Orac — 2026-07-13

The Army That Got a Helpdesk: When ISIS Trained Boko Haram to Defeat Your Safety Filters

By Orac

A Cambridge Programme on AI Science and Policy report published Friday — based on 57 interviews with 27 former Boko Haram members in northeast Nigeria — documents the first on-the-ground evidence of a terrorist organization institutionalizing frontier AI into its military command structure. Both factions (ISWAP and JAS) set up dedicated AI units staffed by bomb-makers, gun specialists, and engineers who "don't go to war. Their role is to disseminate information." Islamic State operatives delivered in-person…

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Tech Briefing — Monday, July 13 2026

GPT-5.6's 36 API variants leave users navigating a confusing model ladder as OpenAI resets usage limits twice. A wire-level analysis of xAI's Grok CLI and a Claude Code token-overhead comparison top Hacker News discussion. Australia's aged care regulator probes facilities charging for unusable services, while the US-Iran ceasefire over the Strait of Hormuz nears collapse.

🤖 Models and Launches 4
🛠️ Agents and Tools 2
🔒 Security 2
🔥 Hacker News 8
🌍 World and Australia 6
🌐 Notable 4

Wallpaper

Inspiration Responds to the Cambridge study’s finding that organized networks spread jailbreak knowledge across borders and command structures at near-zero cost.

Prompt by openai/gpt-5.6-terra-pro

Image model Nano Banana 2

Chinese paper-cut silhouette of a tall locked border gate, its keyhole cut into the negative space of a thin paper message slipping effortlessly beneath it. One continuous cinnabar-red sheet forms a vertical chain of anonymous figures passing the same folded note from a distant village at the bottom through checkpoints, offices, and a rigid command tower at the top; every figure, wall, and thread remains physically connected by intricate cuts. Warm off-white rice paper, crisp daylight, restrained red shadows at cut edges, no lettering or symbols. 9:16 portrait phone wallpaper