EU citizens have been told to have enough food, water and essential items to last them for at least three days of crisis. "New realities require a new level of preparedness," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as the continent braces for threats ranging from cyberattacks and armed conflict to disease and the fallout of climate change. 

'Prepare but don't panic' 
The stockpiling advice is part of the EU's new Preparedness Union Strategy, which warns that Europe is facing an "increasingly complex and volatile security landscape." "'Prepare but don't panic' is the message," said German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle. 

Hadja Lahbib, the commissioner for preparedness and crisis management, has "admitted that striking a balance between fostering greater understanding and keeping cool heads" is "not always easy." The EU aims to "prevent people from panicking" and avoid scenes like those in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic when supermarket shelves were stripped of toilet paper, said Lahbib. That's why the bloc is "gaming out different scenarios" so that citizens feel ready to cope "in case of danger."

Different countries will also approach "preparedness" in different ways, said Deutsche Welle. "Wildfires are more common in Spain and Greece," for example, while Romania and Bulgaria are more susceptible to earthquakes. Brussels wants to "harmonize protocols and spur on more actions in member states." 

From first-aid kits to tin openers 
As well as stockpiling 72 hours' worth of food and water, Europeans have been advised to prepare a survival kit of items including torches, matches, radios, identification papers and phone chargers. Every survival kit should include batteries in case of a power cut, according to the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, and a first-aid kit, manual tin opener and paper maps are essential too. Survivalists are also advised to remember the needs of other members of their family, including favorite toys for pets and books, games and puzzles for children, because "disasters can be stressful." 

One group won't need telling twice, said Metro. "Preppers" have been ready for "years," piling their cupboards high with tinned food and keeping blankets and flares in their cars.

OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, is no stranger to controversy, especially from creatives who feel threatened by its applications. The artificial intelligence company's most recent update to ChatGPT has caused consternation among fans of a beloved Japanese animation studio with a trend that seems to run counter to what the studio's founders stood for. The pushback has also revived concerns among artists about the lengths OpenAI will go to use copyrighted creative work.

Why did the filter cause an uproar?
OpenAI's update to GPT-4o includes extensive training on a "vast variety of image styles," OpenAI said on its website. This has led to users producing still images and videos in recognizable signature animated styles, from "South Park" to claymation. One style gained viral popularity as users began to emulate the work of Studio Ghibli, the "beloved animation studio behind movies like 'Spirited Away' and 'Howl's Moving Castle,'" said CNN.

Social media users quickly found a variety of uses for the filter, such as posting Ghibli-style selfies and memes. Some of the images took a decidedly dark turn, including "renderings of violent or dark images, like the World Trade Center towers falling on Sept. 11 and the murder of George Floyd," said The New York Times. 

Fans of Hayao Miyazaki, the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, clapped back at the proliferation of the filter, noting that the famed animator had made his take on AI clear: Miyazaki was "utterly disgusted" by an AI animation demonstration he was shown in 2016.

What issues does this illuminate?
The trend, in addition to being deemed an affront to Miyazaki's legacy, highlights "ethical concerns about artificial intelligence tools trained on copyrighted creative works" and what that means for the "future livelihoods of human artists," said The Associated Press. The filter is another "clear example of how companies like OpenAI just do not care about the work of artists and the livelihoods of artists," Karla Ortiz, an artist suing other AI image generators for copyright infringement, said to the AP. The company uses Ghibli's "branding, its name, its work, its reputation" to promote Open AI products. "It's an insult. It's exploitation."