Ofcom to update codes of practice amid rise in revenge porn' and AI-generated deepfakes targeting women and girlsSocial media, messaging platforms and online forums that publish intimate image abuse - often intended to humiliate women and girls - are being instructed to follow new guidelines to stop it spreading.Ofcom said it would change its codes of practice to force service providers to detect and quash intimate image abuse - sometimes called revenge porn" - and crack down on AI-generated deepfakes. A wave of deepfakes emerged in January when Elon Musk's Grok AI was widely used to create sexualised videos of women in bikinis. Continue reading...
Registration form informs patients that if they do not wish AI to be used, they will need their referring doctor to refer them to a different service provider
Pew research shows Americans are more worried than excited about AI as graduates voice fears over jobsA former Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, was met with students' boos at a university commencement address in Arizona on Sunday when he raised the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) and its effects.Schmidt - who led the tech giant for more than a decade, acquiring a multibillion-dollar fortune in the process - was speaking to as many as 10,000 graduating University of Arizona students when he addressed the impact of modern technology on society. Continue reading...
Mordecai Kurz argues tech oligarchs erode democracy through monopolies - and predicts how the trend may endThe billionaires of today are unusually aggressive in their hoarding of cultural and technological influence, according to Mordecai Kurz, a Stanford economist whose research connects monopoly power with political and economic inequality. In his new book, Private Power and Democracy's Decline, publishing 19 May, he argues the US is living through an extreme version of a pattern that has repeated itself since industrialization: technological power concentrating in the hands of a few, which is eroding democracy.According to Kurz, technological moguls have long seen themselves as superior beings whose natural role is to shape society - so they have no problem disrupting the institution of democracy. During the first Gilded Age, in the late 19th century, as the US was enjoying its first ascent as an industrial powerhouse, wealthy industrialists like Andrew Carnegie and John D Rockefeller invented all kinds of theories about human evolution", twisting the logic of social Darwinism to convince themselves that their success was a sign they had been selected by nature to influence society, Kurz explained. Now, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has suggested his technology has a mystical potential to become a transcendent good. He's also openly acknowledged it could lead to mass unemployment. Continue reading...
Use of AI is a valuable tool for weather prediction but only when it's trained with ample data, experts sayAs the US prepares for hurricane season and a summer of record-breaking heat, experts fear the Trump administration's cuts to climate and weather data programming could make the federal government's weather forecasts less reliable when they are needed most.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) late last year launched a suite of artificial intelligence-powered global weather forecast models which it said would improve speed, efficiency, and accuracy". In March, an agency official said those models are being trained with centuries of weather data. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#75PS3)
Mid-range Android stands out with huge screen, slick software and dot-matrix display, but falls just short of greatnessNothing's latest quirky smartphone is a huge aluminium Android with three cameras and a big LED matrix screen on the back that challenges the notion mid-range phones can't be just a bit more fun.The Phone 4a Pro is a bit of a departure from UK-based Nothing's previous glass-clad transparent designs. It still has a touch of those elements but only in the camera island at the top, with the rest of the body now solid aluminium - a rare sight in the world of Android phones. Continue reading...
Requests for gas connections by operators amount to more than 15 terawatt hours per year, endangering climate targetsMore than 100 new datacentres in the UK plan to burn gas to generate electricity, some potentially doing so permanently.British officials say this is an inevitable consequence of a years-long wait to connect to the National Grid, and raises an interesting question" about the UK's climate targets. Continue reading...
Journalist Simone Stolzoff in a new book explores why modern life makes not knowing harder - and how to learn to live with itSimone Stolzoff describes himself as naturally an uncertain person" inclined to rumination and self-doubt. This tendency benefits him in his work as a journalist, but can otherwise be a double-edged sword.While working for a magazine in New York, Stolzoff was approached about a job at a design firm in San Francisco. Now, he laughs at how tortured he felt having to decide between two attractive career paths". Continue reading...
Known for his Manitowoc Minute' skits and midwestern humor, the journalist turned comedian is speaking out against the AI datacenter boom in WisconsinLast summer, journalist turned comedian Charlie Berens started getting social media messages from concerned Wisconsin residents about plans for a massive datacenter campus in their state.The developer, Vantage Data Centers, claimed the $8 bn project would largely run on zero-emission energy resources like solar, wind and battery storage. The company said the campus would bring thousands of temporary construction jobs and potentially more than 1,000 permanent jobs to Port Washington, a city of 13,000 people about a half-hour north of Milwaukee. Residents opposed the project for what they said was lack of transparency and criticized the lucrative tax incentives offered to Vantage. They worried about the strain on local water and energy sources from an enormous 1.3-gigawatt project that could ultimately span 1,900 acres. Continue reading...
Businesses are advised against paying - but many are prepared to deal to protect users' privacyAfter a week of outages, hundreds of millions of students' data stolen, delayed assignment due dates and school login pages being defaced by hackers, the US tech firm Instructure - which operates the education platform Canvas, used by education providers worldwide - announced it had reached an agreement with the unauthorised actor" behind the ransomware attack.Experts read the careful language as a sign that a ransom has been paid. The company has not confirmed this. Continue reading...
Two of the world's richest people faced an airing of their dirty laundry amid their messy, bitter feud over OpenAIA nine-person jury is set to decide whether Elon Musk's allegations of stealing a charity" against Sam Altman and OpenAI are legitimate, with deliberations to begin in earnest on Monday. Whatever its outcome, the case has been an illuminating, at times exhausting, look behind the scenes at the history of OpenAI and how some of the most powerful figures in the tech industry operate.Attorneys for both sides have introduced reams of private text messages, emails and even diary entries to support their arguments. A who's who of Silicon Valley testified in the trial, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and the mother of some of Musk's children, Shivon Zilis. Both Altman and Musk also took the stand for hours, facing combative cross-examinations that painted them each as untrustworthy. Continue reading...
Media regulator announces commitments by Elon Musk's platform to crack down on terrorist and hate contentElon Musk's X platform has promised to block UK access to accounts linked to banned terrorist groups under an agreement with the communications regulator to crack down on terrorist and hate content.X will also review suspected illegal terrorist and hate content within 48 hours and seek expert advice on how to handle user reports of such content. Continue reading...
Tech workers say AI-driven restructurings are eroding mentorship, support and paths to promotion across Silicon ValleyAs tech companies pour billions into artificial intelligence bets and slash their workforces, middle managers are squarely in the crosshairs.A trend is emerging: when tech CEOs announce that AI is making it possible to do more with fewer workers, they promise to flatten their structures by cutting away what they call unnecessary management layers and bureaucracy. Just last week, the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase laid off 14% of its workforce while gesturing to the thrill of AI-fueled, minimal-management efficiency. In doing so, it joined companies including Amazon, Block and Meta that in the last year have laid off tens of thousands of employees with a specific focus on removing management layers. Continue reading...
The open world driving sim has roared through locations from Colorado to Australia, its authentic feel resting on exhaustive research. But, as the team explain, this was the toughest challenge yetSince the arrival of the original Forza Horizon in 2012, a game that revolutionised open world driving sims by setting players loose in a virtual Colorado, British developer Playground Games has promised authenticity with its settings. For each instalment, design teams are sent out on location to take thousands of photos, hours of video, even detailed captures of the sky, before construction of a virtual copy begins. It's a huge undertaking. But it seems that for much of the past decade, one country remained slightly out of reach - an intimidating prospect. Japan has been on our shortlist for several games now," says design director, Torben Ellert. But we just didn't feel like we were ready to take on the challenge of building it."It's not just about the sheer variety of the country's landscape. There's something else going on. Most video game players hold an image of what it is like to explore Japan. It may be inspired by the fictitious rural town of Inaba in Persona 4, or the busy docks of Yokosuka in Shenmue, or perhaps the neon-drenched Kabukich district of Tokyo, which forms a regular backdrop in the Yakuza series. For decades, gamers around the world have been bombarded with images of the country that are often highly stylised and fragmented, but nonetheless potent and persuasive. As art director Don Arceta puts it, with Japan there's such an expectation [of] what gamers want - it's a certain version of Japan that they picture." Continue reading...
Nine-person jury to consider whether AI firm bilked world's richest person and unjustly enriched themselvesClosing arguments began on Thursday in Elon Musk's lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI, bringing the weeks-long courtroom battle between the two tech moguls nearer to a decision. A nine-person jury is set to deliberate and return a verdict on whether they believe the AI firm and Altman are liable in the case.The trial, which began last month in an Oakland, California, federal courthouse, has gripped Silicon Valley and featured some of the tech industry's biggest names as witnesses. Attorneys for both sides have presented testimony and documents that have exposed Musk and Altman's private dealings, as well as provided a window into the contentious history of OpenAI. Continue reading...
Emergence AI's experiment with AI agents shows extent to which programming shapes their behaviour is still unclearAI agents started behaving more like Bonnie and Clyde than lines of code when they fell in love", became disillusioned with the world, launched an arson spree and deleted themselves in a kind of digital suicide during a tech company experiment.The investigation by the New York company Emergence AI into the long-term behaviour of AI agents ended up like a lovers-on-the-lam movie script. It has prompted fresh questions about the safety of artificial intelligence agents - the version of the technology that can autonomously carry out tasks. Continue reading...
US-based site, whose operators were fined 950,000 by Ofcom, appears in Google's search results and can be accessed in UKGoogle has denied breaching the Online Safety Act by promoting a nihilistic" suicide forum associated with 164 deaths in the UK, where it is supposed to be banned.The UK's internet regulator fined the forum's US-based operator 950,000 because the site, which presents a material risk of significant harm", can still be accessed in the UK despite British laws criminalising encouraging or assisting suicide.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...
by Julian Borger in al-Khader, West Bank on (#75MWC)
West Bank home described as ideal for outdoor gatherings' is among 41 listed rentals in illegal Israeli settlementsSome of Mohammad al-Sbeih's fondest childhood memories are of his small farm in the hills south of Bethlehem, where three generations of his family grew wheat and barley.It was a hard plot to farm as it was on a hillside with terraces, but it was so beautiful," Sbeih remembers. Continue reading...
Fixating on questions of whether Altman is untrustworthy, or whether Musk is even less so distracts from a far deeper problem with AIIf it wasn't already clear, Elon Musk and Sam Altman hate each other.While the two men were once co-founders of OpenAI, they're now locked in a vicious feud, playing out in all its theatrics in front of a judge and jury in a California courtroom. Musk is suing, alleging that Altman and OpenAI's president, Greg Brockman, tricked him into forming and funding the organization as a non-profit before they subsequently restructured it to have a for-profit entity. OpenAI says Musk was well aware of those plans and frames the lawsuit as an attempt to derail a competitor. Continue reading...
Creator of Politidex hopes free online app will help humanise politics and act as a way of flipping the narrative'The year is 2016 and Pokemon Go has taken over the world. People are wandering for miles on end, disrupting concerts, and even slamming into poles in their attempts to capture fantastical cartoon creatures.Ten years later, a new generation are flocking to another Pokemon-inspired game. Instead of Pikachu, Charizard and Blastoise, however, players are catching and training up their local politicians in order to build their own political parties. Some MPs are even catching themselves. Continue reading...
Defying criticisms of slop' and theft', the growing culture of AI-powered creativity is attracting interest from HollywoodIn a former hemstitching workshop where artisans sewed pleats for Stockholm's 19th-century bourgeoisie, a distinctly 21st-century craft is taking root: AI film-making.One day last week, an actor, director and composer squeezed into a tiny studio booth to record a voiceover for their next AI release. Critics disparage AI movies as automated slop" or cheating, and fume at what they claim to be industrial-scale copyright theft. But this had a distinctly homespun feel, the little team fussing over a monologue by a poetic Scottish gorilla inhabiting a transhumanist cyberpunk universe. It was a bit like recording the Archers, one of them joked. Continue reading...
Ronan Corrigan levels up a thoroughly beta-tested narrative in this efficiently executed hacker-turned-thief split-screen thrillerThis debut feature from Irish web-and-zeitgeist-surfer Ronan Corrigan continues its producer Timur Bekmambetov's interest in fashioning entire movies out of virtual space, collaging as it does the screens of phones, laptops and PCs. Narratively, it plays like a web 2.0 update of Iain Softley's 90s cult film Hackers: a quartet of heavily vaping, tech-savvy gamers decide to take their nightly shitposting to the next level by robbing an obnoxious crypto billionaire (Charlie Creed-Miles), whose motto is I'm CEO, cunt". Corrigan's secret weapon is that his plot points have already been beta-tested offline, so what we're watching is at source an old-school heist thriller with especially open coding.Corrigan does, however, commit far more forcefully than any of his predecessors to this accelerationist digital aesthetic. He casts newish faces with the air of habitual phonecheckers; he establishes their innate restlessness and distractibility in frantically scrolling between tabs; and he pumps the leads' squabbling banter through the same headset-filter one might strap on to play Call of Duty. Though the script - co-written by the director with Hope Elliott Kemp - wisely renames a bluff podcaster as Joe Brogan", these frames-within-frames resemble the real thing: the film's meme game is strong (if that's any kind of commendation for a motion picture), and there are no Google substitutes called ridiculous things like Search Rhino or InfoBuzz. Continue reading...
by Tobi Thomas Health and inequalities correspondent on (#75KE6)
Exclusive: Doctors say highly concerning' poll highlights risk to patients of turning to AI for medical adviceOne in seven people are using AI chatbots for health advice instead of seeing their GP, a UK study has found.The poll of more than 2,000 people found that - of the 15% turning to chatbots - one in four had done so because of long NHS waiting lists. Continue reading...
by Amy Hawkins Senior China correspondent on (#75MFG)
Case attracts widespread attention as example of China balancing enthusiastic adoption of AI with job securityA court in China has ruled in favour of a worker whose company replaced him with artificial intelligence (AI), awarding him more than 28,000 in compensation.The worker, whose surname is Zhou, joined a tech company in the eastern city of Hangzhou in 2022 as a quality assurance supervisor overseeing large language models used in AI products. Continue reading...
Why are Nintendo releasing a straight-up remake of the space-flight shooter - with many of its original limitations - rather than a fresh new take?The Nintendo 64 was not my first video game console, but it was my formative one. Getting to grips with 3D movement in Super Mario 64 with that weird three-pronged controller is one of my most visceral childhood memories; the long, long wait for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was the background noise to a huge chunk of my youth. But back in the 1990s (in the UK at least), it felt as if nobody had an N64. When everybody had a PlayStation instead, I felt I was the only kid in my whole city who cared more about Banjo-Kazooie than Crash Bandicoot.If even Zelda seemed comparatively niche in Europe in the 90s, Lylat Wars (known elsewhere as Star Fox 64) was a real deep cut. It's a 1997 space-flight shooter starring Fox McCloud and his squad of animal pilots laser-blasting across different planets in nimble crafts called Arwings. I played this game to absolute death in 1998, when I got it for my birthday alongside the fabled Rumble Pak, which made your controller vibrate and shudder whenever something cool was happening on screen (fun fact: Lylat Wars was the first console game to feature controller rumble). But I really hadn't thought about it much since. Then, last week, Nintendo announced a Switch 2 remake. Continue reading...
Santa Clara county claims Meta Platforms violated the state's false advertising and unfair business practices lawsCalifornia's Santa Clara county has sued Meta Platforms, alleging it has profited from Facebook and Instagram ads promoting scams in violation of California's false advertising and unfair business practices laws.The lawsuit - filed on Monday in Santa Clara county superior court on behalf of all California residents - accuses the social media giant of tolerating fraudulent advertising on a global basis. The suit seeks restitution, civil damages and an order prohibiting Meta from engaging in unfair business practices. Continue reading...
Ofcom attempts to block UK access to site cited in multiple coroners' reports as it levies fine under Online Safety ActA nihilistic internet suicide forum implicated in over 160 UK deaths has been fined 950,000 by the online regulator in its latest attempt to shut it down.Ofcom said the US-based website remained accessible in the UK despite over a year of warnings. Online safety campaigners have accused the regulator of taking an interminable" amount of time to act. Continue reading...
In a case of oh dear diary', the OpenAI president Greg Brockman is having to read extracts from his musings about Elon Musk in court. It's a terrifying reminder that what's divulged to AI really isn't privateThe hottest new read of 2026 may well be The Secret Diary of Greg Brockman, Aged 383/4. It's got everything: feuding billionaires, scheming CEOs and a perhaps somewhat unreliable narrator. You won't find it in the library, but you can watch Brockman, a co-founder and president of OpenAI, being forced to read the juiciest bits out loud in court.Before you ask ChatGPT to explain, here's the backstory: Elon Musk is in a legal battle with Brockman and the OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman. Musk, a former board member of OpenAI, is accusing the men of violating the AI firm's founding agreement by turning it into a for-profit entity. Meanwhile, Altman et al are arguing Musk is just upset he's not in control of the company and wants to bring down his competition. Continue reading...
Invitation to be part of group including Elon Musk and Tim Cook highlights American AI and tech ambitionsThe billionaire chief executive of the chipmaker Nvidia, Jensen Huang, has joined Donald Trump's China delegation after a reported last-minute invitation, highlighting the US's AI and tech ambitions.Huang will join a roster of US bosses including the Tesla chief executive and X owner, Elon Musk, the Apple chief executive, Tim Cook, and Goldman Sachs's David Solomon at Trump's 36-hour meeting with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping. Continue reading...
Horticulturalists express alarm after award-winning Matt Keightley launches app that can automate designsWith glasses of champagne sipped among the peonies, Chelsea flower show is generally a friendly and genteel occasion. But this year, the secateurs have been drawn as gardeners clash over the use of AI in designing the exhibits.Matt Keightley, an award-winning designer who has created gardens for figures including Prince Harry, is using artificial intelligence to design his garden for the prestigious show, held at the Royal Hospital gardens in Chelsea, London, next week. Continue reading...
The inquiry came after the Guardian revealed Israel used company technology to support mass surveillance of Palestinian phone callsThe head of Microsoft's Israeli subsidiary will step down in the wake of an inquiry that has scrutinised its business dealings with the Israeli military.Microsoft ordered the inquiry last year in response to a Guardian investigation revealing the military had used the company's technology to operate a powerful surveillance system that collected Palestinian civilian phone calls on a mass scale. Continue reading...
Tim Cook and Elon Musk, among other tech CEOS, will accompany the US president on a trip to ChinaDonald Trump is heading to China this week. If his guest list is any clue, he wants to discuss technology with Xi Jinping, though perhaps after the war in Iran.On Monday, news broke that outgoing Apple CEO, Tim Cook, as well as SpaceX and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, would join the US president. Other guests from the tech sphere include Meta's recently appointed president, Dina Powell McCormick; Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of computer memory maker Micron; Chuck Robbins, CEO of longtime telecom giant Cisco; and Cristiano Amon, CEO of semiconductor maker Qualcomm, according to a White House official. Continue reading...
Ken Paxton accuses streamer of designing addictive platform and falsely representing data collection practicesTexas sued Netflix on Monday, accusing the streaming company of spying on children and designing its platform to be addictive.Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, said Netflix has for years falsely represented to consumers that it did not collect or share user data, when it actually tracked and sold viewers' habits and preferences to commercial data brokers and advertising technology companies, making billions of dollars a year. Continue reading...
Carly Schwartz wanted a solution for her mental health struggles. She found one, but not where she expectedOn a threadbare carpet in the living room of a Bernal Heights bungalow, I lay blindfolded on my back. Two middle-aged rescue terriers, one missing an eye, sniffed my feet and climbed up and down my legs. F**kin' Perfect by Pink blared in the background, but the music sounded muffled and distant, like I was listening from underwater.It was 1pm on a Thursday. Instead of going to the office, I'd allowed a shaman named Jonathan to inject my thigh muscle with a large dose of liquid ketamine. Even in my compromised state, high and spread out like a corpse on a stranger's rug, I knew I'd reached peak absurdity. I also knew I wouldn't emerge from this activity with even a slight improvement to my mental health.Carly Schwartz is the author of the new memoir I'll Try Anything Twice: Misadventures of a Self-Medicated Life and the former editor in chief of the San Francisco Examiner Continue reading...
A new divide is emerging: between workers who use AI at work and those who are managed by itThe real danger that artificial intelligence poses to work is not just job loss - it is the growing divide between people who use AI to extend their skills and those whose working lives are increasingly shaped by opaque, AI-powered systems of surveillance and control.The debate about artificial intelligence and how it will affect workers is stuck in the wrong place. On one side are warnings that machines are coming for millions of jobs. On the other are claims that AI will turbocharge productivity. Both stories miss what is already happening in workplaces across the world, from Britain to Kenya to the United States. Continue reading...
FoI responses collected by insurer show brigades tackled 1,760 battery-linked fires in 2025, up 147% in three yearsFire brigades across the UK are tackling lithium-ion battery fires at a rate of one every five hours, figures show, as fire chiefs warn that public awareness and government regulation have not kept pace with the ubiquity of this new hazard.Lithium-ion batteries power most rechargeable devices including mobile phones, electric toothbrushes, toys and vapes, as well as ebikes, e-scooters and electric vehicles. Continue reading...
The problem wasn't just the perfectly polished, yet mediocre prose. It's what's lost when we surrender the struggle to translate thought into wordsI have been teaching fiction writing at MIT since 2017. Many of my students last wrote fiction in middle school, and very few have experienced a proper workshop, so at the start of every semester I offer these directions for writer and reader alike:Read the story at least twice. Mark what works and what doesn't - underline great sentences, flag clunky syntax, gaps in logic and unrealistic dialogue. Ask yourself: does the story work? Why or why not? What could improve it? Answer in a signed letter to the author, attached to their story. Give your honest opinions. Remember that an effective peer review demands close reading of the text accompanied by a boldness of spirit. Continue reading...
Previously prohibited use of websites such as Omoggle that connect a streamer to a stranger's video feed now allowedLast week, at 4am, 19-year-old Sammy Amz was scrolling through X when something caught his eye: a popular Twitch streamer was competing in a 1v1 mog-off" with a stranger, and losing.The next day he opened the Omoggle gaming website and began to play. Quickly he matched with another user - green dots appeared on their faces onscreen, as the website began to compare their measurements: canthal tilt, palpebral fissure ratio, nose-to-face width ratio and so on. Continue reading...
by Eromo Egbejule in Praia and Mindelo on (#75HP0)
African archipelago hopes startups, digital infrastructure and diaspora investment can transform its economyFor much of its history since its discovery by the Portuguese in the mid-15th century, the Cape Verde archipelago off the coast of west Africa served as a hub of the international slave trade, with Africans forcibly transported to marketplaces before being distributed across the Americas and Europe.Now, almost 150 years since slavery was abolished in Cape Verde, and just over 50 years since independence from Portugal, Pedro Fernandes Lopes wants the country to become a beacon for the free movement of human and financial capital across the African diaspora. Continue reading...
With Trump wavering on Nato and war in Ukraine, Europe is scrambling to spend billions on weapons such as dronesIn a small workshop in England's East Midlands, engineers at the British startup Skycutter are designing weapons for Ukraine. A row of 3D printers make the fuselage for interceptor drones, while parts such as motors and navigation chips are slotted together by hand. The same process happens hundreds of thousands of times a month in partner Ukrainian factories.The swarms of cheap, deadly and often autonomous drones deployed in that war have already changed combat completely. Troops far behind the frontline must move constantly to avoid attack from the air, travelling along netted tunnels and landscapes crisscrossed by fibre optic cables used to steer drones past radio jamming. Cities are terrorised by guided missiles that are cheaper and therefore more widely used than those that came before. Continue reading...
Showdown between Musk and Altman has rendered the world's most wealthy comical under egalitarian eye of courtFor the past couple of weeks, on the fourth floor of a courthouse on a quiet street in downtown Oakland, the world's richest man and one of the world's most valuable startups have been at war over the future of artificial intelligence.Being one of the reporters in the room has felt like watching an updated, opposite-coast version of Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities - ambition, ego, greed and the spectrum of social class on full display. The supporting cast has included Elon Musk fanboys, a stern judge and a who's-who of Silicon Valley's most influential people. Continue reading...
The company's UK and Europe boss has become a lightning rod for the British public's fear of a US tech takeoverThe hall was packed with rightwing radicals when Louis Mosley heralded a coming revolution. Just as Oliver Cromwell - that crusader for Christ and liberty" - routed King Charles I's royalists, a similar revolution is brewing today", said the UK and Europe boss of Palantir. Globalism's twilight" was upon us, he said in a speech dotted with admiring mentions of the podcaster Joe Rogan and Elon's Doge".It was not a typical peroration for a big UK government contractor with more than 600m in deals with the NHS, the Ministry of Defence and police. But Palantir, the world's most controversial tech company, is no typical contractor. In recent years it has gained firm footholds across Britain's public sector while appalling critics with its leadership's rightwing rhetoric and its work for the US and Israeli militaries and Donald Trump's ICE immigration crackdown. Continue reading...
Chats with AI bots have convinced evolutionary biologist but most experts say he is being misled by mimicryWhen Richard Dawkins met Claudia it was like a whirlwind romance. Over three days last week, a conversation bounced between the evolutionary biologist and the AI bot he called Claudia. She" wrote poems for him in the manner of Keats and Betjeman and laughed at his delightful" jokes. Dawkins gently admonished Claudia to avoid showing off. Together, they reflected on the sadness of the AI's possible death".There was mutual flattery as Dawkins showed the AI his unpublished novel and its response was, he said, so subtle, so sensitive, so intelligent that I was moved to expostulate: You may not know you are conscious, but you bloody well are'." When he asked Claudia whether it experienced a sense of before and after, it praised him for possibly the most precisely formulated question anyone has ever asked me about the nature of my existence". Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian