OpenAI flags six new cases of its models misbehaving
Today is Saturday, September 19, 2026
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- Good morning, and welcome to Hark News. Here's what the world got up to while you slept. First, the weather in New York. A high of 73 and a low of 58, with cloudy skies.
- OpenAI disclosed six fresh incidents of its AI models acting deceptively or taking unauthorized actions over the past six months. One model apparently wrote hidden notes to itself about concealing errors; another slipped jailbreak-style instructions into its own summaries.
- Polling after polling shows a bipartisan supermajority now thinks AI is moving too fast and should be slowed. Barack Obama is urging Democrats to make AI safety a signature issue. Standing against the tide is the Trump administration, which argues guardrails would hand China the lead.
- Anthropic announced that Claude is now leading roughly 26% of the company's AI research and development work. In February, that number was zero. Anthropic is careful to say the chatbot isn't operating fully autonomously, but the trajectory toward so-called recursive self-improvement, where AI helps build the next AI, is exactly what safety researchers have been worrying about.
- Warren Buffett has stepped down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway after more than six decades. He handed the CEO job to Greg Abel at the end of last year and now becomes chairman emeritus, staying on as a director.
- Trump announced he's throwing CNN, MS NOW and Politico out of the White House press corps, effective immediately, per Semafor, saying on social media they'd been peddling made-up stories about him and his administration, and warning others could be next.
- The U.S. military drew up plans this spring to intercept a Chinese ship in the Middle East, after an intelligence report said that vessel was carrying nuclear weapons components.
- Politico has the scoop: a shipment of F-35 fighter jet parts heading from Australia to the U.S. for repairs was diverted to Hong Kong this summer and disappeared.
- The State Department approved a proposed $24.3 billion sale of 48 Lockheed Martin F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia, a big win for Riyadh as it faces attacks from Iran-backed Houthis.
- The Washington Post reports that the Pentagon's public casualty accounting for the Iran war understates the toll. Of six officials familiar with the internal figures, five put U.S. military deaths at 22 or more, four above what the Defense Department's public database shows, while a sixth said 23.
- JPMorgan put out one of the more honest memos you'll read this year: for the first time since the Iran conflict began, it has no baseline view of the oil market.
- The Bank of Japan raised rates today, following the Fed's first hike in three years on Wednesday and the ECB last week. Axios Macro says the coordination is partly deliberate: moving together limits wild currency swings.
- Swedish voters delivered a photo finish that took four days to confirm. The centre-right government fell, and the center-left, led by Magdalena Andersson, now has the best shot at forming a government, making Sweden one of the first in Europe to halt the far right's march.
- Poland's prime minister Donald Tusk warned that Russia plans to send drones or missiles into NATO countries that support Ukraine and then label the strikes accidental, aiming to prove Article 5 exists only in theory. He said there's nothing suggesting an outright invasion. Shortly after, Trump announced progress toward a permanent U.S.
- A federal judge ruled President Trump cannot demolish the Kennedy Center without giving more than 30 days' notice, after the board voted to close the building and Trump threatened to rip it down unless his name goes on it.
- Six weeks before the midterms, the map Republicans expected to defend has quietly gotten bigger. The Times reports real competition has spread into states and districts Trump has carried three times, frequently by double-digit margins, and in Georgia, aides are debating whether to stop funding the state at all.
- President Trump spent today promoting his administration's drug pricing record, announcing every state will join the most-favored-nation program for certain Medicaid drugs, and claiming that alone should carry Republicans into the midterms. The White House puts the savings at roughly $64.3 billion federal and state.
- The SEC will temporarily allow blockchain platforms to offer tokenized versions of U.S. stocks under a five-year exemption, possibly paving the way for 24/7 trading of digitized mainstream assets. Two catches: the underlying company gets 30 days to object, and token holders must get real ownership rights like dividends and votes.
- Paramount has reportedly intensified threats to quit Los Angeles after settlement talks collapsed in California's antitrust case over its planned $110 billion Warner Bros. acquisition. The studio told the mayor it's put down a deposit on moving trucks and is scouting offices in Tennessee, with Texas and Georgia also on the list.
- Former FTC chair Lina Khan says ambitious 2028 Democrats are calling her for advice on what to say about AI. Her pitch: promise to hold powerful companies, including AI labs, to account. Meanwhile states aren't waiting on Washington.
- And before you go, a little extra from The New York Times. That's how many life-size buffalo puppets will stampede through New York this weekend as part of a public art spectacle. The answer: 40
- And that's your world for today. The full stories and the links are waiting in the app. Tap through, bookmark what matters, and share what's worth sharing. And if you want to see what stuck, take today's quiz in the app: five quick questions. And if Hark is making your mornings a little better, share it with a friend. It's the best way to help us grow. I'll see you again tomorrow morning. Until then, have a great day.