While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Sept 16, 2026
OpenAI, Anthropic and Google are exploring a self-regulatory body modelled on US financial regulator that oversees brokers and investment firms.
The world’s biggest AI companies are working on creating a standards body, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI said on Sept 15, as fears rise about the dangers of AI and pressure is on to create a safer version of the technology.
OpenAI said it was working with Anthropic and Google on an idea that originated from a proposal by Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis for a self-regulatory body modelled after the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority that oversees US brokers and investment firms.
In July, Hassibis called for the United States to create an organisation that would test the most powerful AI systems before they are released to the public.
“Funding would need to be substantial and likely mostly come from industry, in order to attract world-class technical talent and provide the necessary compute resources for large-scale testing,” Hassabis wrote.
Saudi Arabia has cut oil shipments to Europe after drone attacks damaged its key export pipeline to the Red Sea, trade sources told Reuters, prompting top customers such as Poland to rush to seek alternatives as cargo prices topped US$120 (S$152) a barrel.
The attacks, which Saudi Arabia has blamed on Iraqi militia, forced the kingdom on Sept 11 to shut its East-West desert oil pipeline, which has spared it from the worst of the impact of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz over the last six months.
Oil trading and shipping sources said on Sept 15 that Saudi Arabia had informed European customers that some September-loading crude cargoes will be cancelled and oil loadings at the Red Sea port of Yanbu had been suspended.
President Donald Trump’s administration is planning to sell to Israel a munitions package worth US$2.8 billion (S$3.6 billion), which will include tens of thousands of highly destructive 2,000-pound bombs, according to a US official familiar with the sale.
The planned sale, which has been informally communicated to relevant congressional committees who weigh in on large arms sales, includes 20,000 MK 84s and 20,000 BLU-117s, the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said.
US public support for Israel has fallen since the Gaza war began in 2023, particularly among Democrats. A June Quinnipiac University poll found 48 per cent of voters and 66 per cent of Democrats believe the United States is too supportive of Israel, up from 16 per cent and 20 per cent when the question was first asked in 2017.
Democrats in the US Congress launched an investigation this week into reports that a Russian oligarch paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for the wedding celebrations of President Donald Trump’s son earlier in 2026.
The Democrats’ move comes on the heels of an article by ProPublica that Umar Kremlev, a wealthy Russian businessman and president of the International Boxing Association, paid for wedding festivities for Donald Trump Jr in the Bahamas in May.
The report said that Kremlev has close ties to the Russian government.
Rail travel in large parts of the Netherlands ground to a standstill on Sept 15, after what the authorities suspect were coordinated acts of sabotage with tubes attached to train tracks in multiple locations.
Transport by train in most of the central and eastern part of the country was virtually impossible after the authorities discovered items on the tracks in around 30 separate places.
“Materials were found at multiple locations on the track that were deliberately placed there,” said rail operator ProRail in a statement.
