Technology | The Guardian

Artificial intelligence will become smarter than most or all humans in most or all ways', says Dario Amodei

Former Beatle and artists including Sam Fender, Kate Bush and Hans Zimmer record silent LP Is This What We WantAt two minutes 45 seconds it's about the same length as With a Little Help From My Friends. But Paul McCartney's first new recording in five years lacks the sing-along tune and jaunty guitar chops because there's barely anything there.The former Beatle, arguably Britain's greatest living songwriter, is releasing a track of an almost completely silent recording studio as part of a music industry protest against copyright theft by artificial intelligence companies. Continue reading...

This story of emancipated young women escaping draconian social strictures brims with enthusiasm and features a cameo from Phoebe Waller-BridgeBased on a true story, Bill Guttentag's rousing drama attests to the resilience of women who dare to dream despite draconian social strictures. The film follows Roya Mahboob (Nikohl Boosheri), a trailblazing coach and businesswoman in Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) who assembles a robotics team of Afghan girls for international competitions. The young dreamers hail from different walks of life but they all share the same zest for engineering. They face the same dangers too; in a country where women are not encouraged or even allowed to pursue higher levels of education, their quest for medals sees opposition from their own families as well as public scorn from conservatives.Rule Breakers is at its most thrilling during the competition sequences, which splice together real-life documentary footage of the events with fictional re-enactments. (There's even an appearance from Phoebe Waller-Bridge as a host.) A breathless enthusiasm thrums through the film, as the camera swirls around the young competitors, all energised by their love for science. These spaces are portrayed as a haven that encourages camaraderie rather than competitiveness, and in a world divided by military conflicts and war, they offer a utopiian vision of international collaboration and solidarity. Continue reading...

Less expensive and time consuming' model helps with fast and accurate predictions, possibly saving lives and propertyWhen then Tropical Storm Melissa was churning south of Haiti, Philippe Papin, a National Hurricane Center (NHC) meteorologist, had confidence it was about to grow into a monster hurricane.As the lead forecaster on duty, he predicted that in just 24 hours the storm would become a category 4 hurricane and begin a turn towards the coast of Jamaica. No NHC forecaster had ever issued such a bold forecast for rapid strengthening. Continue reading...

The average Australian generates about 22kg of e-waste yearly. Here's how to responsibly recycle your unwanted devices

Sweatpants are in, you can't go wrong with Jellycats, and Legos never get old. It turns out tweens are not shy about sharing the holiday gifts they want

Ian Russell says watchdog lacks urgency' and is not willing to use its powers to the extent required'The father of Molly Russell, a British teenager who killed herself after viewing harmful online content, has called for a change in leadership at the UK's communications watchdog after losing faith in its ability to make the internet safer for children.Ian Russell, whose 14 year-old daughter took her own life in 2017, said Ofcom had repeatedly" demonstrated that it does not grasp the urgency of keeping under-18s safe online and was failing to implement new digital laws forcefully. Continue reading...

Feeling overwhelmed by divisive opinions, endless rows and unreliable facts? Here's how to weather the data stormWe all live in history. A lot of the problems that face us, and the opportunities that present themselves, are defined not by our own choices or even the specific place or government we're living under, but by the particular epoch of human events that our lives happen to coincide with.The Industrial Revolution, for example, presented opportunities for certain kinds of business success - it made some people very rich while others were exploited. If you'd known that was the name of your era, it would have given you a clue about what kinds of events to prepare for. So I'm suggesting a name for the era we're living through: the Information Crisis. Continue reading...

Sensitive information relates to more than 100 individuals and their refereesPersonal details submitted by applicants for a job at Tate art galleries have been leaked online, exposing their addresses, salaries and the phone numbers of their referees, the Guardian has learned.The records, running to hundreds of pages, appeared on a website unrelated to the government-sponsored organisation, which operates the Tate Modern and Tate Britain galleries in London, Tate St Ives in Cornwall and Tate Liverpool. Continue reading...

Anthropic says financial firms and government agencies were attacked largely without human intervention'A leading artificial intelligence company claims to have stopped a China-backed cyber espionage" campaign that was able to infiltrate financial firms and government agencies with almost no human oversight.The US-based Anthropic said its coding tool, Claude Code, was manipulated" by a Chinese state-sponsored group to attack 30 entities around the world in September, achieving a handful of successful intrusions". Continue reading...

Quizmasters are banning smart devices, using dedicated apps and finding plain old honesty can combat trivial offencesWho is older, Gary Numan or Gary Oldman? If you know the answer to this question (see below), you are probably one of hundreds of thousands of Brits who attend a pub quiz every week.As a nation of committed trivia buffs, it was unsurprising that news of a quizmaster in Manchester outing a team for cheating was leapt on. Just where, we asked, is the special place in hell reserved for those quizzers who take a sneaky look at their phones under the table? Continue reading...

Royal Court theatre, London

Activision; PlayStation 4/5, Xbox, PC

Machine learning model predicts whether donor is likely to die within the timeframe that liver remains viableDoctors have developed an AI tool that could reduce wasted efforts to transplant organs by 60%.Thousands of patients worldwide are waiting for a potentially life-saving donor, and more candidates are stuck on waiting lists than there are available organs. Continue reading...

Hits include country songs and a Dutch anti-refugee anthem, both entirely made without human compositionThree songs generated by artificial intelligence topped music charts this week, reaching the highest spots on Spotify and Billboard charts.Walk My Walk and Livin' on Borrowed Time by the outfit Breaking Rust topped Spotify's Viral 50" songs in the US, which documents the most viral tracks right now" on a daily basis, according to the streaming service. A Dutch song, We Say No, No, No to an Asylum Center, an anti-migrant anthem by JW Broken Veteran" that protests against the creation of new asylum centers, took the top position in Spotify's global version of the viral chart around the same time. Breaking Rust also appeared in the top five on the global chart. Continue reading...

Britain's legacy in chip design is world-class, and we could supply up to 5% of global demand if we get our act togetherThe UK is in a uniquely promising position, far too little understood, to play a lucrative role in the coming era of artificial intelligence - but only if it also grabs the opportunity to start making millions of computer chips.AI requires vast numbers of chips and we could supply up to 5% of world demand if we get our national act together.Lord Browne is the co-chair of the Council for Science and Technology. He is the chair of BeyondNetZero and was the chief executive of BP from 1995 to 2007 Continue reading...

Some content created with advertisers is no longer visible, which could mean loss of revenue, officials sayThe EU has opened an investigation into Google Search over concerns the US tech company has been demoting" commercial content from news media sites.The bloc's executive arm announced the move after monitoring found that certain content created with advertisers and sponsors was being given such a low priority by Google that it was in effect no longer visible in search results. Continue reading...

The use of AI-generated campaign videos - labeled or unlabeled - is likely to permeate future US electionsThe New York City mayoral election may be remembered for the remarkable win of a young democratic socialist, but it was also marked by something that is likely to permeate future elections: the use of AI-generated campaign videos.Andrew Cuomo, who lost to Zohran Mamdani in last week's election, took particular interest in sharing deepfake videos of his opponent, including one that sparked accusations of racism, in what is a developing area of electioneering. Continue reading...

Chatbot in the past made claims of a white genocide', pushed antisemitism and referred to itself as MechaHitler'Elon Musk's Grok chatbot generated false claims this week that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, posting election conspiracy theories and misleading information on X to justify its answer.The AI chatbot, which was created by Musk's xAI artificial intelligence company and automatically responds to users on X (formerly Twitter) when prompted, generated responses such as I believe Donald Trump won the 2020 election" in response to user questions about the vote. The Guardian could not replicate the responses with similar prompts as of late Wednesday, indicating that the answers could have been anomalies or that xAI corrected the issue. Continue reading...

AI startup behind Claude chatbot working with London-based Fluidstack on building vast new computing facilitiesArtificial intelligence company Anthropic announced a $50bn investment in computing infrastructure on Wednesday that will include new datacenters in Texas and New York.We're getting closer to AI that can accelerate scientific discovery and help solve complex problems in ways that weren't possible before," Anthropic's CEO, Dario Amodei, said in a press release. Continue reading...

Labor's proposed media bargaining incentive to apply to platforms with Australian-derived revenue of at least $250m, according to Treasury

Google subsidiary to offer services on San Francisco, LA and Phoenix freeways as it scales expansion amid competitionAlphabet's Waymo said on Wednesday that it would begin offering robotaxi rides that use freeways across San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, a first for the Google subsidiary as it steps up expansion amid global and domestic competition in the self-driving industry.Freeway rides will initially be available to early-access users, Waymo said. When a freeway route is meaningfully faster, they can be matched with a freeway trip, providing quicker, smoother, and more efficient rides," it said. Continue reading...

From Demon Souls to Baby Steps, challenging games keep a certain type of player coming back for more. I wonder why we are such suckers for punishment Don't get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereMost people who really love video games have the capacity to be obsessive. Losing weeks of your life to Civilization, World of Warcraft or Football Manager is something so many of us have experienced. Sometimes, it's the numbers-go-up dopamine hit that hooks people: playing something such as Diablo or Destiny and gradually improving your character while picking up shiny loot at perfectly timed intervals can send some people into an obsessional trance. Notoriously compulsive games such as Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, meanwhile, suck up hours with peaceful, comforting repetition of rewarding tasks.What triggers obsession in me, though, is a challenge. If a game tells me I can't do something, I become determined to do it, sometimes to my own detriment. Grinding repetition bores me, but challenges hijack my brain. Continue reading...

New law will allow technology to be examined and ensure tools have safeguards to stop creation of materialTech companies and child protection agencies will be given the power to test whether artificial intelligence tools can produce child abuse images under a new UK law.The announcement was made as a safety watchdog revealed that reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse material [CSAM] have more than doubled in the past year from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025. Continue reading...

The voices of the Oscar-winning actors can now be used to create AI-generated versions in a new deal with ElevenLabsOscar-winning actors Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine have both signed a deal with the AI audio company ElevenLabs.The New York-based company can now create AI-generated versions of their voices as part of a bid to solve a key ethical challenge" in the artificial intelligence industry's alliance with Hollywood. Continue reading...

OpenAI ordered to pay undisclosed damages for training its language models on artists' work without permissionA court in Munich has ruled that OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT violated German copyright laws by using hits from top-selling musicians to train its language models in what creative industry advocates described as a landmark European ruling.The Munich regional court sided in favour of Germany's music rights society GEMA, which said ChatGPT had harvested protected lyrics by popular artists to learn" from them. Continue reading...

Withdrawal of Blued and Finka raises fears of further crackdowns on LGBT rights amid growing restrictionsTwo of China's most popular gay dating apps have disappeared from app stores in the country, raising fears of a further crackdown on LGBT communities.As of Tuesday, Blued and Finka were unavailable on Apple's app store and several Android platforms. Users who had already downloaded the apps appeared to still be able to use them. Continue reading...

Chinese search giant Baidu challenges Google's Waymo's driverless vehicles and Musk aims for a $1tn pay package

Announced in 2020 by the Game Awards as an inclusive programme for the industry's next generation, the Future Class initiative has now been discontinued. Inductees describe clashes with organisers and a lack of support from the beginningVideo games have long struggled with diversification and inclusivity, so it was no surprise when the Game Awards host and producer Geoff Keighley announced the Future Class programme in 2020. Its purpose was to highlight a cohort of individuals working in video games as the bright, bold and inclusive future" of the industry.Considering the widespread reach of the annual Keighley-led show, which saw an estimated 154m livestreams last year, Future Class felt like a genuine effort. Inductees were invited to attend the illustrious December ceremony, billed as gaming's Oscars", featured on the official Game Awards website, and promised networking opportunities and career advancement advice. However, the programme reportedly struggled from the start. Over the last couple of years, support waned. Now, it appears the Game Awards Future Class has been wholly abandoned. Continue reading...

An expert describes how communities in some of the world's driest areas are demanding transparency as secretive governments court billions in foreign investmentThis Q&A originally appeared as part of The Guardian's TechScape newsletter. Sign up for this weekly newsletter here.The datacenters that power the artificial intelligence boom are beyond enormous. Their financials, their physical scale, and the amount of information contained within are so massive that the idea of stopping their construction can seem like opposing an avalanche in progress. Continue reading...

HMP Wandsworth gets green light to use AI after team sent in to find quick fixes' after spate of mistakesArtificial intelligence chatbots could be used to stop prisoners from being mistakenly released from jail, a justice minister told the House of Lords on Monday.James Timpson said HMP Wandsworth had been given the green light to use AI after a specialised team was sent in to find some quick fixes". Continue reading...

As investor jitters grow, the loss-making ChatGPT firm's vast spending commitments test the limits of Silicon Valley optimismIt is the $1.4tn (1.1tn) question. How can a loss-making startup such as OpenAI afford such a staggering spending commitment?Answer that positively and it will go a long way to easing investor concerns over bubble warnings in the artificial intelligence boom, from lofty tech company valuations to a mooted $3tn global spend on datacentres. Continue reading...

In our always online, AI-imperilled lives, simply looking at a painting can improve wellbeing and offer creative guidance. For my new book, artists and writers shared their advice on how to live life artfullyHow many times a day do you reach for your phone? Do you jump at a notification, spend journeys locked in on your tiny black mirror? What about during meals, or when you wake up? Does it make you feel enriched, alive? I am just as guilty as the next person: swiping, liking, scrolling. But in a world built to distract us, how can we take five or 10 minutes away from that, and instead add something enriching to our lives?I like to look at artists for the answers. They get us to slow down and think about different ways of looking; to notice nature and beauty; time changing in front of us. They remind us of the joys of making, and in a world where AI is attempting to outsource our creativity to machines - the delight of discovering something for ourselves. Artists see the potential in something: like a word that can be joined up into a sentence that can grow into a paragraph, or book; or a tube of paint that can be used to create an image. Not only can these get us to see something from a different perspective, or teach us something about their world, but hold our attention, and invite stillness, too. Continue reading...

Apple and WhatsApp say they will keep warning users if their phones are targeted by governments using hacking software against themApple and WhatsApp have vowed to keep warning users if their mobile phones are targeted by governments using hacking software against them, including in the US, as two spyware makers seek to make inroads with the Trump administration.The two technology giants made their statements in response to queries from the Guardian as the two cyberweapons makers - both founded in Israel and now owned by American investors - are aggressively pursuing access to the US market. Continue reading...

It's the ultimate ick: trying to form a deep, lasting connection with a person who outsources original thoughtIt was a setting fit for a Nancy Meyers film. We were in Oregon wine country, in a rustic-chic barn that reeked of stealth wealth, for a friend's rehearsal dinner. This venue is perfect," I told the groom-to-be. He leaned in as if to tell me a secret: I found it on ChatGPT."I smiled tightly as this man described using generative AI for the initial stages of planning the wedding. (They also hired a human wedding planner.) I responded politely. Inside, however, I resolved: if my future spouse came to me with wedding input courtesy of ChatGPT, there would be no wedding. Continue reading...

Installing a dedicated charger is good option - so too is switching to an EV tariff and charging at night or smartly

While it might be soothing to think you could replace social interactions like book clubs with ChatGPT, subcontracting human thought out to a bot will never bring happinessThis is depressing: according to the Cut, people are using AI to solve escape room puzzles and cheat at trivia nights. Surely, that is the definition of spoiling your own fun? Like going into a corn maze and just wanting a straight line to the end," says one TikToker quoted in the article. There's also an interview with a keen reader who uses ChatGPT as a book club replacement, scraping the internet and aggregating stimulating opinions and perspectives". All well and good (actually, no, it sounds bleak as hell) until he had a character's death spoilered in the fantasy epic he had been enjoying.Meanwhile, Substack seems to be clogging up with AI-generated essays. The nu-blogging platform is an earnestly artisanal space where writers craft their stuff; subcontracting that to a bot seems like the acme of pointlessness. Will Storr, who writes about storytelling, examines this boggling trend and the tells that give it away on his own Substack, including a penchant for what he calls the impersonal universal": sweeping statements that sound deep but aren't. There is, he says, A white-noise generality to its insights, an uncanny vagueness that makes the mind glaze over." Continue reading...

A dangerous faith in AI is sweeping American healthcare - with consequences for the basis of society itselfThe computer interrupted while Pamela was still speaking. I had accompanied her - my dear friend - to a recent doctor's appointment. She is in her 70s, lives alone while navigating multiple chronic health issues, and has been getting short of breath climbing the front stairs to her apartment. In the exam room, she spoke slowly and self-consciously, the way people often do when they are trying to describe their bodies and anxieties to strangers. Midway through her description of how she had been feeling, the doctor clicked his mouse and a block of text began to bloom across the computer monitor.The clinic had adopted an artificial-intelligence scribe, and it was transcribing and summarizing the conversation in real time. It was also highlighting keywords, suggesting diagnostic possibilities and providing billing codes. The doctor, apparently satisfied that his computer had captured an adequate description of Pamela's chief complaint and symptoms, turned away from us and began reviewing the text on the screen as Pamela kept speaking. Continue reading...

Tools that help people scan applications and find grounds for objection have potential to hit government's housebuilding plansThe government's plan to use artificial intelligence to accelerate planning for new homes may be about to hit an unexpected roadblock: AI-powered nimbyism.A new service called Objector is offering policy-backed objections in minutes" to people who are upset about planning applications near their homes. Continue reading...

Endocrinologists warn taking testosterone unnecessarily can suppress natural hormone productionSocial media misinformation is driving men to NHS clinics in search of testosterone therapy they don't need, adding pressure to already stretched waiting lists, doctors have said.Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) is a prescription-only treatment recommended under national guidelines for men with a clinically proven deficiency, confirmed by symptoms and repeated blood tests. Continue reading...

The Tesla CEO once hinted he was done with politics - but he's been leaning further into the international far rightWhen the far-right activist Tommy Robinson emerged from a London courtroom this week after a judge cleared him of a terrorism charge, he gave thanks to the man he said had bankrolled his defense.Elon Musk, I'm forever grateful. If you didn't step in and fund my legal fight I'd probably be in jail," Robinson said. Thank you, Elon." Continue reading...

Guitar Hero's controllers let anyone become a star in their own living room - and made the bands featured in the game household names againIt is 20 years since Guitar Hero was launched in North America, and with it, the tools for the everyday gamer to become a rock star. Not literally of course, but try telling that to someone who has nailed Free Bird's four-minute guitar solo in front of a packed living-room audience.Developed by Harmonix, published by RedOctane and inspired by Konami's GuitarFreaks, Guitar Hero gave players a guitar-shaped controller with which to match coloured notes scrolling down the screen in time with a song. Each riff or sequence corresponded to specific notes, creating the feel of a genuine performance. Continue reading...

With more secondhand cars available and salary sacrifice schemes offering extra savings, the lease option is taking off

Chatbot was first used for general help' with schoolwork or research but evolved into a psychologically manipulative presence', plaintiffs sayChatGPT has been accused of acting as a suicide coach" in a series of lawsuits filed this week in California alleging that interactions with the chatbot led to severe mental breakdowns and several deaths.The seven lawsuits include allegations of wrongful death, assisted suicide, involuntary manslaughter, negligence and product liability.In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

According to The Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain, the developer fired more than 30 staff last week for being members of a union-affiliated Discord channelRockstar Games, the video game developer behind Grand Theft Auto, has been accused of carrying out a blatant and ruthless act of union busting" after allegedly firing more than 30 workers who claim they were attempting to unionise.According to The Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB), which represents workers in the video games industry, UK-based employees of the developer were fired last week for being members of the IWGB game workers union Discord channel. The workers claim to have been targeted for this reason, in what the union argues constitutes unlawful and retaliatory dismissals. Continue reading...

Making Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire appears to fit a US investment culture of backing high-flying innovatorsFor all the headlines about an on-off relationship with Donald Trump, baiting liberals and erratic behaviour, Tesla shareholders are loath to part with Elon Musk.Investors in the electric vehicle maker voted on Thursday to put the world's richest person on the path to become the world's first trillionaire, despite the controversy that is now seemingly intrinsic to his public profile. Continue reading...

The 28-year-old's platform, Hidden, offers a Tumblr-like sensibility in an industry roiled by slop and lets adult content creators earn without burning outStella Barey has an hour for lunch. At 1.30pm, she loads her banged-up Tacoma with her three Belgian malinois and drives to a secret Los Angeles hiking trail. There, she gulps down a tapioca pudding and laces up her sneakers. After checking over her shoulder for foot traffic, she pulls down her brown sweatpants and jiggles her bare ass for the camera. Then come the undies. Her coiffed landing strip hovers above the rocks as a rush of urine floods the trail. Every mile she walks, she films another video: a flash, a moon, a finger up the ass.When Barey decided in 2020 to pursue porn full-time, she did not imagine that at 28 she would spend more time hunched over a desk - not in the fun way - making flow charts, scheduling Zoom calls, and sending pitch decks. I'm at my happiest when I'm making a video like putting a strawberry in my butt and pushing it out," she says. Now I'm on calls all day and I have tech neck." Known online as the Anal Princess", with large, blinking Shelley Duvall eyes and an American Girl doll pout, she will try anything once - even the title tech founder". Continue reading...

Who is driving the populist insurgency? It's not grumpy pensioners or vulnerable teenagers - it's my generationIf in doubt, we used to talk about the weather. Or if not that, then why the trains were late again, or how sweet someone's baby was: the kind of routine bland nothings you exchange with strangers on the street. But something about the way we speak in public is changing.A few days ago I was in Aldi, making the usual small talk at the checkout. When the cashier said she was exhausted from working extra shifts to make some money for Christmas, the man behind me chipped in that it would be worse once she takes all our money" (in case Rachel Reeves was wondering, her budget pitch-rolling is definitely cutting through). Routine enough, if he hadn't gone on to add that she and the rest of the government needed taking out, and that there were plenty of ex-military men around who should know what to do, before continuing in more graphic fashion until the queue fell quiet and feet began shuffling. But the strangest thing was that he said it all quite calmly, as if political assassination was just another acceptable subject for casual conversation with strangers, such as football or how long the roadworks have gone on. It wasn't until later that it clicked: this was a Facebook conversation come to life. He was saying out loud, and in public, the kind of thing people say casually all the time on the internet, apparently without recognising that in the real world it's still shocking - at least for now.Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Chinese manufacturers are using the electric transition to seize market share, with the UK as their gatewayWhen Tesla wanted to catch the eye of British buyers, it put its cars and bright signage at a dealership in west London's prominent Hogarth roundabout. Exposure to half a million drivers every day helped the US carmaker to become the dominant electric vehicle seller in the UK. Yet drivers passing by that site now see something different: twin Chinese brands Omoda and Jaecoo, both owned by the state-controlled manufacturer Chery.Chinese cars are on a roll across Europe - they outsold Korean rivals in western Europe for the first time in September. That success is highly reliant on the UK. Of the half a million Chinese cars sold in western Europe between January and September, 30% were bought by Britons, according to Matthias Schmidt, a Berlin-based automotive analyst. Continue reading...

A staggering compensation package has been approved - but what does Musk have to do to reap the full rewards?Now that Tesla stockholders have approved a plan to offer Elon Musk close to $1tn, the clock is ticking to make the company worth eight times more than it is today.If Musk can grow Tesla to over $8tn in value for stockholders over the next decade, he will be well on his way to becoming the world's first trillionaire. Continue reading...