The long-running series in which readers answer other readers' questions ponders whether life would be better in a post-online, analogue worldThe internet has turned fringe belief into mainstream politics and policy - from authoritarianism to vaccines. With democracy itself threatened, is it time to go back to a previous world of landlines, letters and face to-face-contact, audiotapes and Ansaphones? What would we miss about the online world that is worth the risk to liberal culture and basic freedoms? Mees Visser, Groningen, NetherlandsPost your answers (and new questions) below or send them to nq@theguardian.com. Notes & Queries will take a festive break on 28 December. A selection of replies to this question, and the next new question, will be published on Sunday 4 January. Continue reading...

Researchers warn generative tools are helping militant groups from neo-Nazis to the Islamic State spread ideologyWhile the artificial intelligence boom is upending sections of the music industry, voice generating bots are also becoming a boon to another unlikely corner of the internet: extremist movements that are using them to recreate the voices and speeches of major figures in their milieu, and experts say it is helping them grow.The adoption of AI-enabled translation by terrorists and extremists marks a significant evolution in digital propaganda strategies," said Lucas Webber, a senior threat intelligence analyst at Tech Against Terrorism and a research fellow at the Soufan Center. Webber specializes in monitoring the online tools of terrorist groups and extremists around the world. Continue reading...

Steps to help combat fraud in which criminals use AI-generated replica of a person's voice to deceive victimsThe voicemail from your son is alarming. He has just been in a car accident and is highly stressed. He needs money urgently, although it is not clear why, and he gives you some bank details for a transfer.You consider yourself wise to other scams, and have ignored texts claiming to be from him and asking for cash. But you can hear his voice and he is clearly in trouble. Continue reading...

A staff exodus and a broken booking system are helping to cause huge jams in Britain's driving test systemIt has long been a stressful rite of passage for many young people but, in recent years, passing the actual driving test is the easy part. Now, many people seeking a test need to wake up early to snag a date before the bots do and, even then, they are looking at a long and arduous wait.Despite moves from the government to address the issue, an audit report released this week found plans to cut the wait for a driving test to seven weeks by the end of the year would not be achieved until November 2027. Continue reading...

Emphasis this year is on nostalgia as present day feels a bit more uncertain', say trend expertsTinsel, DIY tree decorations, deep burgundy drapes - and Home Alone on VHS. Christmas has gone retro on TikTok, and in people's living rooms.The app has reported a surge in Christmas decor videos, with an emphasis on nostalgia as users embrace festive looks from bygone eras. For younger TikTokers, that means the 90s. Continue reading...

Analysts see global construction frenzy that shows no signs of slowing' amid surge in demand from AI boomA new report finds that investment in the worldwide data center market reached $61bn this year, setting a new record atop the wave of the artificial intelligence boom.The analysis by S&P Global, first reported by CNBC, documented what the market intelligence firm called a global construction frenzy that shows no signs of slowing", to build out the massive real estate, hardware, and energy requirements driven by insatiable demand from AI companies. S&P pegged 2024's investment in the data center market at $60.8bn, just below the 2025 number. Continue reading...

Decision from state supreme court on deal once worth $56bn and now worth some $139bn overturns ruling that prompted angry Musk backlashElon Musk's controversial $56bn pay package from Tesla was reinstated by the Delaware supreme court on Friday, two years after a lower court struck down the vast compensation deal as unfathomable".The reinstated pay package could be worth as much as $139bn today, according to the New York Times. The decision comes less than two months after Tesla shareholders approved a new plan that could be worth $1tn to Musk, already the world's richest person, in a decade's time. Musk's fortune currently stands at an estimated $600bn. Continue reading...

From celebrity endorsements to digital fatigue, the once-obsolete white wire has become a fashion statement and a quiet act of opting outWith white-wired headphones endorsed by celebrities including Lily-Rose Depp, Paul Mescal, Bella Hadid and Apple Martin, a growing number of people are breaking away from wireless listening.For inspiration, there is the Instagram account @wireditgirls, or a Balenciaga campaign featuring the model Mona Tougaard reclining bed, wired headphones in place. Continue reading...

Minister says risk to any individual' from cyber-attack is low and that it is still unclear who is responsibleThe UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office was hacked in October, a minister has said.Chris Bryant, a trade minister in Keir Starmer's government, told Sky News there was a low risk to any individual" from the cyber-attack. Continue reading...

Japanese conglomerate raises to 80% its stake in firm that owns the intellectual property created by Charles Schulz

Joint venture will take over part of app's US operations, including data protection, algorithm security and content moderation

Hollywood is betting big on vertical microdramas told in chunks under two minutes. Can a gimmick turn into a new form of entertainment?If you have been anywhere close to the social media blast radius of The Summer I Turned Pretty, Amazon Prime's breakout YA series on a tortuous teen love triangle, you may be familiar with the plight of Henley and Luca. The star-crossed lovers of a short-form video series called Loving My Brother's Best Friend - plot self-explanatory - have made waves on TikTok with yearning stares and I/we can't do this" drama that echo the many fan edits of beloved TV couple Belly and Conrad. But whereas The Summer I Turned Pretty explored its central tension over 40-minute episodes on streaming, Loving My Brother's Best Friend, produced by a short-form company called CandyJar, distilled its appeal to its barest essences: sexual tension hook, escalating line and cliffhanger sinker, all within two-minute episodes" on your phone. Without even meaning to or really wanting to, I watched the first 10 chapters (of 44) in one 15-minute gulp - and I'm not the only one.Hollywood is hoping that you, too, will be hooked. Though Loving My Brother's Best Friend may not look like a typical Hollywood product - in fact, it resembles some mix of teen show, soap opera and amateur fan-cam edit - the industry is investing heavily in the future of series like it: low-budget, mobile-only microdramas" with episodes between 60 and 90 seconds. These shows, also known as verticals" for their phone orientation, have already become widely popular in China, where mobile screens dominate entertainment even more than in the US. In just three years, revenue for serialized short-form drama in China rose from $500m in 2021 to $7bn in 2024, and is projected to reach $16.2bn by 2030. The global microdrama market for 2025 is estimated at anywhere from $7bn to 15bn - and booming, with nearly triple revenue growth for microdrama companies outside China in the past year. Continue reading...

When AIs become consistently more capable than humans, life could change in strange ways. It could happen in the next few years, or a little longer. If and when it comes, our domestic routines - trips to the doctor, farming, work and justice systems - could all look very different. Here we take a look at how the era of artificial general intelligence might feelDoes it hurt when I do this?" Continue reading...

A family classic reborn in a wide open world, a satirical adventure through teenage life and a mystery puzzler for the ages - our critics on the year's best fun

Equity says vote signals strong opposition to AI use and readiness to disrupt productions unless protections are securedActors have voted to refuse digital scanning to prevent their likeness being used by artificial intelligence in a pushback against AI in the arts.Members of the performing arts union Equity were asked if they would refuse to be scanned while on set, a common practice in which actors' likeness is captured for future use - with 99% voting in favour of the move. Continue reading...

OpenAI is the latest to make a political hire as big tech spreads its tentacles around the world. So what's the attraction?George Osborne getting a new job isn't exactly news. Since leaving frontline politics, the former chancellor has served as the chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, edited (not entirely successfully) the Evening Standard, advised asset manager BlackRock, joined boutique advisory firm Robey Warshaw, been appointed as the chair of the British Museum and taken on roles including advising crypto firm Coinbase. Oh, and like any white man of a particular age, he co-hosts a political podcast.But Osborne's latest job is the most eye-opening - and is an alarming augur of what is to come. OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, has become the latest organisation to employ Osborne. He will run OpenAI for Countries, a unit tasked with working directly with governments while expanding the company's Stargate datacentre programme beyond the US. At least it was announced with a tweet, rather than a LinkedIn post.Chris Stokel-Walker is the author of TikTok Boom: The Inside Story of the World's Favourite App Continue reading...

Locals band together in David v Goliath battle against facility they say would jack up bills, increase pollution and destroy area's characterA who's who of the nation's most powerful politicians and tech tycoons are forcing through a proposal for a massive data center in rural Michigan as locals from across the political spectrum have come out in force against it, with one calling it uniquely evil".Residents of Saline Township, Michigan, fear the $7bn center would jack up energy bills, pollute groundwater, and destroy the area's rural character. The 1.4 gigawatt center would consume as much power as Detroit, and would help derail Michigan's nation-leading transition to renewable energy. Continue reading...

Study author says tech companies are reaping benefits of artificial intelligence age but society is left to pay costThe AI boom has caused as much carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere in 2025 as emitted by the whole of New York City, it has been claimed.The global environmental impact of the rapidly spreading technology has been estimated in research published on Wednesday, which also found that AI-related water use now exceeds the entirety of global bottled-water demand. Continue reading...

Whether your household is in the mood for singing, driving, quizzing or shouting, here are our top choices for homely holiday funMultiplayer hand-to-hand combat games are ridiculously good fun and there are plenty to choose from, including the rather similar Gang Beasts and Party Animals. I've gone for this one, however, which lets everyone pick a cake to play as before competing in food fights and taking on mini-games such as roasting marshmallows and lobbing fruit into a pie. If you ever wished that the Great British Bake Off was ever-so-slightly more gladitorial, this is the game for you. Continue reading...

AI Security Institute report finds most common type of AI tech used was general purpose assistants such as ChatGPT and Amazon AlexaA third of UK citizens have used artificial intelligence for emotional support, companionship or social interaction, according to the government's AI security body.The AI Security Institute (AISI) said nearly one in 10 people used systems like chatbots for emotional purposes on a weekly basis, and 4% daily. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Lawsuit is the first UK case of its kind, with Ros and Mark Dowey accusing Meta of putting profit before our young people'The parents of a 16-year-old who took his own life after he fell victim to a sextortion gang on Instagram are suing Meta for the alleged wrongful death of their son, in the first UK case of its kind.Murray Dowey died in December 2023 at his family home in Dunblane, after being tricked into sending intimate pictures to an Instagram contact. He thought it was a girl his own age, but it turned out to be overseas criminals involved in financially motivated sexual extortion. Continue reading...

Exclusive: UK government's naive belief' that Trump is a good faith actor could cost UK taxpayer billions', says health select committee chairMinisters and senior MPs have warned that the UK's agreements with Donald Trump are built on sand" after the Guardian established that the deal to avoid drug tariffs has no underlying text beyond limited headline terms.The milestone" US-UK deal announced this month on pharmaceuticals, which will mean the NHS pays more for medicines in exchange for a promise of zero tariffs on the industry, still lacks a legal footing beyond top lines contained in two government press releases. Continue reading...

Commons committee monitoring revolving door that gave jobs to George Osborne, Nick Clegg and Tony BlairWhen the billionaire chief executive of AI chipmaker Nvidia threw a party in central London for Donald Trump's state visit in September, the power imbalance between Silicon Valley and British politicians was vividly exposed.Jensen Huang hastened to the stage after meetings at Chequers and rallied his hundreds of guests to cheer on the power of AI. In front of a huge Nvidia logo, he urged the venture capitalists before him to herald a new industrial revolution", announced billions of pounds in AI investments and, like Willy Wonka handing out golden tickets, singled out some lucky recipients in the room. Continue reading...

With a blend of retro-futurism, moral ambiguity and monster-filled wastelands, Fallout became an unlikely prestige television favourite. Now there is something a bigger, stranger and funnier journey ahead Don't get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereThe Fallout TV series returns to Prime Video today, and it's fair to say that everyone was pleasantly surprised by how good the first season was. By portraying Fallout's retro-futuristic, post-apocalyptic US through three different characters, it managed to capture different aspects of the game player's experience, too. There was vault-dweller Lucy, trying to do the right thing and finding that the wasteland made that very difficult; Max, the Brotherhood of Steel rookie, who starts to question his cult's authority and causes a lot of havoc in robotic power armour; and the Ghoul, Walton Goggins's breakout character, who has long since lost any sense of morality out in the irradiated wilderness.The show's first season ended with a revelation about who helped cause the nuclear war that trapped a group of people in underground vaults for a couple of centuries. It also left plenty of questions open for the second season - and, this time, expectations are higher. Even being not terrible" was a win for a video game adaptation until quite recently. How are the Fallout TV show's creators feeling now that the first season has been a success? Continue reading...

OpenAI seeking to strike latest deal in its efforts to pay for huge spending on datacentres

PC, Nintendo Switch/Switch 2; Simogo

In my six months of looking for work, I've found that from fake ads to AI screening software, the search is more soul-destroying than everAs I apply for yet another job, I look at the company's website for context. I've now read their what we do" section four or five times, and I have a problem - I can't figure out what they do. There are two possibilities here. One: they don't know what they do. Two: what they do is so pointless and embarrassing that they dare not spell it out in plain English. We forge marketing systems at the forefront of the online wellness space" translates to something like we use ChatGPT to sell dodgy supplements".But understanding what so many businesses actually do is the least of my worries. I'm currently among the 5% of Brits who are unemployed. In my six months of job hunting, my total lack of success has begun to make me question my own existence. Just like when you repeat a word over and over until it loses all meaning, when you apply repeatedly for jobs in a similar field, the semantics of the entire situation begin to fall apart like a snotty tissue. About one in five of my job applications elicit a rejection email, usually bemoaning the sheer number of quality applicants" for the position. For the most part, though - nothing. It's almost like the job never existed in the first place, and it's possible that it didn't.Eleanor Margolis is a columnist for the i newspaper and Diva Continue reading...

AI promises to have far-reaching effects in music-making. While some welcome it as a compositional tool, many have deep concerns. Here are some of your responsesAI-generated music is flooding streaming platforms, and it seems to be here to stay. Last month, three AI songs reached the highest spots on Spotify and Billboard charts. Jorja Smith's label has called for her to receive a share of royalties from a song thought to have trained its original AI-generated vocals on her catalogue, which were later re-recorded by a human singer.With this in mind, we asked for your thoughts on music composed by AI, the use of AI as a tool in the creation of music, and what should be done to protect musicians. Here are some of your responses. Continue reading...

Growth in the US economy - and the president's political survival - rest on AI. The EU must use its leverage and stand up to himThe unthinkable has happened. The US is Europe's adversary. The stark, profound betrayal contained in the Trump administration's national security strategy should stop any further denial and dithering in Europe's capitals. Cultivating resistance Europe's current trajectory in European nations" is now Washington's stated policy.But contained within this calamity is the gift of clarity. Europe will fight or it will perish. The good news is that Europe holds strong cards.Johnny Ryan is director of Enforce, a unit of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties Continue reading...

Keir Starmer's office claims UK still in active conversations' about deal for tech industries in both countries to cooperateDowning Street insists the $40bn Tech Prosperity Deal between the US and UK that is on hold is not permanently stalled. The BBC reported on Tuesday evening that the prime minister's office claimed that the UK remains in active conversations with US counterparts at all levels of government" about the wide-ranging deal for the technology industries in both countries to cooperate.The agreement, previously billed as historic, was paused after the US accused the UK of failing to lower trade barriers, including a digital services tax on US tech companies and food safety rules that limit the export of some agricultural products. The New York Times first reported British confirmation that negotiations had stalled. Continue reading...

Region struggling with drought now threatened by energy-hungry facilities - but some residents are fighting backThe sign outside Tom Hermes's farmyard in Perkins Township in Ohio, a short drive south of the shores of Lake Erie, proudly claims that his family have farmed the land here since 1900. Today, he raises 130 head of cattle and grows corn, wheat, grass and soybeans on 1,200 acres of land.For his family, his animals and wider business, water is life. Continue reading...

Companies such as Udio, Suno and Klay will let you use AI to make new music based on existing artists' work. It could mean more royalties - but many are worriedThis was the year that AI-generated music went from jokey curiosity to mainstream force. Velvet Sundown, a wholly AI act, generated millions of streams; AI-created tracks topped Spotify's viral chart and one of the US Billboard country charts; AI artist" Xania Monet signed" a record deal. BBC Introducing is usually a platform for flesh-and-blood artists trying to make it big, but an AI-generated song by Papi Lamour was recently played on the West Midlands show. And jumping up the UK Top 20 this month is I Run, a track by dance act Haven, who have been accused of using AI to imitate British vocalist Jorja Smith (Haven claim they simply asked the AI for soulful vocal samples", and did not respond to an earlier request to comment).The worry is that AI will eventually absorb all creative works in history and spew out endless slop that will replace human-made art and drive artists into penury. Those worries are being deepened by how the major labels, once fearful of the technology, are now embracing it - and heralding a future in which ordinary listeners have a hand in co-creating music with their favourite musicians. Continue reading...

Liz Kendall faces pressure from campaigners as she tells parliament there is no clear consensus on issueA campaign fronted by popstars including Elton John and Dua Lipa to protect artists' works from being mined to train AI models without consent has received a boost after almost every respondent to a government consultation backed their case.Ninety-five per cent of the more than 10,000 people who had their say over how music, novels, films and other works should be protected from copyright infringements by tech companies called for copyright to be strengthened and a requirement for licensing in all cases or no change to copyright law. Continue reading...

Pledge to invest billions in UK paused, with Washington citing lack of progress on trade barriers across pondThe US has paused its promised multi-billion-pound investment into British tech over trade disagreements, marking a serious setback in US-UK relations.The 31bn tech prosperity deal", hailed by Keir Starmer as a generational stepchange in our relationship with the US" when it was announced during Donald Trump's state visit, has been put on ice by Washington. Continue reading...

AI Mode is mangling recipes by merging instructions from multiple creators - and causing them huge dips in ad trafficThis past March, when Google began rolling out its AI Mode search capability, it began offering AI-generated recipes. The recipes were not all that intelligent. The AI had taken elements of similar recipes from multiple creators and Frankensteined them into something barely recognizable. In one memorable case, the Google AI failed to distinguish comments on a Reddit thread from legitimate recipe sites and advised users to cook with non-toxic glue.Over the past few years, bloggers who have not secured their sites behind a paywall have seen their carefully developed and tested recipes show up, often without attribution and in a bastardized form, in ChatGPT replies. They have seen dumbed-down versions of their recipes in AI-assembled cookbooks available for digital downloads on Etsy or on AI-built websites that bear a superficial resemblance to an old-school human-written blog. Their photos and videos, meanwhile, are repurposed in Facebook posts and Pinterest pins that link back to this digital slop. Continue reading...

He rewrote the rule book with Rockstar then left it all behind. Now Dan Houser is back with a storytelling-focused studio to take on AI-obsessed tech bros and Mexican beauty queensThere are only a handful of video game makers who have had as profound an effect on the industry as Dan Houser. The co-founder of Rockstar Games, and its lead writer, worked on all the GTA titles since the groundbreaking third instalment, as well as both Red Dead Redemption adventures. But then, in 2019, he took an extended break from the company which ended with his official departure. Now he's back with a new studio and a range of projects, and 12 years after we last interviewed him, he's ready to talk about what comes next.Finishing those big projects and thinking about doing another one is really intense," he says about his decision to go. I'd been in full production mode every single day from the very start of each project to the very end, for 20 years. I stayed so long because I loved the games. It was a real privilege to be there, but it was probably the right time to leave. I turned 45 just after Red Dead 2 came out. I thought, well, it's probably a good time to try working on some other stuff." Continue reading...

The decision means TikTok now operates under the threat that it could be forced offline with a stroke of Trump's penJudicial opinions allowing the government to suppress speech in the name of national security rarely stand the test of time. But time has been unusually unkind to the US supreme court decision that upheld the law banning TikTok, the short-form video platform. The court issued its ruling less than a year ago, but it is already obvious that the deference the court gave to the government's national security arguments was spectacularly misplaced. The principal effect of the court's ruling has been to give our own government enormous power over the policies of a speech platform used by tens of millions of Americans every day - a result that is an affront to the first amendment and a national security risk in its own right.Congress passed the TikTok ban in 2023 citing concerns that the Chinese government might be able to access information about TikTok's American users or covertly manipulate content on the platform in ways that threatened US interests. The ban was designed to prevent Americans from using TikTok starting in January 2025 unless TikTok's China-based corporate owner, ByteDance Inc, sold its US subsidiary before then.Evelyn Douek is an assistant professor at Stanford Law SchoolJameel Jaffer is inaugural director of the Knight first amendment institute at Columbia University Continue reading...

Outside the lavish event, workers called out the greed' in the industry that has left games being sold for parts to make a few people a lot of money'It's the night of the 2025 Game Awards, a major industry event where the best games of the year are crowned and major publishers reveal forthcoming projects. In the shadow of the Peacock theater in Los Angeles and next to a giant, demonic statue promoting new game Divinity, which would be announced on stage later that evening, stands a collection of people in bright red shirts. Many are holding signs: a tombstone honouring the death" of The Game Awards' Future Class talent development programme; a bold, black-and-red graphic that reads We're Done Playing"; and wanted" posters for Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick and Microsoft CEO Phil Spencer. This is a protest.The protesters, who were almost denied entry to the public space outside the Peacock theater (they knew we were coming," one jokes), are from United Videogame Workers (UVW), an industry-wide, direct-join union for North America that is part of the Communications Workers of America. We are out here today to raise awareness of the plight of the game worker," says Anna C Webster, chair of the freelancing committee, in the hot Los Angeles sun. Our industry has been strip-mined for resources by these corporate overlords, and we figured the best place to raise awareness of what's happening in the games industry is at the culmination, the final boss, as it were: The Game Awards." Continue reading...

Party would also abolish zero-emission vehicle mandate, cutting legal requirement on carmakers to sell EVsThe Conservatives have announced proposals to end the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars and cut the legal requirement on car manufacturers to sell electric vehicles.A Conservative government would abolish the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, ending the legal requirement for manufacturers to sell a fixed rising percentage of zero-emission vehicles each year - 80% of new cars and 70% of new vans by 2030, increasing to 100% by 2035. It would also completely end the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars. Continue reading...

Battery-powered leaf blowers from Ryobi, Ego and Stihl quickly clean up leaves with no gas, no smell, and dramatically less noise

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers' questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsThe dramatic chipmunk, distracted boyfriend, the raccoon with the candy floss or success kid", what is - or was - the absolute top, world-beating, best-ever internet meme? Antony Scacchi, Los Angeles, USPost your answers (and new questions) below or send them to nq@theguardian.com. A selection will be published next Sunday. Continue reading...

From athletes such as Tristan Thompson to artists such as Iggy Azalea, celebrities have returned to hawking cryptoFollowing the numbers suggests Tristan Thompson is nearing the end of his basketball career. While the 6ft 9in center once regularly played more than 80 games in a regular season, he's hit new career lows, appearing just 40 times on court during the 2024-2025 season. Following the money, however, suggests Thompson is pivoting into a new career. He's rebranded as a crypto investor, consultant and brand ambassador, bringing his relative cultural cache to the blockchain. Now the host of his own podcast, Courtside Crypto, he has made frequent appearances with other crypto celebrities, such as at the Nasdaq in September, when he celebrated the IPO of an explicitly nationalist Bitcoin mining operation alongside Eric Trump; Thompson has also developed a crypto startup slated to launch in 2026.In 2025, crypto is back in style in Washington and among a growing set in Hollywood, where Thompson lives adjacent to the Kardashian clan, some of whom have been crypto spokespeople. Donald Trump has reversed Joe Biden's legal offensive against crypto, debuting his own token, $Trump, before his inauguration, and rolling back government actions against the industry, which heavily supported him during his bid for the presidency. Celebrities have likewise returned to hawking cryptocurrency projects or launching tokens of their own. Continue reading...

The PM's social media sortie has not been a total embarrassment, which may be a shame for himThe scene opens on the interior of an aeroplane.A suited man in a luxurious seat looks pensively out the window, his face partially obscured, his chin delicately resting on his hand. Continue reading...

It started with a goat. Now - via a degree for developers and an incubator for startups - the tiny city is churning out world-famous video game hits. What is the secret of its success?On 26 March 2014, a trailer for a video game appeared on YouTube. The first thing the viewer sees is a closeup of a goat lying on the ground, its tongue out, its eyes open. Behind it is a man on fire, running backwards in slow motion towards a house. Interspersed with these images is footage of the goat being repeatedly run over by a car. In the main shot, the goat, now appearing backwards as well, flies up into the first-floor window of a house, repairing the glass it smashed on its way down. It hurtles through another window and back to an exploding petrol station, where we assume its journey must have started.This wordless, strangely moving video - a knowing parody of the trailer for a zombie survival game called Dead Island - was for a curious game called Goat Simulator. The game was, unsurprisingly, the first to ever put theplayer into the hooves of a goat, who must enact as much wanton destruction as possible. It was also the first massive hit to come out of a small city in Sweden by the name of Skovde. Continue reading...

Every prize at the The Game Awards from the Peacock theater in Los Angeles

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won nine awards, including game of the year, while newly announced games at the show include the next project from Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian Studios

Platform fighting world-leading ban on grounds it contravenes implied freedom of political communication in constitution

An all-new Croft adventure, Tomb Raider Catalyst, will be released in 2027 - and a remake of the action heroine's first adventure arrives next yearAfter a long break for Lara Croft, a couple of fresh Tomb Raider adventures are on their way. They will be the first new games in the series since 2018, and both will be published by Amazon.Announced at the Game Awards in LA, Tomb Raider Catalyst stars the charismatic, self-assured, formidable Lara Croft" from the original 1990s games, says game director Will Kerslake. It's set in the markets, mountains, and naturally the ancient buildings of northern India, where Lara is racing with other treasure hunters to track down potentially cataclysmic artefacts. It will be out in 2027. Continue reading...

President Nayib Bukele entrusting chatbot known for calling itself MechaHitler' to create AI-powered' curriculaElon Musk is partnering with the government of El Salvador to bring his artificial intelligence company's chatbot, Grok, to more than 1 million students across the country, according to a Thursday announcement by xAI. Over the next two years, the plan is to deploy" the chatbot to more than 5,000 public schools in an AI-powered education program".xAI's Grok is more known for referring to itself as MechaHitler" and espousing far-right conspiracy theories than it is for public education. Over the past year, the chatbot has spewed various antisemitic content, decried white genocide" and claimed Donald Trump won the 2020 election. Continue reading...