Apple Peiqing Ni targeted by account portraying her as promiscuous drug addict after posting about Tiananmen SquareA high-profile Chinese activist in the UK who was inundated with deepfake posts on X portraying her as a sexually promiscuous drug addict was told that the abuse did not breach the rules of Elon Musk's platform.Apple Peiqing Ni, the 27-year-old founder of the UK-based China Dissent Network, had been advised by UK police to complain to the US-headquartered platform after she was targeted by what she believes is a pro-regime bot. Continue reading...

Home city of Amazon and Microsoft passes moratorium as backlash against energy-guzzling AI infrastructure growsSeattle has passed a year-long moratorium on the construction of new datacenters. The city council voted unanimously in favor of the temporary ban on Tuesday.A major tech hub whose metro area is home to Amazon and Microsoft, Seattle is the largest US city to have passed such a moratorium as the backlash against AI infrastructure grows across the country. Continue reading...

AI company restricted access to Fable 5, its most powerful Mythos model, for months over cybersecurity concernsAnthropic, the maker of the Claude artificial intelligence (AI) models, made a new version of its technology available to the general public on Tuesday while restricting its use in sensitive areas.Dubbed Fable 5, the model is the first to be made widely available from the company's new Mythos class - its most advanced lineup of AI technology, unveiled in April but restricted to a small set of partner institutions for months over cybersecurity concerns. Continue reading...

Bluetooth sleep masks block out light and let you stream audio. I spent weeks testing some of the top-rated ones on the market

US embassy came out against UK's proposed under-16 social media ban, which would affect American firmsWhite House displeasure over the prospect of an under-16 social media ban will not deter the UK from cracking down on tech platforms, the British government has said.The technology secretary, Liz Kendall, told the Guardian she was not concerned in the slightest" by the Trump administration's intervention in the debate over restrictions, after the US embassy in London posted a notice warning against a ban. Continue reading...

Tech company says it caught and disrupted' NSO Group's attempts to access accounts in Jordan and LebanonA spyware firm has been targeting WhatsApp users with malicious links in contravention of a US court order forbidding it from doing so, Meta has said.In a post, Meta said WhatsApp had caught and disrupted spear phishing attempts" by NSO Group, which a spokesperson said targeted a handful of users in Jordan and Lebanon. It had also caught the group creating test accounts and groups" on WhatsApp. Continue reading...

US spy-tech company to challenge London mayor's intervention after he raised concerns over breach of procurement rulesPalantir intends to sue the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, after he blocked a contract between the US spy-tech firm and the Metropolitan police.The Met had planned to use Palantir's software to automate intelligence analysis in criminal investigations, until Khan intervened in late May, sparking a row between the UK's largest police force and the mayor's office. Continue reading...

Also: Anthropic advocates for a pause' on AI advancement - days after filing to go public on the US stock marketHello, and welcome to TechScape. I'm your host, Blake Montgomery, the US tech editor at the Guardian. Today we're discussing Donald Trump's neediness for AI and the contradictions of Anthropic's safety-first posture.OpenAI confidentially files for initial public offering on US stock marketApple debuts revamped Siri AI' and new child safety features for iPhones and iPadsThe Guardian view on children and the internet: rolling back big tech's untrammelled power | EditorialSilicon Valley including Meta has embraced Maga politics, says Nick CleggBernie Sanders' AI sovereign wealth fund plan is good. But we think this is better | Nathan E Sanders and Bruce SchneierMajority of US's new AI datacenters to be built on drought-hit landBillions spent and hypothetical returns: the AI boom explained with six chartsA driver of political violence': how the breakneck AI boom is fueling anti-tech extremism Continue reading...

Governor urges people to report videos on X that falsely show the men clashing in the Question Time studioThe Bank of England has warned the public against falling for AI-generated scams after deepfake videos of Nigel Farage fighting its governor spread online.Andrew Bailey, the head of the BoE, said AI-generated content related to central banks was spreading and urged people to be vigilant". Continue reading...

Medical Protection Society calls for law to be overhauled to help medics avoid liability for errors made by technologyDoctors and the NHS could be sued for medical negligence over mistakes made by artificial intelligence tools used in diagnosing patients and suggesting their treatment, ministers are being warned.Under the law as it stands, medics and the health service can be held liable for patients being harmed or dying even if it was AI that made the errors that resulted in their suffering. Continue reading...

Datacentre off Shanghai coast uses less power and water than land-based equivalentThe world's first wind-powered underwater datacentre has started operations off the coast of Shanghai, as China presses forwards with solutions for energy challenges created by the country's artificial intelligence boom.The Shanghai Lingang undersea datacentre demonstration project, which launched in May, has a capacity of 24 megawatts. It is a joint effort between HiCloud Technology and China Communications Construction, a state-owned company. Continue reading...

David Lammy to announce trial of AI assistants in crown courts in effort to cut backlog of casesA plan to roll out virtual legal assistants powered by artificial intelligence to crown courts has prompted warnings that the technology should not be used to replace vital funding and additional court staff".David Lammy, the deputy prime minister, will announce on Tuesday that AI assistants will be trialled in an effort to cut the backlog of court cases in England and Wales. Continue reading...

Echo project will help erase images as part of package of support to end prolonged suffering of survivors'Victims of child sexual abuse in England and Wales will be given help to remove online images of their abuse as part of a wider package of support to end the prolonged suffering of survivors".The Echo project will help those who have reported their abuse to the police to identify and remove images of abuse online. They will also be given trauma support, the possibility of having a victim impact statement read in court against their perpetrators and the opportunity of criminal or civil compensation. Continue reading...

ChatGPT maker expected to be valued at more than $850bn, one of most highly valued listings in market historyOpenAI has filed confidentially to go public on the US stock market, according to a company blogpost published on Monday. The artificial intelligence giant's debut on Wall Street is expected to be one of the most highly valued listings in market history with a valuation at more than $850bn.We recently submitted a confidential S-1. We expect it to leak so we're just announcing it," the company's post reads. We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company. But it's a complicated set of tradeoffs and this gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best." Continue reading...

At his final WWDC keynote, Tim Cook highlights AI-forward upgrade to the voice assistant to be widely released in fallAfter years of anticipation, user frustration and false starts, Apple announced a major upgrade to Siri at its annual developer conference on Monday. The voice assistant will come integrated with Apple's artificial intelligence tool, Apple Intelligence, and has been rechristened Siri AI".The new Siri, which will be widely released in the fall, will more closely resemble AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Google Gemini, than a question-and-answer tool that draws from the web. Continue reading...

Hundreds of video games were shown at June's annual bonanza. After watching more than 15 hours of showcases, our video games editor picks the highlightsThe sequel to a revered 2014 horror game from British developer Creative Assembly: this time you must evade the xenomorph on the surface of a storm-ravaged colony world. Continue reading...

Our writer found a surprisingly effective way to cut down his smartphone use. Plus, what to eat while watching the World Cup - inspired by all 48 teams Don't get the Filter delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereI recently learned through Apple's Screen Time app that I was spending about eight hours a week on my phone browsing Reddit and Instagram. That's 17.3 days a year spent consuming entertaining but ultimately pointless fluff. So my piece looking for solutions for phone addicts was highly personal.The warning signs are if your phone is the first thing you look at in the morning and the last thing you look at in bed, says Prof Marcantonio Spada, emeritus professor of addictive behaviours and mental health at London South Bank University and chief clinical officer at Onebright, who I spoke to for my article. Continue reading...

Drops follow sharp sell-off of US tech stock last week while oil prices seesaw after Iran and Israel exchange strikesStock markets have fallen amid concern about the prospects for tech stocks, while oil prices have risen after renewed conflict in the Middle East dampened hopes that the strait of Hormuz would soon reopen.Markets in Asia and Europe fell on Monday after a sharp sell-off in US tech stocks late last week, as investors fretted over how firms at the forefront of the artificial intelligence boom would fund their eye-watering" spending plans. Continue reading...

In response to AI's hyperrealism, artists and creatives are gravitating toward the homespun and imperfectEarlier this year, a group of film-makers, commercial directors and AI industry influencers gathered in New York City for the Runway AI Summit - a daylong hype-fest, trumping up the potential of this new technology. During one talk, Rob Wrubel, co-founder and managing partner at San Francisco ad firm Silverside, talked up his work on the Coca-Cola company's AI-generated 2025 Holiday Caravan ad. What's incredible about AI," Wrubel said, is that you can go from script to production is just two weeks!"What Wrubel failed to mention was that the ad - with its computerized polar bears and fake-looking trundling delivery trucks - was widely despised by pretty much anyone who saw it. Indeed, the public distaste for the campaign became its own news story, spawning headlines like People really don't like Coke's AI holiday commercial" and Coca-Cola's New AI Holiday Ad is a Sloppy Eyesore". It may indeed have been quickly conceived - and it looked like it. Reached for comment about the backlash, Wrubel admits: The conversation around the ad became almost as important as the ad itself because it surfaced questions the entire creative industry is wrestling with right now." Continue reading...

Guardian analysis finds facilities to be built in some of the driest areas as outcry grows over water needed to power AIA record-shattering drought has racked much of the US. But the artificial intelligence industry is pushing ahead regardless, with the majority of planned datacenters set to be built in drought-ridden locations, a Guardian analysis has found.About two-thirds of upcoming datacenters, which typically require a large amount of water to operate, are set to be built in places that have been among the driest in the country over the past year. Continue reading...

Released just before the World Cup kicks off, this upstart football game is positioning itself as a credible alternative to EA Sports FCThis month something extremely unusual happened in the video game world: someone launched a new football game. It used to be that the market could support a vast array of contenders, from arcade kickabouts such as Super Sidekicks and Hat Trick Hero, to serious simulations named Actua Soccer or This Is Football, to eccentric oddities such as Namco's LiberoGrande which made you experience the whole match as a single onfield player.For the past decade plus, however, the scene has been dominated EA's Fifa series, now EA Sports FC. With the exception of Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer, now eFootball, there have been few competitors - and few plucky upstarts. Continue reading...

While we do not outright oppose the taking of AI company stock, or of a US a sovereign wealth fund, there are better ways to achieve the senator's goalsLet no one accuse Bernie Sanders of ducking the big questions. Writing in the New York Times last week, the senator asked: Will the future of humanity be determined by a handful of billionaires who have promoted and developed AI, with virtually no democratic input, who stand to become even richer and more powerful than they are today?"We agree entirely that this is one of the most potent questions facing global democracy today. Our book, Rewiring Democracy, surveys the emerging uses for and impacts of AI in democracy around the world and reaches the same conclusion: that the most urgent risk posed by AI is the concentration of power, wealth and control among tech oligarchs. Continue reading...

Companies such as Apple and Google have until September to install software or face legislation, says PM

Insurer found 18,400 suspect claims last year with some scammers using AI to fake accident scenes and documentsBogus insurance claims worth more than 230m were detected by the insurance firm Aviva last year as scammers tried new tricks including using artificial intelligence to fake car accident scenes, documents and to exaggerate damage.The insurer identified more than 18,400 suspect claims across its brands in 2025, with a combined value of 233m. The fraud claims level was a record for the insurer, although this was the first year that it included the Direct Line brands it acquired last summer. Continue reading...

Meta's former head of global affairs says executives pivoted right in some cases for rather more self-interested' reasonsSilicon Valley companies including Meta have decided to embrace Maga politics, some for rather more self-interested" reasons, the former UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has said.Clegg, who spent nearly seven years at Meta as the head of global affairs, told The Rest is Money podcast that it felt like a very good time for me to move on" when he left the company in March 2025, three months into the second Trump administration. Continue reading...

90s PlayStation fans, rejoice: California studio Toys for Bob is making Spyro: Realms Beyond, intended to inspire love, joy and laughter'As the gaming mascots of millennial childhood have been resuscitated one by one for a nostalgic audience, one has remained notably absent: 1990s PlayStation hero Spyro. A new game starring the purple dragon was announced at tonight's Xbox Game Showcase - the first original title since 2008. Called Spyro: A Realm Beyond, it is being developed by studio Toys for Bob in California and will be released in spring 2027 on Xbox, PlayStation 5, PC and Nintendo Switch 2.It features a freshly redesigned Spyro with his trademark quiff, voiced by Tom Kenny, the original star of the games. Unlike in the original Spyro titles, players will be able to take flight at any time. [We're] leaning into the true capabilities of being a dragon," explains creative director Lou Studdert. It's really engaging ... the player is making decisions how they fly. They are diving down to sustain speed. They are using fire-breath to light campfires, to create an updraft to get lift before flapping their wings." Continue reading...

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers' questions explores a topical issue of personal cybersecurity

Expenditure is growing fast and consumer take-up accelerating. But alarm bells are soundingThe race is very much on. Elon Musk's SpaceX, which makes AI models as well as space rockets, announced last week it is seeking a $1.77tn (1.31tn) valuation on the US stock market while Anthropic, the startup behind the Claude chatbot, said it had filed for an initial public offering. OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, is expected to follow.This latest peak in the AI market comes amid a multitrillion-dollar spending spree on related infrastructure such as datacentres. Meanwhile, companies are attempting to deploy the technology in a way that makes investing in it worthwhile. Here's a look at what stage the AI boom is at and six key charts that tell us how we got here. Continue reading...

Backlash against AI is taking an extremist turn, following in the footsteps of earlier techno-pessimist militantsWhen a 20-year-old man from Texas was arrested earlier this year for allegedly trying to burn down OpenAI's headquarters and Sam Altman's house, authorities found an anti-AI manifesto alongside his lighter and a jug of kerosene. It was one of a spate of attacks that has caused alarm among researchers, the tech industry and law enforcement about the rise of anti-tech extremism.In April, an Italian nature pilled" Instagram influencer was arrested in Rome and charged with plotting a series of anti-tech attacks that took inspiration from Ted The Unabomber" Kaczynski. Two self-described ecofascists" that carried out a deadly anti-Muslim attack on a mosque in San Diego last month also cited AI slop" and JD Vance's ties to Palantir as motivations for their violence in their manifesto. An Indianapolis city councilor woke up earlier this year to gunshots being fired into his home before finding a note that read NO DATA CENTERS". Continue reading...

Buyers are ripped off after assuming online stores were genuine because they are recommended by an AI toolYou want to buy a new bag and so you ask ChatGPT for help. You have always liked Russell & Bromley so you ask ChatGPT what is popular there at the moment.The artificial intelligence (AI) assistant gives you cross body, shoulder, casual and formal options with the prices listed beside them. You click through from the sources to what looks like the official Russell & Bromley site and buy your new bag, which is conveniently on sale. Continue reading...

Plan backed by Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary had footprint reduced but concerns remain over its health impactsUtah residents have teamed up with a progressive non-profit organization to sue over an under-development AI datacenter backed by celebrity investor Kevin O'Leary, claiming the planned Stratos project facility irrevocably" cuts off citizens' rights by not allowing sufficient public input.Filed by the Alliance for a Better Utah and five unnamed residents of the Box Elder county area where the center is being developed, the lawsuit comes as Shark Tank co-host O'Leary agreed to scale back the physical footprint for the project. Continue reading...

Kristen Gonzalez, a state senator who authored the bill, said moratorium would target hyperscale' datacenters over 20MWNew York moved closer toward becoming the first US state to enact a moratorium on large datacenters this week. On Thursday, the state legislature approved a one-year ban on the facilities powering the AI boom.The measure now heads to Kathy Hochul, the governor, who will decide whether to sign it into law. The Guardian spoke to a state senator in the wake of the historic vote about authoring the bill and the wider US backlash against datacenters. Continue reading...

Technology secretary promises to support people whose jobs are swept away by automationLiz Kendall has insisted Labour will make artificial intelligence work for workers", and not abandon people whose jobs are swept away by its rapid advance.With public fears mounting about the impact of AI on employment, particularly for young people, the technology secretary claimed that the government could shape the way it is adopted. Continue reading...

US firm says it will convene policymakers for discussion of dangers, in post detailing progress of its Claude modelAnthropic has floated the idea of a worldwide temporary pause" on AI development - and said it was going to convene policymakers" to discuss the dangers of advanced AI - in its latest release touting the capabilities of its products.In a long post on Thursday, Anthropic detailed the progress of its AI model, Claude, towards recursive self-improvement" - that is, being able to make better and more powerful versions of itself. Recursive self-improvement is a bugbear of AI safety researchers, viewed as the key step for AI to become superintelligent and therefore unleash widespread consequences on humanity. Continue reading...

Royal Court, London

As demand for cobalt, gold and other minerals grows, mining is accelerating deforestation in the Congo basin - and increasing the risk of deadly Ebola outbreaksFor decades after the discovery of Ebolavirus in 1976, outbreaks of the disease were relatively small and contained, affecting a few hundred people at most.Not any more. In recent years, outbreaks of Ebola have been much larger, affecting thousands and even tens of thousands of people across multiple countries. The 2014 outbreak of Ebola in west Africa infected more than 28,000 people in 10 countries on three continents. The current eruption, which began in early May and shows no signs of abating, has caused 363 confirmed cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and has crossed into Uganda.Sonia Shah is the author of five books including Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond, and writes the newsletter Cross Pollinations on Substack Continue reading...

Jess Asato's lawyer says others want to take action over demeaning sexualised material created by Grok AI toolNew claimants have come forward to take legal action against Elon Musk's company xAI after the Labour MP Jess Asato launched a test case against the firm over demeaning sexualised material created by its Grok AI tool.A handful of complainants contacted Asato's lawyer on Thursday in response to coverage of the MP's decision to sue Musk's company for damages over its creation and circulation of fake images of her in a bikini and an AI-created video that she said showed her being chloroformed and prepared for a sexual assault". Continue reading...

PM says Britons are reasonable, tolerant people' and backs MP's legal action against Grok firm over fake sexualised images

Ministers should end Palantir's contract before medical confidentiality is sacrificed to Silicon Valley's appetite for public dataAlarm bells ought to have rung when it emerged last month that Palantir engineers could gain unlimited access" to identifiable NHS patient data. Such sensitive medical information was only supposed to be available either to someone involved in a patient's care or with the patient's informed consent. NHS England's new position appears to have changed that, extending access to private companies because it may make data processing easier. Convenience is not a basis for undermining medical confidentiality.Nicola Byrne, the government's national data guardian, clearly thought the NHS had broken its promise that its 330m deal with Palantir would see identifiable patient information ... limited to NHS staff with a legitimate need". Patients tell doctors things they may tell no one else. If they think that sensitive details can be disclosed to US tech corporations, trust will suffer - and patients will say less when the truth matters most.Do 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...

Deliveries in 30 minutes or less coming to Manchester and Birmingham and fresh groceries service to start in LondonAmazon is expanding fast-track deliveries in the UK, including adding fresh fruit and vegetables to same-day services, after closing its standalone grocery stores.The firm said it would expand Amazon Now, its ultra-fast delivery service that already delivers goods in less than 30 minutes to parts of London, to also serve Manchester and Birmingham this year. Continue reading...

Nothing does more for your ego than realising you can make a better decision than a bot with all of human knowledge at its digital fingertipsI am not, by nature, an early adopter. There comes a point in our lives where change becomes more irritating than exciting and, I suspect, I reached it sooner than most. But when a workplace recently tasked me with exploring practical applications for AI, I spotted an opportunity to cast off my luddite inclinations.It turned out AI was very good at mimicking most of the things I could already do. Irrespective of quality, it could churn out articles, reports, presentations, fiction, even podcasts with stammering hosts. That was no use to me. What I wanted help with was all the stuff I was useless at. There was an obvious target: DIY. Continue reading...

IPO could raise up to $75bn, giving SpaceX market value of $1.77tn as it sets up Musk for extraordinary wealthElon Musk's SpaceX is looking to raise $75bn (55bn) from its blockbuster stock market listing next week as the rocket company aims for the largest initial public offering ever.If the stock market launch - primed for 12 June - goes as planned, founder Musk, the world's wealthiest person, could make history as the first trillionaire. Continue reading...

Want to spend less time on your phone? We asked psychotherapists, professors and specialists for practical (and achievable) ways to cut down The best screen-free activitiesEverywhere you look, people are glued to their smartphones. If you haven't noticed this phenomenon, it's likely because you, too, are glued to the little dopamine-deliverer.In March, Meta and YouTube had to pay a combined $6m after a US court found that the tech companies' platforms were designed to be addictive. Put such tempting apps in a device that's carried everywhere, and that's a recipe for compulsive behaviour. Continue reading...

Stronger checks likely to be needed in England to safeguard reputation of GCSEs and A-levels, says Ian BauckhamCheating in exams could be magnified by the new generation of wearable hi-tech devices such as smartglasses or invisible earpieces, according to England's qualifications watchdog.Ian Bauckham, the head of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual), also revealed that GCSEs and A-level courses in England were being scrutinised over potential AI use in students' coursework, after teachers said they were struggling to detect it. Continue reading...

In 2025, the tech journalist invited artificial intelligence to do nearly everything for her, including editing the book she was writing about the experiment. Some of it was useful, some not - but it was her time with a chatbot companion that really shook herFor a year, Joanna Stern decided to turn herself into a lab rat" - the object of her own experiment. Throughout 2025, she invited artificial intelligence into every corner" of her life. She let AI answer her texts, decide what she ate and cooked, mow her lawn, fold her washing, drive her places, parse her mammograms and even, in the darkness of a burner phone, be her lover. The resulting book, IAm Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything, asks all the big questions, including: what happens when AI can do everything humans can do? And what comes after that?If anyone can produce answers, surely it's Stern. Last February, she ended a 12-year stint as a personal technology columnist at the Wall Street Journal. During her tenure, she won an Emmy for her short documentary E-Ternal: A Tech Quest to Live" Forever, which explored digital legacies, and built a reputation for product reviews that were outlandishly creative and fiendishly stringent. She once took an Apple watch jetskiing on the Hudson river to evaluate itsconnectivity. Continue reading...

Silicon Valley is fighting against AI regulation and taxation and will benefit from having political leverageSilicon Valley had a big night in California's primary election, proving that the tens of millions of dollars funding candidates across the state was money well spent. While the tech industry's preferred candidate for governor came in a scant sixth place, donations to smaller elections proved to be a successful strategy.Tech billionaires have in past months thrown their full weight into politics as the industry fights regulation and taxation, while promoting the unfettered growth of artificial intelligence. Getting the right candidates in office, especially in its home turf of California, is existential. With favorable candidates, tech companies can gain both political and regulatory leverage to maintain their dominance in business. Continue reading...

Measure in Amazon and Microsoft's backyard expected to succeed next week in blow to big tech amid AI boomSeattle's city government is on the verge of passing a year-long ban on the construction of new datacenters, the largest city yet in the US to consider such a moratorium as nationwide backlash grows.Four companies sought to build five large datacenters in areas serviced by Seattle's public utility; if approved, they would have consumed approximately a third of the city's current daily demand for electricity. Continue reading...

While many US city councils have passed moratoriums, Monterey Park is first where residents have voted on a ban

Consumer advocates decry Democrat Jared Polis for choosing to side with dominant corporations' over workersColorado's governor vetoed a bill on Tuesday that would have banned companies from using surveillance pricing to set workers' wages and prices for consumer goods.The measure would have been the strongest in the nation against algorithmic pricing. While Maryland became the first state to approve a law banning surveillance pricing in grocery stores in April, Colorado's proposed measure was more expansive. Continue reading...