CIA to offer tips on ‘creative problem solving’ at SXSW festival
By David Klepper
This April 13, 2016, photo, shows the seal of the Central Intelligence Agency at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va. Two Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee say the CIA has a secret, undisclosed data repository that includes information collected about Americans. While neither the agency nor lawmakers would disclose specifics about the data, Sens. Ron Wyden and Martin Heinrich allege the CIA has long hidden details about the program from the public and Congress. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The CIA is headed to the South By Southwest festival to share tips on finding innovative solutions to complex challenges.
America's preeminent spy agency will deliver a presentation Sunday on creative problem solving at the annual SXSW music festival and tech conference held in Austin, Texas, the CIA announced Monday.
The typically tight-lipped agency said a CIA historian and one of the agency's public affairs officers will deliver the talk, entitled “Mission Possible: The Spies' Guide to Creative Problem Solving."
Sunday’s presentation from the CIA comes during the first weekend of the event, which brings together thousands of artists, technology experts, business leaders and entrepreneurs.
The agency said its tips on creative problem solving are designed to be helpful to anyone, even if their particular challenges don't include running covert surveillance, organizing clandestine meetups or sniffing out double agents.
“Come learn how creative problem-solving has helped resolve complex challenges we’ve faced in protecting national security, and how you can apply creative thinking to your own seemingly impossible missions,” the agency wrote in a social media post promoting the talk.
This month's presentation comes at a tumultuous time for America's intelligence community. The agency recently offered buyout offers to employees as part of President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk's efforts to shrink and reshape the federal government.
Hollywood’s actors’ union filed an unfair labor practice charge against Llama Productions on Monday, alleging the company replaced actors’ work by using artificial intelligence to generate Darth Vader’s voice in Fortnite without notice.
Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, says an “unauthorized modification” led its Grok chatbot to post unsolicited claims on social media about the persecution and “genocide” of white people in South Africa.
Pernilla Sjöholm, star of the Tinder Swindler on Netflix and founder of IDfier, explains how she went from fraud to co-founder of her own company. Watch!
DJ X, alongside Molly Holder, Senior Director of Product Personalization, takes us inside Spotify's A.I. DJ and how it's the best new way to listen to music.
Skype users are scrambling to find an alternative after Microsoft shut down the pioneering internet phone service which let people make cheap long distance calls and chat with other users. Google Voice lets users make calls from a smartphone or a desktop web browser but it's only available to people in the U.S. Viber users can call phone numbers but can't get a number to receive calls. Zoom offers phone options too. You could get a number from a low cost virtual carrier or try other internet phone services. Microsoft says some Skype features will migrate to Teams, but its Teams Phone feature is only for businesses.
