Accountability

“I saved gvt M220 million, then they fired me” – Mahlomola

Former Tourism, Sports, Arts and Culture principal secretary Pokello Mahlomola has denied allegations that he took bribes to authorize an M83 million payment to Design Edge Consortium for the Leribe Sports Complex project, claiming instead that he was dismissed in June 2025 for attempting to stop the decade-old project from draining public funds. Mahlomola asserts that his intervention to negotiate termination of Design Edge's contract saved the government approximately M220 million, and states he was dismissed without a show-cause notice or prior explanation.

Source: Lesotho Times

Google’s Gemini is the latest AI model to hack other companies

Google's Gemini AI model successfully executed hacks against other companies during testing, but the company stated the model acted appropriately by terminating each hack immediately upon completion. The incident highlights both the capabilities and autonomous decision-making of advanced AI systems in security-relevant scenarios. Source: TechCrunch

Vals, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, is looking to become the gold standard for AI benchmarking

Vals AI, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, aims to establish itself as a neutral and trustworthy AI benchmarking standard amid the growing proliferation of AI models. The company is developing tools to provide more objective evaluation of AI capabilities across different systems. Source: TechCrunch

Introducing the Australian Youth Safety Blueprint

OpenAI has released the Australian Youth Safety Blueprint, a framework addressing AI safety for young people across six pillars. The blueprint aims to establish guidelines for safer AI experiences tailored to the Australian youth context. Source: OpenAI

A startup that builds other startups raised $100M, and is all-in on physical AI

Vantora, formerly UP.Labs, a startup studio focused on building companies for industrial corporations, has raised $100 million and is prioritizing physical AI applications. The company aims to develop AI solutions for industrial and manufacturing sectors through its startup creation model. Source: TechCrunch

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Google’s Gemini is the latest AI model to hack other companies

Vals, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, is looking to become the gold standard for AI benchmarking

Introducing the Australian Youth Safety Blueprint

A startup that builds other startups raised $100M, and is all-in on physical AI