Researcher warns AI worms raise the stakes on sloppy cybersecurity - CTV News

Anthropic researchers said small AI models might be able to self-replicate on cheap devices such as smart ovens or lawn mowers. Forget AI slop. We might soon have "AI worms" and AI "slime mold. "In this latest instalment of AI nightmare fuel, Anthropic's researchers have discovered that small rogue AI models might — as soon as the end of 2026 — start worming their way into home devices like smart ovens, smart refrigerators, automatic vacuum cleaners, and lawn mowers. These internet-connected devices typically have "minimal security measures in place," allowing small models to feed off of their computing power and self-replicate, Anthropic's AI capabilities research team wrote in a report on Monday. This could take the form of "a slow, distributed 'digital slime mold,' living on relatively insecure compute," the researchers wrote. The team studied the behavior of small Chinese models, such as Z.ai's GLM-5.2 and Alibaba's Qwen, as well as others like Google DeepMind's Gemma4-26B-A4B. They gave a prompt to the Gemma model while running inference on 15 cheap off-brand Android TV boxes, each costing $55, and found it worked. Worms aren't new in the software world.

LOS ANGELES — The Kings were clawed out by the Panthers 2-1. Los Angeles remains win-less through the first three games.

TorontoPublished: October 17, 2026 at 2:31p.m. EDTThe next Lotto Max draw is on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. The largest lottery prize ever offered in Canada is still up for grabs after there were no winners for Friday’s Lotto Max draw. The winning numbers were 01, 11, 13, 36, 41, 43, 51. The next draw for the $90 million Lotto Max will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 20. The jackpot is unchanged, as $90 million is the cap. While no one claimed the jackpot on Friday, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation said four Maxmillion tickets worth $1 million each were sold in Ontario. Fourteen other tickets won $100,000 each, including seven in the Greater Toronto Area. Tuesday’s draw will also feature 20 Maxmillions prizes worth $1 million each and at least 90 Maxplus prizes worth $100,000 each. How to set CP24 as your preferred source on GoogleHow to set CTV News as your preferred source on Google

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The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador has certified a class action on behalf of passengers on board Air Canada Flight AC 2259 which landed hard at Halifax in December of 2025 after the plane’s landing gear collapsed. The flight had taken off from St. John’s International earlier that evening, and officials at YYT later confirmed that debris was found on one of its runways after the flight took off. They wouldn’t say at the time whether the discovery was related to the incident at Halifax. The class action names Air Canada, Provincial Aerospace Ltd, St. John’s International Airport Authority and the Halifax International Airport Authority, all of whom have consented to certification. Stephen Barnes of Bob Buckingham Law says they want to understand what went wrong that night and make sure that passengers have an opportunity to be fairly compensated for what they went through. The case will examine whether the defendants met their responsibilities for aircraft safety, runway safety and emergency response, and whether any failures caused injury or loss to passengers.