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A group representing many of the world’s wealthiest countries agreed Wednesday to release the largest volume of emergency oil reserves in its history, in a bid to counter the effects of the Iran war on energy markets and the halt of cargo shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The International Energy Agency said it will make 400 million barrels of oil available from its members emergency reserves, which is more than double the 182.7 million barrels that the IEA’s 32 member countries released in 2022 in response to Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This is a major action aiming to alleviate the immediate impacts of the disruption in markets, said Fatih Birol, executive director of the Paris-based IEA. But, to be clear, the most important thing for a return to stable flows of oil and gas is the resumption of transit through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has attacked commercial ships across the Persian Gulf in response to U.S. and Israeli strikes, escalating a campaign of squeezing the oil-rich region as global energy concerns mount and effectively stopping cargo traffic in the narrow Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of all oil is shipped from the Persian Gulf toward the Indian Ocean. Iran has also targeted oil fields and refineries in Gulf Arab nations, aiming to generate enough global economic pain to pressure the U.S. and Israel to end their strikes. According to the IEA, export volumes of crude and refined products are currently at less than 10% of prewar levels. Birol noted that the situation in natural gas markets is also very challenging, with Asia the most severely affected region. There are few options to replace the missing LNG cargoes from Qatar and the Emirates, he said. Global energy supply has been reduced by around 20%.” A push to lower the price at the pumps The IEA’s announcement came a day after energy ministers from the Group of Seven the leading industrialized nations of Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan, Germany and Britain met in Paris to look at ways to bring down prices. It also came just before G7 leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, met Wednesday via videoconference. During his introductory remarks during Wednesday’s video call, French President Emmanuel Macron praised the IEA decision to release emergency oil stocks, saying it is very important to do everything possible to increase global production and that the 400 million barrels amounted to the equivalent of 20 days of the volume being exported through the Strait of Hormuz. The amount pledged by the G7 nations alone comprises 70% of the total, including 14.5 million barrels France will contribute, Macron said, noting that the IEA decision was prepared at the G7 level. Maksim Sonin, an energy executive who works with Stanford Universitys Hydrogen Initiative, said the release would have a short-term stabilizing effect, but that it would diminish if the war persists and the Strait of Hormuz remains essentially at a standstill. Its not a silver bullet to solve everything, Sonin said. You have to solve the underlying problem. Neil Crosby, a vice president of oil analytics at Sparta, which tracks oil trading, said as big as the release is, it amounts to a little Band-Aid. This scenario was always written off by large parts of the industry: In case we get to the scenario of where theres a war with Iran, the U.S. Navy will ensure that Hormuz doesnt stay closed, Crosby said. And then we got there, and its closed. … Its a complete disaster. Oil follows snaking journeys that can take weeks to go from drill sites to gas pumps. It must pass through refineries, where it is turned to fuel, before it is shipped off via pipelines and tankers to terminals, and then on to gas stations. Because of this, no single decision has an immediate impact. But Kenneth Medlock, senior director of the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University, said the release of reserves will calm markets and prevent wild price swings and could lead to lower prices at the pump in the next week or so. Still, a trade-off is involved by tapping reserves. Youre depleting stocks now. Thats always the catch-22, Medlock said. Youre selling them today but that means you cant sell them tomorrow because theyre gone. Member countries pledge help Germany, Austria and Japan said earlier Wednesday that they would release parts of their oil reserves in response to the IEA’s request for members to release 400 million barrels. The IEA reserves were established in 1974 following the Arab oil embargo, and IEA member countries currently hold more than 1.2 billion barrels of public emergency oil stocks, with a further 600 million barrels of industry stocks held under government obligation. Germanys economy ministry, Katherina Reiche, said the IEA asked Germany to release 2.64 million tons roughly 19.7 million barrels of its oil reserves. She said it would take a couple of days before the delivery of the first quantities. Germany stands behind the IEAs most important principle of mutual solidarity, Reiche said. The German government also said it will introduce a measure to allow gas stations in Germany to raise fuel prices no more than once a day. The federal government wants to introduce this as quickly as possible, Reiche said. It wasnt immediately clear how much oil Austria was releasing. Starting Monday in Austria, price increases at gas stations will be allowed only three times a week, said the countrys economy minister, Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer. He said Austria was releasing part of its emergency oil reserve and extending the national strategic gas reserve, adding: One thing is clear: in a crisis, there must be no crisis winners at the expense of commuters and businesses. IEA nations have released emergency stocks on five previous occasions: During the 1990-1991 Gulf War, after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, during the Libyan civil war in 2011, and twice after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Samuel Petrequin and Kirsten Grieshaber, Associated Press Associated Press reporters Matt Sedensky, Cathy Bussewitz, John Leicester, and Sylvie Corbet contributed to this report.
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High-level information about the private work of students and staff using ChatGPT Edu at several universities can be viewed by thousands of colleagues across their institutions due to a misunderstanding of what is being shared, according to a University of Oxford researcher who identified the issue. The problem affects Codex Cloud Environments in ChatGPT Edu and exposes the names and some metadata associated with the public and private GitHub repositories that users within a university have connected to their ChatGPT Edu accounts. No private code or repository data was exposed to unauthorized users. Nevertheless, the metadata that is visible can still reveal a meaningful picture of users activity. Anyone at the university, or a large number of people at leastincluding mecan see a number of projects [people have] been working on with ChatGPT, says Luc Rocher, an associate professor at the University of Oxford, who identified the issue and raised it with both the University of Oxford and OpenAI through responsible disclosure. He later approached Fast Company after what he felt was an inadequate response from both. In addition to the projects, Rocher says he could see how many times users interacted with ChatGPT on a given project and when those conversations began. From that metadata, Rocher was able to piece together that an Oxford student was working on an article for submission using OpenAIs toolssomething the student confirmed when Rocher approached them. In terms of the width of different people that can access each others behavioural data, that is quite worrying, says a separate University of Oxford researcher, who was granted anonymity by Fast Company to speak freely about their employer. However, the researcher acknowledges that the data exposure is internal and, while broad, limited in depth. I suspect that might be why the data protection team havent reacted as quickly as if it was a public-facing thing. However, the researcher calls the institutions lack of response nave. They add: There are reasons for researchers to have private repositories. The situation echoes a similar issue previously reported by Fast Company, in which users of OpenAIs standard ChatGPT product were not clearly informed that sharing their conversations could allow those chats to be indexed by search engines. The company initially denied the problem, then removed the feature after backlash. It seems to me it’s a question of a bad default, says Rocher, where users arent made immediately and obviously clear what theyre opting into. An OpenAI spokesperson tells Fast Company: Users are in full control of how their environments are shared. Repository names can be visible to other members of the same organisation only if chosen to be by the workspace owner, and repository contents remain secure. The spokesperson adds: We have spoken with the customer directly about this question and always welcome their feedback. The University of Oxford declined to comment on the record. Fast Company understands Rocher has identified other universitiesincluding at least one in the Middle Eastaffected by the same issue. I think this is something universities need to be made aware of, says Rocher. The situation highlights a broader tension around how AI products are being deployed, experts say. While it is not clear how much data is exposed by default by OpenAI, it is clear that the way that these systems are integrated is making information visible to both the firm and across the organisation that was not visible before, says Michael Veale, professor of technology law and policy at University College London. Veale says that dynamic reflects how AI systems operate. It is a part of a broader trend of AI tools being integrated without accounting for the ways they transform who can see what information, and the difficulty, or even impossibility, of users reasoning what is going on behind the scenes, he says. By definition, AI systems query external services faster than humans can. That mismatch between AI capabilities and human oversight creates risks. Humans already have enormous difficulty keeping up with understanding what information is going where at the best of times, says Veale. Making that faster and more ubiquitous is only going to make that harder, and increase opacity and vulnerability to breaches and attacks in the process.
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Drive an older Buick Regal? You may need to drive it to your nearest dealer. General Motors is recalling certain 2012 and 2013 Buick Regal models because of an issue with the rear suspension toe links that could increase the likelihood of a crash. The recall affects 17,050 Buick passenger cars that were sold or registered in 22 high corrosion states and Washington, D.C., according to the recall notice filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The recall, submitted on Tuesday, expands on two others that the Detroit-based automaker has filed since late February related to the same issue. Only about 1% of the 17,000-plus vehicles identified may have a defect, which was caused by the Chinese supplier failing to properly apply corrosion protection which could eventually cause the toe link to thin and ultimately fracture. GM noted in the latest recall notice that its not aware of any accidents or injuries that have been associated with its investigation. Notification letters are expected to be mailed to affected car owners in mid-April. The Buick Regal marked the end of an era for the automaker: In 2020, GM discontinued making this model of passenger car amid slumping sales, leaving the brand to focus exclusively on SUVs. RECALL DETAILS As indicated, GMs recall is very limited in scope and only affects 2012 and 2013 model year Buick Regal vehicles. The automaker identified 4,751 affected 2012 Buick Regals and 12,299 affected 2013 Buick Regals, encompassing both the Turbo and GS trim-level vehicles for both model years. Because of the risk of corrosion, GM has identified vehicles that were ever registered in the following states: Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, or Wisconsin. If you drive one of the affected Buick Regal models, you can take your car to a dealer, which will replace the rear suspension toe link and adjuster fasteners free of charge.
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