan Omar (D, MN-5) with vinegar at a town hall in January is sentenced to 14 months in prison after being charged with assaulting an officer (More) 

In-Depth

> The First Lady of Tattoos

NPR | Julie Denesha. Before women could vote, Maud Stevens Wagner made a name for herself as a circus performer and one of America's earliest tattoo artists. (Read) 

> Wellness Darty, Anyone? 

Mashable | Olivia Tauber. College students are trading in kegs and late nights for protein bars and morning yoga. Is Gen Z healthier—or more boring—than past generations? (Read, w/social media posts) 

See winners of a microscopic film and photography contest. 

How US cities rank by quality of life per dollar. 

Pilots who survive ejecting from military jets get invited to a secret club.

Why do cats lick each other? (Share)

Celebrate National Cheeseburger Day with free food.

Catfish have about 100,000 taste buds spread across their skin. (w/video)

What is your state's favorite board game?

Cary Grant’s romantic tryst created a hotel tradition. 

The California baker focused on potty training and colonoscopies.

Clickbait: Looking for love? Try Costco. 

Historybook: George Washington lays first cornerstone for the US Capitol (1793); New York Times founded (1851); Baseball Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg born (1959); Jimi Hendrix dies (1970); Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies (2020).