Technology | The Guardian

Artificial intelligence has implication across the board, solving problems and raising others

In the past, leaps in technology replaced low-paid jobs with a greater number of higher-paid jobs. This time, it may be different

Disappearance of China Renaissance chair raises fears of fresh crackdown on China’s finance industryA billionaire Chinese dealmaker has gone missing, plunging one of the country’s top investment banks into turmoil.Bao Fan, the founder and executive director of China Renaissance, is a major figure in the Chinese tech industry and has played an important role in the emergence of a string of large domestic internet startups. Continue reading...

Guardian revelations about the scale and reach of deliberate misinformation prove the need to reset our internetIn 1996, John Perry Barlow, former lyricist for the Grateful Dead and guru of Silicon Valley’s hippy-tech idealists, wrote a stirring utopian manifesto about the future of the internet. Addressing the leaders of the world order gathered at Davos, he declared:“Governments of the industrial world, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from cyberspace, the new home of mind … We will create a civilisation of the mind in cyberspace. May it be more humane and fair than the world your governments have made before.” Continue reading...

Revealed: Cache of 50,000 files lays bare deceptive methods used by Eliminalia to clear up its clients’ cyber profiles“We erase your past” declares the company’s tagline. Eliminalia, which has offices in several cities including Barcelona and Kyiv, is part of a growing industry that will clean up your online profile.Officially the company performs “a deep search across the internet for all information – whether it be an article, a blog, social media posts or even a mistaken identity”. It then endeavours, on behalf of its clients, to get any negative information removed. Continue reading...

Whether battling sophisticated civilisations, avoiding anal probes or shooting up monsters in Grimsby, here are the best games where you, and only you, can save the planetHalf-Life 2Valve’s brilliant shooter dumps scientist Gordon Freeman on a dystopian Earth crushed by the evil Combine alien invasion force. The visuals are wonderful, the physics are astonishing and the Orwellian setting of City 17 provides a nightmarish backdrop to the tense story of rebellion, sacrifice and shooting stuff. Continue reading...

NYT correspondent’s conversation with Microsoft’s search engine leads to bizarre philosophical conversations that highlight the sense of speaking to a humanIn the race to perfect the first major artificial intelligence-powered search engine, concerns over accuracy and the proliferation of misinformation have so far taken centre stage.But a two-hour conversation between a reporter and a chatbot has revealed an unsettling side to one of the most widely lauded systems – and raised new concerns about what AI is actually capable of. Continue reading...

Regulators say driver assistance system does not adequately adhere to traffic safety laws and can cause crashesTesla said it would recall 362,000 US vehicles to update its Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta software after regulators said on Thursday the driver assistance system did not adequately adhere to traffic safety laws and could cause crashes.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said the Tesla software allows a vehicle to “exceed speed limits or travel through intersections in an unlawful or unpredictable manner increases the risk of a crash”. Continue reading...

Spend increases by 40% to $14m after dismissing 11,000 employeesMeta, the parent company of Facebook, has said in a filing that it is increasing its spend on the personal security of chief executive and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg by $4m (£3.3m) to $14m, at a moment when the company has cut thousands of jobs in what Zuckerberg has called the “year of efficiency”.Meta’s board declared that the 40% increase was “appropriate and necessary under the circumstances” and was in place “to address safety concerns due to specific threats to his safety arising directly as a result of his position as Meta’s founder, chairman, and CEO”. Continue reading...

‘Under no circumstances will we pay that absurd amount,’ delivery firm says, telling hackers it is not the booming company they thinkRoyal Mail rejected an “absurd” ransom demand for $80m (£67m) from hackers linked to Russia, according to transcripts that offer a rare glimpse into negotiations when companies are hit by a ransomware cyberattack.The delivery company has been battling a ransomware attack since January, when the LockBit group hacked into its software and blocked international shipments by encrypting files crucial to the company’s operations. Continue reading...

After a quiet couple of weeks, something big was inevitably on the horizon … but who knew it would be that big? This excellent episode upped the ante with flames, explosions and tragedyThis article contains spoilers for The Last of Us TV series. Please do not read unless you have seen episodes one to five …We’ve had two very solid introductory episodes, the stellar episode three and then a rather more action-based fourth instalment – perhaps to be expected after the emotional heights of Bill and Frank’s tale. This fifth episode, brief flashbacks aside, followed a more traditional linear narrative and nicely moved the story along, with our duo now a foursome, trying to get out of Kansas City in one piece. Continue reading...

Power upgrade makes smallest Mac desktop more adaptable and better value alternative to iMacApple’s cheapest desktop computer has had a price cut and a power upgrade – making it one of the smallest, cheapest and most adaptable Macs yet.The Mac mini starts at £649 ($599/A$999) – £50 less than the 2020 model – and has Apple’s latest M2 or M2 Pro chips as used in the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro to great effect.Processor: Apple M2 or M2 ProRAM: 8GB, 16GB, 24GB or 32GBStorage: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB or 8TB SSDOperating system: macOS 13.2 VenturaConnectivity: wifi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, 2x USB-A, 2 or 4x USB 4/Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1, Ethernet, headphonesDimensions: 197mm x 197mm x 35.8mmWeight: 1.18kg to 1.28kg Continue reading...

Report says pattern seen in films such as Ex Machina risks contributing to lack of women in techA relentless stream of movies, from Iron Man to Ex Machina, has helped entrench systemic gender inequality in the artificial intelligence industry by portraying AI researchers almost exclusively as men, a study has found.The overwhelming predominance of men as leading AI researchers in movies has shaped public perceptions of the industry, the authors say, and risks contributing to a dramatic lack of women in the tech workforce. Continue reading...

The social media giant knew I would enjoy a reaction series of The Hills, a show I was obsessed with in the early aughtsWhitney Port and her husband Tim Rosenman were surprised when I said I first found their video series on Facebook. Or rather, that it found me.I wasn’t expecting it myself. Though I mainly use Facebook to keep in touch with family all over the world, I occasionally find myself scrolling through an increasingly chaotic feed. It was there, in the abyss of poorly-produced, off-kilter videos that Port and Rosenman’s reaction series – where they watch and comment on episodes of the MTV hit reality show and my high school-favorite, The Hills – somehow found me. Continue reading...

British peers propose amendment to online safety bill requiring social media sites to consider how to keep female users safeSocial media platforms would be required to follow regulatory guidelines protecting women and girls from online abuse under an amendment to the online safety bill tabled this week.The proposed change would require Ofcom, the communications watchdog, to issue a code of practice on preventing violence against women and girls that social media platforms would have to follow when implementing their duties under the bill. Continue reading...

Bard’s misfire on launch cost owner $160bn but experts believe ChatGPT is also prone to errorsThe James Webb space telescope cost $10bn (£8.3bn) to build, but it left Google nursing losses of more than $160bn after the search engine’s new chatbot answered a question about it incorrectly.Google and Microsoft both announced plans for AI-enhanced search this week, taking the artificial intelligence space race into a new phase. However, the launch of the former’s new chatbot, Bard, misfired badly when the error appeared in a demo. Continue reading...

In our weekly interview about objects, the longtime ABC host tells us about her party-starter piano, and the retro record player she lost to a housemate

Bob Hoskins called the original Nintendo spin-off the ‘worst thing I ever did’, which has set the tone for video game movies ever since – can this latest effort buck the trend?“The worst thing I ever did? Super Mario Bros. It was a fuckin’ nightmare. The whole experience was a nightmare. It had a husband-and-wife team directing, whose arrogance had been mistaken for talent. After so many weeks their own agent told them to get off the set! Fuckin’ nightmare. Fuckin’ idiots.”These are the words of the late, great Bob Hoskins to Simon Hattenstone of the Guardian in 2007. Anyone who has actually seen the horrifyingly bad 1993 film he is talking about, known for being the first mainstream Hollywood adaptation of a video game, might wonder why we are about to get a remake. Here’s Dennis Hopper, who played villain King Koopa on his own feelings about the movie: “I made a picture called Super Mario Bros, and my six-year-old son at the time – he’s now 18 – he said, ‘Dad I think you’re probably a pretty good actor, but why did you play that terrible guy King Koopa in Super Mario Bros?’ And I said: ‘Well, Henry, I did that so you could have shoes,’ and he said, ‘Dad, I don’t need shoes that badly.’” Continue reading...

SpaceX says satellite communications service ‘never, never meant to be weaponised’

Noise cancelling buds are some of the first to support Google’s new surround sound featureFinally, an Android rival to the AirPods Pro has arrived. OnePlus’s new Buds Pro 2 noise cancelling earbuds are some of the first on the market to support Google’s new spatial audio virtual surround sound tech, giving them a boost in a crowded market.The earbuds cost £179 and compete directly with the similarly priced Pixel Buds Pro and £249 AirPods Pro, but with the added advantage of having an app for Android and iPhone so they are truly cross-platform.Water resistance: earbuds IP55 (sweat resistant); case IPX4Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3, SBC, AAC, LC3, LHDCBattery life: with ANC 6h earbud, 25h with case (9/39h ANC off)Earbud dimensions: 24.3 x 20.9 x 32.2mmEarbud weight: 4.9g eachDriver size: 11 and 6mmCharging case dimensions: 61 x 50 x 25.4mmCharging case weight: 47.3gCase charging: USB-C, Qi wireless charging Continue reading...

Yoel Roth testifies before congressional committee that Elon Musk’s release of company’s internal records led to harassmentA former Twitter executive testified on Wednesday that he was forced to leave and sell his home following a campaign of “homophobic and antisemitic” harassment over the company’s handling of a New York Post story about Hunter Biden.Yoel Roth, the former head of safety at Twitter, made the comments while speaking to a committee in the newly Republican-controlled House of Representatives, at a hearing convened to scrutinize the social network’s handling of a 2020 report on Joe Biden’s son. Continue reading...

CMA says Xbox maker’s takeover of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft owner could lead to higher pricesThe UK’s competition regulator has ruled that Microsoft’s $68.7bn (£59.6bn) deal to buy Activision Blizzard, the video game publisher behind hits including Call of Duty, will result in higher prices and less competition for UK gamers.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which launched an in-depth investigation in September after raising a host of concerns about the biggest takeover in tech history, said the deal would weaken the global rivalry between Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation consoles. Continue reading...

Some readers say software helps them write essays and emails, while others question its reliabilityChatGPT has been a godsend for Joy. The New Zealand-based therapist has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and often struggles with tasks such as drafting difficult emails, with procrastination kicking in when she feels overwhelmed.“Sitting down to compose a complicated email is something I absolutely hate. I would have to use a lot of strategies and accountability to get it done, and I would feel depleted afterward,” says Joy, who is in her 30s and lives in Auckland. “But telling GPT ‘write an email apologising for a delay on an academic manuscript, blame family emergency, ask for consideration for next issue’ feels completely doable.” Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: The big-budget Harry Potter spinoff should be an instant play for fans of the series, but for some author JK Rowling’s statements on sex and gender have made that decision complicated

Economists wary of firm predictions but say advances could create new raft of billionaires while other workers are laid offChatGPT is just the latest technology to fuel worries that it will wipe out the jobs of millions of workers, whether advertising copywriters, Wall Street traders, salespeople, writers of basic computer code or journalists.But while many workforce experts say the fears that ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence (AI) technologies will cause unemployment to skyrocket are overblown, they point to another fear about AI: that it will widen the US’s already huge income and wealth inequality by creating a new wave of billionaire tech barons at the same time that it pushes many workers out of better paid jobs. Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: The social media network is putting its APIs – the under-praised tool that keeps the internet as we know it going – behind a paywall. And the ramifications are huge

US and European fears about China exploiting TikTok’s data harvest and promoting Beijing’s worldview look set to inspire an urgent overhaul in data privacy lawsThe FBI has called it a national security threat. The US government has passed a law forcing officials to delete it from their phones. Texas senator Ted Cruz has denounced it as “a Trojan horse the Chinese Communist party can use to influence what Americans see, hear, and ultimately think”. And in March its CEO will defend its existence before the US Congress. For those unaware of the debate broiling on the other side of the Atlantic, the target of this strong rhetoric might prove surprising: an app best known for viral dances, launching generation Z media stars, and sucking teens down an hours-long content abyss.But the rancorous debate over TikTok that began under the Trump administration has rolled on under President Biden. In addition to a ban of the app on all federal government devices, at least 27 states have blocked TikTok on devices they’ve issued, affecting a number of state schools and universities, too. A bipartisan bill, introduced in Congress last December, stipulates banning the app’s use by everyone in the United States. Continue reading...

TK; Xbox

Modern technology is supposed to make our world better. But my flat’s ‘lighting system’ is broken, and I long for a single, simple light switchI started shaving, tackling the wispiest of bumfluff, 40 years ago. I did so in an attempt to stimulate growth in order to make me look older, so I would have a better chance of getting served in pubs. Not one of these three things came to pass. The razor I used had two blades. I remember thinking how that felt excessive for my needs; one would have done. This was 1983 – 11 years after, according to its website, Gillette came up with the “Trac II®, the first twin-blade shaving system”. And it was a good 15 years before Gillette was “breaking the performance barrier with the MACH3®, the first three-blade technology, for an even smoother, closer shave”.The blade arms race was on, providing a rich source of comic material for, among others, Billy Connolly, I recall, and Mitchell and Webb. But on the razor makers ploughed regardless, breaking new ground with ever more blades. Gillette, with a fine flourish, skipped four blades and went straight to five in 2006. And at five it has stuck, instead coming up with other stuff to keep our excitement high, most recently a heated razor that “delivers instant warmth in less than one second at the push of a button and provides a noticeably more comfortable shave”. Reassuringly, though, the blade race continues apace with the Dorco Pace 7, “World’s First and Only Seven Blade Razor”. Seven!Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster, writer and Guardian columnist Continue reading...

It’s rare that games of the past hold up to today’s technology. New remasters of two landmark action titles bring back memories, but do they hold up?

OpenAI is calling on educators to give their feedback on how the tool is used, amid rising concerns around AI-assisted cheating at universitiesOpenAI, the research laboratory behind AI program ChatGPT, has released a tool designed to detect whether text has been written by artificial intelligence, but warns it’s not completely reliable – yet.In a blog post on Tuesday, OpenAI linked to a new classifier tool that has been trained to distinguish between text written by a human and that written by a variety of AI, not just ChatGPT. Continue reading...

Beijing reacts angrily to reports that Washington has moved to restrict American exports to hi-tech companyChina has reacted angrily to reports that the United States has stopped approving licences for American companies to export most items to China’s hi-tech company Huawei, accusing the US of deliberately targeting Chinese companies under the pretext of national security.US officials are creating a new formal policy of denial for shipping items to Huawei that would include items below the 5G level, including 4G items, wifi 6 and 7, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing and cloud items, according to a Reuters report that quoted unnamed sources. Continue reading...

Dominik Diamond would once have sneered at smartphone games – but now he’s been totally drawn in by their quality, variety, imagination and downright weirdnessI am addicted to video games again. Addicted like I haven’t been in years. Addicted to the point where my left thumb and right forefinger are borderline arthritic from playing them as soon as I open my eyes in the morning and last thing before I close them at night.This is ridiculous behaviour in a man approaching his mid-50s. I should be waking up and performing pilates. My eyelids should droop while perusing Reader’s Digest at bedtime. I should be getting arthritis in my hands from planting peonies or unwrapping Werther’s Originals. But no. It’s games wot done it, and not even hardcore ones involving gods or war or elden rings. I am obsessed with what I once might have scornfully labelled casual gaming. I’m talking about Apple Arcade, which I am now convinced is the best value games delivery system on the planet in 2023. It has turned my phone into the most fun gaming console I’ve had since my Neo Geo in the 90s. Continue reading...

Jeff Bezos has denied rumours he wants to sell the Washington Post but hopes that Silicon Valley savvy could transform heritage media have wanedAmid intense speculation to the contrary, the tech billionaire Jeff Bezos last week sought to reassure a nervous newsroom at the Washington Post that he was not seeking to sell the august newspaper.The rumors, stoked by layoff anxiety at the newspaper and – again, speculation – that another multibillionaire, Mike Bloomberg, is in the market for the title, had been the subject of feverish debate in US media circles. Continue reading...

Legal and finance experts say the car company’s attorneys face an ‘uphill battle’ to prove the billionaire’s tweets had no impact on sharesAfter Elon Musk tapped the tweet button at 12.48 pm on 7 August 2018, a bunch of Tesla investors were about to be taken on a wild ride.“Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Financing secured,” read the tweet that has since stirred up more than four years of securities fraud litigation focused on the rampant tweeting habits of the electric automaker’s billionaire CEO. Continue reading...

Trump has never shown the slightest repentance for his role in what Facebook gingerly calls ‘civil unrest’It was left to Nick Clegg – once a great hope for liberal politics in Britain, nowadays cutting a sad figure as global lobbyist for a company with major PR problems – to announce that Facebook was open to Donald Trump’s nefarious business again. The decision was wrong, but it hardly spells the end of democracy, as alarmists equating Facebook with an inevitable triumph for fascism might think. What the decision does, though, is confirm the breathtaking hypocrisy of a corporation seemingly unable – or unwilling – to learn from its complicity in repeated political disasters.Hillary Clinton never stopped being pilloried for her “basket of deplorables” speech in 2016. However, the fact is that Trump and plenty of his supporters have said and done things which are deplorable. The really scandalous part was her casual remark that some Americans were “irredeemable”. But democracy is based on the notion that no one is irredeemable, that we should never give up on fellow citizens, hard as it may be. Those who have engaged in anti-democratic actions must have the chance to convince others that they have changed their ways. Continue reading...

Biz Stone, one of quartet who set up company, says positive changes he oversaw have been undone by Tesla chief executiveElon Musk “doesn’t seem like” the right person to own Twitter, the social media platform’s co-founder has said, adding that improvements to morale and content policies at the business have been reversed under its new proprietor.In an interview with the Guardian, Biz Stone said positive changes he had helped oversee in recent years had been unwound by the Tesla chief executive. Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: Janessa Brazil’s pictures were used to entrap victims, costing them millions – find out how in Love, Janessa. Plus: five of the best podcasts for film fans

A new wave of game makers are attempting to influence a generation of environmentally conscious players. Will it work, and is it enough?“It was scary. It made you realise how, despite all the sophistication of modern society, we’re still reliant on water falling from the sky.” Sam Alfred, the lead designer at Cape Town-based video game studio Free Lives, vividly remembers his city nearly running out of water. During 2018, the area surrounding South Africa’s second largest city suffered months of dwindling rainfall. Dams were unable to replenish themselves at the rate its inhabitants required. Water was rationed. Businesses shut. The situation even called for its own grim version of the Doomsday Clock: hour by hour, the city ticked ever closer to Day Zero, marking the end of its fresh water supply.Terra Nil, the video game that Alfred has been developing since 2019, is a response to these terrifying events. Dubbed a “city-builder in reverse”, it foregoes the consumption and expansion of genre classics such as Civilisation and SimCity to paint a picture of environmental restoration. Starting with arid desert, it’s up to the player to rewild a landscape using various technologies – a toxin scrubber, for example, or a beehive. At light-speed, and with eye-massaging flushes of emerald green and azure blue, the environment transforms into lush vegetation. Terra Nil’s simplicity is as beautiful as its visuals, offering the satisfaction of a colouring book while doling out a clear-eyed critique of environment-wrecking extraction. Continue reading...

The electric car company posted $24.3bn in fourth-quarter earnings, surpassing anticipated revenueTesla surpassed Wall Street expectations in highly anticipated fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday, bolstered by record delivery of electric vehicles during the last three months of 2022.The electric car company posted $24.3bn in revenue, slightly higher than the $24.07bn anticipated by analysts and 33% growth year-over-year, demonstrating that the automaker may be doing a better job than anticipated of weathering concerns about slipping demand for its cars, logistical holdups and ongoing legal drama surrounding its chief executive, Elon Musk. Continue reading...

Sophisticated campaigns against politicians and media aim to steal secrets or embarrass high-profile figures rather than to extort moneyRussian and Iranian state-linked hackers are increasingly targeting British politicians, journalists and researchers with sophisticated campaigns aimed at gaining access to a person’s email, Britain’s online security agency warned on Thursday.The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) issued an alert about two groups from Russia and Iran, warning those in government, defence, thinktanks and the media against clicking on malicious links from people posing as conference hosts, journalists or even colleagues. Continue reading...

Managers said to be covering for striking staff, though firm insists action has not disrupted activityWorkers at Amazon’s huge Coventry depot described the “stressful” conditions inside as they staged a historic strike to demand pay of £15 an hour – the first time the corporation has faced industrial action in the UK.The local GMB organiser Amanda Gearing said the action on Wednesday was “making an impact”, despite Amazon’s insistence that work was proceeding as usual inside the high-walled warehouse. Continue reading...

Use of emergency laws sheds light on fragile and fractious place social media now occupy in IndiaThe response by the Indian government was quick and draconian. Days after a BBC documentary examining the role that Narendra Modi, now prime minister, had played in 2002 communal riots in Gujarat was released, the information ministry announced that all links to the footage were to be banned on social media.Emergency laws brought in by the Modi government just two years ago were used to enforce the ban. Continue reading...

Free to roam through the post-apocalyptic game, one intrepid group has taken to performing the Bard. They have found an intent new audience, as well as the odd mutant scorpionOne crisp spring evening, the Wasteland Theatre Company gathered to rehearse Romeo and Juliet. Jonathan “Bram” Thomas was playing Romeo. A self-confessed Shakespeare geek, he’d graduated with a BA in theatre, and this wasn’t his first time playing one half of the star-crossed lovers. But it was the first time a mutant scorpion the size of a Jeep had rampaged on to his stage.Panicking, the show’s crew rained bullets down on its blackened shell, but not before Juliet fell to its sting. A poison death, certainly – just not one the Bard ever dreamed of writing. Continue reading...

Service status monitoring website Downdetector records thousands of people reporting problemsMicrosoft is investigating an outage that has hit users of its products worldwide including Teams and Outlook.The US tech firm said it was investigating “issues impacting multiple Microsoft 365 services”, referring to a suite of products that includes its Teams messaging and videoconference service, Outlook email and Word and Excel programmes. Continue reading...

National roundtable mulls safety strategies as communications minister says ‘no one law is going to fix this issue’

Some app users are sending out surveys to screen potential suitors. But can a pop quiz ever lead to love?One night this January, as Robert Stewart scrolled through old Hinge matches, he decided to revive a conversation he had begun months ago with a woman on the dating app. After picking up where they left off and exchanging a few pleasantries, Stewart asked if the woman wanted to get on a phone call. He hoped it would lead to an in-person date.“We could do that,” the woman answered, but with one caveat. “You mind filling out a questionnaire for me first?” Continue reading...

The DoJ and eight states have filed a complaint against the tech company for violating antitrust lawsThe US justice department and eight states filed a lawsuit against Alphabet’s Google on Tuesday over allegations that the company abused its dominance of the digital advertising business, according to a court document.“Google has used anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful means to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its dominance over digital advertising technologies,” the government said in its antitrust complaint. Continue reading...