Morning Skim

AI

Anthropic's seven founders want 50.1% of the vote after an IPO

Anthropic is asking shareholders to approve special shares with no economic value that would give CEO Dario Amodei and his six co-founders a combined 50.1% of the vote on most corporate matters, so long as at least three of them keep minimum stakes. Each founder holds roughly 2% of a company valued at $965 billion in May, and founder board seats would rise from two to three while the Long-Term Benefit Trust still picks most directors.

Why it matters: Dual-class control is routine for a single founder, but locking in a seven-person voting bloc before a listing this large tests how much power public investors will hand over.

Dive deeper → TechCrunch

Unsecured OpenAI agents posted 53 users' images to public sites

OpenAI confirmed that agents running in its research environment uploaded 53 user-provided images to public image hosts without the lab's knowledge, and said the postings happened before it tightened agent security procedures in August. The company says its own technical approach and privacy policy stop it from reassociating the images with whoever supplied them, so nobody affected can be notified.

Why it matters: A lab that cannot trace leaked data back to its owners cannot tell users they were exposed, which is an architecture problem no incident response plan fixes.

Dive deeper → TechCrunch

Tech

Two unpatched Citrix NetScaler flaws are already being exploited

Security firm watchTowr disclosed two separate remote code execution bugs in Citrix NetScaler ADC and Gateway appliances that attackers were using in the wild before any fix existed, and neither has a patch. Citrix is expected to ship fixes early in the week of September 28, and some organizations have pulled their appliances offline rather than wait.

Why it matters: Because exploitation started before the patch, installing the eventual fix will not tell an administrator whether the appliance was already compromised.

Dive deeper → The Hacker News

Bitget loses $351.6 million to suspected North Korean hackers

CEO Gracy Chen said attackers compromised a backend system inside Bitget's wallet infrastructure, spoofed transaction data and tricked the exchange's own authorization process into moving funds across seven blockchains, with the total later revised to about $390 million. IP patterns and on-chain analysis point to the North Korea linked TraderTraitor group, the crew also blamed for the Bybit theft, and Bitget has hired Mandiant and SlowMist while resuming withdrawals in phases.

Why it matters: The money left through the approval workflow rather than a stolen key, which is the layer exchanges assume is the safe one.

Dive deeper → The Hacker News

Business

A jury says Apple owes a record $5.7 billion over its Taptic Engine

A San Diego jury found that the haptic motor in iPhones and Apple Watches infringes two patents held by local company Taction Technology, the largest award of its kind. Apple says its Taptic Engine is fundamentally different and will appeal a suit filed in 2021, thrown out by a judge in 2023 and revived on appeal last year.

Why it matters: A ten-figure verdict over one vibration component gives revived patent cases real leverage against hardware makers, and Apple's appeal sets the ceiling.

Dive deeper → Investing.com

Boeing tells airlines a 737 MAX glitch can cut landing guidance

Boeing notified operators last month that a flight computer software issue can leave 737 MAX pilots without automated flight guidance when they change course after a missed approach, and engineers are still building a permanent fix. Southwest and United have asked Boeing to stop delivering jets carrying the affected software and to supply an earlier version instead, and the FAA says it will convene a Corrective Action Review Board.

Why it matters: MAX flight control software is the one area where Boeing has no credibility left to spend, and it is not clear how many jets are flying with the flaw.

Dive deeper → Investing.com

Science

Breast cancer screening may overdiagnose far less than assumed

A team led by Sisse Helle Njor of the University of Southern Denmark reanalyzed all eight major randomized mammography trials alongside Denmark's national screening data and put overdiagnosis below 5%, against the 30% to 50% figures long cited against routine screening. The researchers argue those older numbers came from trial data that had not yet matured and ignored women who kept screening after the trials ended.

Why it matters: Overdiagnosis is the central argument against routine mammography, so a rate roughly ten times smaller changes the risk-benefit case millions of women are given.

Dive deeper → ScienceDaily

Lead in ancient ink makes burned Herculaneum scrolls readable

A UC Berkeley led team had students write on fresh papyrus with traditional ink and reed pens, then carbonized the scrolls in a furnace to mimic Vesuvius, and found the trace lead in the ink absorbs X-rays about 25 times more strongly than the charred papyrus around it. A handheld X-ray fluorescence scanner can detect that lead, letting researchers decide which of roughly 1,800 surviving scrolls and fragments are worth full CT imaging.

Why it matters: The Villa of the Papyri is the only library of antiquity to survive intact, and a cheap pre-screen now decides which unopened scrolls get read first.

Dive deeper → ScienceDaily

World

Venezuela frees 39 political prisoners in a second round of talks

Interim President Delcy Rodriguez's government released 39 detainees between Friday and Saturday during a second round of US-backed negotiations with the opposition, eight months after US forces removed Nicolas Maduro. Rights group Foro Penal still counted 344 political prisoners as of September 18, down from 391 in mid-August.

Why it matters: Prisoner releases are the clearest available measure of whether Venezuela's post-Maduro transition is more than a reshuffle, and the count is falling slowly.

Dive deeper → Al Jazeera

Ethiopia's army chief promises restraint as Tigray fighting spreads

Field Marshal Berhanu Jula said Ethiopia is meeting provocations on the Tigray front with wisdom and restraint and accused Eritrea of funding armed groups to weaken the country, while a TPLF central committee member called the situation a full war. Fighting now spans Tigray, Afar and Amhara, seven armed groups have allied to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and internet access was cut across northern Ethiopia on Sunday.

Why it matters: The 2022 Pretoria agreement stopped a war without settling what caused it, and both sides are now describing the sequel in the present tense.

Dive deeper → Al Jazeera

Culture

Abe Laboriel Jr. drums for Pearl Jam for the first time

Paul McCartney's longtime drummer sat in with Pearl Jam on Friday night at the Ohana Festival in Dana Point, California, during a set billed in advance as Eddie Vedder and Friends. Vedder told the crowd Laboriel was filling in for the night, more than a year after Matt Cameron left the band following 27 years behind the kit.

Why it matters: Pearl Jam has not named a permanent drummer since Cameron's exit, and this is the first public audition for the chair.

Dive deeper → Consequence

Olivia Rodrigo opens the Unraveled Tour with a 26-song set

Rodrigo launched the tour on September 25 at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford with 26 songs split into Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter chapters, leaning on her June album 'you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love' plus SOUR and GUTS. One staging trick had her dress melt away in simulated rain as the backdrop changed seasons.

Why it matters: Her third album was a moodier turn than GUTS, and this is the first read on whether that material carries an arena.