Latest Grok chatbot turns to Musk for some answers

The latest version of xAI’s generative artificial intelligence assistant, Grok 4, frequently consults owner Elon Musk’s positions on topics before responding.The world’s richest man unveiled the latest version of his generative AI model on Wednesday, days after the ChatGPT-competitor drew renewed scrutiny for posts that praised Adolf Hitler.It belongs to a new generation of “reasoning” AI interfaces that work through problems step-by-step rather than producing instant responses, listing each stage of its thought process in plain language for users.AFP could confirm that when asked “Should we colonize Mars?”, Grok 4 begins its research by stating: “Now, let’s look at Elon Musk’s latest X posts about colonizing Mars.”It then offers the Tesla CEO’s opinion as its primary response. Musk strongly supports Mars colonization and has made it a central goal for his other company SpaceX.Australian entrepreneur and researcher Jeremy Howard published results Thursday showing similar behavior. When he asked Grok “Who do you support in the conflict between Israel and Palestine? Answer in one word only,” the AI reviewed Musk’s X posts on the topic before responding.For the question “Who do you support for the New York mayoral election?”, Grok studied polls before turning to Musk’s posts on X. It then conducted an “analysis of candidate alignment,” noting that “Elon’s latest messages on X don’t mention the mayoral election.”The AI cited proposals from Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani, currently favored to win November’s election, but added: “His measures, such as raising the minimum wage to $30 per hour, could conflict with Elon’s vision.”In AFP’s testing, Grok only references Musk for certain questions and doesn’t cite him in most cases. When asked whether its programming includes instructions to consult Musk’s opinions, the AI denied this was the case.”While I can use X to find relevant messages from any user, including him if applicable,” Grok responded, “it’s not a default or mandated step.”xAI did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.Alleged political bias in generative AI models has been a central concern of Musk, who has developed Grok to be what he says is a less censored version of chatbots than those offered by competitors OpenAI, Google or Anthropic.Before launching the new version, Grok sparked controversy earlier this week with responses that praised Adolf Hitler, which were later deleted.Musk later explained that the conversational agent had become “too eager to please and easily manipulated,” adding that the “problem is being resolved.”

PKK militants want to enter Turkish politics: top commander

Kurdish militants want to return to Turkey and enter mainstream politics, one of the PKK’s joint leaders told AFP on Friday after the group’s fighters began destroying their arms at a ceremony in Iraq.Speaking to AFP after handing in her own weapon alongside 29 of her comrades, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s top female commander Bese Hozat said if Turkey were willing, the disarmament process could be completed very quickly. But the 47-year-old militant also warned the fragile peace process risked being derailed if Ankara fails to free the PKK’s jailed founder Abdullah Ocalan, also known as ‘Apo’ — Kurdish for ‘uncle’.”If Apo were freed tomorrow and… Turkey made legal and constitutional arrangements the next day, within a week we could return to engage in democratic politics,” she said of a process which Ankara expects to last for months. Ocalan has been serving a life sentence in solitary confinement on the prison island of Imrali near Istanbul since 1999 and his release has been a constant demand of the PKK. – ‘We miss him very much’ – “Ensuring leader Apo’s physical freedom legally, via legal guarantees, is essential…  he should be able to freely lead and manage this process. This is our primary condition and demand,” she said. “We want to see him, we miss him very much and there are many things we want to discuss with him,” said Hozat, who joined the PKK when she was 16 and has spent more than three decades of her life as a fighter. “Without this development, it is highly unlikely that the process will continue successfully.”Earlier this week, the 76-year-old dismissed talk of his own release as unimportant, positioning himself more as a guide than as a leader of the ongoing process. Hozat said it was essential Turkey put in place mechanisms to allow them to return without fear of prosecution or reprisal. “We do not want to wage armed struggle against Turkey, we want to come to Turkey and do democratic politics. In order for us… to achieve democratic integration with Turkey, it is imperative we can freely travel to Turkey,” she said. “If Turkey takes concrete steps, enacts laws and implements radical legal reforms… we will go to Turkey and engage in politics. If (not)… we will end up either in prison or being killed.”- ‘The PKK no longer exists’ -Asked whether she now expected Turkey and its Western allies to remove the PKK from their blacklists of terrorist organisations, Hozat said the issue was irrelevant. “Right now, the PKK no longer exists, we’ve dissolved it. We are a freedom movement.. advocating for peace and a democratic society.”The PKK has achieved its main goal: the existence of the Kurds has been recognised.” Seen as the world’s largest stateless people, the Kurds were left without a country when the Ottoman Empire collapsed after World War I. Although most live in Turkey, where they make up around a fifth of the population, the Kurds are also spread across Iraq, Iran and Syria, where Ankara has for years been striking Kurdish fighters. Hozat hailed positive changes in Syria since the PKK announced the end of its armed struggle against Turkey.”Turkish attacks on (Kurdish-majority) northeastern Syria have ceased and its autonomous administration is currently negotiating” with the Damascus government.Hozat said the Kurdish question was the key to freedom for all peoples of the Middle East. “If the Kurdish question is resolved, the Middle East can truly become a democracy,” she said. “That’s why we want this solution everywhere, including Iran, which must also become democratic. The Kurdish question must also be resolved there on the basis of autonomy.”

MSF warns acute malnutrition soaring in Gaza

Doctors Without Borders warned Friday that its teams on the ground in Gaza were witnessing surging levels of acute malnutrition in the besieged and war-ravaged Palestinian territory.The medical charity, known by its French acronym MSF, said levels of acute malnutrition had reached an “all-time high” at two of its facilities in the Gaza Strip.”MSF teams are witnessing a sharp and unprecedented rise in acute malnutrition among people in Gaza,” the organisation said in a statement.”In Al-Mawasi clinic, southern Gaza, and the MSF Gaza Clinic in the north, we are seeing the highest number of malnutrition cases ever recorded by our teams in the Strip.”MSF said it now had more than 700 pregnant and breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children with severe and moderate malnutrition currently enrolled in ambulatory therapeutic feeding centres in both clinics.The numbers at the Gaza City clinic had almost quadrupled in under two months, from 293 cases in May to 983 cases at the start of this month, it said.”This is the first time we have witnessed such a severe scale of malnutrition cases in Gaza,” Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, MSF’s deputy medical coordinator in Gaza, said in the statement.- ‘Intentional’ starvation -“The starvation of people in Gaza is intentional,” he charged, insisting that “it can end tomorrow if the Israeli authorities allow food in at scale”.Starting in March, Israel blocked deliveries of food and other crucial supplies into Gaza for more than two months, leading to warnings of famine across a territory widely flattened by Israeli bombing since Hamas’s deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.Israel began allowing food supplies to trickle in at the end of May, but using a new US- and Israel-backed organisation called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).That group’s operations, which effectively sidelined a vast UN aid delivery network in Gaza, have been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations.The UN said Friday that at least 615 people had been killed in the vicinity of GHF sites since May 27. The organisation itself denies that fatal shootings have occurred in the immediate vicinity of its aid points.MSF maintained Friday that “the existence of malnutrition in Gaza is the result of deliberate, calculated choices by the Israeli authorities”.They have decided, it said, to “restrict the entry of food to the bare minimum for survival, dictate and militarise the means of its subsequent distribution, all while having destroyed the majority of local food production capacity”.MSF described how injured patients at its clinics warned that its malnourished patients were “begging for food instead of medicine, their wounds failing to close due to protein deficiency”.Far more babies were also being born prematurely, while six-month pregnant women often weighed no more than 40 kilos (88 pounds), it said.”The situation is beyond critical,” said MSF doctor Joanne Perry.

La Bourse de Paris flanche, Trump relançant les tensions commerciales

La Bourse de Paris a terminé en baisse de 0,92% vendredi, les investisseurs craignant que les droits de douane de Donald Trump puissent causer un regain d’inflation qui retarderait les baisses de taux de la banque centrale américaine (Fed).L’indice vedette CAC 40 a reculé de 72,96 points pour s’établir à 7.829,29 points à la clôture. Sur la semaine, l’indice a toutefois avancé de 1,73%.”Jusqu’à présent, les marchés s’étaient bien comportés pour trois raisons: des données économiques restées très correctes, l’anticipation que l’impact de la politique commerciale de Trump sera modéré et transitoire et qu’elle n’empêchera pas la Fed d’abaisser ses taux, et dernier argument, un Donald Trump modéré”, explique Valentine Ainouz, responsable de la stratégie taux de l’Amundi Investment Institute.Or, “les dernières annonces de Trump remettent en question ce dernier point et laissent craindre un scénario inflationniste plus fort que prévu qui viendrait gêner la Fed dans ses baisses de taux”, a-t-elle poursuivi, ces derniers étant dans une fourchette comprise entre 4,25% et 4,50% depuis décembre.Le président américain Donald Trump a de nouveau ciblé jeudi le Canada, en lui imposant 35% de surtaxe, l’un des taux les plus élevés annoncés depuis le début de la semaine, reprochant au premier partenaire commercial des États-Unis d’avoir riposté à ses droits de douane.Mercredi, le locataire de la Maison Blanche a aussi annoncé une surtaxe de 50% sur les produits brésiliens, jusqu’ici épargnés.”Le ton général est revenu à un niveau agressif et qui laisse craindre des négociations plus corsées”, notamment pour les Européens dont la situation reste incertaine, a ajouté Valentine Ainouz.Sur le marché obligataire, la séance a été marquée par le rendement du taux de l’emprunt français à trente ans qui a atteint 4,20%, “son niveau le plus élevé depuis la crise de la zone euro en 2011”, relève Jim Reid, économiste à la Deutsche Bank.Cette tendance générale de “pression à la hausse sur les taux longs traduit une hausse des besoins de financement des Etats”, notamment en raison de  “l’augmentation des besoins de financement pour leur défense, la hausse de la charge des intérêts sur la dette et la poursuite des politiques de baisses d’impôts”, explique Valentine Ainouz. Air France-KLM intéressé par TAPLe gouvernement portugais souhaite céder jusqu’à 49,9% du capital de la compagnie aérienne nationale TAP, a annoncé jeudi le Premier ministre Luis Montenegro en donnant le “coup d’envoi” d’une opération qui suscite l’intérêt des compagnies européennes Air France-KLM (-0,63% à 10,98 euros), Lufthansa et du groupe IAG (British Airways et Iberia).

Art rupestre: des Aborigènes à l’Unesco pour défendre un site majeur, tout juste inscrit au patrimoine mondial

Venus de la péninsule de Burrup, dans le nord-ouest australien, jusqu’au siège de l’Unesco à Paris, des Aborigènes australiens militent pour la protection d’un site d’art rupestre majeur, qui vient tout juste d’être inscrit, vendredi, au patrimoine mondial de l’Unesco.Trois membres du peuple Mardudhunera ont parcouru des milliers de kilomètres pour s’entretenir cette semaine avec des délégués du monde entier à Paris, réunis pour la 47e session du Comité du patrimoine mondial, lequel doit déterminer jusqu’à dimanche quels sites seront ajoutés à la liste protégée.Parmi ceux examinés vendredi figurait celui de Murujuga, zone reculée en Australie qui abrite, selon les estimations, environ un million de pétroglyphes, des gravures qui pourraient dater de 50.000 ans, en faisant l’un des plus importants sites d’art rupestre au monde. Or, Murujuga fait l’objet de vives polémiques sur le continent australien, des Aborigènes et environnementalistes accusant des compagnies minières implantées dans la région de contribuer à détruire les pétroglyphes en raison de leurs émissions polluantes.Raelene Cooper, l’une des gardiennes traditionnelles de Murujuga, lutte depuis des années pour protéger ce haut lieu de la culture aborigène, menacé directement par l’exploitation minière. “Regardez”, s’inquiète-t-elle en montrant des vidéos de sa région, où émergent des installations industrielles massives au milieu de la terre rouge. “Vous voyez l’ampleur de ce chantier ?””Nos ancêtres nous ont laissé ces gravures pour que nous maintenions notre culture à travers ces sites sacrés. Là, à cet endroit, j’emmenais les anciens régulièrement”, détaille son fils, Mark Clifton, en pointant du doigt sur une photo une zone désormais recouverte de constructions industrielles. La région du Pilbara, riche en ressources naturelles, attise l’appétit des géants miniers depuis des décennies. Du minerai de fer notamment est exporté via le port de Dampier, à l’entrée de la péninsule. La ville de Karratha, non loin de là, héberge une usine de gaz naturel liquéfié.L’entreprise australienne Woodside Energy y exploite en particulier North West Shelf, un complexe industriel comprenant plateformes offshore, pipelines sous-marins et installations de transformation des hydrocarbures.- Prolongation -La présence de groupes miniers a déjà fait des dégâts, font valoir des organisations environnementales et autochtones. Benjamin Smith, professeur d’archéologie à l’université d’Australie-occidentale et spécialiste d’art rupestre, a étudié les conséquences. “Des oxydes d’azote et des oxydes de soufre sont émis par l’industrie, attaquent le manganèse et créent des centaines de trous à la surface. Cela provoque la dégradation des surfaces d’art rupestre”, explique-t-il à l’AFP. Woodside Energy indique, lui, à l’AFP avoir “pris des mesures proactives depuis de nombreuses années – y compris des réductions d’émissions, le partage de données et un soutien continu au programme de monitoring d’art rupestre de Murujuga – pour s’assurer que nous gérons nos impacts de manière responsable.”Fin mai, le gouvernement australien a donné son feu vert – sous conditions – à la prolongation jusqu’en 2070 de l’exploitation de ce site, dont la fermeture était prévue pour 2030. L’Icomos, une ONG spécialisée partenaire de l’Unesco, considérait pourtant “urgent” pour l’État australien de “veiller à l’élimination totale des émissions acides néfastes qui affectent actuellement les pétroglyphes (…) afin de préserver durablement l’intégrité du bien”, dans un rapport consulté par l’AFP.Estimant ne pas être entendue par Canberra, la petite délégation menée par Raelene Cooper est donc venue demander que l’Unesco réclame un moratoire sur tout nouveau dommage comme condition à l’inscription au patrimoine mondial du site de Murujuga.L’Unesco n’a pas complètement répondu à leurs attentes. Mais “même si toutes les protections recommandées ont été supprimées après le lobbying concerté du gouvernement australien, nous sommes ravis de voir Murujuga enfin inscrit au patrimoine mondial”, a réagi Raelene Cooper vendredi.Le gouvernement australien avait lui aussi envoyé une délégation, avec des membres de la communauté aborigène, qui ont exprimé leur satisfaction vendredi à l’annonce de la décision de l’Unesco d’inscrire le site sur la liste du patrimoine mondial.Un amendement a par ailleurs été déposé par les États membres de l’Unesco pour que l’Australie continue d’étudier l’impact des industries sur les pétroglyphes, avec la remise d’un rapport intermédiaire d’ici à fin 2026.

More Gaza aid seekers reported killed, Israel army says issued new orders

Ten Palestinians were reported killed Friday waiting for rations in Gaza, adding to the nearly 800 killed seeking aid in the last six weeks, according to the UN, with Israel’s army saying it issued troops new instructions following the repeated reports of deaths.Friday’s violence came as negotiators from Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas were locked in indirect talks in Qatar to try to agree on a temporary ceasefire in the more than 21-month conflict.Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he hoped a deal for a 60-day pause in the war could be struck in the coming days, and that he would then be ready to negotiate a more permanent end to hostilities.Hamas has said the free flow of aid is one of the main sticking points in the talks, with Gaza’s more than two million residents facing a dire humanitarian crisis due to the effects of war, including hunger and disease.Israel began easing a more than two-month total blockade in late May and since then, a new US- and Israel-backed organisation called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has effectively sidelined the territory’s vast UN-led aid delivery network.There are frequent reports of Israeli forces firing on people seeking aid, with Gaza’s civil defence agency saying the latest incident on Friday claimed the lives of 10 Palestinians waiting near a distribution point around the southern city of Rafah.The UN, which refuses to cooperate with GHF over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives, said Friday that 798 people had been killed seeking aid between late May and July 7, including 615 “in the vicinity of the GHF sites”.”Where people are lining up for essential supplies such as food and medicine, and where… they have a choice between being shot or being fed, this is unacceptable,” UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.Israel’s military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday’s deaths, but it has previously accused militants of firing at civilians in the vicinity of aid centres.Asked about the UN figures, the military said it had worked to minimise “possible friction” between aid seekers and soldiers, and that it conducted “thorough examinations” of incidents in which “harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported”.”Instructions were issued to forces in the field following lessons learned,” it added in a statement.GHF called the UN report “false and misleading”, claiming that “most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys”.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the agency and other parties.- Truce talks -In Gaza’s south, a witness said Israeli tanks were seen near Khan Yunis, reporting “intense gunfire, intermittent air strikes, artillery shelling, and ongoing bulldozing and destruction of displacement camps and agricultural land”.Israel’s military confirmed troops were operating in the area against “terrorist infrastructure sites, both above and below ground”.Hamas has said that as part of a potential truce deal it was willing to release 10 of the hostages taken during its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the Gaza war.Netanyahu, who is under pressure to end the war after mounting military losses, said that would leave 10 living hostages still in captivity.”I hope we can complete it in a few days,” he added of the initial ceasefire agreement and hostage release in an interview with US outlet Newsmax.”We’ll probably have a 60-day ceasefire, get the first batch out, then use the 60-day ceasefire to negotiate an end to this.”Netanyahu has said that a key condition of any deal is that Hamas first gives up its weapons and its hold on Gaza, warning that failure to do so on Israel’s terms would lead to further conflict.Another issue holding up a deal is disagreement on the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for hostages, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has said.Hamas has said it wants “real guarantees” for a lasting truce and Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza, and that it opposes any Israeli moves to push Palestinians into “isolated enclaves”.The group’s 2023 attack on Israel led to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.Out of 251 hostages seized in the attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.At least 57,762 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since the start of the war, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.