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What started with an apocalyptic warning from a former Anthropic researcher on 9 September that AI (Self improving super intelligence) could wipe out the human race within a decade has led to a series of appeals and decisions from the bosses of three of the...

By Aakar Patel "Attendance at the hearing is mandatory. Please treat this as urgent and make the necessary arrangements to attend without fail.” I had meant to ignore the SIR notice which came over WhatsApp and had decided against going. But then my wife went...

By Dilip Cherian The death of Rakesh Mehta, former Chief Secretary of Delhi, is deeply saddening. But beyond the shock of a respected former civil servant taking such a drastic step lies a more uncomfortable truth: we rarely know what is happening behind the composed...

It is surprising that the administration in Paris, France, in charge of managing institutions like the Eiffel Tower bent over backwards for a Hindoo religious group called BAPS demanding removal of women in and around the monument during their visit. The Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan...

The judiciary is one of the three pillars of Indian democracy that the people traditionally trust, most for the redress of wrongs. But over the years people’s faith in it has steadily eroded. Now, it is witnessing a crisis of faith like never before with...

Research and Development (R&D) is always considered the most expensive or cost intensive part of any new product. Deep pockets alone venture into the R&D playground, whether it is for spacecrafts or even a new X Box or Nintendo game console. Companies or entities developing...

By Aakar Patel The 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks will soon be upon us. Americans will mourn, taking time off to complain about high petrol prices inflicted on them by another war. Examining the US media, it becomes clear that the primary driver...

By Dilip Cherian An IAS officer quitting after 13 years is unusual. An officer as publicly visible as Divya Mittal doing so, months before Uttar Pradesh’s next election cycle, was bound to trigger speculation. Mittal says the decision followed reflection on family, priorities and other...

Banning books by governments does not surprise much since this has been going on across the world since long. But when publishers suddenly decide not to print books by high-profile writers even after their tomes are completed, it raises disturbing questions about the publishers &...

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in its latest report released recently has castigated India for its poor record in curbing hate speech, persecuting underprivileged groups, racial discrimination and trampling freedom of speech and expression through repression by law enforcement agencies....