Latest news with #Brundage


USA Today
15-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
UFC on ESPN 69 results: Mansur Abdul-Malik gets technical decision win after head clash
UFC on ESPN 69 results: Mansur Abdul-Malik gets technical decision win after head clash Mansur Abdul-Malik and Cody Brundage had a slow start at UFC on ESPN 69. Then, in the third round, things went absolutely insane and led to a rare technical decision ending. Abdul-Malik (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) and Brundage (11-7 MMA, 5-6 UFC) threw caution to the wind in the middleweight bout with incredible brawling punches. Abdul-Malik hurt his opponent and came in for the kill, leading to a clash of heads that dropped Brundage to the mat before the referee stepped in at the 0:36 mark of Round 3 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Despite some protest from Brundage about the clash of heads just prior to the stoppage, it was ruled accidental and the fight went to a technical decision with scorecards of 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 in Abdul-Malik's favor. Check out a replay of the final sequence below (via X): After the result, Abdul-Malik was gracious in victory and said the clash of heads was an accident. "I know it was a decision, but … I'm just happy," Abdul-Malik said in his post-fight interview with Paul Felder. "Cody Brundage made me better. … I didn't see the head butt or whatever it was, but it wasn't intentional." Up-to-the-minute UFC on ESPN 69 results:


USA Today
14-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Cody Brundage not intimidated by unbeaten Mansur Abdul-Malik\u00a0at UFC Atlanta
Cody Brundage not intimidated by unbeaten Mansur Abdul-Malik at UFC Atlanta Show Caption Hide Caption Cody Brundage UFC Atlanta Media Day Cody Brundage speaks to the media at Wednesday's media day for UFC Atlanta. ATLANTA – Cody Brundage met the media Wednesday ahead of his fight at UFC on ESPN 69. Brundage (11-6 MMA, 5-5 UFC) takes on the unbeaten Mansur Abdul-Malik (8-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) in a middleweight fight on the ESPN main card at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. At media day, Brundage took questions from media members before his fight. Brundage is the second biggest underdog on the card. If he beats Abdul-Malik, who is as much as a 9-1 betting favorite, it will be one of the biggest upsets in UFC history – literally. But the 31-year-old, who has won three of his past four fights, all by first-round knockout, said the odds don't concern him. "I'm definitely the most experienced guy he's ever fought – I have more fights in the UFC than he has in his entire career," Brundage told MMA Junkie. "Experience goes a long way. Yeah, he's tough. The tougher the guys I fight, I think it pulls my skills out. The better the guy I'm fighting, all the pressure, it pulls something out of me that makes me be great. I'm just excited for it. "… He's got a ton of momentum right now, and if you put him in the fire and make him face a little bit of a adversity, he hasn't really been there. He doesn't know how to respond to that, and that's my job Saturday." Check out Brundage's full media day interview in the video above.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
4 Feet of Snow Forecasted, West Scores Before Temps Rise Next Week
A powerhouse storm cycle is hammering the Pacific Northwest mountains—especially the Oregon Cascades—with 2–4 feet of denser snow through the weekend. Washington's Cascades will also cash in with over two feet of moderate-density snow. Further inland (Northern Rockies, Utah, Colorado), storms deliver lighter but notable accumulations, with a broader warm-up looming early next week. Bottom line: Get it while it's deep!Want to keep up with the best stories and photos in skiing? Subscribe to the new Powder To The People newsletter for weekly updates. Below, we combine each previous night's snowfall (4 PM–8 AM) with the same day's snow (8 AM–4 PM) to pinpoint the best windows to chase powder. PNW: Light snow starts in the Washington and Oregon Cascades by afternoon. Not enough for a dedicated chase yet, but a teaser of what's Mostly quiet for the Northern Rockies, Utah, and Colorado. Save your energy for later in the week. (Combining Wed night + Thu day) Oregon Cascades (Timberline, Mt. Bachelor): Timberline could stack 7–9" by early Thursday afternoon, with Bachelor hitting around 6–8". Snow levels will fluctuate (3,000–5,000') and the snow will be on the heavier side (SLRs often <9), but volume rules here—Thursday morning laps should be surfy and Cascades (Stevens, Baker, Crystal): Look for ~5–8" new by noon Thursday (a bit higher at Baker). SLRs hover around 9–11, slightly lighter than Oregon. Plan for moderate-density pow turns, especially mid-mountain and Rockies, Utah, Colorado: Minimal new snow. No strong chase suggestion unless you're itching for any freshies at local hills. (Combining Thu night + Fri day) Washington Cascades (Mt. Baker, Stevens): Another 7–12" possible by Friday afternoon (highest at Baker). This round remains pretty dense—okay if you prefer a supportive base with fresh fluff on top. Winds could swirl in the 20–40 mph range, but the deepening storm is a go for the Cascades (Timberline, Bachelor): Expect around 4–7" new by midday Friday. Still leaning heavy (especially Timberline), but if you want raw accumulation, you'll find Rockies (ID Panhandle, Western MT): Brundage, Schweitzer, and Whitefish each pick up modest refreshes—generally 3–6" total by midday Friday. Not a huge dump, but enough to freshen & Colorado: Light or no significant accumulations for Friday morning. Next wave arrives late Friday into Saturday. (Combining Fri night + Sat day) Oregon Cascades (Timberline): Could see another 6–9" by Saturday afternoon, capping off a multi-day total pushing two feet or more. Snow levels hover ~4,000–5,000' with heavier moisture. It's a classic 'big dump' scenario, though not blower—bring the snorkel mainly for depth, not Cascades (Stevens, Crystal): Expect around 5–8" new by midday. Winds continue, but you'll score a seriously deep multi-day total by Saturday. Storm skiing vibe with moderate-density fluff up Rockies (Grand Targhee, Jackson, parts of SW Montana): Targhee adds ~3–5" fresh. Not huge, but decent quality (SLRs can top 12+). Could be a sneaky fun day—especially if earlier wind didn't mess things (Steamboat, I-70 corridor resorts): First wave arrives Friday night, delivering maybe 2–5" by Saturday morning at Steamboat, Vail, and Winter Park. Most mountains stack up a bit more through the day Saturday. Nothing monstrous, but enough for soft (Powder Mountain, the Cottonwoods): Friday night plus Saturday might tally ~2–4" at Powder, ~2–3" in the Cottonwoods. Not a full-on dump, but storms may preserve decent conditions if temps stay cool. (Combining Sat night + Sun day) PNW: Snowfall tapers. A few leftover inches possible in the Washington Cascades and northern Oregon. Not a prime chase day, but it's the tail end of a deep cycle, so leftover pow stashes should be good in wind-protected Rockies: Light wrap-around leftovers (1–2" in some spots).Utah & Colorado: Storms wind down except for spotty snow in Colorado's central/northern mountains. Likely only a couple of inches. Things will start warming soon, so Sunday might be the final chance for fresh Sunday: Decreasing returns. If you're already stationed in the Cascades or a favored Northern Rockies zone, you'll find leftover goods in the morning. After that, plan on the big warm-up next week. Good: Oregon/Washington Cascades see multi-day totals well over a foot, up to 2+ feet in spots (Oregon possibly near 2–3 feet). Enough new snow to surf day after moderate-density snow (SLR ~9–11) strikes a sweet spot for stability and float. Some Northern Rockies hotspots (like Targhee) get respectable fluff, especially Thursday– Heavier snow in the Oregon Cascades, especially Timberline and Bachelor (frequent SLR <9). Deep, but not blower by any means. Winds could create crusts/drifting, especially in Washington and across exposed ridges in the Northern Rockies/Colorado. Snow levels in Oregon can spike to 4,000–5,000'—lower mountain may get glop or Strong winds (40+ mph gusts) that can hammer open terrain and lead to lift disruptions. Rising snow levels in some areas on Friday/Saturday could reduce quality at lower elevations. Oregon Cascades: A surge of Pacific moisture slams into the range, with snow levels dancing between 3,000 and 5,000 feet. Above 4,500', 2–4 feet is on the table through Saturday—dense but deep. Winds from the southwest are strong, shifting to westerly. Timberline and Bachelor are prime for deep snowfall but expect very wet, heavy Cascades: Multi-day totals may surpass two feet from Stevens to Baker, with moderate SLRs (generally 9–11). Snow levels bounce 2,500–4,000 feet. Gusty conditions (20–40 mph, local 50 mph along ridgetops) could lead to drifting. Nonetheless, day-after-day reloads should keep it fresh, especially mid- to upper-mountain. Idaho Panhandle, Western Montana: Periodic waves bring moderate accumulations—3–6" chunks each day in places like Schweitzer, Whitefish, and Brundage, with potential for a bit more overnight into Friday. Snow quality is mixed, but cooler temps keep it from getting too (Targhee, Jackson): Storm arrival Thursday delivers 3–10" in the Tetons by Thursday night. Lighter refreshes Friday into Saturday. Targhee's SLR can spike above 12, so watch for occasional blower pockets. Jackson Hole sees smaller totals but with fairly high SLR—still decent (Big Sky, Bridger): Light accumulations hit Thursday–Friday, then another wave Friday night–Saturday. Totals aren't huge (a few inches at a time), but cooler temps could preserve snow quality in upper bowls. Gusty winds along the Rocky Mountain Front. High pressure breaks down late Friday. Northern Utah mountains snag a small shot of snow Friday night into Saturday (1–4" range). Upper Cottonwoods (Alta/Snowbird, Brighton, Solitude) have the best odds, though amounts remain modest. Temperatures remain below normal until the weekend—expect workable pow conditions Friday night, turning more spring-like Sunday onward. North-Central Mountains (Steamboat, Winter Park, Summit County): Minor accumulations Thursday night, then again Friday night into Saturday. Steamboat could net 2–5" by early Saturday, with an additional few inches Saturday day. SLRs look fairly high (often above 12), so even small totals can ski nicely. Winter Park, Copper, and Breck see similar & Central Mountains (Telluride, Crested Butte, Monarch): Late Friday into Saturday produces moderate hits (a few inches each round). Not a major storm, but the cooler temps keep quality decent. By Sunday, things taper off as ridging builds. Expect a big warm-up early next week. Light to moderate snow arrives Wednesday night into Thursday for Tahoe areas (Sugar Bowl, Palisades), mainly 2–5" above 5,000–6,000'. Winds cranking up to 40+ mph on ridges. After a quick break, a weak system clips far northern Sierra Friday but mostly misses the main Tahoe resorts. High pressure then dominates over the weekend, launching a serious warm-up. High pressure establishes over much of the West early next week, bringing a sharp warm-up and largely dry conditions. Expect potential spring corn cycles or even slushy afternoons by midweek. Farther north (PNW, northern Rockies) may see occasional showers, but big storms look less likely until maybe late next week. If you want one more shot of deep, go now—because the thaw is coming in hot.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Yahoo
OpenAI's ex-policy lead accuses the company of ‘rewriting' its AI safety history
OpenAI's former policy lead Miles Brundage, has accused the company of "rewriting history" around how it approached the launch of its GPT-2 model in 2019. He argues that a new OpenAI blog post on AI Safety subtly tips the company in the direction of releasing AI models unless there is incontrovertible evidence that they present an immediate danger. A former policy lead at OpenAI is accusing the company of rewriting its history with a new post about the company's approach to safety and alignment. Miles Brundage, the former head of policy research at OpenAI, criticized a recent post published by the company titled "How we think about safety and alignment." In it, the company described the road to artificial general intelligence (AGI)—an AI system that can perform all the cognitive tasks as well or better than a person—as a continuous evolution, rather than a sudden leap. It also emphasized the value of "iterative deployment," which involves releasing AI systems, learning from how users interact with them, and then refining safety measures based on this evidence. While Brundage praised the "bulk" of the post, he criticized the company for rewriting the "history of GPT-2 in a concerning way." GPT-2, released in February 2019, was the second iteration of OpenAI's flagship large language model. At the time, it represented a much larger and more capable model than its successor, GPT-1, and was trained on a much broader dataset. But compared to subsequent GPT models, particularly GPT-3.5, the model that powered ChatGPT, GPT-2 was not particularly capable. It could write poetry and several coherent paragraphs of prose, but ask it to generate more than that, and its outputs often descended into strange nonsequiturs or gibberish. It was particularly good at answering factual questions or summarization or coding, or most of the tasks that people are now addressing using LLMs. Nonetheless, OpenAI initially withheld GPT-2's full release and source code, citing concerns about the potential for dangerous misuse of the model. Instead, it gave a select number of news outlets limited access to a demo version of the model. At the time, critics, including many AI researchers in academia, argued OpenAI's claims that the model presented a significantly increased risk of misuse were overblown or disingenuous. Some questioned whether OpenAI's claims were a publicity stunt—an underhanded way of hyping the unreleased model's capabilities and of ensuring that OpenAI's announcement were generate lots of headlines. One AI-focused publication even penned an open letter urging OpenAI to release GPT-2, arguing its importance outweighed the risks. Eventually, OpenAI rolled out a partial version, followed by a full release months later. In its recent safety post, OpenAI said the company didn't release GPT-2 due to "concerns about malicious applications." But it then essentially argued that some of OpenAI's former critics had been right and that the company's concerns about misuse had proved overblown and unnecessary. And it tried to argue that some of that excess of concern came from the fact that many of the company's AI safety researchers and policy staff assumed AGI would emerge suddenly, with one model suddenly leaping over the threshold to human-like intelligence, instead of emerging gradually. "In a discontinuous world, practicing for the AGI moment is the only thing we can do, and safety lessons come from treating the systems of today with outsized caution relative to their apparent power. This is the approach we took for GPT‑2," OpenAI wrote. However, Brundage, who was at the company when the model was released and was intimately involved with discussion about how the company would handle its release, argued that GPT-2's launch "was 100% consistent + foreshadowed OpenAI's current philosophy of iterative deployment." 'The model was released incrementally, with lessons shared at each step. Many security experts at the time thanked us for this caution," Brundage wrote on X. He dismissed the idea that OpenAI's caution with GPT-2 was unnecessary or based on outdated assumptions about AGI. 'What part of that was motivated by or premised on thinking of AGI as discontinuous? None of it,' he wrote. Brundage argued that the post's revisionist history serves to subtly bias the company in the direction of dismissing the concerns of AI safety researchers and releasing AI models, unless there is incontrovertible evidence that they present an immediate danger. "It feels as if there is a burden of proof being set up in this section where concerns are alarmist + you need overwhelming evidence of imminent dangers to act on them - otherwise, just keep shipping," he said. "That is a very dangerous mentality for advanced AI systems." "If I were still working at OpenAI, I would be asking why this blog post was written the way it was, and what exactly OpenAI hopes to achieve by poo-pooing caution in such a lop-sided way," he wrote. OpenAI's blog post introduced two new ideas: the importance of iterative deployment and a slightly different approach to testing it's AI models. Robert Trager, the co-director of the Oxford Martin AI Governance Initiative, told Fortune that the company appeared to be distancing itself from relying heavily on theory when testing it's models. "It was like they were saying, we're not going to rely on math proving that the system is safe. We're going to rely on testing the system in a secure environment," he said. "It makes sense to rely on all the tools that we have," he added. "So it's strange to say we're not going to rely so much on that tool." Trager also said that iterative deployment works best when models are being deployed very often with minor changes between each release. However, he noted that this kind of approach may not be practical for OpenAI as some systems could be significantly different from what was deployed in the past. "Their argument that there really won't be much of an impact, or a differential impact, from one system to the next, it doesn't seem quite to be convincing," he said. Hamza Chaudhry, the AI and National Security lead at the Future of Life Institute, a non-profit that has raised concerns about AI's potential risk to humanity, also said that "relying on gradual rollouts may mean that potentially harmful capabilities and behaviors are exposed to the real world before being fully mitigated." OpenAI also did not mention "staged deployment" in its blog post, which generally means releasing a model in various stages and evaluating it along the way. For example, allowing a small group of internal testers to access an AI model and accessing the results before releasing it to a larger set of users. "The impression that it makes is that they're offering potential future justifications for actions that aren't necessarily consistent with what their safety standards have been in the past. And I would say that overall, they haven't made the case that new standards are better than earlier standards," Trager said. Chowdhry said that OpenAI's approach to safety amounted "reckless experimenting on the public"—something that would not be allowed in any other industry. He also said this was "part and parcel of a broader push from OpenAI to minimize real government oversight over advanced high-stakes AI systems." The post has been criticized by other prominent figures in the industry. Gary Marcus, professor emeritus of psychology and neural science at New York University, told Fortune the blog felt like "marketing" rather than an attempt to explain any new safety approaches. "It's a way to hype AGI," he said. "And it's an excuse to dump stuff in the real world rather than properly sandboxing it before releasing and making sure it is actually ok. The blog is certainly not an actual solution to the many challenges of AI safety." Over the past year, OpenAI has faced criticism from some AI experts for prioritizing product development over safety. Several former OpenAI employees have quit over internal AI safety disputes, including prominent AI researcher Jan Leike. Leike left with the company last year at the same time as OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever. He openly blamed the lack of safety prioritization at the company for his departure, claiming that over the past few years, 'safety culture and processes have taken a backseat to shiny products.' Leike and Sutskever were co-leading the company's Superalignment team at the time, which was focused on the long-term risks of superpowerful artificial intelligence that would be more capable than all humanity. After the pair parted ways with the company, the team was dissolved. Internally, employees said that OpenAI had failed to give safety teams the compute it had promised. In May last year a half-dozen sources familiar with the functioning of the Superalignment team told Fortune that OpenAI never fulfilled an earlier commitment to provide the safety team with 20% of its computing power. The internal disagreements over AI safety have also resulted in an exodus of safety-focused employees. Daniel Kokotajlo, a former OpenAI governance researcher, told Fortune in August that nearly half of the company's staff that once focused on the long-term risks of superpowerful AI had left the company. Marcus said that OpenAI had failed to live up to its purported principles and "instead they have repeatedly prioritized profit over safety (which is presumably part of why so many safety-conscious employees left)." "For years, OpenAI has been pursuing a "black box" technology that probably can't ever be properly aligned, and done little to seriously consider alternative, more transparent technologies that might be less short-term profitable but safer for humanity in the long run," he said. Representatives for OpenAI did not respond to Fortune's request for comment. Brundage declined to provide further comments. This story was originally featured on


USA Today
02-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Cody Brundage relieved by UFC Fight Night 253 win over Julian Marquez: 'That was the fight I needed'
LAS VEGAS – Cody Brundage can breathe a little easier following his latest fight in the octagon. Winless in his most recent two performances prior to Saturday's UFC Fight Night 253 and on the last fight of his contract, Brundage (11-6 MMA, 5-5 UFC) had a lot on the line facing Julian Marquez in the co-main event of the card. A loss to Marquez (9-6 MMA, 3-5 UFC) could've prompted his exit from the UFC, upping the pressure. 'I'm at peace. I'm just happy, man,' Brundage told reporters at the UFC Fight Night 253 post-fight press conference. 'When you feel like you're going to lose your dream, it can be really tough. So to kind of take your dream back is empowering and it feels really good. I'm just at a good place. 'Maybe it wasn't the fight I wanted. I wanted it to be super smooth, take him out and be super slick, but I think that was the fight I needed.' Brundage came close to losing the fight. He appeared to be badly hurt by Marquez toward the end of the opening round. However, Brundage was able to hang in, turn things around to scored a wild TKO stoppage over a friend and former training partner. 'I came with a super slick (strategy), touch, don't get hit, but sometimes fighting don't work out that way,' Brundage said. 'I know I landed a hard knee and a hard uppercut, and I saw he was hurt. I know I have good killer instinct. … I'll have to go back and watch the fight. I don't remember sh*t. We were getting after it.' As far as what's next, Brundage wants to take a different approach to his fighting career. 'I know some guys just got booked, and some of the guys that got booked were on that list,' Brundage said. 'I don't need to be like I was. I don't need to fight six times in 14 months. If a good opportunity comes, hell yeah. But the first thing I want to do is go home to my girls and my wife and just give them the time they deserve.' For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie's event hub for UFC Fight Night 253.