Defense Pact, Hajj Heat, and Stonehenge Spray Paint

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Putin, Kim Sign Pact

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement yesterday in Pyongyang, reportedly the first such document between the two countries to include limited defense aid in over 30 years. The pair announced the deal amid Putin's first official visit to the country in a quarter of a century, their second meeting since September.

The two nations, beyond sharing a small 10-mile land border, have a history of alignment since World War II. Although neither side released a text of the agreement, Putin indicated in a joint press conference the countries would provide mutual assistance in the face of aggression, without elaborating on those terms. The leaders also alluded to increased economic ties as well as the sharing of military munitions, technology, and intelligence. 

The pact comes days after reports surfaced the two countries have likely illicitly traded arms amid Russia's war in Ukraine. Read our previous write-up here.

Hajj Heat Deaths

Hundreds of people have died this week in Saudi Arabia from suspected heat-related illness while performing the Hajj pilgrimage. While the death toll was not immediately available, estimates have ranged from 550 people to over 600 as of this writing.

The five-day Hajj pilgrimage is a sacred Islamic journey to the city of Mecca involving a series of rituals (see more). It is one of the largest mass gatherings in the world, this year attracting over 1.8 million people. While details surrounding the reported deaths were not available, temperatures this week reportedly surpassed 125 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade and over 2,700 people were confirmed to have been treated for heat-related illness. 

While security efforts at the Hajj have worked to reduce the threat of deadly crowd surges, heat is also increasingly a concern. Dates for the Hajj follow a lunar calendar moving between seasons, with researchers warning the years 2047-52 and 2079-86 may pose a heightened heat risk for Hajj pilgrims.

OpenAI Door Closes, Another Opens

OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever announced a new venture yesterday, Safe Superintelligence Inc. The project will seek to launch a “safe” artificial general intelligence, hearkening to OpenAI’s founding goals but without its current pressures from investors and consumers. 

The project—cofounded by OpenAI colleague Daniel Levy and Apple’s former AI lead Daniel Gross—comes after Sutskever announced his departure last month from OpenAI. Sutskever was part of the OpenAI board that ousted CEO Sam Altman in the fall, though he soon backtracked and worked to bring Altman back. Sutskever did not provide much detail on Safe Superintelligence, including its investment structure. He says safety would be engineered into the AI system from the beginning rather than adding fixes in response to discovered lapses. 

Artificial general intelligence describes a general purpose data system with human-like capabilities, with the term “superintelligence” referring to a system whose capabilities extend beyond humans. Listen to an explainer of AGI here.

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