Technology veterans, politicians and Nobel Prize winners called on nations around the world Monday to quickly establish “red lines” too dangerous for artificial intelligence to cross.

More than 200 prominent figures including 10 Nobel laureates and scientists working at AI giants Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Microsoft and OpenAI signed on to a letter released at the start of the latest session of the United Nations General Assembly.

“AI holds immense potential to advance human well-being, yet its current trajectory presents unprecedented dangers,” the letter read.

“Governments must act decisively before the window for meaningful intervention closes.”

AI red lines would be internationally agreed bans on uses deemed too risky under any circumstances, according to creators of the letter.

Examples given included entrusting AI systems with command of nuclear arsenals or any kind of lethal autonomous weapons system.

Other red lines could be allowing AI to be used for mass surveillance, social scoring, cyberattacks, or impersonating people, according to those behind the campaign.

Those who signed the message urged governments to have AI red lines in place by the end of next year given the pace the technology is advancing.

“AI could soon far surpass human capabilities and escalate risks such as engineered pandemics, widespread disinformation, large-scale manipulation of individuals including children, national and international security concerns, mass unemployment, and systematic human rights violations,” the letter read.

“Left unchecked, many experts, including those at the forefront of development, warn that it will become increasingly difficult to exert meaningful human control in the coming years.”

© 2025 AFP

Backup provider Nakivo has moved to version 11.1 of its Backup & Replication software. Key additions include expanded capabilities in the Proxmox virtualisation environment – an emerging VMware alternative – that include disaster recovery (DR) orchestration. It also adds a much simplified connection to the customer infrastructure for managed service providers (MSPs).

Nakivo also responded to questions about a security vulnerability discovered earlier this year by a third-party security company (see box below).

Nakivo offers backup for virtual machines (VMs) and physical machines, and can protect sources that range from datacentres to edge devices, as well as cloud files and applications. It offers replication and disaster recovery for some environments, with automated failover. All of this is admin-able from a single-pane-of-glass user interface.

According to vice-president for product management Sergei Serdyuk, Nakivo offers data protection at “roughly half the price of competitors” in the backup space.

The company claims 16,000 customers, which include Coca-Cola, Cisco, Siemens, Honda and Radisson, where they are deployed in at least some departments, if not the whole customer environment, according to Serdyuk.

Core among the additions in v11.1 is MSP Direct Connect, which allows service providers to connect to customer environments without the need for open ports and network configuration on the customer side. According to Nakivo, this will allow backup for VMware, Hyper-V, Proxmox VMs and physical machines, as well as working with Nakivo’s site recovery feature.

“Providers can install our solution at the customer site. It can connect to the solution installed at the MSP, and basically off they go. This is to simplify and speed up deployments for MSP customers,” said Serdyuk.

Meanwhile, the new version sees expanded Proxmox capabilities. These include the ability to create VM replicas, boot VMs from Nakivo backups, verify backup integrity and recovery readiness, and restore from tape.

“With the new version, we can create Proxmox VM replicas in the same or different locations,” said Serdyuk. “So, customers can, in case of a disaster, just switch to a replica VM instead of spending time on restore from backup.”

Additionally, Nakivo claims to be the only backup provider that offers disaster recovery for Proxmox environments.

According to Serdyuk, that translates to having in place a site-level workflow that is dependent on replication.

Further additions to the latest version of Nakivo include real-time replication for VMware, which was in beta but is now generally available.  

There is also the addition of granular physical backups for Windows and Linux physical machines. This allows for backup of specific files and folders without full backups, and storage of backups in any location, including as copies to comply with 3-2-1 backup plans.

Microsoft’s plan to halt updates for its Windows 10 operating system in mid-October has raised hackles among campaign groups and left some users worried they must buy new computers to be safe from cyberattacks.

Here is what you need to know about the planned end of support for the software.

What happens on October 14?

Computers running Microsoft’s 2015-vintage Windows 10 will receive no further updates from the American tech giant from October 14.

Such downloads were used to “regularly patch (update) the operating system because it had become the target of many cyberattacks,” said Martin Kraemer, a computer security expert with American firm KnowBe4.

What does this mean for users?

Microsoft has urged its customers to upgrade to the latest version of its operating system: Windows 11, released in 2021.

But the company is also offering a $30 one-year extension of Windows 10 security updates for users whose computer hardware is not compatible with the new operating system.

Consumer groups have blasted the move.

“The lack of backwards compatibility for certain Windows 10 machines sold only a couple of years ago is a blow to consumers’ pocketbooks” as they face being forced to upgrade, US campaign organization Consumer Reports said in a blog post last week.

In Europe, French groups such as End Planned Obsolescence (HOP) have started a petition demanding free updates extending to 2030.

And Germany’s Verbraucherzentrale federation of consumer groups said in May that the move “worries consumers and leaves them unable to make free purchase decisions.”

“Such a large volume of new (computer) purchases are also bad for the environment,” including by creating large amounts of hard-to-recycle electronic waste, they added.

How many users are affected?

Microsoft declined to answer AFP’s request for data on how many Windows users are unable to upgrade.

But Consumer Reports tallied 650 million people worldwide still using Windows 10 in August.

Another American outfit, the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) estimates that up to 400 million computers are incompatible with Windows 11.

What are the dangers ?

Users unable to make the switch and who do not pay for security updates face a heightened threat of cyberattacks.

“By receiving no updates, you’re no longer protecting yourself against the most recent cybersecurity risks,” Kraemer said.

Although the increase in exposure is “very difficult” to quantify for individual users, as a group they would become priority targets for attackers sniffing for security holes.

As time goes on, Windows 10 users may also find themselves unable to install the latest third-party software, said Paddy Harrington of American consulting firm Forrester.

“Application vendors rely on the operating system vendor to provide certain features and functions,” Harrington pointed out.

“If these are not updated, the app vendor can’t be assured that their application will continue to function properly.”

What alternatives do users have?

Even the most recent antivirus software may not be enough to protect an operating system no longer receiving updates.

“There’s a limit to how much protection they can offer… it’s much better than doing nothing, but should be a temporary patch while you find a permanent solution,” Harrington said.

Users determined to stick with their existing hardware could switch instead to a different operating system, such as the open-source alternative Linux—already the choice for many devices like internet servers and the basis for Google’s Android smartphone operating system.

“As long as your applications support that OS and your management and security tools will support it, it’s a good choice,” Harrington said.

© 2025 AFP