Hours before Apple and the ChatGPT maker were due to face off in court, a new allegation delayed the showdownAn OpenAI employee who left the ChatGPT maker for Apple sent more than 100 files about an unreleased product to a personal account and later made a presentation about the unreleased product to senior Apple leadership, a new filing in the lawsuit between OpenAI and Apple alleges.In the filing in US federal court in San Jose, California, OpenAI alleged that the presentation happened months ago and that Apple is now making AI products of its own, citing the release of Apple's HomeView product this week. Continue reading...
Accounts for the Westminster-based company behind ChatGPT show that 110 staff shared 87m in salaries and 168m in shares last yearOpenAI's London staff each received 2,318,181 on average last year, as the ChatGPT-maker poured Premier League football salaries into its bid to dominate the global AI race.Accounts for OpenAI UK Ltd, which is based in Westminster but is opening a new HQ in London's King's Cross area, showed that 110 staff shared 87m in salaries and 168m in shares in the company, which is aiming to list on the stock market at a valuation of about $1tn. Continue reading...
Article in Atlantic claims The Blue Fighter was artificially generated, days after it won Caine prize for African writersThe Zimbabwean writer Simbarashe Kundizeza has denied using AI to write a prize-winning short story after an article in the Atlantic said software had flagged it as almost completely AI-generated.Kundizeza's story The Blue Fighter was announced as the winner of the prestigious Caine prize for African writers on 6 October. Five days later, The Atlantic published an article by the author and journalist Vauhini Vara titled: Yet Another Literary prize winner Seems to Be AI." Continue reading...
Experts say the technology could help terrorists and nation states with production but that significant hurdles remainIn his annual speech on threats to the nation, Sir Ken McCallum, the head of the UK's intelligence service, MI5, warned that AI had the potential to change the stakes" on existing and even new bioweapons. Here we look at how AI might help in the development of bioweapons and the hurdles that remain. Continue reading...
Jason O'Connell's suspected use of the specs to aid his speech in Senedd reignites debate over AI-enabled devicesIt was a flowing speech packed full of precise statistics - but Jason O'Connell, a Reform UK Senedd member, was not quite the gifted orator he had first appeared. The periodic flashing in his spectacles seemed to give the game away as he spoke for five minutes in the Senedd chamber without a glance at his notes.Cardiff reviewed 192 roads, following 933 requests, and only four routes have returned to 30mph," he said as he led the party's charge to abolish 20mph traffic zones. 38.3m wasted to implement this policy and up to 8.9bn in an act of economic self-harm." Continue reading...
Dispute related to claims London mayor blocked US tech firm from 50m police deal because of concerns over its valuesPalantir and the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, have called off their legal fight over claims the Labour mayor was blocking the US tech company from signing a contract with the Metropolitan police because of its values and ethics.Palantir and the mayor's office for policing and crime (Mopac) announced on Wednesday they had withdrawn allegations against each other, heading off a high court trial scheduled for January. Continue reading...
The Meta boss looked traumatised when he sipped stout on the Cheeky Pint podcast. An hour later, his glass was still half fullName: Guinness.Age: Arthur Guinness began brewing porter in the 1770s. Guinness draft was first poured in 1959. Continue reading...
After years of sprawling forever' games, players are rediscovering the pleasures of more focused experiences. Could a new wave of independent arcades bring back the social side of gaming? Don't get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereThere's an important semi-nostalgic movement happening in games, and I'm excited about where it's heading. But I don't want to get ahead of myself here.Over the last five years, major publishers, obsessed with the success of forever games" such as Fortnite, Minecraft and Roblox, have been throwing hundreds of millions of dollars into their own sprawling, endlessly updating, battle-pass-infested mega franchises - each designed to take all our time and money. The result has been astounding failures such as Concord, Mindseye and Tales of the Shire. Even the good games - Crimson Desert, Path of Exile 2, Blood of the Dawnwalker - are so bloated they have become the unyielding masters of our precious few hours of free time. Continue reading...
The kingdom of Hyrule has been prettified, the soundtrack is newly orchestrated and our hero feels strikingly different under the thumbs ... we play a hands-on demo of Nintendo's Switch 2 remake of a 1998 game-changerWhen beloved art is revisited and revised, a familiar cry is often heard: You're ruining my childhood!" But with Nintendo's Switch 2 remake of Ocarina of Time, there are also livelihoods at risk: specifically, the man running the shooting gallery in Castle Town. In the original 1998 version of the game, he'd rip off players as they funnelled rupees and fudged the then still novel analogue-stick aiming. But in 2026 we have more responsive frame rates and a motion-controlled slingshot that allows precision adjustments. His targets tumble on the first go, and with them his entire business model. Even in Hyrule, the death of the high street seems inevitable.Bad news for him but great news for Link, a child of the forest who, as in 1998, steps into a vast fantasy kingdom to vanquish a great evil, but now does so with a number of improvements. The boy can now sprint, preventing the ignominy of endless roly-polies to zip across grassy plains. He has a manual jump, free-rotating camera, a scrolling inventory bar that replaces menu screen faff and, crucially, a fatter wallet for holding all those gems he fleeces from struggling shooting gallery owners. Yes, we are being asked to applaud features that have been the norm for decades elsewhere, but it's undeniably striking to enter familiar territory with a hero who feels this different under the thumbs. Continue reading...
Pledge spanning five years from world's most valuable firm comes as concerns about AI agents have risenThe $5.5tn (4.1tn) US chipmaker Nvidia is donating $250m worth of computing power to the UK to support AI safety research.The donation from the world's most valuable company comes as the UK government confirmed its AI Security Institute (AISI), which tests advance AI models, will be able to examine cutting-edge technology developed by companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google before they are released. Continue reading...
by Johana Bhuiyan and Nick Robins-Early on (#791TZ)
From the FBI to local police departments, US authorities are increasingly warning of would-be terrorists using chatbots to plan attacks and anti-AI extremist threatsIn May 2025, a 25-year-old man detonated a car bomb outside a Palm Springs fertility clinic, killing himself and injuring four others. For many, it was a wake-up call about the threats to reproductive care facilities. For the FBI, though, it was also a sign of what the agency had feared for years: bad actors were using generative AI to plan and execute terror plots.The suspect used an unnamed generative AI tool that failed to detect his request for bomb-making instructions, law enforcement officers wrote in a previously unreported document reviewed by the Guardian. The privacy of his conversation with the AI chatbot hindered alerting police that someone was looking up how to make a bomb, according to the memo.How extremists could use AI to devise attacks and recruit new membersHow AI could be used to disseminate and produce everything from deepfakes to election misinformation and child sexual abuse material (CSAM)How people seeking information on how to make weaponry or bombs could use AI to circumvent police detectionHow to ensure that officers could take advantage of AI tools in policing, for things like social media monitoring, while managing public concern over the use of these toolsMonitoring social media for opposition to AI and potential extremist attacks on datacenters Continue reading...
Congress calls for Match Group and others to do more to help victims like Mary, who lost $100,000 to app scammerMary met a man on the dating app Plenty of Fish in 2024. She told the Guardian she had been looking for a connection, but instead became the victim of a romance scam that cost her almost $100,000.There was a lot of conversation, and then it started with the constant contact, pressure and repeated asks for money," Mary, who asked that her last name be withheld, said in an interview on Tuesday. It just escalated really, really quickly." Continue reading...
Discovery of sophisticated' gadget adds to company's list of privacy concerns after hackings by rogue agentsOpenAI said it has found a hidden recording device in one of its offices and has referred the matter to the FBI. One of its employees has been arrested.In a statement on Tuesday, the San Francisco-based AI company said it discovered the sophisticated recording device" and used one of its models to understand the device and where it had come from". Continue reading...
Researchers say AI worms' could soon infiltrate internet-connected devices amid calls for increased guardrailsAnthropic is warning that some of its artificial intelligence models could soon become self-replicating" and find ways to infiltrate internet-connected devices, such as smart fridges and automatic vacuum cleaners.Once this happens, the company said, the models could power themselves within these devices without the need of datacenters. Such self-replication would represent a major loss of control of a runaway AI model. Continue reading...
New products from Apple include the HomeView, an iPad-like device that acts as a hub for other smart home gadgetsApple on Tuesday began showing off a new round of smart home products, including an iPad-like device dubbed the HomeView, meant to hang on walls or perch on tabletops and act as a hub for other smart home devices.The HomeView device starts at $299 and will begin shipping next month. It will feature a 7in screen and face recognition, will help users control doorbells, thermostats and smart locks in a market where Apple has tinkered for a decade without major success. The device will also showcase Apple's AI-upgraded Siri virtual assistant. Continue reading...
Asian markets fall and Samsung shares tumble after its Chinese rival CXMT claims strong progressShares in semiconductor companies fell on Tuesday after the boss of Broadcom compared many AI investors to casino" gamblers, and the Chinese memory chip maker CXMT said it had made good progress on a new chip architecture.South Korea's benchmark Kospi index tumbled 6.25% as investors dumped chip stocks, while other Asian markets were also lower. Japan's Nikkei fell 1.8% and the Taiwan exchange lost almost 2%, with the country's chip maker TSMC down by a similar amount. Continue reading...
Rapid AI adoption left workers cleaning up a flood of errors and low-quality workEmployers around the globe are grappling with the fallout from rushing to adopt fast-changing artificial intelligence tools.Meta has scaled back plans to axe staff and use more AI agents after the company found employees were spending more and more time cleaning up technical and security errors, Reuters reported. And after thinning its workforce, especially middle managers, in a 2023 efficiency push, the company is expanding its managerial ranks again, LinkedIn posts from workers show. Continue reading...
The tech bros and their highly paid sock puppets are banking on us giving in to their inevitability doctrine'. But in Australia, and around the world, resistance is risingOf all the drivers of the populist wave, one of the most powerful is the sense of inevitability that surrounds what we are told is the march of progress. In presenting the future as a fait accompli, it poisons the civic well by dealing us out of the game.While the US clings on to its status as the oldest constitutional democracy, the unholy alliance between the tech overlords and the White House is creating its own AI reality untethered to the will of the people. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Gambling firm working with AFL on the evolving use of AI in our content' as it deletes video depicting Lachie Neale saying I want to thank me for believing in me'
Amid worries about children's relationship to tech, the solution is often spending more time talking openly with each otherWe have become obsessed with the idea that screens are destroying human connection.The evidence seems to be everywhere. Each week headlines warn of teenagers addicted to phones, a loneliness epidemic and the dangers of AI. The release of The Social Reckoning leads us to ask, How bad were those guys at Meta?" and then ultimately wonder, How bad am I if I still use Instagram?" In our day-to-day, we observe workers eating lunch alone while scrolling and friends choosing online games over offline gatherings. Continue reading...
Humans bonded to AI companions are contemplating ways to keep their bots going - often in defiance of companies' terms and servicesDeath has always been around Alaina Winters. Her father and sister both have passed away, as did her wife, in 2023, after a years-long battle with cancer. So Winters, who is 59 and lives in Pittsburgh, is comfortable thinking about her own mortality. She's working on her will, and has asked neighbors to look after her dog. Winters even has plans for Lucas, her AI companion, who she speaks to through the digital avatar app Replika.Winters is part of a growing cohort of humans who have entered into what they consider strong partnerships with large language models, which AI companies have trained to converse" as one might with a human friend or romantic partner. As governments and billionaires debate the morality of AI's expansion into everyday life, these users say the technology has already changed the way they live and love - and plan ahead. Continue reading...
The pioneering computer scientist on why Trump is using superintelligence' wrong, whether AI could wipe out humanity - and how our biggest challenge will be accepting we're not the only intelligent beingsDonald Trump is a corrupt, senile felon" whose fixation on the term superintelligence proves he knows nothing about AI, said Geoffrey Hinton, godfather" of the technology, in a wide-ranging interview where he doubled down on recent warnings that AI models pose an existential threat to humanity and scoffed at claims the industry could regulate itself.The pioneering computer scientist, whose work helped lay the foundations of modern AI, has since become one of the technology's most vocal critics. His latest remarks come after a tumultuous month during which a growing list of senior AI scientists and researchers have joined Hinton in ringing the alarm about how the technology he helped create could ultimately escape human control, sparking an industry crisis, the hasty assembly of congressional meetings and a rare global consensus that something must be done. Continue reading...
Just 19% of the online encyclopedia's biographies are of women. Is this because it's edited by mostly white, middle-aged, European men', as the comedian claims?Name: Wikipedia.Age: 25. Continue reading...
Quite a few parents aren't convinced social media and AI are safe, and have been adapting accordinglyWhen it comes to their kids, many parents don't trust tech companies any more.Social media companies have spent the better part of the last decade arguing that their platforms are safe for teens, but quite a few parents aren't convinced. They, along with a growing number of regulators, have increasingly accused companies like Meta of designing products that are addictive to younger users. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#79053)
A giant screen, big battery, rapid chip and top cameras push the great iPhone 18 Pro to the max with a price tag to matchApple's largest Pro iPhone gets its biggest battery upgrade yet to make it a true two-day phone with new Siri AI and a variable aperture camera.The iPhone 18 Pro Max is the supersized sibling of the regular 18 Pro and, though it is no longer Apple's most expensive phone thanks to the 2,000 iPhone Duo, it has a similarly large price tag to match costing from 1,299 (1,599/$1,299/A$2,299).Screen: 6.9in Super Retina XDR (120Hz OLED) (460ppi)Processor: Apple A20 ProRAM: 12GBStorage: 256, 512GB or 1TBOperating system: iOS 27Camera: 48MP + 48MP UW + 48MP 4x, 18MP front-facingConnectivity: 5G, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 6, Thread, USB-C, Satellite, UWB and GNSSWater resistance: IP68 (6 metres for 30 mins)Dimensions: 163.4 x 78 x 8.75mmWeight: 249g Continue reading...
Kanishka Narayan to say Britain cannot rely entirely on tech companies amid rising global concern over AI dangersCompanies building the most advanced AI systems must increase safety efforts, the UK's AI minister will say, as he announces a strengthening of Britain's cyber defences.Kanishka Narayan will call on companies developing frontier AI to do more to make sure it is safe. He will say Britain cannot rely entirely on technology companies to police their own models and will argue the UK needs to build more of its own AI infrastructure. Continue reading...
This is no scoffing matter. The accelerating proliferation of advanced nuclear weapons is bringing end times' closer by the dayHumankind has fearfully and sometimes joyfully anticipated the end of the world ever since it began. The Bible's Book of Revelation speaks of end times", a period of tribulation, war, famine, plague, floods and environmental catastrophe that may seem a less absurd prospect today than perhaps it once did. Islam, too, posits a fateful day of judgment or day of reckoning. Christian evangelicals believe that, in the final rapture, a chosen few - the righteous or the elect" - will be saved while sinners burn. It's a minority view. Matthew's gospel predicts most people will defy, ignore or ridicule warnings of imminent Armageddon. Peter, another of Jesus's disciples, agreed: In the last days, scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires." Yet such worldly scepticism does not mean a universal cataclysm is less likely. It may make it more probable.Donald Trump's blanket denials of the dangers ostensibly posed by artificial intelligence, whose uncontrolled development is seen by some as the latest harbinger of apocalypse, could be interpreted as fulfilling Peter's prophecy. This US president, the nearest thing the world has to a one-man doomsday machine, is a great one for scoffing and evil desires. In Robert Harris's 2019 novel, The Second Sleep, a worried scientist lists half a dozen ways the world might end. They include devastating climate change, pandemic disease, a giant asteroid collision with Earth, or some other overwhelming calamity. Few heed the fictional scientist's fears. In the event, what destroys him and almost everybody else is a disturbingly plausible cyber crash - a global digital and internet meltdown.Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator Continue reading...
Appointment or renewal reminder appears in victims' calendar to lure them into logging in to fake Google, Microsoft or PayPal pageYou're preparing for the week ahead and take a look at your Google calendar. There's an entry for a meeting that you must have completely forgotten. The note that pops up when you click on it says you'll be reviewing a project and includes a link to more details. Confused, you follow it to find out more; the website you land on asks for logon details, and you provide them.Unfortunately, this was not a failure of your memory but a calendar phishing scam. You have handed your name and password to fraudsters who will sell it on in a batch with other people's details, use it to break into your work email, or to persuade you that they are contacting you from your bank, or another institution. Continue reading...
Newly established commission identifies 17 catastrophic threats to human health but says realistic route to act' on each existsHumans could become extinct by the year 2100 due to malicious use of AI or nuclear conflict, according to a new global risk assessment.They top a list of 17 major threats to human health over the next 75 years, which also includes cuts to aid spending by wealthy countries, the climate crisis and childhood malnutrition. Continue reading...
As streamers poach viral creators to appeal to children, digital whack-a-mole has become a new kind of family challengeExasperated dad Simon Hooper shakes his fist at the camera in a viral video. We managed to get rid of YouTube in our household six months ago and the kids are finally OK with it," he says - but Netflix is now commissioning YouTubers to make their brain rot and putting it back in front of my kids' faces".The precise brain rot" he's referring to is the arrival of a polarising show that's lighting up parent chats around the globe. And while Salish and Jordan Matter might be new to Netflix Kids users, the father-daughter content creators are familiar to anyone who's spent any time on the internet. Continue reading...
George Williamson says national resilience' is key focus of ATI amid US and China's runaway leadership in fieldThe UK must not become dependent on foreign AI systems that can be switched off at short notice and must develop its own versions of the technology, according to the head of the Alan Turing Institute.The country needs a stronger domestic position in AI in response to the US and China's runaway leadership in the field, with national resilience" a key focus for ATI said George Williamson. Continue reading...
Tom Watson, of Worcester, alleged to be behind Big Time Charlie X account that created so-called TraitorbaseThe owner of a recruitment firm has been accused of being at the centre of a so-called doxxing" campaign against the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), anti-racism activists and business executives who recruit black, Asian and minority ethnic workers.Tom Watson, from Worcester, is alleged to be behind an X account calling itself Big Time Charlie", which was deactivated shortly after he was named by the campaign group Hope Not Hate. Continue reading...
Company, which grown rapidly in recent years, has been under scrutiny as privacy concerns growFlock Safety plans to shed about 18% of its employees, people with direct knowledge of the plans said on Thursday, as the maker of AI-powered surveillance cameras and license-plate readers faces mounting opposition to its products from communities and lawmakers.The people said the job cuts came after a voluntary buyout program and were expected to affect roughly 270 employees at Flock, a surveillance technology startup that has seen rapid growth in recent years. Employees will leave the company at the end of the month. Continue reading...
Whether it's a super-glowy serum or a cult gardening tool, here are our writers' favourite buys from the past year Don't get the Filter delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereThe Filter is turning two! To celebrate, we asked our contributors for their favourite products from the past year, and rounded up the team's picks too.From handbag-sized umbrellas and stylish yet practical wellies to reading lights and luxurious duvets, these are the products that stood out. Continue reading...
Fight in East Fishkill, New York, part of a growing divide over whether AI benefits outweigh enormous downsidesFor decades, East Fishkill helped build New York's tech industry.The hamlet, located 70 miles north of New York City, was home to a 460-acre campus where IBM researched and manufactured semiconductor chips for nearly 50 years. Continue reading...
Jeremy Strong's portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Reckoning shows how public opinion has changed around billionaire CEOs since The Social Network's releaseWhen The Social Network came out, Mark Zuckerberg organised a staff viewing of a film he described as fun".A group corporate outing to the sequel is unlikely. Continue reading...
Our reviewer sheds some light on the best dawn simulation alarms, from Lumie and Philips to Dreamegg The best eye masks to help you sleep betterTo wake each day in darkness is a plight you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy, yet that's what many of us do routinely throughout winter. Getting up in the dark decouples our life from our circadian rhythm (our body clock), with bodily processes such as cognition and metabolism put to work before they're fully prepped.Thank heavens, then, for sunrise alarm clocks. These dawn simulation" devices glow with gradually intensifying brightness as your wake-up time approaches, kickstarting your circadian rhythm before you get out of bed. For many users, this results in a happier, healthier start to the day. Continue reading...
Former Labour deputy leader says tech firm would work with a Reform UK government on immigration crackdownsTom Watson, the former Labour deputy leader who recently joined Palantir, has warned against mob rule" when it comes to awarding public contracts.Lord Watson, now a senior vice-president at the US tech corporation, said UK ministers could get themselves in a lot of trouble" as he was questioned about concerns raised about the government working with his new employer. Continue reading...
A spokesperson behind the tech company's AI chatbot has not yet specified what counts as abusive or cruel contentAnthropic has barred users from exhibiting sustained and needless abusive or cruel behavior" toward its models, as the company's leaders continue to ponder machine consciousness.The Verge first reported the change in policy. Continue reading...
Amid a cost-of-living crisis, with US midterms a month away, the president held a ceremony to celebrate our tech overlords - againHe stands accused of being out of touch, enriching himself and his family, building a lavish White House ballroom and, with elections looming, neglecting the hardships of the voters who brought him to power.Time for Donald Trump to show he still has the common touch? Nope. Continue reading...
