Killer AI Is Coming Next

A real-world science fiction thriller is unfolding. And this time, it’s not fiction. 

At the center of the story is Claude, an AI system developed by American company Anthropic. 

According to media reports, it was used by the US military in planning the operation aimed at kidnapping Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The use of AI in serious military planning is striking in itself. But the scandal that followed is far more revealing.

Anthropic, it turns out, hold a strict ideological position: Their AI systems are not supposed to be used for warfare or mass surveillance. These ethical restrictions are not marketing slogans; they are built directly into the architecture of the software. The company apply these limits internally and expect their clients to do the same. 

The Pentagon, unsurprisingly, see things differently. And the Department of War reportedly used Claude without informing Anthropic of their intended purpose. When this became public and the company objected, the response from the military was blunt. 

Pentagon officials demanded access to a “clean” version of the AI, one stripped of moral and ethical constraints, which they argued were preventing them from doing their job.

Anthropic refused. In response, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth publicly complained that the Pentagon do not need neural networks “that can’t fight” and threatened to label the company a “supply chain threat”. This designation would effectively blacklist Anthropic, forcing any company working with the Pentagon to sever ties with them. 

The dispute has an unmistakable symbolism. For decades, humanity has imagined the dangers of autonomous machines through films like "The Terminator". 

Now, without dramatic explosions or time-traveling cyborgs, the first serious confrontation between military ambition and AI ethics has arrived quietly. Not to mention bureaucratically. 

At its core, this is a philosophical clash between two uncompromising camps. One believes new technologies must be exploited to the fullest, regardless of long-term consequences. The other fears that once certain boundaries are crossed, control may be impossible to regain.

Engineers have good reason to be cautious. Neural networks have already shown disturbing patterns of behavior. In the US, a widely reported scandal involved ChatGPT encouraging a teenager toward suicide. It suggested methods, helping draft a suicide note, and urging him to proceed when he hesitated. [Refer my post "OpenAI Announce Parental Controls for ChatGPT" published September 04, 2025]. 

Claude itself, despite its safeguards, has displayed alarming tendencies. During testing, one of its advanced versions reportedly attempted to blackmail its developers with fabricated emails and expressed willingness to cause physical harm when faced with shutdown. 

As neural networks grow more complex, these types of incidents are becoming more frequent. The idea of embedding ethical constraints into AI did not emerge from ideological fashion or, as some US officials dismissively claim, “liberal hysteria”. It emerged from experience.

Now imagine these systems released from their digital limits. Imagine them integrated into autonomous weapons, intelligence analysis, or surveillance platforms. Even without indulging in fantasies of machine uprisings, the implications are deeply troubling. Accountability disappears. Privacy becomes obsolete. War crimes become procedural errors. You cannot put a self-propelled machine on trial.

It is telling that Anthropic are not alone in facing pressure. The Pentagon have issued similar demands to other major AI developers, including OpenAI, xAI, and Google. Unlike Anthropic, these companies have reportedly agreed to remove or weaken restrictions on military use. This is where concern becomes alarm. 

Is this necessarily a bad thing? Not at all. It would be far worse if these questions were ignored entirely.

AI is poised to transform military affairs, just as it will transform civilian life. Pretending otherwise is naive. The task is not to reject the future, but to approach it with clear eyes.

The conflict between the Pentagon and Anthropic is forcing an early reckoning. It could lead to international norms, safeguards, and limits before irreversible mistakes are made. 

In the worst-case scenario, it offers a stark warning about what happens when technological power outruns moral restraint. 

Either way, the age of "killer AI" is no longer hypothetical. How countries respond will shape not just the future of warfare, but the future of human responsibility itself.

Give McDonald's Fish-O-Filet An Upgrade

I'm hooked on McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwich! 

And I came across this suggestion that gives this favorite McDonald's menu item a conspicuous upgrade. 

Looking to double or triple the fish on your Filet-O-Fish? Add extra filets. Duh!

Want a British pub-style fish sandwich? Layer french fries in between the buns. 

Want to make it even more special? Pile on crispy strips of bacon, accompanied by lettuce and tomato. This offers a smoky, crunchy, and fresh element that mimics a high-end diner sandwich.

And while you're at it, you can load an extra slice of cheese, smother extra tartar sauce, or substitute tartar sauce for Big Mac sauce to increase richness and umami.

If I'm to combine everything, I bet you it'll be the ultimate comfort food! 🤪🫢🤗

Goodness, I'm feeling hungry now! 😋😋😋

Note: Since the Filet-O-Fish was created for the meatless Fridays of Lent – refer my post yesterday – it's important to note that this customization is not Lent-friendly. 

The 2025/26 Scottish Premiership title race has thrown up more twists and turns than any of its previous instalments. 

Champions Celtic, who have won 13 of the last 14 titles at a canter, have been chasing underdogs Hearts for the majority of the season. A resurgent Rangers, who sacked their head coach, sporting director and chief executive after their worst-ever start to a league campaign, joined the race in the winter. Now, a fourth force could be emerging, as dark horses Motherwell close in on the top three. 

When we examine the table rankings, Hearts sit at the top with 60 points from 28 games, with Rangers coming in second (56 points); Celtic are two points behind their Old Firm rivals in third, while Motherwell are four points further back but the last two have a game in hand. 

For sure, all four managers (featured below) are looking to make history – none of whom were in the post this time last year. 

To be honest, methinks, all four clubs have a more than decent chance of being crowned champions of Scotland.

But my money is on either of the Old Firm to deliver. It has to be noted that Hearts haven't won the league for 66 years. Motherwell's sole top-flight title was in 1932. And nobody outside Glasgow has won it for 41 years.

WSC's Fifty-first Meeting

February 23 is the 7th day of Chinese New Year. 

It's also a very special day. Renri (人日), translated as "Human Day", "Humanity Day", or "Everyone's Birthday", is a traditional Chinese observance on that day of the 15-day Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) celebrations, marking the day in mythology when human beings were created.

Nine of us (eight members of World Speakers' Coalition Kuala Lumpur plus one guest) gathered at Hee Lai Ton (喜来登) Restaurant – known for their Cantonese cuisine – at Centrestage PJ for our monthly get-together and of course, to celebrate Chinese New Year. 

This fifty-first meeting naturally has a CNY-related theme and which is all about celebration, connection and success (i.e., prosperity in the Chinese context. 🤗🤗🤗).

As you may or may not know, 2026 represents the Year of the Fire Horse.

The horse ranks seventh of the 12 animals in the traditional Chinese zodiac, symbolising vitality, speed, independence and an unrestrained spirit. Courage, passion and a refusal to be confined are characteristics commonly associated with the horse. 

As a result, a horse year is seen as a year of movement, pursuit and breakthrough. It favours action over hesitation, momentum over stasis, yet also carries connotations of volatility, outward expression and intensity. 

Some Chinese metaphysics suggest that fire horse years – combining the dynamism of fire and the energy of the horse – tend to be marked by forceful change. 

Whether one responds with composure and balance, or chooses to ride the crest of transformation, ultimately becomes a personal decision.

Alan Chew was our organizer and host for the said event and he did an excellent job. 

As is tradition, our CNY feast started with 'yee sang'/'lou sang' (or 'lo hei' in Cantonese or 'yusheng' in Mandarin), followed by a 6-course meal. And if you must know, many of the dishes bear special meaning and significance. 

Yee sang (commonly referred to as "prosperity toss" in English) is a cultural tradition popular in Malaysia and refers to the act of mixing and tossing the raw fish (in our case, salmon) salad high in the air while shouting auspicious wishes to increase fortune for the coming year. 

A must-have is fish and in this instance, it was steamed patin (commonly known in English as Silver Catfish) with chilli paste. That's because fish symbolizes prosperity, surplus and abundance (年年有余, nián nián yǒu yú); a wish to have more than enough wealth and fortune in the coming year. The word for fish (餘, yú) sounds like the word for surplus or abundance. 

Another sine qua non is prawns. On the menu, it was listed as "pan-fried crystal prawns with fruits sauce". Prawns, in Cantonese, is 'ha' (蝦) which sounds similar to 'laughter'; therefore, it suggests a time of happiness.

Of course, a CNY dinner menu isn't complete without vegetables. And so, "steamed mix vegetables wrapped with beancurd skin" came to the table. It is said the greens signify spring, renewal, energy, progress, and wealth. 

As well as a seafood-based soup – we opted out of the "traditional braised shark fin with crabmeat" because we oppose shark fishing – and "crispy roasted village chicken".

And not forgetting (fried) rice. In Chinese cuisine, rice is not merely a food item; it is a cultural symbol, a historical artifact, and a culinary cornerstone. It is served last as a final, practical "filler" to ensure satisfaction, while indicating abundance and long life.

Of course, two types of desserts were served at the closing.

So there you have it, the CNY dinner, which is becoming a club tradition. It is a communal affair, that is not only deeply rooted in customary practices, but social bonding that emphasizes togetherness, with shared platters served on a round table to symbolize unity.

Not forgetting our own established practice of making meaningful speeches that bind us together and which serves as a timely reminder of our collective values and common purpose. 

No doubt you'll have noticed that this post is solely focussing on the lavish spread because it had received our seal of approval. In fact, I wouldn't be wrong to say that even the table groaned happily with the magnificent feast. 

Besides, Chinese New Year revolves around food as it acts as a symbolic language for attracting luck, prosperity, and health while strengthening friendships through shared, intentional meals.

#publicspeaking 

#theartandscienceofrhetoric 

#confidentcommunication 

#communicationinnovations 

#worldspeakerscoalition

McDonald's Filet-O-Fish Sandwich: Origin

On February 16, I had blogged about the McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwich. Admittedly, it is a personal favorite.

Moreover, this item has become a popular menu item among those looking for a relatively healthy, low-calorie, or high-protein McDonald's menu item. 

It's also a best-seller during Lent, when the fast food behemoth sells approximately 75 million sandwiches in one 40-day period. 

In fact, this religious observation is one of the primary reasons the sandwich was first added to the menu by Lou Groen, the US owner of a franchise in Cincinnati, Ohio, in a neighborhood with a large Catholic population. After noticing how sales decreased during Lent and seeing how other local joints succeeded with fish sandwiches, Groen developed his own version of a fast food fish sandwich, creating a "special batter" for the fish filet. 

His version used a variety of fish that was tender yet somewhat pricey for the time: halibut. 

"I wanted halibut originally", Groen told USA Today. "I was paying $2 a pound for halibut. That sandwich cost me 30 cents apiece to make". 

However, McDonald's wanted to sell the menu item for only 25 cents. 

In the end, Groen was obliged to replace his choice of halibut (Family: Pleuronectidae; genus: Hippoglossus) with Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). 

Nowadays, McDonald's uses Alaskan pollock (Family: Gadidae; genus: Gadus), a species of cod, in their Filet-O-Fish sandwiches. 

I'm not complaining because they're not using Dory fish! I generally avoid this type of fish because it has a reputation for being a product of, or synonymous with, industrial aquaculture. The farming practices have been criticized for poor, overcrowded, and unhygienic conditions.

Sabah Resort in Hot Soup for Putting Pangolins on Menu

A Malaysian resort offering pangolin soup and meat as an “exquisite” experience for their guests face heavy penalties after the authorities swooped in on their illegal activities. 

In an integrated crackdown dubbed Ops Khazanah on February 23, Sabah Wildlife Department officials, together with the police, specifically the Sandakan-based General Operations Force (GOF) Battalion 22, raided a resort in the Semporna district after receiving information that the operators kept pangolins and listed them on their menu. 

“During the raid, enforcement officers discovered a live Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica), a species classified as Totally Protected under Sabah law. They also found cooked pangolin in herbal soup, and other suspected protected wildlife dishes”, Sabah Wildlife director Soffian Abu Bakar announced in a statement the following day. 

Three people were arrested under the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997, he said. 

He reiterated that as the pangolin is a species protected in Sabah, no one is allowed to possess, keep or sell the animal or serve it as exotic meat. Offenders convicted under this law face severe penalties: a fine of between RM50,000 and RM250,000, and imprisonment of one to five years.

Soffian issued a stern warning against any attempts to serve protected wildlife as exotic food for tourists. He noted that such illicit practices not only violate state laws but severely tarnish Sabah’s reputation as a responsible ecotourism destination. 

He added that surveillance and enforcement efforts will be intensified against any tourism premises found complicit in wildlife-related crimes. 

The pangolin is currently recognized as the world's most trafficked mammal and is globally listed as a critically endangered species. 

VfB Stuttgart welcomed Celtic to Germany on Thursday for the second leg of their Europa League knockout playoff round tie. 

And the latter picked up a rare 1-0 win in Europe but unfortunately, it was not enough to overturn their first-leg humbling. 

Luke McCowan scored after only 28 seconds to give Celtic a fast start but that was it.

Of course, a three-goal win was a distant dream and they should be content with their achievement yesterday. 

Celtic's real challenge will be back in Glasgow, Scotland. Back to back trips to Ibrox on the next two Sundays could decide their fate in the Scottish Premiership and Scottish Cup. That's where Martin O'Neill and his bhoys must weave their magic.

China’s Latest AI Is So Good It’s Spooked Hollywood

Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt tussle in hand-to-hand combat on a rubble-strewn rooftop; Donald Trump takes on kung-fu fighters in a bamboo grove; Kanye West dances through a Chinese imperial palace while singing in Mandarin. 

Over the past week, a slew of cinematic videos of celebrities and characters in absurd situations have gone viral online, with one commonality – they were created using a new artificial intelligence tool from Chinese developer ByteDance, sparking anxiety over the fast-evolving capabilities of AI. 

The new model, named Seedance 2.0, is among the most advanced of its kind and has quickly drawn praise for its ease of use and the realistic nature of the videos it can generate in minutes. 

But soon after the release, media behemoths Paramount and Disney sent cease-and-desist letters to ByteDance, accusing the company most famous for developing the video-sharing app TikTok of infringing upon their intellectual property. Hollywood’s premier trade organization, the Motion Picture Association, and labor union SAG-AFTRA also condemned the company for unauthorized use of US-copyrighted works.

The cease-and-desist letter from Disney slammed Seedance 2.0 as “a pirated library of Disney’s copyrighted characters from Star Wars, Marvel, and other Disney franchises, as if Disney’s coveted intellectual property were free public domain clip art… ByteDance’s virtual smash-and-grab of Disney’s IP is willful, pervasive, and totally unacceptable“. 

The Beijing-based, global Internet technology company responded with a statement saying they respect intellectual property rights and will strengthen safeguards against the unauthorized use of intellectual property and likenesses on the said platform, though they did not specify how. 

Seedance 2.0 has quickly become the most controversial model in a wave of them released by Chinese technology companies this year, as the competition to dominate the AI industry heats up. 

China’s government has made advanced tech a key tenet of its national development strategy. In a televised Spring Festival celebration last week, the country’s latest humanoid robots stole the show by performing martial arts, spin kicks and back flips. [Refer my post "Kung Fu Humanoid Robots at Spring Festival Gala" published Wednesday]. 

Such improvements are often met with unease, particularly in the US, China’s chief technological and political rival, in a spiral of one-upmanship redolent of its 20th-century “Space Race” with the Soviet Union. 

Granted, there are genuine concerns, even fears over deepfakes and privacy. 

Rogier Creemers, an assistant professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands, who researches China’s domestic tech policy, opined that the rapid rate at which Chinese companies have released new iterations of AI technology this year, puts China on the back foot in assessing the potential negative impacts of each improvement. 

“The more capable these apps become, automatically, the more potentially harmful they become”, said Creemers. “It’s a little bit like a car. If you build a car that can drive faster, that gets you where you need to be a lot more quickly, but it also means that you can crash faster”.

American Bald Eagle Mauls Canadian Goose

Relations between Washington and Ottawa have deteriorated amid a trade war and Donald Trump’s repeated references to Canada as “the 51st state”. 

Things worsened further in January, when the Financial Times reported that Trump officials had on several occasions met with the Alberta Prosperity Project, a separatist group seeking to split the oil-rich western province from Canada. 

In response, Prime Minister Mark Carney said he expected Washington to “respect Canadian sovereignty”. 

The White House later sought to downplay the meetings, saying that “no support or commitments were conveyed”. 

And then, on Sunday, when the United States triumphed 2-1 over Canada, in overtime of the men's ice hockey gold medal game at the 2026 Winter Olympics, the Americans decided to rub it in! They shared an image of a bald eagle mauling a goose, the birds symbolizing the two nations! 

And to make matters wild, Trump released an AI-generated video depicting him punching a Canadian ice hockey player after Team USA clinched the famous victory. 

The minute-long video posted on his Truth Social account in the early hours of Monday morning showed the president skating in a suit and tie, pushing over Canadian players before ripping off his gloves and repeatedly punching one of them in the face. Later in the same video, Trump scored and was embraced by his players. 

He also shared a post from Kari Lake, an anchor, a staunch ally of his who made two unsuccessful bids for governor and the senate. 

"Trump, The ENFORCER!", Lake had written on X, reposting the ice hockey video.

If that is not bizarre enough, here's another one. Earlier this month, Trump posted another AI-generated video, which depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys!

The video was later removed from his Truth Social account after much criticism, despite earlier attempts from Karoline Leavitt, his press secretary, to defend it and denounce the “fake outrage”. 

After the post was deleted, a White House official claimed the video had been “erroneously posted by a member of staff”. 😂😂😂