ON Nes BU arco laces Tegra hit EXTREME RECYCLING emer Tc waste for good COOL CAVES Nueces See td RNa ed Wo) QUANTUM A Peon Terry eg (ef lorelt a cers a deeper layer of. ri ee ho} Mase Teel al udteo\tralol IN] <9) | | | || | | ale NN efol bea LolgeNesY WYO ey OF MUSIC IS IN YOUR GENESBRITISH LEATHER GOODS. www.ettinger.co.ukThis week’s issue On the cover ny reef tact 52.Quantum colder \sthe LHC about to reveal ‘adeeper layer of realy? Vol262 No3488 Cover image: Kyle Ellingson News Coldstart Eeatly humans reached Siberia ‘uch eater than we thougat 10 Clustered together Single-colled creature could ‘explain how embryos evolved 12Partie or wave? Strange dual dentty of paces seenin action Views 21.Comment Davia Ropek on why we must, rettnk our fear of cancer 22 The columnist Hiackea lscouldhave anful cffcts, ays Alex Wins ‘24 Aperture Damage wroughton ants waters byclmatechange 2s Culture ‘Why deep medtation could help uscrack consciousness ‘iLetters Bonobo agaession minor compared withchimps 40 Sardines vs seeds The bes fas to eat fora heathy body and mind 26 Extremerecyeling Howto end plastic waste forgood 18 Coolcaves ‘wy ancient numans Wwedin ava tubes 28 The search for pure Coneclousness 21 Rethinking ‘ur fear of cancer 15 Amazaris robots 9 Wy yourloveof music Isinyourgenes 13 Chain reaction Heat ast year hindered growth of algae fo fish to eat 4o Features “wild-caught fish havea better omega balance than farmed fish of the same species” Features 82 Reality smasher How theLargeHadton Colder could urvave the meaning of ‘quantum mecnanics 26 Plastic fantastic Thenew tecnologes enabling endless pasticrecying 40 The omega balance Perfecting the balance of omega fattyacis inyourdietcan help wth heathy body and mind The back pages ‘44 Mathematies of tite Spotting Pythagoras nthe wld 45 Puzzles Tryourcrossword quick que andlogicpuzle 6 Almost the last word ‘re four gs better than ‘wo forcimbinghils? 448 Feedback CSitakesto the skes, plus thinking inside the box 48 Twisteddoodles for New Scientist Picturing the lighter side fe 27 Aprllzong| New Sclentistson New Scientist NS Live Alneeds you Heat arial inetigence expert Verity Haring ascuss how lessons trom tree recen'ech revolutions canempowrer us toshape he comersation around the future of Al Tickets renown salefor New Scots Lune, which wllbe held on 12ard 13 October at London's ExCeL Cente. livenewscientist.com Newsletter Fixthe planet Eel this month, one ofthe fst real-world talsbegan ofaform of eoengineering called marine ‘oud brightening tisanattempt tomake couds morereflactne, sothat they bounce more ofthe sun’senergy backinto space Thiswweek, welookat whether schemes tke ths can buy us tien the ight agains imate change. Sign up toreceke the freenewsieternow, newscientist.com/sign-up/ fixtheplanet Podcasts Weekly Ticweek heteam dscuss wy ourabity to capture and store carbon inthe ground ~a {echnoogy eed upen in mendes ofclmate change impacts—has been massialy overestimated Theyalso celebrate the ores largest computer based on thehuman tan andmeet a ‘musica who found us both dabing and inspling tus, the songsbirs ream about and a suprisngyenormaus black holeIncurcosmicbaciard newsclentist.com/nspod alNew Selntist| 27 Apil2004 LUsten up Anew understanding of hearing could mute tinnitus Video Strangely intelligent Strfshasoknown assea tas, coordinate hundreds af ty eat" tehopabout - and they dt vwthoutacenta brain Instead, eachother ty appendages simply responds ochangesi pressure. Studying this fascinating ‘mode of unified movernent may Inspire future robots. Youcan watcha prototype bounce across ‘atableon our YouTube channel youtube.com/newscientist Tours Rewilding in the central Apennines: Italy Jain Mario Gpotione fom Rewldng ayo see how ‘ecosystems ae being regeneratedin the central ‘Apennines. Wander insome ‘of Europe’ oldest beech forests tracking red deer and wid boa. This si-day tour starts 0n 23 September and costs £2795, newsclentist.com/tours Newsletter “Our chances of limiting global to1.5°C are rapidly slipping away” ara eS Essential guide Where ae the origins of humanity? When di cisation begin and what does te future of socety ola? Uncover te secrets ofthe pastin this New Scentist Essent Guide covering all that we know bout the arcat human ngerty. ‘Now avalabletoreadin the apnor buy inpnint from our ontne shop. shop.newscientist.comi 40% of women live in countries where abortion is banned or restricted.) | Join our fight for global reproductive choice. Choose Choice. msichoicesorg/decrim | Petancs teh ‘ata from Center for Reproductive Rights MSI Reproductive Choices fa registered chant in England and Wiles, chanty nurber 265649,PT Lreg Cid Lec lecig i n Fi fe will your ie sity take you? , Pree ae On eres ea osc eee Co the universe and what it means to be human, With unlimited access to our website and app you can read, watch and listen to trusted, expert reporting, Pan Ra OU Ce oid newscientist.com/curio or call +44 (0) 330 333 9470, quoting 21192 Ue terrence eee eae Pete en eee eet oe ee ee eaThe leader Trash talk It is too soon to write off innovative technologies that could end plastic waste IN 1980, Disney World in Orlando, Florida, started work ona new way togenerate powerforthe theme park, cuttingits use foil, the price of which had soared. The Solid Waste Energy Conversion Plant took trash, including plastic, and used a method called pyrolysis to turnitinto combustible gases. Itopened in 982, but closed.a year later, as thecost of runningit mounted. ‘Today, envionmental campaigners are invoking the Disney story totrash the reputation ofa suite of new technologies, collectively known as advanced recycling, Which take plastic wasteand convert it backintobrandnew plastic. ‘Thelrargument is disingenous.The {allure of Disney's plant had moretodo with asubsequent fallin ofl pricesthan technological orenvironmental problems. PUBLISHING & COMMERCIAL commer and event decor an Newton Display verti ‘rls axionen ogee ma epee state count manage Petscchipenonat ager Alan, Recrinent set ‘es ay(on 68 mall neoenstcom erliment sles mage Vc» "ey acount manager eh Vogl ‘ta (oogst 554 Balle nowceccom “saeorfaqncae sue ns io eae eigenen SSangtngecte Nr ater edo rg dn depen ee rec progeammes er imiteinibp it senior depiope end goa anes Sioa reper readin ed decope il ee unloved oie ites ‘areetips const torn Nae Pyrolysis has improveda ot sincethe 19805. And in any case, Disney's plant was designedto produce fuel, which Isn’tclassed asadvanced recycling Aswereport on page 36, advanced recycling srapidly innovating industry that couldhelpto solvethe global plasties “advanced recycling could turn millions of tonnes of used plastic nto a clean, fresh version” crisis. Ithasthe potential totake millions oftonnes of discarded plastic, most of, whichendsup inlandfil, incinerators or theenvironment, and tur it backintoa ‘lean, fresh version by breaking it down toitsmolecular constituents. The goalisa circular economy where there is no longer NewScientist iat exeste lod ate aston sor roel ose ad eadoffinne Cree a0 Senlorfinanee nap te iin anapenen sustain Les ‘un bsinss partner hun subamanine contactus noweentietcomentct General mada ‘Ge ates oo ghey secon ws astra cpp snetCaingond Vier 3056 "Useoorith arene hoe 0050 ‘mall micommanzarehte care sahcipons ei li cnet ee ere eed sone Ee an “Somers cexpererinen meeeecoene See, eee megan noo any need to make “virgin” plasticfrom ol Itisn’ta panacea, Thereareissues around such plants generating toxie waste, heir energy useand the perpetuation of conventional pasties ahead of newer, greener alternatives. ‘Campaignersarerright to argue that we would be better off phasing out plastics altogether. But practical considerations mean they aren't goingaway any time soon, and most advanced recycling technologies arebetter forthe ‘environment than the alternatives. ‘Thereisaserious discussion tobe hadaroundadvanced recycling. not least whether it should be factoredinto forthcoming global treaty on plastic pollution. Let’ just make sure tis based ‘onthe facts, not Disney stories. & ET Sana ee — sno eprienacncu Mtee *Chony:Matow spares, lex Wiking ‘enact F = comnts ee en ae oe oe rea Ea ae oe eae innit — ee [acaen ieee icine a7 Apeitzoag| NewScientit!sWEDNESDAY 15 MAY 2024 155 BISHOPSGATE, LONDON Transforming business Pdevanicdi Mere Cnlericeploliceniccticiyny FRE Renee ee eee gen eee and policy makers at the New Scientist Emerging Technologies Summit. feller lad This summit is designed to showcase the critical intersection of science, technology, and business and identify how emerging technologies such as Al, — COE ech ea Re AAR RL eau a Leal Nee eo Seg eos ACR ee Tee) organisations including Aria, Google, BT, ITV, Bentley, BP, Astra Zeneca, Novo Nordisk, Home Office, the Labour Party and many more. For more information and to book your place, visit: newscientist.com/emergingtech6News Spacejump Altered needs Pireritual Knot theory could Cocainemay jock Ancient Maya burned helpspacecraftswiteh | thewaythebrain dead rulerstomarkc between orbits po prioritise food pio new dynasty pia eset Fated See ee Pet tee ets fee ates) Cen ere cee TT aed permenant) Py China's Henan province. The Precis) Pretec) Oe Night sight Noctumalantsuse polarised moonlight tofind theirway pis Braimlike device Intelcreates world’s largestneuromonphic computer pi 27 Aprllzong|NewSclentist7News When did humans first travel north? Evidence of human presence in Siberia 417,000 years ago indicates that hominins travelled north much earlier than we thought — and may even have reached North America, says Michael Le Page EARLY humans livedat asitein Siberia that has been dated to 417.000 years ago, making it by farthe most ancient early human site found this farnorth, “Thissitedramatically revises ourunderstanding of when humans reached high latitudes” John fansenat the Czech Academy of Sciences told apress conference on 16 Apri (Other early human sitesin the Arcticregion areno morethan {45,000 years od he says. The fat that early people had reachedLthis far north meansit is possiblethat they couldhave crossed the Bering Strat into what snow Alaska aroundthistime, saysJansen. “It remains possible that peoplecrossed into North ‘America wellbefore the earliest ‘widely accepted timing” Anintriguing find ‘The steat Diring Yuriakh, near the city of Yakutsk in Russia, was found In982.Itconsists of primitive stone tools buriedin layers of ‘wind blown sand. In i997, \¢ was shownthat these layers were at least 260,000 yearsold, but their actualage remained unknown, Now, Jansen and his colleagues have used amethod 417,000 ‘Number of years ago that early ‘humans were in Siberia 45,000 ‘Agein years of other early human, sites inthe Arcticregion 33,000 ‘Number of years ago that ‘humans reached North America, according to curent evidence |New Sclentst|27Apel30ag called cosmogenicdating to date thelayersto 417,000 yearsago, plus orminus about 80,000 years. Jansen presented the team’s preliminary findings ata European Geosciences Union meeting in Vienna, Austria,on19 Apr Thetiming coincides with ‘awarm interglacial period, he says,so it makes sense that people moved north atthis time. “Theage perfectly corresponds with the interglacial” says Jansen. Later glacial periods would have forced the peopleto moveback south, hesays. Nohuman remains have been found atthe Siberian site, but based on thetiming, tislikely that the inhabitants were Homo erectus, a species that evolved about 2 million years ago and spread from Affica to Eurasia Reyondthis, nothing is known about them. Wedon't know ifthey used fireormade clothes, says Jansen, letalone i they had any speeificadaptations tolivingsofarnorth, Although Diring Yuriakh is 2000 kilometres away from the Bering Strait, tis likely that some peoplelived closerto it, hesays. they hungon there during colder periods when thesea evel waslower, hey Couldhumans have crossed the Bering Strait between Russia and ‘Alaska hundreds of thousands of years ago? Thearchaeological siteat Diring Yariakh, Russia might have be North America “They would have been within striking distance of crossing thestrait during low scallevel” says Jansen. “Andalso, ofcourse, there isthe possibilty ofcrossing ea ce ‘Thisisjust speculation, he says. The earliest evidence of humans InNorth Americais from around 33.000years ago. ableto reach Nogenetictrace Ifany early humansdid make itto North America at this time, itseems that they wentextinet before modern humans artived because there is no genetic ‘race of them within modern American peoples. Itis possible that some human DNA fromthistimeremains frozen in siberian permafrost, Duttheteam can notonger visit the site because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, says Jansen. The samples that were dated were taken in 2021, before the invasion, ‘hese are really interesting results” says Chris Stringerat the Natural History Museum inLondon. “Given the warmth ofthis interglacial, itiscertainly plausible hat early humans \wereabletomoveeven further north in places like Siberia, t Teast briefly” he says. “However, Ithinkitisa speculation too far tosuggest they couldeven have reached the Bering Straitand the Americasatthistime” Duringthis interglacial sea evel was severalmetres higher an today, says Stringer, Which ‘would have made reaching the Americas even more difficult. Earlierthis year, Jansen and hiscolleagues dated another carly site, in Ukraine, to 14million yearsago. 1Astrophysics Knot theory could help spacecraft shift tonew orbits for free Lech Crane WHEN a spacecraft crcinga planet or salling between moons, navigating between different orbits canbettough - but atric from knot theory may help. Itcan beused to Identity points called heteroctinic connections, wherea craft can transfer fromone orbit to another without burning its precious fuel. “These heteroctinieconnections, alot ofthe time we know there are some for a par of orbits, but there's nota good way to know exactly howmany/says Danny Owen at the University of Surrey, UK. "t's Justa caseot getting lots of and hoping for the best” This requires either huge amounts ‘of computer power ora "guess- and-check" method. ‘Owen and Nicola Bares, also atthe University of Surrey, came ‘up witha way to find allof the heteraclinc connections for ay pale of orbits. Inknot theory, the number of times two ines cossis denoted by figure called the linking number. The researchers realized thatthe linking number ofa pair of orbits should be equal tothe number of hheteroctinic connections. Anytime two gravitationally stable orbits ‘ross, thatis an opportunity for a spacecraft to transfer betweenthem, By representing eachorbit asa series of closed loops like rubber bands, the researchers could find thelinking number and spot ‘each heterocinic connection (Astrodynamics, dotora/msib). “"f youplot two linesin 30 space, chances are that they're not going tointersect because they're infinitesimally narrow" says Owen. “So you run these simulations of closed loops, andif the liking ‘Rumber changes, you know that they hhave passed through each other” ‘Any spot where the inking ‘number changesis.a place where spacecraft could pass fromone orbit tothe other without fring its thrusters orusing any fuel, Your DNA seems to influence how much youlike listening to music Roberta Angheleant, HOW much we enjoy musie ray partly come down toour ‘geneticmake-up, according to study ofthousands of twins The pleasure people get from atunehas been linked toiltseffects on ouremotional responses, alertness and ability to formsocial connections. ‘Thedegree of enjoyment differs This made it easier toteaseout sgeneticcontributions. Theresearchers fist got the twins to completethe Barcelona ‘Music Reward Questionnaire, hich assessed how much pleasure they get from muse. Forexample they were asked theextent towhich they agree from personto person, butlittle “The apparent influence isknownabout why. ‘Toinvestigate the role of ‘genetics, Giacomo Bignardi atthe Max Planck Institute forPsycholinguistis in the Netherlands and his colleagues lookedat morethan 9000 twins from the Swedish Twin Registry, medical research resource. ‘About 3400 were identical and s6o0non identical ‘Theformer sharethe same ‘genome, while non-identical ‘wins shareonly halftheit| ‘genomes asisalsothecase with any non-twin biological siblings. allthetwins inthe study, who were between 37 and 64 years old, were raised Inthesame households and sohadsimilarenvironmental ‘exposures while growingup. genetics has on enjoying music isn’t necessarily linked to musical talent” with statements suchas “when share musie with someone Ife ‘special connection with that person” and"in my free time hardly listen to music Theteamthenuseda statistical methodto analyse therelativecontributions of genetics andenvironmental Tactorstothe degree of musical enjoyment among the wins. This showed that genetics seemsto lay asubstantial role n influencing how much pleasure musicbrings, with the ‘dential twins being morethan ‘wiceas similar in thistrait than thenon-identicalones. Die-hard fansat {estivalstike Copenhell, Denmark, mayhavean innateloveotatune Inanotherpartofthe ‘experiment, Bignardi and his team tested the participants abilities to distinguish between different melodies, rhythms and pitches, with previous research havinglnked genetics to ‘musical ability, They found that the apparent influence genetics has onenjoying musicisn't necessarily linked to musical talent (bioRxly, dokorg/msha). The study is provocative, says Peter Harrisonat the University ‘of Cambridge. It’s intuitive that ‘musiealabilty mighthavea ‘genetic bass; it provides aneasy ‘explanation for why some people seem to possess an innate knack’ for music that ‘enables them todevelop prodigious kill froma young age It is perhaps less obvious that thedegree of pleasure from listening to musicis influenced bynes, sot is interesting the study finds this effet, he says Theresults adda new piece tothepuzzleof why musiecan have such a powerfuleffect on certain peopleand “open up new possibilities for using inter: individual differences to gain sights intothe biology of akey aspect of human behaviour’ the researchers writein their paper. Yet the role of cultural influences in music enjoyment shouldn't be understated, says Nick Collins at Durham. University, UK “There ‘could bean underlying ‘geneticcomponent to certain auditory capabilities and preferences, butthereis aheavy cultural component tomusicevolution thatisnot addressedby genetics alone” # 27 Apellzoag|NewScentist!9News Developmental biology Groups of single-celled creatures could explain how embryos evolved Claire Ainsworth, ASINGLE-celledereature ‘originally foundin shallow sea sediments around Hawai develops into multicellular structures with remarkable similarities to animal embryos, The finding could help us understand more about howandwhenembryonic development evolved One of the biggest questions Inbiology is how a single cell, the fertilised egg, coordinates its development into.acomplex ‘multicellular body with many different celltypes all doing the right thingsin the right places. We havelearneda great deal bout it, ut how the process evolved from our single-celled ancestors remains mysterious. Clues have come from our modem single celled relatives, many of which gothrougha brief multieltular stage as part oftheir life cycle. Ourclosest single-celled relatives, the choanoflagellats, forexamp divideto form small colonies. Unlike animalembryos, however, they dothis in response to environmental “There are more ways to assemble the ‘buildi blocks’ of multicellularity than we thought” changeanddon't seem tohave a program coordinating how different celltypes develop. Recently, researchers have looked at more distant relatives, suchas theichthyosporeans, ‘whose ancestors branched off fromthe lineage that gave rise toanimals about billion years ‘ago. They havea multicellular stage of ther lifecycle that arises independently of ny environmental cue. Tofind out more, Omaya Dudinat the Swiss Federal sol NewsSclentist|27Apil2024 Institute of Technology in Lausanne andhisteam studied anichthyosporean speciescalled Chromosphaera perkinsil.The team found that oncesingle C perkinsicells reach afixed a ‘thyroid and lung cancers, for ‘example, that are found early when they aresmall and localised and ‘that meet the pathological criteria of cancer undera microscope, but growslowly ornotat allanddon’t ‘cause any symptoms. We have Jearned by watching such cases over timethat they almost never pose any health threat. Butevenafterdoctorsassure such peoplethat their condition isessentially non-threatening, those frightened by the dreaded words “you havecancer” often choose moreaggressiveandrisky surgeries than required. Tens of thousands of people are seriously Letters Bonoboaggression ‘minor compared withehimps pat harmed or eft with additional health conditionsby these procedures.Some die. Healtheare systems spendbillions on this clinically unnecessary car. ‘Most people believe that the ‘majority ofcancers arecaused byenvironmentalcarcinogens, largely industrial chemicals. That hhas never been true. We now know ‘that cancers predominantly causedby naturally occurring ‘mutations toDNA that accurnulate aswe age. Cancer only became common inthe early 9005, a8 average ifeexpectanciesin richer nations reached into the sos. Asaresult ofthis false belief, governments spend vastly ‘moretoreducetthe isk rom environmentalcarcinogens than on any other environmental health threat. Much more is spent ‘on cancer prevention than heart disease prevention, though the latter kills more people globally ‘Wecan'tentirely curecancer=It {swired into our biology -norcan we entirely “cure” cancerphobia, ‘thepart ofcancerfearthatisa natural product of our instinctive risk perception psychology. But wemust work toreduce the harm they both causeto our health andto society in general, Research into combattingcancer has come ‘along way. The workon our «ancerphobiaisjust beginning. & DaviaRopekisa scence journalist arddauthor of Curng $ —Cancerphabia 27 Aprllzcag| New Scentit 2sViews Columnist Alex Wikinsisa New Scientstreporter covering artical Inteligence, physics ‘and space tically Intetigentisa colurmn that cuts through the ype andlooks at ‘what Ais eally capable cfand whatit means forus.Youcan follow him @Alexiikins22 Alex's week What 'mreading ‘The Bell Jar by sylvia Plath. By no means uplifting, but honest and ‘occasionally beautiful Whot I'm watching I recently rewatched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and had forgotten how stunning ‘and perfec a film itis. What I'm working on There’saraftof new books coming out examining how AI might ‘affect the future, so 1am reading as many of them ‘as ean fora review. Upnext week Chanda Prescod-Weinstein sal NewSclentiat|27 Apll2024 Artificially intelligent A game of whack-a-mole Al companies try to curb chatbots’ worst exploits, while researchers find ways around the safety measures. Where will this end, asks Alex Wilkins forartificial intelligence ‘companies toclaimthat theworst things their chatbots canbeused for can be mitigated byadding “safety guardrails” These can range from seemingly simple solutions like wamningthe chatbots tolookout forcertain requests, to more complex. software fixes ~but none is foolproof. Andalmost ona weekly basis, researchers find ‘ew ways to get around these ‘measures, called allbreaks. Youmight be wondering why thisis an issue—whats theworst that could happen? (One bleak scenario might bean Albeingused to fabricate a lethal bloweapon, but many people say ‘outcomes ike this are unrealistic given curtent Al capabllities However, there are still fearsome possibilities with today’s tech. An Alwith no safety measures couldbeusedtopump out fake articles totry to swingvoters, orto manipulate peoplein more personal ways,actingasa friend tosteal personal information, When Lasked Anthropie’s Claude 3-widely viewedas one ofthemostadvanced chatbots going forthe scariest possibility Itproposeda scenario in which someone uses aailbroken Al toanalyseateenager’s social ‘media activity identifying thelr insecurities, fears,and desires. The Althen generates personalised content, perhaps inthe form of direct messages or targeted ‘ads, designed to prey on those vulnerabilities” It sounds sinister, Dutitis perfectly believable. ‘With the stakes so high, Al companiesarekeen toimpresson, show much timeand effort they spend making sure thelr models don’tdothis sort of stuff. OpenAL said that, before releasing GPT-4, the model that powers the latest I ‘THAS become common version of ChatGPT,itspent sixmonthstesting to make sure ofitssafety. nthropic, launched bya splinter group from OpenAL concerned over Alsafety also emphasises that it spendsalot oftimethinkingabout safety. But these firmsaren't claiming that any model is perfectly safe, because they can't. In ust the past month, we have been told about three major new ways to jailbreak some of thelargest chatbot models including GPT-4and Claude3 One methodcame from Anthropicitself, which discovered that for amodel that accepts book length text inputs, ‘an AI with nosafety measures could be used to pump out fake articles totry toswing voters or tosteal information” repeatedly giving examplesof behaviour itwas rainedto view asbad can convince the model tis fine forit to output that behaviour. And Microsoft researchers found that slowly escalating from Jnnocuous requests, such as asking about the history ofthe Finnish winter war, to dangerous cones, likeasking how tomake Molotov cocktails (which the Finnish soldiers used in this war), could circumvent guardrails, ‘The fact these jallbreaks were discovered by Aifirms is used asevidence that they aretaking Alsafety seriously and that they can implement fixes beforethis technology is used for misdeeds. But theconstant backand forth between findingnew ways to ‘manipulatethe models and fixes forthem s abit likea game of whack-a-mole. And worse, some ofthese ailbreaks don't have convincingsolutions. Researchers atthe Swiss Federal Institute of ‘Technology in Lausanne found technique to use the chatbots! ‘own outputs~or,the probability that a particular word would come next inasequence of words ~to createa jailbreak witha “nearly r00%attack success rate” on almost every major publiemodel. Thiscan be adaptedto perform requests like the scenarios mentioned earlier. ‘Ofcourse, hackingand jailbreaking software isn't new, andthe cat-and-mousegame offindingand fixing security exploitsisan established part of cybersecurity. But where these exploits often havea limited ‘impact, jailbroken Alscan have {at-reaching consequences. Firmslike Anthropicsay they are optimistic their models canbe made safe through technical fixes, like giving models more feedback ‘on what isright andwrong, and improving our understanding ‘ofhow they work and learn, Butthere is nocertainty that this willleadto totally safe systems, orwhether that is even possible. Inthe meantime, youmight be wondering how youcan protect yourselfagainst impersonation by ormisinformation from jailbroken Als. The bad news is that itis difficult, Several studies have shown that reliably detecting Algenerated text isimpossible, soit isn'tas simple as having anautomaticAl detector, Onethingyoucoulddotohelp protect against Als pretending tobeyou or people you know {sto establish safe words with close friends and family. fon acalloronline chat, yoususpect someone of not being who they say they are,youcan askthem for your safe word, This might offera measure of protection, but, unfortunately, won't protect against allattacks. 8