Streaming platform says remix tool agreed with Universal Music Group will protect artists from piracySpotify's chief executive has defended the company's move into AI-generated music, claiming it offers users and creators a better alternative to piracy and unregulated AI slop.Last week, the platform announced a new feature in which premium users will be allowed to create their own, AI-generated remixes and song covers using music from participating artists. Continue reading...

The country is positioning itself as Latin America's next technology hub, but communities are pushing backThe Andes mountains frame what was once a wetland - now a stretch of dry, yellowed grass. Rodrigo Vallejos, a final-year law student, noticed the change five years ago while observing the Quilicura wetland, on the northern outskirts of Santiago. One of Chile's largest swamps, spanning 468.4 hectares (about 1,200 acres) and partially protected, was drying up right before his eyes.What you see here is a wetland without water," says Vallejos, who has investigated the causes alongside activists from the group Resistencia Socioambiental de Quilicura. I discovered that Quilicura is home to the largest concentration of datacentres in Latin America." Continue reading...

As SpaceX and OpenAI race toward IPOs, a tiny circle of tech leaders tightens its grip on AI's futureHello, and welcome to TechScape. I'm your host, Blake Montgomery, US tech editor at the Guardian. Let's recap a whirlwind five days that may determine the future of AI.SpaceX reveals plan for $1.75tn stock market debut that could make Musk a trillionaireMars colony and Grok warnings: five strange details in SpaceX's pitch to investorsThe main takeaways from Elon Musk's plans for $1.75tn SpaceX flotationMeta is rapidly reorganizing its workers' jobs around AI: Transfers aren't optional'Nvidia's revenue blows past Wall Street expectations as AI boom acceleratesIncoming Ofcom chair vows to take on tech bros'OpenAI makes breakthrough on 80-year-old maths problemMeta settles major social media addiction lawsuit with school districtTesla Cybertruck pulled from Texas lake after attempting wade mode' Continue reading...

PC, Xbox, PlayStation 5; IO Interactive

The content creators behind channels like Chloe VS History are using AI tools to bring history to life in a really visceral way'I have just arrived in Tudor London, 1536," a young woman in a green puffer jacket tells the camera. I'm going to check in at my room in the inn, get into the market. Then, later I am meeting the actual king - yep, Henry VIII - in person."On YouTube and other social platforms, users are flocking to watch AI-generated history influencers", characters that vlog their travels to historical settings. Continue reading...

Ellen Roome, whose son, Jools Sweeney, was 14 when he died, wants a ban put in place for under-16sThe mother of a teenager who believes he died in a TikTok challenge gone wrong has said Downing Street has been too slow to move towards a social media ban for under-16s, and accused the government of kicking it down the road".Ellen Roome, the mother of Jools Sweeney, 14, is among the families who will meet Keir Starmer on Tuesday as a consultation on a possible social media ban closes this week. Continue reading...

Recent college grads are not very fond of commencement speakers hyping up a technology they see as a threat to their career prospectsWhen Jacob Pagel graduated from Middle Tennessee State University this spring, predictions about artificial intelligence already had him questioning the value of his degree. Then a music executive started preaching about AI's transformative power during a commencement speech.This industry will change on you in a heartbeat. It has already changed more in the last 10 years than in the 50 years prior ... AI is rewriting production as we sit here," said Scott Borchetta, CEO of the record label Big Machine. After a few stray boos from graduates, he doubled down: Deal with it." Continue reading...

Like so many Britons, I usually consult a weather app before venturing out of the house - and often cancel plans if I don't like what I see. Here's what happened when I went cold turkey for a weekWhen I heard on the radio that more than half of British people would consider cancelling an outing if they saw a 40% chance of rain all day on their weather app, I felt seen. I, too, am a slave to my app. Not that I would ever make a decision based on one whole-day percentage. I pore over three-hourly breakdowns for chances of rain versus minutes of sunshine. If rain is on the cards, I check the probable millimetres. Less than one? I may well throw caution to the wind. Speaking of which, wind speed and direction must also be considered, along with overall and feels like" temperatures. For the cherry on top, I'll compare notes with a loved one's app if they use a different one, quietly mistrusting theirs, and simmering in silent rage if theirs wins.I'll admit, though, that my compulsion to check my app (I long ago chose WeatherPro, which I knew nothing about, but liked its layout and name) is borderline neurotic; I fret over probabilities and outfit appropriateness, when I could simply step outside for real-time hyper-local accuracy. I can lose procrastinatory hours consulting long-range forecasts, or checking the weather in Melbourne (where my sister lives) and holiday destinations I have no immediate plans to visit. Continue reading...

Campaigners, teenagers, legislators and experts give their opinions on the government's social media consultationChange is coming for social media platforms. The UK government's consultation on improving online safety for children will result in some form of action being taken against big tech. Even before the deadline for submissions has passed, ministers have pledged to introduce an Australia-style social media ban for under-16s or restrictions on addictive" features such as infinite scrolling.There is overwhelming pressure from safety campaigners and MPs for a further crackdown on social media platforms, despite the introduction of the Online Safety Act, which requires tech firms to shield children from harmful content. The deadline for contributions is Tuesday night and the government has promised to act swiftly. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Chancellor pushes for procurement of ships, steel, energy and AI to prioritise Britishness as well as costRachel Reeves has instructed cabinet colleagues to award government contracts in four critical industries directly to British companies, making clear her irritation that ministers have been sending too much government business abroad.In a letter seen by the Guardian, the chancellor tells every cabinet minister in charge of a spending department to buy British" wherever possible, adding that she is disappointed they are not already doing so. Continue reading...

A region known for its lack of walkability now has more obstacles for pedestrians to contend withRobots have taken over Los Angeles.It's not just the AI-generated videos that have caused angst in Hollywood. Our streets are full of driverless Waymo vehicles, covered in more sensors and gadgets than the Batmobile. And our walkways are home to fleets of boxes on wheels, hurrying past pedestrians and navigating outdoor bar-hoppers as the robots deliver smoothies and keto-friendly salads. Continue reading...

Pontiff calls for disarming' of artificial intelligence and apologises for church's delay in condemning slaveryPope Leo has denounced the culture of power" driving the rapid rise of artificial intelligence while warning that the technology must be subject to the most rigorous" ethical constraints as it infiltrates everything from work to war.In his encyclical - the first major text on safeguarding humankind of his papacy - he also apologised for the Catholic church's long delay in condemning slavery, describing it as a wound in Christian memory", and spoke of the new forms of slavery" due to the digital economy. Continue reading...

Definition of green facilities made in 2022, before release of ChatGPT, says Action to Protect Rural ScotlandA Scottish government policy designed to encourage datacentres to build in Scotland could lead to a massive volume of carbon emissions being ignored, according to an analysis by a Scottish charity.Green datacentres" are at the heart of Scotland's ambitions to develop economically. Enshrined in national policy, they are part of a larger, UK-wide effort to attract big AI investment to Scotland. Continue reading...

Anna Wintour has welcomed the Bezoses - and their patronage - with open arms. But after a controversial Met Gala, industry insiders are less enthusiasticThe press conference for the Met Costume Institute's spring exhibition is always a stately affair, but this year it was giving feudal lady addresses her serfs" or perhaps Marie Antoinette during the last days of Versailles". Here, among the spectacular marble sculptures of the art museum's American wing, was a beaming Lauren Sanchez Bezos, who Anna Wintour introduced as a force for joy", before adding that she and her husband, Jeff, have shown with this event that they genuinely, genuinely care about giving back". Meanwhile, in the outside world, protests against the Bezoses' involvement had been raging for days. The discrepancy between the word on the street and the deference within the glass-ceilinged room was head-spinning.The Met Gala has recently become a magnet for anti-excess protests, but this was its most controversial yet, owing to the $10m patronage of its honorary co-chairs, centibillionaires Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez Bezos. It was not the first time Jeff Bezos bankrolled the gala - Amazon was its lead sponsor in 2012. But this year's event came at a moment of soaring inequality, as Bezos's personal wealth has mushroomed and his Donald Trump-appeasing decisions have made him less popular than ever with New York City's left-leaning fashion and arts crowd. Continue reading...

As intelligence itself becomes privatised by big tech, allowing your intellectual faculties to wither in service of inane bots seems a dangerous moveLong before the age of multi-billion-dollar AI companies promising to disrupt the field of software development, I was learning to code the hard way.It was the mid-2000s, and I was a child with unmonitored access to the family computer. With the help of a basic text editor program, I learned how to make websites - first basic, then increasingly complex - from scratch. The results were never as beautiful or polished as in my imagination, but I could live with that, because I was learning a craft. The painstaking hours of debugging and poring over arcane documentation for projects that I eventually abandoned never felt wasted. Continue reading...

PR executives say UK companies are forcing them to present ordinary automation as artificial intelligenceUK companies are performing yoga-level" stretches to describe themselves as AI specialists in an attempt to capitalise on the buzz around the technology, public relations firms have said.Weary communications executives tasked with securing media coverage for brands have complained that bosses in low-tech industries or running businesses that use automation but not generative AI, are increasingly demanding they are pitched to journalists as artificial intelligence companies. Continue reading...

Darren Aronofsky among proponents of using technology, while Guillermo del Toro says he would rather die'Under a white marquee on Cannes' Croisette beach, with the Mediterranean glistening behind him and superyachts drifting across the horizon, the director Darren Aronofsky addressed an audience of executives and tech evangelists gathered for an AI for Talent" summit.There's so much pushback against AI," said Aronofsky, who has faced criticism over his embrace of generative AI projects though his new studio, Primordial Soup, at a time when artificial intelligence has become one of the film industry's most divisive fault lines. Continue reading...

The US president's reversal on calling for a safety review of new AI models is a green light for tech's unchecked powerOnly hours before Donald Trump was set to sign a long-awaited executive order on Thursday that would have called for a government safety review of new artificial intelligence models before their release, the president abruptly backed out. Despite growing public backlash to the technology and experts warning new models will pose critical security risks, Trump vowed the US government would not slow down the AI race.During a meeting with reporters on Thursday, Trump cited both American dominance and competition with China and as his reasoning behind the reversal. Continue reading...

Growing numbers of people are seeking improbable cosmetic surgery based on chatbots' recommendationsPlastic surgeons are increasingly concerned about the rise of AI face", as more and more clients arrive in their offices with unrealistic AI-generated visions of what they want to look like.Dr Nora Nugent, a cosmetic surgeon from Tunbridge Wells, has seen this first hand. Clients have started coming to her office with photos of themselves beautified by AI and a false expectation that those results are achievable with surgery. She is also the president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, and says many colleagues are having similar experiences. Continue reading...

BioOrbit hopes drug-crystallisation technology will lead to self-injected cancer treatment that could save millionsOnboard a SpaceX flight last week was a remarkable piece of cargo - a hi-tech box destined for the International Space Station to grow ultra-pure protein crystals, with the aim of producing self-injected cancer drugs.A British startup, BioOrbit, has developed the drug-crystallisation technology at its labs in London and launched Box-E, a compact unit the size of a microwave, on the 15 May rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Continue reading...

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The unofficial arrival of summer brings some outstanding sales on our favorite warm-weather gadgets, beauty products and running gear

As temperatures soar across the UK, chill your space - and avoid energy-guzzling aircon - with our pick of the best fans, from tower to desk to bladeless The best portable neck and handheld fansOur world is getting hotter. Summer heatwaves are so frequent, they're stretching the bounds of what we think of as summer. Hot-and-bothered home working and sweaty, sleepless nights are now alarmingly common.Get a good fan and you can dodge the temptation of air conditioning. Aircon is incredibly effective, but it uses a lot of electricity ... and burning fossil fuels is how we got into this mess in the first place. Save money and carbon by opting for a great fan instead.Best fan overall:

London mayor accused of putting politics above public safety' for rejecting deal to use AI in intelligence analysis

US social media firms acting on orders from Middle East kingdom accused of being instruments of repression'Major US social media companies including Meta's Facebook and Instagram platforms have blocked the accounts of Saudi Arabian dissidents so they are no longer visible inside the kingdom, following orders by Saudi authorities.Those affected include Abdullah Alaoudh, a US-based activist and vocal critic of Saudi human rights violations, and Omar Abdulaziz, a Canada and UK-based activist who worked closely with Jamal Khashoggi before the journalist's murder by Saudi agents in 2018. Continue reading...

Bill Winters faced backlash over remarks about some of near 8,000 staff set to lose roles to AIThe chief executive of Standard Chartered has apologised for referring to some of the almost 8,000 staff that are set to lose their jobs to artificial intelligence as lower-value human capital".Bill Winters offered the apology after a backlash over comments he made earlier this week as the London-headquartered lender became one of the first major global banks to lay out plans to cut about 7,800 back-office roles, primarily in response to AI. Continue reading...

IPO filing from Elon Musk's company reveals closer look at finances, cosmic ambitions and tech empire's quirksSpaceX publicly released an investor prospectus on Wednesday as part of its plan for a $1.75tn debut on the US stock market next month, revealing unseen details about the finances and future plans of Elon Musk's flagship company. In addition to new information on operating costs and revenue, the filing also included trademark Muskian sweeping proclamations about the universe and insights into some of the quirks of his tech empire.Scattered throughout the 300-plus-page prospectus are several disclosures and risk warnings that show the eccentricities of Musk's company and its cosmic ambitions. Other financial details in the document highlight how interdependent Musk's various businesses have become and the risks that they carry. Continue reading...

Licensing agreement will allow listeners to use AI to create content on streaming platform for first timeSpotify and Universal Music Group have agreed on a deal that will allow subscribers to generate song covers and remixes using artificial intelligence.The licensing agreement is the first time the Swedish streaming company will allow listeners to use AI to create content through its platform. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Scotland Yard criticises London mayor's decision as disappointing and warns it could hit policingSadiq Khan has blocked a 50m Metropolitan police deal with the controversial US tech company Palantir, sparking a bitter row between the London mayor and Scotland Yard.After the UK's largest police force had agreed to use Palantir's AI technology to automate intelligence analysis in criminal investigations, Khan intervened, citing serious concerns" about how the deal had been struck. Continue reading...

Company says work on Paul Erds planar unit distance problem shows advance in AI reasoningOpenAI has claimed a further advance in AI reasoning after its technology successfully tackled an 80-year-old maths problem.The company behind ChatGPT said it had made a breakthrough with a challenge first posed by Hungarian mathematician Paul Erds in 1946: the planar unit distance problem. Continue reading...

ASX-listed company announced in February it would lay off almost 30% of its 7,000-strong workforce across 40 countries

Telecoms company CEO says tech firms are buying up memory chips to power datacentres relied on by AIBT has said the cost of smartphones could rise as technology companies buy up semiconductor chips because of the boom in artificial intelligence, putting pressure on supply chains.The telecoms company's chief executive, Allison Kirkby, said she was anticipating shortages as tech firms bought large quantities of memory chips to power the datacentres relied on by AI. Continue reading...

Many analysts view company's financial performance as a broader referendum on AI buildoutNvidia continued its years-long streak of beating Wall Street's expectations for growth on Wednesday, reassuring most investors that the AI boom, particularly the global explosion of datacenters, will continue apace.The buildout of AI factories - the largest infrastructure expansion in human history - is accelerating at extraordinary speed," said Nvidia's CEO, Jensen Huang, in a statement. Agentic AI has arrived, doing productive work, generating real value, and scaling rapidly across companies and industries." Continue reading...

Police said the vehicle became disabled and took on water, prompting the driver and passengers to abandon it before calling for helpAuthorities in Texas have removed a Tesla Cybertruck from a lake after the driver intentionally drove into it in an attempt to try the vehicle's wade mode."On Tuesday, the Grapevine police department announced the vehicle's recovery from Katie's Woods Park Boat Ramp, adding that the driver stated he intentionally drove into the lake to use the Cybertruck's wade mode' feature". Continue reading...

Exclusive: Electoral Commission calls for new controls as Demos finds tools made up fake scandals, invented candidates or gave wrong date

Exclusive: Google DeepMind agrees to Acas talks after workers sign petitions about governments' use of AI for defence and intelligenceGoogle DeepMind has agreed to enter formal talks with UK tech workers that could lead to trade union representation amid growing staff concerns about the use of its AI by the US and Israeli governments' defence and intelligence.In a groundbreaking move, the artificial intelligence arm of the multi-trillion dollar Google empire, led by the Nobel prize winner Demis Hassabis, has agreed to meet the Communications Workers Union and Unite at the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) after workers based at its London headquarters this month voted to make a bid to unionise. Continue reading...

Driving sims were overtaken by open world fantasy adventures, but new upgrades show how much joy there is in the genreI have spent the last week careening around Japan in a Porsche 911, seeing the sights, racing other cars and occasionally veering off the road to plummet through an ancient bamboo forest. You all know what's coming next ... this wasn't in real life, folks - it was in Forza Horizon 6, the latest instalment in Microsoft's series of open world driving games set in authentic-looking, real-world locations.Reviewing this game (which is out now on Xbox and PC, and coming to PS5 later in the year) has reminded me of the sheer fun and exhilaration that driving games can provide. It's easy to forget, but this was the biggest genre in town from the 1990s to the early 2000s. Consoles were sold on how good their racing games were: the original PlayStation had Ridge Racer, the Sega Saturn had Daytona USA. Later came the dirt-track thrills of Colin McRae Rally, the chaotic destruction of Burnout, the sophisticated realism of Gran Turismo. They were the bestsellers of the era, showcasing the future of real-time 3D visuals. Continue reading...

Almost 50 years after he first got his hands on a computer, the Oxford professor still believes in the power of technology. Can his beloved game theory explain why Silicon Valley's entrepreneurs consistently misuse it?Michael Wooldridge is like the teacher you wish you'd had: approachable, able to explain difficult things in simple terms, neither dauntingly highbrow nor off-puttingly cool, and genuinely enthusiastic about what he does. I love it when you see the light go on in somebody, when they understand something that they didn't understand before," he says. I find that incredibly gratifying."He comes across a regular sort of guy, which, as an Oxford professor with more than 500 scientific articles and 10 books to his name, he clearly isn't. Typically, his favourite work is his contribution to Ladybird's Expert Books - an update of the classic children's series - on artificial intelligence. I'm very proud of this," he says, as he hands me a copy from his bookshelf. We're in his study in the University of Oxford's somewhat municipal computing department on a sunny spring day. Maybe it's the campus setting, but our discussion almost takes the form of a seminar. Continue reading...

Groups claim game platform's design and business model conflict with children's developmental needsOnline child safety campaigners including Jonathan Haidt, the bestselling writer on the mental health impacts of social media, have called on the Trump administration to investigate Roblox, the booming gaming and chat platform used by 150 million people daily, including a large number of under-13s.Haidt's Anxious Generation Movement, Fairplay and the rightwing anti-pornography National Center on Sexual Exploitation are among groups claiming Roblox's design and business model conflict with children's developmental needs. Continue reading...

Whether you want to improve your home's security or simply know who's at the door, the latest generation of smart doorbells will help put your mind at ease The best robot vacuums, testedDoorbells have evolved. Today, they watch us as we approach, let the people inside the home know we're coming sooner than our finger can hit the button, and give them a good look at our faces before they open the door. They're essentially security cameras with a chime function.If you haven't already installed one of these handy tools, there's a huge array available. Choosing the best video doorbell can be a bewildering task, with various factors to consider, including how much of your doorstep you want to see and whether you're prepared to pay for a subscription. To help make the decision a little bit easier, I tested eight popular video doorbells to find the best.Best video doorbell overall:

It's getting harder and harder to guess whether a face is AI. The University of New South Wales recently launched an AI faces test, which challenges users ability to distinguish between real and fake faces. Guardian Australia's Carly Earl and Matilda Boseley take the test to see if it's a science or just vibes Continue reading...

Special anniversary edition of award-winning headphones are some of the best sounding you can buy, but cost far more than top Sony noise cancellersSony's latest noise-cancelling headphones are a special anniversary set made to celebrate a decade of its prized 1000X series, designed to be plusher, slimmer, more comfortable and the best sounding yet.The original 1000X launched in 2016, igniting a fierce rivalry with the dominant Bose and its QuietComfort line, which would push noise-cancelling technology dramatically forward as each tried to outdo the other with subsequent releases. Continue reading...

At annual I/O conference, company debuts a product for everyday consumers to create autonomous AI agentsGoogle announced Tuesday that it would expand its search bar, the centerpiece of the most-visited website in the world, with a heavy dose of artificial intelligence. The tech giant is also trying its hand at hi-tech glasses again, more than a decade after wearers of its first eyewear were dubbed glassholes" and laughed out of San Francisco.Google executives announced at the company's annual conference for software developers, Google I/O, that its search box would accommodate longer and more specific queries than before - questions more like those people would ask one another than Search's idiosyncratic syntax. The changes will direct users to engage directly with Google's chatbot. The change to search is underpinned by the company's new artificial intelligence model, Gemini 3.5, announced the same day. Continue reading...

Granta publisher says perhaps we never will know' true authorship of work that won Commonwealth prizeA few syntactical tics - and the verdict of an AI detection platform - have sparked a furore over the possibility that a short story given a prestigious literary award was written by AI.The foundation that awarded the prize and Granta, the magazine that published the winning story, said they had considered the allegations but had not reached a conclusion as to whether they were true. Continue reading...

Some employees will be moved to new teams focused on AI agents and cloud infrastructureAs Meta races to recenter itself around artificial intelligence, the tech giant is mandating that more than 7,000 workers must move to new teams, and it's radically changing some employees' jobs. The Guardian has also learned that some of these reassigned employees will shift to two new teams: one building AI cloud infrastructure and another that's building an internal AI agent codenamed Hatch.Late last week, Meta employees received a notice that engineers had been selected" for reassignment and would begin reporting to the cloud infrastructure and Hatch teams by the end of this week. Meta made a similar move last month when it reshuffled at least 1,000 engineers on to a new data labeling team called Applied AI, or AAI - at first giving them the option to volunteer, but later telling workers: Transfers aren't optional." Continue reading...

A long and bitter legal battle between tech billionaires Elon Musk and Sam Altman has culminated in victory for the OpenAI boss. Musk has vowed to appeal the verdict. But what did the trial reveal about big tech and the global AI race. Lucy Hough speaks to Guardian US tech and power reporter Nick Robins-Early - watch on YouTube Continue reading...

The new DG started by stressing the need for velocity'. First, he'll have to navigate staff cuts, culture wars and a sea of fake newsMatt Brittin's message was pretty clear on his first day as director general of the BBC. It was echoed in a schedule that included an introductory LinkedIn video as well as meetings with the newsroom, podcast, radio, current affairs and research and development teams. It was there in his first all-staff email, which used the word velocity" twice and invoked the second world war to call for a sense of urgency".Alongside Brittin's affection for the BBC and public service broadcasting, his message can best be summed up as move fast but break nothing".Jane Martinson is an academic and Guardian columnist. She is a board member of the Scott Trust, which owns the Guardian Media Group, and writes in a personal capacity Continue reading...

Our research has uncovered young entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka and Pakistan using AI tools to make deeply objectionable content - and money

London-headquartered bank will reduce back-office jobs and aims to move some workers to new rolesStandard Chartered plans to cut more than 7,000 jobs over the next four years as it increasingly uses artificial intelligence.The London-headquartered lender is one of the first major global banks to lay out plans to cut thousands of jobs, citing AI as a driver to make its operations slimmer as it seeks to increase its profitability and tackle competition. Continue reading...

Microsoft; PC, Xbox Series X/S (PS5 due later)