Impostor Uses AI to Impersonate Rubio and Contact Foreign and US Officials

Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a signing ceremony for a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the State Department, June 27, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a signing ceremony for a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the State Department, June 27, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
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Impostor Uses AI to Impersonate Rubio and Contact Foreign and US Officials

Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a signing ceremony for a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the State Department, June 27, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a signing ceremony for a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the State Department, June 27, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

The State Department is warning US diplomats of attempts to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio and possibly other officials using technology driven by artificial intelligence, according to two senior officials and a cable sent last week to all embassies and consulates.

The warning came after the department discovered that an impostor posing as Rubio had attempted to reach out to at least three foreign ministers, a US senator and a governor, according to the July 3 cable, which was first reported by The Washington Post.

The recipients of the scam messages, which were sent by text, Signal and voice mail, were not identified in the cable, a copy of which was shared with The Associated Press.

“The State Department is aware of this incident and is currently investigating the matter,” it said. “The department takes seriously its responsibility to safeguard its information and continuously takes steps to improve the department’s cybersecurity posture to prevent future incidents.”

It declined to comment further due to “security reasons” and the ongoing investigation.

One of the officials said the hoaxes had been unsuccessful and “not very sophisticated.” Nonetheless, the second official said the department deemed it “prudent” to advise all employees and foreign governments, particularly as efforts by foreign actors to compromise information security increase.

The officials were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“There is no direct cyber threat to the department from this campaign, but information shared with a third party could be exposed if targeted individuals are compromised,” the cable said.

The FBI warned in a public service announcement this past spring of a “malicious text and voice messaging campaign” in which unidentified “malicious actors” have been impersonating senior US government officials.

The scheme, according to the FBI, has relied on text messages and AI-generated voice messages that purport to come from a senior US official and that aim to dupe other government officials as well as the victim’s associates and contacts.

It is the second high-level Trump administration official to face such AI-driven impersonation.

The government was investigating after elected officials, business executives and other prominent figures received messages from someone impersonating President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles. Text messages and phone calls went out from someone who seemed to have gained access to the contacts in Wiles’ personal cellphone, The Wall Street Journal reported in May.

Some of those who received calls heard a voice that sounded like Wiles, which may have been generated by artificial intelligence, according to the newspaper. The messages and calls were not coming from Wiles’ number, the report said.

 

 

 

 

 

 



TikTok Users Top 200 Million in Europe, Firm Says

The TikTok logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen which displays the TikTok home screen, Oct. 14, 2022, in Boston. (AP)
The TikTok logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen which displays the TikTok home screen, Oct. 14, 2022, in Boston. (AP)
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TikTok Users Top 200 Million in Europe, Firm Says

The TikTok logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen which displays the TikTok home screen, Oct. 14, 2022, in Boston. (AP)
The TikTok logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen which displays the TikTok home screen, Oct. 14, 2022, in Boston. (AP)

TikTok has more than 200 million monthly users in Europe, or roughly one in three citizens on the continent, the short video app platform said on Friday, the latest sign of its rapid growth among teenagers.

That is up from 175 million people last year, among users in 32 European countries. TikTok, owned by Chinese technology behemoth ByteDance, has more than 1 billion users globally who visit monthly, a spokesperson said.

While the company has faced regulatory challenges worldwide, it has faced particular ire from US President Donald Trump, who is pushing for divestment of its assets there, reported Reuters.

In Europe, TikTok was fined 530 million euros ($600 million) by its lead EU privacy regulator in May.

ByteDance is set to launch a employee share buyback that will value the Chinese firm at more than $330 billion, Reuters reported in late August.


Europe's Fastest Supercomputer to Boost AI Drive

Jupiter is housed in a center covering some 3,600 meters (38,000 square feet) -- about half the size of a football pitch -- containing racks of processors, and packed with about 24,000 Nvidia chips, which are favored by the AI industry. Thomas SAMSON / AFP/File
Jupiter is housed in a center covering some 3,600 meters (38,000 square feet) -- about half the size of a football pitch -- containing racks of processors, and packed with about 24,000 Nvidia chips, which are favored by the AI industry. Thomas SAMSON / AFP/File
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Europe's Fastest Supercomputer to Boost AI Drive

Jupiter is housed in a center covering some 3,600 meters (38,000 square feet) -- about half the size of a football pitch -- containing racks of processors, and packed with about 24,000 Nvidia chips, which are favored by the AI industry. Thomas SAMSON / AFP/File
Jupiter is housed in a center covering some 3,600 meters (38,000 square feet) -- about half the size of a football pitch -- containing racks of processors, and packed with about 24,000 Nvidia chips, which are favored by the AI industry. Thomas SAMSON / AFP/File

Europe's fastest supercomputer Jupiter is set to be inaugurated Friday in Germany with its operators hoping it can help the continent in everything from climate research to catching up in the artificial intelligence race.

Here is all you need to know about the system, which boasts the power of around one million smartphones.

What is the Jupiter supercomputer?

Based at Juelich Supercomputing Center in western Germany, it is Europe's first "exascale" supercomputer -- meaning it will be able to perform at least one quintillion (or one billion billion) calculations per second.

The United States already has three such computers, all operated by the Department of Energy.

Jupiter is housed in a center covering some 3,600 meters (38,000 square feet) -- about half the size of a football pitch -- containing racks of processors, and packed with about 24,000 Nvidia chips, which are favored by the AI industry.

Half the 500 million euros ($580 million) to develop and run the system over the next few years comes from the European Union and the rest from Germany.

Its vast computing power can be accessed by researchers across numerous fields as well as companies for purposes such as training AI models.

"Jupiter is a leap forward in the performance of computing in Europe," Thomas Lippert, head of the Juelich center, told AFP, adding that it was 20 times more powerful than any other computer in Germany.

How can it help Europe in the AI race?

Lippert said Jupiter is the first supercomputer that could be considered internationally competitive for training AI models in Europe, which has lagged behind the US and China in the sector.

According to a Stanford University report released earlier this year, US-based institutions produced 40 "notable" AI models -- meaning those regarded as particularly influential -- in 2024, compared to 15 for China and just three for Europe.

"It is the biggest artificial intelligence machine in Europe," Emmanuel Le Roux, head of advanced computing at Eviden, a subsidiary of French tech giant Atos, told AFP.

A consortium consisting of Eviden and German group ParTec built Jupiter.

Jose Maria Cela, senior researcher at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, said the new system was "very significant" for efforts to train AI models in Europe.

"The larger the computer, the better the model that you develop with artificial intelligence," he told AFP.

Large language models (LLMs) are trained on vast amounts of text and used in generative AI chatbots such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini.

Nevertheless with Jupiter packed full of Nvidia chips, it is still heavily reliant on US tech.

The dominance of the US tech sector has become a source of growing concern as US-Europe relations have soured.

- What else can the computer be used for? -

Jupiter has a wide range of other potential uses beyond training AI models.

Researchers want to use it to create more detailed, long-term climate forecasts that they hope can more accurately predict the likelihood of extreme weather events such as heatwaves.

Le Roux said that current models can simulate climate change over the next decade.

"With Jupiter, scientists believe they will be able to forecast up to at least 30 years, and in some models, perhaps even up to 100 years," he added.

Others hope to simulate processes in the brain more realistically, research that could be useful in areas such as developing drugs to combat diseases like Alzheimer's.

It can also be used for research related to the energy transition, for instance by simulating air flows around wind turbines to optimize their design.

Does Jupiter consume a lot of energy?

Yes, Jupiter will require on average around 11 megawatts of power, according to estimates -- equivalent to the energy used to power thousands of homes or a small industrial plant.

But its operators insist that Jupiter is the most energy-efficient among the fastest computer systems in the world.

It uses the latest, most energy-efficient hardware, has water-cooling systems and the waste heat that it generates will be used to heat nearby buildings, according to the Juelich center.


Google Services Were Down in Türkiye, Parts of Europe

FILE - The Google logo sits on the company's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., July 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
FILE - The Google logo sits on the company's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., July 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
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Google Services Were Down in Türkiye, Parts of Europe

FILE - The Google logo sits on the company's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., July 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
FILE - The Google logo sits on the company's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., July 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

Some Google services including YouTube temporarily went down on Thursday in Türkiye and some parts of Europe including Greece and Germany, according to a Turkish deputy minister, internet monitors and users in the regions.

The Freedom of Expression Association, which monitors local censorship on the internet, said the outage on Alphabet's Google began around 10:00 a.m. (0700 GMT) in Türkiye.

Tracking website Downdetector said services were mostly restored before 0900 GMT, with the number of reports of service disruptions decreasing from 0751 GMT onward.

Google did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on the matter. Türkiye’s cyber security watchdog has requested a technical report from Google, deputy transport and infrastructure minister Omer Fatih Sayan said on X.

A map posted by Sayan showed Türkiye, large parts of southeast Europe, and some locations in Ukraine, Russia and western Europe as affected.

There were sporadic outages in Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania, including problems accessing websites, YouTube and some phone contacts linked to Gmail, users there said.

In Germany, outage tracking website allestoerungen.de, a division of US-based Ookla, reported an uptick in Google disruptions from around 09:00 a.m.