X-Risk Daily

DeepSeek posted a job advertisement on its official social media account on 29 June, with recruitment targeting engineers involved in developing autonomous AI agents and researchers proficient in large language model training.

The hiring drive forms part of a broader push to more than double the company's headcount. The firm announced openings in 33 positions across seven major categories, including full-stack development and algorithms, artificial intelligence core system R&D, deep learning research, and model data strategy product management and engineering. The expansion is being supported by a reported 50 billion yuan (approximately $7.4 billion) funding round, according to BigGo Finance.

The recruitment specifically targets the company's Harness team, a newly formed unit focused on building infrastructure that connects foundation models to external tools and execution environments. Cui Tianyi, the former Jane Street quantitative trading expert who joined DeepSeek in March to head the Harness team, said on social media platform X on Saturday that the newly formed group was facing an acute shortage of talent. According to the South China Morning Post, the team is building CodeHarness from the ground up, with hints that the initiative could eventually produce a standalone product called DeepSeek Code.

The focus on autonomous vulnerability discovery carries significant dual-use implications. Such systems could be deployed defensively to identify software weaknesses before they are exploited, but the same capabilities could enable offensive applications. Research from cybersecurity firms has already demonstrated that AI models can serve as reasoning layers inside controlled vulnerability research systems, though effective deployment still requires static analysis, fuzzing, sandbox execution, and human review, according to Penligent. The development comes as DeepSeek continues to release models with enhanced agent capabilities, including its V4 Preview model launched in April 2026, which the company positions as offering stronger autonomous capabilities and advanced reasoning.

DeepSeek has not publicly commented on specific safeguards or the scope of its vulnerability discovery project, and the technical approach remains unclear from the available job postings. The company's emphasis on agentic AI combined with cybersecurity applications represents a notable capability target in the broader race among AI labs to develop systems that can autonomously execute complex technical tasks.

The declaration came days after coordinated US and Israeli airstrikes on 28 February under Operation Epic Fury targeted Iranian military facilities, nuclear sites, and leadership, resulting in the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Iran's threat materialized with immediate effect. Beginning 4 March, Iranian forces declared the strait "closed," carrying out attacks on ships attempting transit, with the UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre reporting 10 attacks as of 8 March that killed five crew members. According to Congressional Research Service analysis, roughly 27% of the world's maritime trade in crude oil and petroleum products and 20% of global liquefied natural gas trade passes through the strait. World Trade Organization data suggests a 95% reduction in ships carrying crude oil to and from Persian Gulf ports and a 99% reduction in ships with LNG since the conflict began.

Tehran made clear that negotiations on a final settlement would require specific preconditions. The conflict had expanded to Lebanon, where Iran-backed Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel, prompting Israeli counterstrikes. Iran insisted that hostilities in Lebanon must cease and the US release frozen Iranian funds before final talks could proceed. Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani traveled to Tehran as mediation efforts intensified, with the first round of high-level negotiations between the United States and Iran concluding in Switzerland with both sides agreeing to "a road map" to reach a final deal within 60 days.

The economic consequences proved severe and immediate. The international benchmark Brent crude jumped 8 percent from $71.32 per barrel on 27 February to $77.24 per barrel on 2 March, though insurers withdrew or repriced coverage for transits through the strait, while major carriers including Maersk began rerouting traffic via the Cape of Good Hope. According to estimates from the UAE's state-owned oil company, full flows through Hormuz will not resume until 2027, even if a deal is reached quickly.

Iran's willingness to explicitly weaponize the Strait of Hormuz represented either genuine escalatory intent or high-stakes brinkmanship designed to extract concessions. Either scenario materially increased the risk of miscalculation or direct military confrontation between nuclear-capable adversaries during a period when AI development is accelerating and international cooperation on existential risks depends on relative geopolitical stability. By mid-June, the Joint Maritime Information Center downgraded the threat level in the Strait of Hormuz to "substantial" from "severe" following progress in negotiations, though the center warned that "an attack is still a strong possibility" and that mines remain a threat.

Fein, who served as Associate Deputy Attorney General under President Reagan, argued that the current presidency represents a departure from constitutional constraints that have historically limited executive authority in the United States.

The critique follows a year-long pattern of executive action that has tested traditional limits on presidential power. Since the start of his second term in January last year, Trump has aggressively sought to expand the president's executive powers as he works to transform the US government and put political allies in key positions, according to Al Jazeera. Aided by a pliant Republican-led Congress, Trump and his administration have numerous times stretched the power of the executive branch into areas of governance normally reserved for the legislative branch, pulling back funds appropriated by lawmakers, who constitutionally control federal purse strings, NPR reported in January.

Fein's warning arrives amid significant Supreme Court rulings that have both expanded and constrained presidential authority. On 29 June, the Supreme Court's conservative majority struck down removal restrictions for members of the Federal Trade Commission and overruled a 91-year-old decision that allowed Congress to shield members of many independent agencies from being fired at will, CBS News reported. Fein told Al Jazeera the decision meant Trump's control over the executive branch and ability to fire civil servants at will was much enhanced. However, the Court simultaneously blocked Trump's attempt to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, preserving the central bank's independence from political interference.

The significance extends beyond specific policy disputes to systemic concerns about power concentration during a period of rapid technological change. Many scholars of democracy say that these moves are unprecedented in U.S. history and that Trump has pushed the United States toward authoritarianism, according to NPR. Trump's critics fault the Republican-controlled Congress for failing to challenge his sweeping assertions of executive power, noting his administration's efforts to withhold from states billions in dollars appropriated by Congress have spurred relatively little outrage among GOP lawmakers, Stateline reported in March. Fein's concerns centre on the cumulative erosion of norms that constrain arbitrary authority — a development legal scholars view as particularly dangerous as AI governance frameworks are still being established and require robust institutional checks.

Earlier this year, Fein and co-author fellow lawyer Nader issued draft articles for an impeachment resolution introduced April 6 by Connecticut Rep. John Larson, according to Wikipedia, joining a growing chorus of constitutional scholars raising alarm about democratic backsliding under the current administration.

The rupture became undeniable following the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, on 16-17 June, when Trump told Italian broadcaster La7 that Meloni had pleaded with him for a photo at the meeting, saying he only agreed because he felt sorry for her.

Meloni, who had been dubbed the "Trump whisperer" for her ability to maintain cordial relations with the unpredictable US leader, said she was "stunned" by Trump's comments and dismissed them as fabricated. In a direct Instagram response, she told Trump that "these constant, unprovoked attacks are senseless," adding that "being your friend certainly has not helped" her popularity, which "depends on my ability to defend Italy's national interest". The exchange escalated rapidly, with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani canceling a planned trip to the US and branding Trump's remarks "offensive" to the entirety of Italy.

The breakdown stems from deeper policy disagreements that emerged over recent months. In late March, Italy's defence ministry refused to let US military aircraft bound for the Middle East use the NATO airbase at Sigonella in Sicily without parliamentary approval, reflecting constitutional constraints and strong domestic opposition to the US-Iran war. The rift widened in April when Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV on Truth Social over the pontiff's criticism of the war, calling him "weak on crime," prompting Meloni to call the attack "unacceptable". According to CBS News, Trump responded by saying he was shocked at Meloni and had been wrong about her courage.

The personal nature of the attacks marks a significant departure from traditional diplomatic norms and carries real consequences for Western coordination. Meloni was the only European leader to attend Trump's second inauguration, and her right-wing politics made her a more logical partner for the White House than other leaders of major European economies. Yet the relationship has yielded limited material benefits for Italy, according to The Conversation, with Italy receiving no exemptions from trade tariffs or NATO spending demands. Domestically, a recent survey indicated 79% of Italians now hold a negative opinion on Trump, and analysts suggest Meloni's association with the US president contributed to her defeat in a March referendum on judicial reform. The episode highlights the fragility of international partnerships built on personal rapport rather than institutional frameworks, with a major NATO ally and G7 member now openly at odds with Washington at a time when alliance cohesion remains critical to managing global security challenges.

Stelios Kouloglou, a Greek journalist and former member of the European Parliament, was hacked in October 2022 and at least twice during March 2023 using an exploit that compromised a security vulnerability in Apple's iPhone software, as reported by TechCrunch.

The confirmed phone hacking marks the first time that a member of the European Parliament's PEGA committee, tasked with investigating phone spyware attacks by European governments, has been publicly identified as a victim of spyware. Kouloglou's phone was first infected while he was in hospital recovering from elective surgery on 21 October 2022, and was infected with Pegasus spyware again on 6 and 7 March 2023. The March attacks occurred while Kouloglou travelled from Athens to Brussels, during a period of committee hearings and months prior to the committee finalising and adopting their written draft report.

The incident underscores the systematic use of commercial spyware to undermine democratic oversight. Whoever perpetrated the attacks would have potentially gained access to internal information about the committee's activities and findings, potentially violating EU parliamentary confidentiality requirements and people's privacy, according to reporting by WIRED. MEP Saskia Bricmont, a member of the PEGA Committee, described the use of spyware as threatening "the security and integrity of parliamentary work and of the European Parliament as a whole," calling it a "direct attack on the rule of law".

Citizen Lab's researchers did not attribute the phone hacking to a specific country, but noted that the government customer used the same Pegasus-loaded email address that was used in a previous campaign that hacked into the phones of journalists across Europe, with the reuse of the same attacking email address implying that the customer had NSO Group's authorisation to use its Pegasus spyware to snoop on phones across multiple countries in Europe. Citizen Lab found overlaps between the attacks on Kouloglou's phone and the use of Pegasus against seven Russian- and Belarusian-speaking journalists and activists between August 2020 and January 2023. The research stops short of naming any government that may have used Pegasus against Kouloglou, noting in particular that it found no indication of Greek government involvement.

The case adds to mounting evidence of spyware being wielded against those attempting to expose its misuse. Kouloglou said he plans to sue NSO Group, the Israeli-headquartered spyware maker. The PEGA committee itself was established by European Parliament vote on 11 March 2022 to investigate abuses of Pegasus by European member states, following revelations that authoritarian and democratic governments around the world were using Pegasus to spy on journalists, lawyers, activists, politicians, and high-ranking state officials.