Republican senator Katie Britt also proposes AI companies be criminally liable if they expose minors to harmful ideasUS senator Bernie Sanders amplified his recent criticism of artificial intelligence on Sunday, explicitly linking the financial ambition of the richest people in the world" to economic insecurity for millions of Americans - and calling for a potential moratorium on new datacenters.Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democratic party, said on CNN's State of the Union that he was fearful of a lot" when it came to AI. And the senator called it the most consequential technology in the history of humanity" that will transform" the US and the world in ways that had not been fully discussed. Continue reading...
Gerstner was chair and CEO at a time when the firm was struggling for relevance faced with rivals such as MicrosoftLouis Gerstner, the businessman credited with turning around IBM, has died aged 83, the company announced on Sunday.Gerstner was chair and CEO of IBM from 1993 to 2002, a time when the company was struggling for relevance in the face of competition from rivals such as Microsoft and Sun Microsystems. Continue reading...
Online audiences seeking out authentic and passionate voices as antidote to AI-generated contentFor years, social media fame has been associated with the red carpet glamour of the Kardashians and Cristiano Ronaldo's megawatt sporting celebrity, but millions of users globally are increasingly turning their attention to unassuming heroes drawn from everyday life.TikTok says a range of accounts, from a bird enthusiast to an Italian grandmother and a doubledecker bus fan, have grown in popularity this year as social media users latch on to authentic voices. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#72E80)
We ran more than 1,000km to test top-rated GPS fitness watches including Apple, Garmin and the best for beginners The best running shoes for men and womenWhether you're hitting the pavements for the first time, running with a club or racing for personal glory, the ability to track your workouts has become an essential part of any training regime. Not only can it help you improve, but you can also use it to avoid injury and share in the social experience. A running watch isn't the only way to do this, but it is a pretty effective option.But with the market flooded with options, offering an array of features, you might find it difficult to answer all the questions that arise. Do you need offline maps? Do you want to listen to music while you run? Which brand is best, and how much do you really need to spend?Best running watch for beginners:
Flood of unreality is an endpoint of algorithm-driven internet and product of an economy dependent on a few top tech firmsIn the algorithm-driven economy of 2025, one man's shrimp Jesus is another man's side hustle.AI slop - the low-quality, surreal content flooding social media platforms, designed to farm views - is a phenomenon, some would say the phenomenon of the 2024 and 2025 internet. Merriam-Webster's word of the year this year is slop", referring exclusively to the internet variety. Continue reading...
Merlin has been trained to identify the songs of more than 1,300 bird species around the worldWhen Natasha Walter first became curious about the birds around her, she recorded their songs on her phone and arduously tried to match each song with online recordings. After a friend recommended Merlin Bird ID, a free app, she tried it in her London garden and was delighted to discover the birds she assumed were female blackbirds - this is how bad a birder I was" - were actually song thrushes and mistle thrushes.I'm obsessed with Merlin - it's wonderful and it's been a joy to me," says Walter, a writer and human rights activist. This is what AI and machine-learning have been invented for. It's the one good thing!" Continue reading...
Date a vending machine, watch intergalactic television and make the most out of your short existence as a fly. Here are the best games you weren't playing this year
Chi Onwurah speaks out after Marco Rubio accused five Europeans, including two Britons, of seeking to suppress American viewpoints they oppose'A senior Labour MP has accused the Trump administration of undermining free speech after Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, announced sanctions against two British anti-disinformation campaigners.Chi Onwurah, the chair of parliament's technology select committee, criticised the US government hours after it announced visa-related" sanctions against five Europeans, including Imran Ahmed and Clare Melford. Continue reading...
Washington accused of coercion and intimidation' after five Europeans behind campaign to regulate US tech giants targetedThe French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the European Union have accused Washington of coercion and intimidation", after the US imposed a visa ban on five prominent European figures who have been at heart of the campaign to introduce laws regulating American tech giants.The visa bans were imposed on Tuesday on Thierry Breton, a former EU commissioner and one of the architects of the bloc's Digital Services Act (DSA), and four anti-disinformation campaigners, including two in Germany and two in the UK. Continue reading...
From a family showdown on Guitar Hero III to the winter levels in Diddy Kong Racing, the designers of some of today's top titles recall the gifts and moments that lit up their childhoodsThere is a viral video that tends to get passed around at this time of year. It's an old home movie showing a boy and a girl on Christmas morning eagerly unwrapping a present that turns out to be an N64 console - the boy is, to put it mildly, extremely pleased. It's a scene a lot of us who play games will recognise: the excitement and anticipation provided by that big console-sized parcel, or the little DVD-shaped package that could be the latest Super Mario adventure. Although I never got a games machine at Christmas, I remember one year being given Trivial Pursuit on the Commodore 64 and the whole family gathered around the TV to play. It was one of the few times my mum and my sisters showed any interest in the computer, and I loved getting them involved.Veteran designer Rhod Broadbent of Dakko Dakko recalls the Christmas of 1992, when his father, a programmer who had previously looked down on games consoles, bought him Mario Kart and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Zelda was completely unknown to me at the time," he recalls. I think Dad was probably expecting me to be more excited. But after I had spent the morning in Mario Kart, I plugged in Zelda and everything changed. From the title music, through the intro and into that beautiful initial thunderstorm, everything was so polished and smooth and unlike the video games I'd played before. It didn't leave the cartridge slot for weeks. I remember that Christmas morning like it was yesterday ..." Continue reading...
by Sarah Marsh Consumer affairs correspondent on (#72CBQ)
Big brands such as Sainsbury's and M&S also selling directly in app through links in videos and livestreamsIt is better known for its viral dances and for making hits out of forgotten songs, but the social media site TikTok is becoming a force to be reckoned with as a shopping platform.Major retailers such as Marks & Spencer, Samsung, QVC, Clarks, and Sainsbury's are now selling their wares on the site's e-commerce service, TikTok Shop, alongside more than 200,000 UK small and medium businesses. Continue reading...
State department accuses group of pressuring tech firms to censor or suppress American viewpoints through regulation of disinformationThe state department has barred five Europeans from the US, accusing them of leading efforts to pressure tech firms to censor or suppress American viewpoints, in the latest attack on European regulations that target hate speech and misinformation.Secretary of state Marco Rubio said the five people targeted with visa bans - who include former European Commissioner Thierry Breton - have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose." Continue reading...
If you're aiming to heat the human, not the home - or just love snuggling under something cosy - these are our best buys from our test of 20 The best heated clothes airers to save time and money when drying your laundryAside from hugging a fluffy hot-water bottle, sipping the Christmas whisky and ramping up the thermostat, an electric blanket or heated throw is the best way to ward off the winter chill. When you consider that more than half of a typical household's fuel bills goes on heating and hot water, finding alternative ways to keep warm - and heating the person, rather than the whole home - seems like a good idea.Many of the best electric blankets and heated throws cost about 2p to 4p an hour to run, so it's hard to ignore their potential energy- and money-saving benefits.Best electric blanket overall:
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#6V8PT)
Looking for a new iPhone or a good deal on a refurbished one? Samuel Gibbs has tested and rated Apple's smartphones, including the new iPhone 17 How to make your smartphone last longerThe best iPhone may be the one you already own. There's generally no need to buy a fresh phone just because new models have been released, as hardware updates are broadly iterative, adding small bits to an already accomplished package. But if you do want a replacement handset, whether new or refurbished, here are the best devices of the current crop of Apple smartphones.Many other smartphones are available besides the iPhone, but if you're an Apple user and don't fancy switching to Android, there are still a few choices to make. Whether your priority is the longest battery life, the best camera, the biggest screen or simply the optimal balance of features and price, there's more to choose from in the Apple ecosystem than you may expect, especially after the release of the cheaper iPhone 16e and super-thin iPhone Air.Best iPhone for most people:
Like many of his US counterparts, the Russian science prodigy turned hugely successful digital populist' has a deep suspicion of government constraintTech visionary, Kremlin dissident, FSB agent, free speech absolutist, health guru. These are just some of the labels admirers and critics have attached to Pavel Durov over the past decade.The Russian-born tech entrepreneur founded Russia's version of Facebook before going on to create the messaging app Telegram, launch a cryptocurrency ecosystem and amass a multibillion-dollar fortune, all while clashing repeatedly with authorities in Russia and beyond. Continue reading...
The US economy is pumped up on tech-bro vanity. The inevitable correction must prompt a global conversation about intelligent machines, regulation and riskIf AI did not change your life in 2025, next year it will. That is one of few forecasts that can be made with confidence in unpredictable times. This is not an invitation to believe the hype about what the technology can do today, or may one day achieve. The hype doesn't need your credence. It is puffed up enough on Silicon Valley finance to distort the global economy and fuel geopolitical rivalries, shaping your world regardless of whether the most fanciful claims about AI capability are ever realised.ChatGPT was launched just over three years ago and became the fastest-growing consumer app in history. Now it has about 800m weekly users. Its parent company, OpenAI, is valued at about $500bn. Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, has negotiated an intricate and, to some eyes, suspiciously opaque network of deals with other players in the sector to build the infrastructure required for the US's AI-powered future. The value of these commitments is about $1.5tn. This is not real cash, but bear in mind that a person spending $1 every second would need 31,700 years to get through a trillion-dollar stash.Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Our 20 favourite pieces of in-depth reporting, essays and profiles from the yearVictor Pelevin made his name in 90s Russia with scathing satires of authoritarianism. But while his literary peers have faced censorship and fled the country, he still sells millions. Has he become a Kremlin apologist? Continue reading...
Game developer, who was also involved in Medal of Honor and Titanfall, was killed in a car crashVince Zampella, the co-creator of the Call of Duty video game series, has died aged 55.The head of the video game developer Respawn Entertainment and the co-founder of Infinity Ward was killed in a car crash in California, NBC Los Angeles reported. Continue reading...
Platform with 700m users says it is investigating after Anna's Archive claims to have scraped tracks and metadataAn activist group has claimed to have scraped millions of tracks from Spotify and is preparing to release them online.Observers said the apparent leak could boost AI companies looking for material to develop their technology. Continue reading...
Journalists find Swiss government rejected company over fears US intelligence might gain access to sensitive dataUK MPs have raised concerns about the government's contracts with Palantir after an investigation published in Switzerland highlighted allegations about the suitability and security of its products.The investigation by the Zurich-based research collective WAV and the Swiss online magazine Republik details Palantir's efforts, over the course of seven years, to sell its products to Swiss federal agencies. Continue reading...
This year has brought us many brilliant video games - but as wealth continues to concentrate, and games are used to exert economic and political influence, we need to keep an eye on the top playersI love playing video games, but what interests me most as a journalist are the ways in which games intersect with real life. One of the joys of spending 20 years on this beat has been meeting hundreds of people whose lives have been meaningfully enhanced by games, and as their cultural influence has grown, these stories have become more and more plentiful.There is another side to this, however. A couple of decades ago, video games were mostly either ignored or vilified by governments and mainstream culture, leading to an underdog mentality that has persisted even as games have become a nearly $200bn industry. As their popularity has grown, so have their political and cultural relevance. And the ways in which games intersect with real life are now coloured by the economic and political realities of our times. Continue reading...
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers' questions ponders whether life would be better in a post-online, analogue worldThe internet has turned fringe belief into mainstream politics and policy - from authoritarianism to vaccines. With democracy itself threatened, is it time to go back to a previous world of landlines, letters and face to-face-contact, audiotapes and Ansaphones? What would we miss about the online world that is worth the risk to liberal culture and basic freedoms? Mees Visser, Groningen, NetherlandsPost your answers (and new questions) below or send them to nq@theguardian.com. Notes & Queries will take a festive break on 28 December. A selection of replies to this question, and the next new question, will be published on Sunday 4 January. Continue reading...
Researchers warn generative tools are helping militant groups from neo-Nazis to the Islamic State spread ideologyWhile the artificial intelligence boom is upending sections of the music industry, voice generating bots are also becoming a boon to another unlikely corner of the internet: extremist movements that are using them to recreate the voices and speeches of major figures in their milieu, and experts say it is helping them grow.The adoption of AI-enabled translation by terrorists and extremists marks a significant evolution in digital propaganda strategies," said Lucas Webber, a senior threat intelligence analyst at Tech Against Terrorism and a research fellow at the Soufan Center. Webber specializes in monitoring the online tools of terrorist groups and extremists around the world. Continue reading...
Steps to help combat fraud in which criminals use AI-generated replica of a person's voice to deceive victimsThe voicemail from your son is alarming. He has just been in a car accident and is highly stressed. He needs money urgently, although it is not clear why, and he gives you some bank details for a transfer.You consider yourself wise to other scams, and have ignored texts claiming to be from him and asking for cash. But you can hear his voice and he is clearly in trouble. Continue reading...
A staff exodus and a broken booking system are helping to cause huge jams in Britain's driving test systemIt has long been a stressful rite of passage for many young people but, in recent years, passing the actual driving test is the easy part. Now, many people seeking a test need to wake up early to snag a date before the bots do and, even then, they are looking at a long and arduous wait.Despite moves from the government to address the issue, an audit report released this week found plans to cut the wait for a driving test to seven weeks by the end of the year would not be achieved until November 2027. Continue reading...
Emphasis this year is on nostalgia as present day feels a bit more uncertain', say trend expertsTinsel, DIY tree decorations, deep burgundy drapes - and Home Alone on VHS. Christmas has gone retro on TikTok, and in people's living rooms.The app has reported a surge in Christmas decor videos, with an emphasis on nostalgia as users embrace festive looks from bygone eras. For younger TikTokers, that means the 90s. Continue reading...
Analysts see global construction frenzy that shows no signs of slowing' amid surge in demand from AI boomA new report finds that investment in the worldwide data center market reached $61bn this year, setting a new record atop the wave of the artificial intelligence boom.The analysis by S&P Global, first reported by CNBC, documented what the market intelligence firm called a global construction frenzy that shows no signs of slowing", to build out the massive real estate, hardware, and energy requirements driven by insatiable demand from AI companies. S&P pegged 2024's investment in the data center market at $60.8bn, just below the 2025 number. Continue reading...
Decision from state supreme court on deal once worth $56bn and now worth some $139bn overturns ruling that prompted angry Musk backlashElon Musk's controversial $56bn pay package from Tesla was reinstated by the Delaware supreme court on Friday, two years after a lower court struck down the vast compensation deal as unfathomable".The reinstated pay package could be worth as much as $139bn today, according to the New York Times. The decision comes less than two months after Tesla shareholders approved a new plan that could be worth $1tn to Musk, already the world's richest person, in a decade's time. Musk's fortune currently stands at an estimated $600bn. Continue reading...
by Lauren Cochrane Senior fashion writer on (#729GT)
From celebrity endorsements to digital fatigue, the once-obsolete white wire has become a fashion statement and a quiet act of opting outWith white-wired headphones endorsed by celebrities including Lily-Rose Depp, Paul Mescal, Bella Hadid and Apple Martin, a growing number of people are breaking away from wireless listening.For inspiration, there is the Instagram account @wireditgirls, or a Balenciaga campaign featuring the model Mona Tougaard reclining bed, wired headphones in place. Continue reading...
Minister says risk to any individual' from cyber-attack is low and that it is still unclear who is responsibleThe UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office was hacked in October, a minister has said.Chris Bryant, a trade minister in Keir Starmer's government, told Sky News there was a low risk to any individual" from the cyber-attack. Continue reading...
Hollywood is betting big on vertical microdramas told in chunks under two minutes. Can a gimmick turn into a new form of entertainment?If you have been anywhere close to the social media blast radius of The Summer I Turned Pretty, Amazon Prime's breakout YA series on a tortuous teen love triangle, you may be familiar with the plight of Henley and Luca. The star-crossed lovers of a short-form video series called Loving My Brother's Best Friend - plot self-explanatory - have made waves on TikTok with yearning stares and I/we can't do this" drama that echo the many fan edits of beloved TV couple Belly and Conrad. But whereas The Summer I Turned Pretty explored its central tension over 40-minute episodes on streaming, Loving My Brother's Best Friend, produced by a short-form company called CandyJar, distilled its appeal to its barest essences: sexual tension hook, escalating line and cliffhanger sinker, all within two-minute episodes" on your phone. Without even meaning to or really wanting to, I watched the first 10 chapters (of 44) in one 15-minute gulp - and I'm not the only one.Hollywood is hoping that you, too, will be hooked. Though Loving My Brother's Best Friend may not look like a typical Hollywood product - in fact, it resembles some mix of teen show, soap opera and amateur fan-cam edit - the industry is investing heavily in the future of series like it: low-budget, mobile-only microdramas" with episodes between 60 and 90 seconds. These shows, also known as verticals" for their phone orientation, have already become widely popular in China, where mobile screens dominate entertainment even more than in the US. In just three years, revenue for serialized short-form drama in China rose from $500m in 2021 to $7bn in 2024, and is projected to reach $16.2bn by 2030. The global microdrama market for 2025 is estimated at anywhere from $7bn to 15bn - and booming, with nearly triple revenue growth for microdrama companies outside China in the past year. Continue reading...
by Words by Robert Booth and Dan Milmo. Illustrations on (#72975)
When AIs become consistently more capable than humans, life could change in strange ways. It could happen in the next few years, or a little longer. If and when it comes, our domestic routines - trips to the doctor, farming, work and justice systems - could all look very different. Here we take a look at how the era of artificial general intelligence might feelDoes it hurt when I do this?" Continue reading...
A family classic reborn in a wide open world, a satirical adventure through teenage life and a mystery puzzler for the ages - our critics on the year's best fun
by Lanre Bakare Arts and culture correspondent on (#728J8)
Equity says vote signals strong opposition to AI use and readiness to disrupt productions unless protections are securedActors have voted to refuse digital scanning to prevent their likeness being used by artificial intelligence in a pushback against AI in the arts.Members of the performing arts union Equity were asked if they would refuse to be scanned while on set, a common practice in which actors' likeness is captured for future use - with 99% voting in favour of the move. Continue reading...
OpenAI is the latest to make a political hire as big tech spreads its tentacles around the world. So what's the attraction?George Osborne getting a new job isn't exactly news. Since leaving frontline politics, the former chancellor has served as the chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, edited (not entirely successfully) the Evening Standard, advised asset manager BlackRock, joined boutique advisory firm Robey Warshaw, been appointed as the chair of the British Museum and taken on roles including advising crypto firm Coinbase. Oh, and like any white man of a particular age, he co-hosts a political podcast.But Osborne's latest job is the most eye-opening - and is an alarming augur of what is to come. OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, has become the latest organisation to employ Osborne. He will run OpenAI for Countries, a unit tasked with working directly with governments while expanding the company's Stargate datacentre programme beyond the US. At least it was announced with a tweet, rather than a LinkedIn post.Chris Stokel-Walker is the author of TikTok Boom: The Inside Story of the World's Favourite App Continue reading...
Locals band together in David v Goliath battle against facility they say would jack up bills, increase pollution and destroy area's characterA who's who of the nation's most powerful politicians and tech tycoons are forcing through a proposal for a massive data center in rural Michigan as locals from across the political spectrum have come out in force against it, with one calling it uniquely evil".Residents of Saline Township, Michigan, fear the $7bn center would jack up energy bills, pollute groundwater, and destroy the area's rural character. The 1.4 gigawatt center would consume as much power as Detroit, and would help derail Michigan's nation-leading transition to renewable energy. Continue reading...
Study author says tech companies are reaping benefits of artificial intelligence age but society is left to pay costThe AI boom has caused as much carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere in 2025 as emitted by the whole of New York City, it has been claimed.The global environmental impact of the rapidly spreading technology has been estimated in research published on Wednesday, which also found that AI-related water use now exceeds the entirety of global bottled-water demand. Continue reading...
Whether your household is in the mood for singing, driving, quizzing or shouting, here are our top choices for homely holiday funMultiplayer hand-to-hand combat games are ridiculously good fun and there are plenty to choose from, including the rather similar Gang Beasts and Party Animals. I've gone for this one, however, which lets everyone pick a cake to play as before competing in food fights and taking on mini-games such as roasting marshmallows and lobbing fruit into a pie. If you ever wished that the Great British Bake Off was ever-so-slightly more gladitorial, this is the game for you. Continue reading...
AI Security Institute report finds most common type of AI tech used was general purpose assistants such as ChatGPT and Amazon AlexaA third of UK citizens have used artificial intelligence for emotional support, companionship or social interaction, according to the government's AI security body.The AI Security Institute (AISI) said nearly one in 10 people used systems like chatbots for emotional purposes on a weekly basis, and 4% daily. Continue reading...
by Libby Brooks Scotland correspondent on (#727ZP)
Exclusive: Lawsuit is the first UK case of its kind, with Ros and Mark Dowey accusing Meta of putting profit before our young people'The parents of a 16-year-old who took his own life after he fell victim to a sextortion gang on Instagram are suing Meta for the alleged wrongful death of their son, in the first UK case of its kind.Murray Dowey died in December 2023 at his family home in Dunblane, after being tricked into sending intimate pictures to an Instagram contact. He thought it was a girl his own age, but it turned out to be overseas criminals involved in financially motivated sexual extortion. Continue reading...
Exclusive: UK government's naive belief' that Trump is a good faith actor could cost UK taxpayer billions', says health select committee chairMinisters and senior MPs have warned that the UK's agreements with Donald Trump are built on sand" after the Guardian established that the deal to avoid drug tariffs has no underlying text beyond limited headline terms.The milestone" US-UK deal announced this month on pharmaceuticals, which will mean the NHS pays more for medicines in exchange for a promise of zero tariffs on the industry, still lacks a legal footing beyond top lines contained in two government press releases. Continue reading...
Commons committee monitoring revolving door that gave jobs to George Osborne, Nick Clegg and Tony BlairWhen the billionaire chief executive of AI chipmaker Nvidia threw a party in central London for Donald Trump's state visit in September, the power imbalance between Silicon Valley and British politicians was vividly exposed.Jensen Huang hastened to the stage after meetings at Chequers and rallied his hundreds of guests to cheer on the power of AI. In front of a huge Nvidia logo, he urged the venture capitalists before him to herald a new industrial revolution", announced billions of pounds in AI investments and, like Willy Wonka handing out golden tickets, singled out some lucky recipients in the room. Continue reading...
They claim to fix fine lines, blemishes and redness - but which stand up to scrutiny? We asked dermatologists and put them to the test to find out The best anti-ageing creams, serums and treatmentsLED face masks are booming in popularity - despite being one of the most expensive at-home beauty products ever to hit the market. Many masks are available, each claiming to either reduce the appearance of fine lines, stop spots or calm redness. Some even combine different types of light to enhance the benefits.But it's wise to be sceptical about new treatments that are costly and non-invasive, and to do your research before you buy. With this in mind, I spoke with doctors and dermatologists to find out whether these light therapy devices actually work.Best LED face mask overall:
With a blend of retro-futurism, moral ambiguity and monster-filled wastelands, Fallout became an unlikely prestige television favourite. Now there is something a bigger, stranger and funnier journey ahead Don't get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereThe Fallout TV series returns to Prime Video today, and it's fair to say that everyone was pleasantly surprised by how good the first season was. By portraying Fallout's retro-futuristic, post-apocalyptic US through three different characters, it managed to capture different aspects of the game player's experience, too. There was vault-dweller Lucy, trying to do the right thing and finding that the wasteland made that very difficult; Max, the Brotherhood of Steel rookie, who starts to question his cult's authority and causes a lot of havoc in robotic power armour; and the Ghoul, Walton Goggins's breakout character, who has long since lost any sense of morality out in the irradiated wilderness.The show's first season ended with a revelation about who helped cause the nuclear war that trapped a group of people in underground vaults for a couple of centuries. It also left plenty of questions open for the second season - and, this time, expectations are higher. Even being not terrible" was a win for a video game adaptation until quite recently. How are the Fallout TV show's creators feeling now that the first season has been a success? Continue reading...
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