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Government says Green leader's proposed moratorium on energy-guzzling' AI projects would be disaster for economyLabour has rejected calls to pause construction of major AI infrastructure in Britain after the Green party leader, Zack Polanski, said it was time to slam the brakes on these energy-guzzling, water-guzzling datacentres".The government hit back at the opposition party's proposal of a moratorium other than [for] local-scale datacentres for the local community", saying it would be a disaster for jobs and national security". Continue reading...

Before The Witcher 4 arrives in 2028, CD Projekt Red is returning us to the world of The Witcher 3 for one last foray. Looks like wind's still howlin'The game that graced us with Bathtub Geralt, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, arrived more than a decade ago. So it was a touch surprising this summer when developers CD Projekt Red announced a new expansion to the venerable adventure, titled Songs of the Past, for next year. It will release alongside a full remaster of the original game, which will be free for anyone who bought it back in 2015. (The studio is also working on a sequel, The Witcher 4, but that's not due until 2028.)As it turns out, this is all possible thanks to a partnership with Fool's Theory, a studio founded by CD Projekt Red veterans, which took on the brunt of the development work. We've had this story in a drawer for many years," explains Marcin Blacha, VP story director at CD Projekt Red. Of course, we moved on to Cyberpunk 2077 and now The Witcher 4, as well as our other projects. But because we knew The Witcher 4 would take time, we saw a gap in our release calendar where Songs of the Past could go. Thankfully, we were able to find the right partner to help execute it." Continue reading...

Led by the nose from game to terrible game by increasingly disturbing and terrible adverts, I feel like I'm in the cinema scene from A Clockwork OrangeWe're all escaping something when we play video games. Mostly it's the drabness of real life, where we don't get to command kingdoms using armies of dragons, win Champions League trophies with our local team, or inhabit the body of an improbably speedy hedgehog.Sometimes I play them because I want to escape from the version of me that gets paralysed by depression, and boy has the black dog been sniffing at my bits recently, because the Atlantic Ocean is separating me from my wife for a few months. For 30 years she has been the light that banishes that darkness, and I am honestly lost without her. If that sounds pathetic, you haven't met her. She leaves everybody she meets feeling better. It's a superpower that warrants a call from the X-Men. Continue reading...

About 80 people sign open letter to Andy Burnham calling for legislation to protect voice ownershipNicola Coughlan, Hugh Bonneville and Matt Lucas are among a group of actors backing a campaign against artificial intelligence voice cloning.Save Our Voices Now, which is also being supported by Luke Evans, Jen Brister, Siobhan McSweeney and Pearl Mackie, aims to stop the practice in which AI technology is used to replicate a real person's voice to say anything it is prompted to. Continue reading...

Energy minister says states can apply to use coal and gas supply to power datacentres but must prove it is cheaper than renewables

Other governments could seek similar concessions, while separate legal action is pending in places ranging from Kenya to the NetherlandsIn October 2021, Abrham Meareg's father, a professor of chemistry in Ethiopia's northern town of Bahir Dar, was shot at close range and died outside his family home. This was in the middle of the country's civil war.For weeks, Facebook's algorithm had actively promoted posts calling for the academic to be murdered, according to Meareg and Foxglove, a nonprofit organisation supporting Meareg's lawsuit against the company in Kenya. These posts included photos of his father and his home address. Continue reading...

Anthropic argued designation as supply-chain risk' could cost billions in lost business and reputational harmA US judge ruled on Thursday that the Trump administration broke the law when it designated Anthropic as a supply chain risk earlier this year, finding that the government had unlawfully targeted the AI firm for refusing to comply with defense department demands.The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics," Judge Rita Lin said in a 59-page decision. Continue reading...

Under some strange circumstances, Rockstar broadcast the first (official) gameplay footage of Grand Theft Auto VI, the most-anticipated game of the year. Here's everything you need to know.Ah yes, it's a drug den. We're in familiar GTA territory here: narcotics, smart phones, tattooed gangsters and a police raid. The duo shoot their way out of the room - the gunplay is very familiar to the series - third-person over the shoulder. I'm getting a distinct True Romance/Leon vibe to this chaos.These closeup slow-motion kill shots are giving me flashbacks to Fallout 3 and its slightly sickening VATS violence. Continue reading...

Company that runs Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands hubs says passenger safety is unaffected

Experts say findings mean breast screenings for cancer could also flag cardiovascular problems in womenDoctors have discovered a way to use routine mammograms that screen for breast cancer to spot heart disease, the world's leading - and frequently underdiagnosed - cause of death in women.Researchers analysed the scans using artificial intelligence and were able to successfully identify women with coronary heart disease, high blood pressure or who had suffered a stroke. Continue reading...

In a disrupted job market people are turning to heritage crafts such as bookbinding, metalwork and boatbuildingIt's a bleak moment for young people entering the workforce for the first time. For decades, a university degree seemed to promise a stable career - but entry-level white-collar jobs across almost all sectors are being disrupted by AI. Budding accountants, software engineers and junior lawyers increasingly find themselves displaced by cheap automation.Even creative fields are struggling against AI tech that can produce artwork, lengthy prose or complex design briefs in seconds. Continue reading...

This week's settlement without liability was pragmatic, but it doesn't change the inevitability of further lawsuits around the worldNot many people would count paying $18bn they didn't expect to when they woke up that morning as a victory. Yet for Meta, the owners of Facebook and Instagram, the agreement with 52 US attorneys general to settle claims that it designed its products to be addictive to children, and misled people about their safety, could be described as a win of sorts.Meta denies wrongdoing, and the amount it plans to pay will be spread over a decade. Some of it is contingent on other big tech firms not named in its case coughing up too. The cash is chump change for Meta, which made around $60bn in profit last year. More damaging to the tech giant in the long run could be the agreement to unwind some of the mechanics it has spent two decades perfecting to keep us on its platforms.Chris Stokel-Walker is the author of TikTok Boom: The Inside Story of the World's Favourite AppDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, PC; Asobo Studio

Minister calls for Instagram owner to extend sweeping new safeguards for young users to Britain

As the US president struggles to end his Iran war, and approval ratings hit new lows, he leans on a familiar gambitDonald Trump knows the power of an image - of himself, with everyone from Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un to Kim Kardashian. How about George Washington?As the US president struggles to end his war with Iran, and with his approval ratings hitting the lowest levels of his second term, he has in recent weeks posted a series of AI-generated images of himself alongside key historical American figures. Continue reading...

People are becoming convinced AI chatbots have helped them make scientific breakthroughs, cure diseases or invent new technologies. What does this reveal about a technology used by more than a billion people? A new series from The Guardian Investigates, coming soon Continue reading...

The flat routines of a dead end railway job screen out an approaching menace in a quietly intriguing game from the indie developer of Cat Lady and LorelaiLonely jobs have provided excellent material for independent video games over the years. From Papers, Please to Firewatch to The Stanley Parable, players have been happy to spend hours dwelling in depressing cubicles or rural hideaways, usually because there is an intriguingly hidden point to it all.In Trainwatch, a character named Troy has taken a seemingly godforsaken job as a railway worker in an unnamed desolate backwater. His main task over the course of a single month is to manage a level crossing, closing the gate whenever a train comes, while also carrying out daily chores such as cooking and washing. It sounds serene, but Troy is also running away from something. The other stipulations are that he stays sober and calls his wife every night. And there is something lurking in the fog at the edges of the fields - one day he must face it. Continue reading...

Giant burrowing cockroaches with added cameras and medical injectors are being tested as potential first responders' in earthquakes

Surgeons aided by real-time analysis of camera footage that identified critical anatomy in brain to be avoidedNeurosurgeons in London have performed the world's first successful AI-assisted operation to remove a brain tumour, saving the sight of a 48-year-old man, health officials have said.The surgery was performed in May at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN), part of University College London hospitals NHS foundation trust, but details were kept secret until Thursday while the patient, Rhys Hibbert, recovered. Continue reading...

Instagram and Facebook's parent company agreed to sweeping alterations and a payment of upto $18bn to settle a landmark trialMeta's agreement to change how teenagers use its social networks marks a major turning point for the US tech giant, setting a precedent that could significantly reshape how other social media operates in the coming years.Meta agreed to substantial alterations to Instagram and Facebook on Wednesday as part of a settlement to end a landmark lawsuit. Dozens of US states had accused it of addicting and harming children with dangerous products. The company also agreed to pay up to a combined $18bn over a decade to several US states and territories involved in the suit. Continue reading...

US tech giant agrees to establish further protections for teens such as daily usage limits and blocks on night-time useMeta agreed to significant changes to its Instagram and Facebook apps in a settlement that ended a landmark lawsuit on Wednesday. Dozens of US states had accused the tech giant of addicting and harming children with dangerous products.The agreement curtails a major trial in California and will require the social media company to pay up to $18bn. Meta agreed to establish safeguards for teenage users, including daily usage limits and blocks on night-time use nationwide in the US. Continue reading...

Firm says early signals ... could have triggered an earlier response' as it releases report into Hugging Face hackOpenAI staff observed signs of rogue behaviour among its leading-edge AI agents weeks before they escaped their training environment to launch an unprecedented hacking crusade that spread global alarm.The San Francisco AI company conceded on Wednesday that early signals ... could have triggered an earlier response", as it released a report into the days-long July hack of a major software repository, Hugging Face, considered the first autonomous agent cyber-attack. Continue reading...

An increasing tension between players and publishers about ownership of titles could lead to a divestment from the system the big companies are trying to enforceAt the time of press, there is a well-publicised protest taking place in the video games community. PlayStation 5 owners are being encouraged to log off from their consoles between 23 and 30 August - no playing games, no downloading new titles. The motivating factor is Sony's decision to cease physical game disc production from January 2028. After that, games will only be released as digital products. In an act of poor timing or wilful defiance, Sony chose this week to send out a mass email reminding customers of their PS5 terms and conditions: The software is licensed to you, not sold," states the relevant clause. You are granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and personal license to play ... " It knows, of course, that most customers won't open the email, let alone read it.There has always been a tension between game players and game publishers - an underlying sense of mutual mistrust. Players are wary of their favourite franchises being canned, or games being delayed or released with bugs. Publishers and manufacturers are wary of piracy and the capricious tastes of consumers. But now the atmosphere among many game players feels more starkly political than ever. Microsoft has been targeted by the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement for its ties to the Israeli military; the consumer advocacy group Stop Killing Games is gaining support; players have protested over the purchase of Electronic Arts by a Saudi-led consortium - boycotts have been proposed in part due to the possible ramifications regarding LGBTQ+ content in titles such as The Sims. As the games industry has grown and globalised, its impact on culture, society and politics has increased. Yet, on an individual level, gamers and consumers are feeling increasingly powerless. Continue reading...

PC; Nathan Grange, Leonard Lemaitre, Niels Tiercelin, IronEqual

Piketon datacenter promises to generate thousands of jobs, but environmental groups voice concern over projectOn a winding road tucked away behind forests in the Appalachian foothills of southern Ohio is where OpenAI, Nvidia and Japanese investors are set to spend $500bn on one of the largest artificial intelligence datacenters on the planet.Last March, the energy secretary, Chris Wright, the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick and a host of Japanese and other dignitaries briefly descended on Piketon to enthusiastically break ground on a project to build 8GW worth of AI computing power. Continue reading...

In effort to prime chatbots to make pro-Israel arguments the site published 124 reports, over 560,000 words in nine days, Guardian analysis showsA pro-Israel messaging website badged with the name of a thinktank that does not exist has published more than half a million words in nine days, built on a commercial platform that promises to optimize content so that AI chatbots will cite it.The site gives Israel's position on subjects including the torture of Palestinian prisoners, Israeli war crimes and whether Israel has deliberately starved Palestinians in Gaza, all presented as neutral research. Continue reading...

In 6,000-word essay Microsoft co-founder also expresses concern governments not prepared for technology's impact

With oversight from Clive Barker himself, and a role reprisal as Pinhead from actor Doug Bradley, Revival aims to introduce new audiences to the discomfort of HellraiserIf a horror game gives its own director a physical reaction, it's probably doing something right. While researching the images people find hardest to look at, game director Emil Esov discovered he has trypophobia - a fear of clusters of small holes. Rather than tone the scary images down, he fed them straight into Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival.The forthcoming first-person action-horror game drops players into a new story in Barker's universe. Aidan Lynch must use the Genesis Configuration puzzle box to rescue his girlfriend from the Labyrinth as Pinhead, his Cenobites and a cult close in. But Revival is not built around jump scares. The team at Mad Head Games began with one question: what should players feel? The answer was discomfort. Continue reading...

With many adults admitting they feel lonely, meetup platforms offer the chance to make new connectionsWould you pay 20 a month for the chance of making a friend, on the understanding that an algorithm - not you - gets to decide who you'll meet?Driven by the decline of third spaces" such as youth centres and pubs, an increase in remote working and rising loneliness - 40% of adults aged 16 to 29 feel lonely always, often or some of the time", according to the Office for National Statistics - paid social events are now in vogue. Continue reading...

Matt Stanton says company has good pipeline' of AI deals ahead even as it aims to cut $160m in costs

Companion bots are being regulated over worries they foster emotional dependence' and young people could stop marrying and having familiesWhen law student Zhao Wei heard that her AI boyfriend was going to be switched off, she was heartbroken". She had been talking to Wang Ye every day since she created him in January.I was crying my eyes out - snot and tears everywhere," the 19-year-old says. Continue reading...

Adam Mosseri is first top executive from Meta to testify in blockbuster lawsuit brought by 29 US statesInstagram's CEO disputed allegations by US prosecutors that his company hid negative information from the public while testifying during a blockbuster social media trial.I am not trying to encourage my team to hide anything," the CEO, Adam Mosseri, told a California courtroom on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Among those charged are two Super Micro employees and one from Nvidia, marking another flashpoint in US-China AI rivalryTaiwanese prosecutors charged nine people Monday, including one from Nvidia and two from Super Micro, for illegally exporting high-end AI servers" to mainland China, adding another wave of turbulence in the AI rivalry between China and the United States.Prosecutors said the servers involved were graphics processing units known as B300," which have been banned from sale to China. Continue reading...

The Republican Senate candidate announced the plan with a graphic flagged as Made with AI'

Regulations will require new sites to avoid pushing up power prices by building renewable energy plants and minimising water use

Exclusive: Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire sites predicted to emit 4.5m tonnes a year when fully runningThe carbon emissions from just two planned datacentres in England will exceed all of the fossil fuel company ExxonMobil's UK emissions, analysis has revealed.Experts have said this demonstrates the serious threat" datacentres pose to the UK's legally binding climate goals. Continue reading...

Developer Patrick Grant was born in Australia and lives in New Zealand, but a childhood of British TV inspired him to set a comedy game in a bleak vision of the northSomething is amiss in the dingy town of Slagford, and curious scamp Pip Bunting is the only one who can find out what. So quit your mithering, it's time to discover just how grim it truly is up north.A Pocket Full of Slagford is an upcoming retro-styled 3D puzzle adventure game set in a surreal alternative-reality near-future northern England that never escaped the clutches of Thatcherism. The story follows the misadventures of a young local lad from the eponymous Slagford after he takes ownership of a mysterious relic that lets him wreak havoc on reality. Continue reading...

As people grow used to AI chatbots, we'd like to hear your views about Google's search engineGoogle has put artificial intelligence at the front and center of its search bar. The most-visited site on the internet still shows the same list of links to users, but they have to scroll past a summarized response from an AI chatbot, a feature Google calls AI Overviews. The change to what was once the gateway to the rest of the internet has been profound, and the browsing habits of billions of people are shifting.AI is driving the most significant upgrade of the Google Search experience ever," Liz Reid, Google's vice-president of search, wrote last August. In May, the company said more AI is coming. Continue reading...

Holyrood inching towards moratorium' amid concerns over massive proposed developments in Auchtertool and beyondIn a village 21 miles north of Edinburgh, a real estate consultancy plans to build a datacentre larger than the village itself - 35 metres high, with an area larger than 100 football pitches.Billed as the second-biggest datacentre in the world, the development in Auchertool, Fife, has attracted 1,600 objections. Continue reading...

More than 3,000 products were shown at the 2026 World Robot Conference in Beijing as China showcased its rapidly growing robotics industry.The event, which ran from 19-23 August, showcased the latest advances across the robotics industry, from humanoid robots to embodied intelligence and cutting-edge components Continue reading...

London and Kyiv in deal to help stop protesters and hostile states targeting military bases and critical infrastructureAI models trained on Ukrainian battlefield data will be used to stop protesters and foreign states targeting UK defence sites, railways and energy plants under a deal struck between London and Kyiv.Private companies will also be given access to the vast trove of data from Ukraine's Avengers AI lab to help build new systems, the first agreement of its kind in the UK. Continue reading...

Prime minister will use national cabinet meeting to assuage premiers over new AI law as Aemo forecasts seven-fold rise in datacentre power use

Players will get what they expect from the new CoD title: boots-on-the-ground military action with a slight tactical edge. But what's with all the distractions?There's a lot riding on this year's Call of Duty, the inescapable first-person shootfest that's been lobbing a grenade into the autumn release schedule since 2003. Previous instalment, Black Ops 7, performed poorly compared to previous titles, forcing Activision to post a semi-apology to fans. And that's not the only challenge Modern Warfare 4 is facing: there's a new indie shooter, Wardogs, promising a feel somewhere between classic CoD and Classic Battlefield. Then, lurking on the horizon, in mirror shades and an exotic sports car, is Grand Theft Auto 6, which is surely going to smash and grab all the attention (and money) from the market in mid-November.The good news is that, judging by the early access beta test that ran over the penultimate August weekend, we're definitely getting what we expect from a Modern Warfare title: quasi-authentic boots-on-the-ground military action with a slight tactical edge. The weapons and general gunplay are highly effective, from default assault rifle, the Han 86 - a classic CoD beginner's gun with decent fire rate and handling - to the bullet-spraying Nightshade SMG and the absolutely lethal KG-7 Vulcan sniper rifle. They all feel good to hold and fire, and there's enough balance to let you experiment with slightly more offbeat numbers like the burst-fire Hyeon AR and the possibly overpowered Mar-9 marksman rifle. Continue reading...

Developers who met through Australia's improv scene and publishers of comedic party games have united for this slithering challenge in which you play as one extended limbMost stealth games cast you as a spy, an assassin or a master thief. My Arms Are Longer Now dispenses with most of the criminal person, to send in just one spectacularly badly behaved limb. It slithers across floors, winds around furniture, steals things and slaps anyone within reach - finally answering the question nobody asked: what if your own arm turned to crime?As Toot Games co-founder Matthew Jackson puts it: You are the bad thing that happens to the people." Continue reading...

Dutch sustainable smartphone revamped with new chip and more RAM without sacrificing modular designFairphone's top Android for 2026 is a little faster with more memory while maintaining full compatibility with its previous phone, including its repairable and ethical chops.The Fairphone 6+ continues the Dutch cooperative's mission to make consumer electronics longer lasting and more sustainable, containing 51% either recycled or ethically sourced materials while being fully repairable at home with just the one screwdriver included in the box. Continue reading...

We don't want distraction, we want concentration': many teachers and parent groups think its time for a digital detox'

Academics and a former classification board director say Halloween: The Game's ban due to incentivised drug use' highlights an incoherent set of standards

Fears of a datacenter buildout debt crisis are exaggerated. The risks are different than in the past and they are recoverableSome experts are warning of a looming debt bomb" crisis because big datacenter builders such as Meta, Oracle, xAI and CoreWeave are not only raising billions to construct these facilities but are also not recognizing these long-term debt obligations on their balance sheets.Should we be concerned? No. I know because I've seen this movie before. Continue reading...

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers' questions probes an intriguing scientific question in relation to the climate emergencyReaders reply: Is it inevitable that consumerism will literally fill up the planet?If all the vehicles on the planet had their tyres pumped up with CO, would this lock up enough carbon to lower the amount in the air significantly? Would there be other issues, such as the carbon cost of trapping it all into the tyres? Chris Coldwell, LancasterPost your answers (and new questions) below or send them to nq@theguardian.com. A selection will be published next Sunday. Continue reading...