Technology | The Guardian

Alphabet’s shares plummeted after Bard gave incorrect answer in a demo

In this week’s newsletter: From Belfast to Birmingham, Damian Kerlin investigates the radical history of our under-threat LGBTQ+ clubbing culture and beyond. Plus: five podcasts to help you get fit

Chatbot Bard incorrectly said James Webb Space Telescope was first to take pictures of planet outside Earth’s solar systemGoogle’s riposte to ChatGPT has got off to an embarrassing start after its new artificial intelligence-powered chatbot gave a wrong answer in a promotional video, as investors wiped more than $100bn (£82bn) off the value of the search engine’s parent company, Alphabet.The sell-off on Wednesday came amid investor fears that Microsoft, which is deploying an ChatGPT-powered version of its Bing search engine, will damage Google’s business. Alphabet stock slid by 9% during regular trading in the US but was flat after hours. Continue reading...

US tech publication reports CEO Elon Musk has asked staff to pause all new development to stabilise appTwitter users were unable to post instantly on the website for almost an hour, in the latest outage to hit the social media platform since billionaire Elon Musk’s $44bn takeover.From around 10pm GMT on Wednesday, users attempting to tweet were informed by the platform they had hit their daily limit – despite many of them reporting having not tweeted at all that day. Continue reading...

Company temporarily restricted New York Post article in 2020 about contents of the abandoned computer of Joe Biden’s sonUS lawmakers held a combative hearing on Wednesday with former senior staffers at Twitter over the social media platform’s handling of reporting on Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden.The proceedings set the stage for the agenda of a newly Republican-controlled House, underscoring its intention to hone in on longstanding and unsubstantiated allegations that big tech platforms have an anti-conservative bias. Continue reading...

Guardian exclusive: AI tools rate photos of women as more sexually suggestive than those of men, especially if nipples, pregnant bellies or exercise is involved

SNP MP for Glasgow South says he is victim of ‘sophisticated and targeted spear phishing’ attackAn SNP MP whose emails were hacked has spoken out because he fears they were stolen by a group linked to Russia and will be published.Stewart McDonald’s emails were compromised last month after he clicked on a message from a member of his staff on his private MP’s account. Continue reading...

Top-performing phone has great screen, superfast charging and solid camera but lacks pizazzThe OnePlus 11 is one of the first smartphones with the latest top chip from Qualcomm, which makes it faster and longer lasting but a revamped design of the device has polarised opinion.The new phone costs from £729 ($699) and so is keenly priced versus big-screen rivals from Samsung, Google and Apple, if £100 more than OnePlus’s 10T from last year. Continue reading...

Online tool used by more than 50 cities helps planners weigh costs against climate and social benefitsIn early 2018, Tomer Shalit looked at the overwhelming mass of data and the tens of thousands of pages of scientific studies and parliamentary reports that had gone into the making of Sweden’s bold new Climate Act, and thought: this is hopeless.“There was this avalanche of material, but none of it was operational,” he said. “There were solid, ambitious targets, but no roadmaps for reaching them. There was a ton of evidence, but no concrete action plans. And nothing was connected.” Continue reading...

CEO Eric Yuan says ‘We worked tirelessly … but we also made mistakes’ as he takes 98% pay cut for coming yearZoom is cutting about 1,300 jobs as demand for the company’s video-conferencing services slows with the waning of the pandemic.While announcing the layoffs on Tuesday, which will hit nearly 15% of its workforce, the chief executive officer, Eric Yuan, said he would take a pay cut of 98% for the coming fiscal year and forgo his bonus. Continue reading...

Company to work with OpenAI to improve search and Edge web browser as rival unveils ChatGPT competitorMicrosoft is revamping its search products with more artificial intelligence, using technology behind the wildly popular ChatGPT, as tech companies race to take advantage of increasingly powerful AI tools.The company detailed its plans at a special event on Tuesday, saying it would work with OpenAI, the startup behind the ChatGPT tool, to upgrade its Bing search engine and Edge web browser and enhance the information available. Continue reading...

Ellie gets to grips with a gun, Joel has a rude awakening – and here’s Melanie Lynskey as the revolutionary Kathleen. But don’t be fooled by her dulcet tones … she’s as twisted as they comeThis article contains spoilers for The Last of Us TV series. Do not read unless you have seen episodes one to four …After the heartbreaking spectacle of Bill and Frank’s two-hander, here we saw Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) return to centre stage as they embarked on an epic road trip and adjusted to life post-Tess. Continue reading...

Technology will be added to Google’s search engine after explosion in use of rival backed by MicrosoftGoogle is releasing its own artificial intelligence chatbot, called Bard, as it responds to the huge success of the Microsoft-backed ChatGPT.The company is also adding the technology behind Bard to the Google search engine to enable complex queries – such as whether the guitar or piano is easier to learn – to be distilled into digestible answers. Continue reading...

Stars like Tom Hanks and Harrison Ford are being rendered younger digitally but voices in the industry express concern about where we might be headingCraggy, grey-haired and 80 years old, Harrison Ford might seem a bit old to don his brown Fedora-style hat or crack his whip as Indiana Jones. But a trailer for his upcoming film Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny offers a flashback to Indy in his swashbuckling glory days.“That is my actual face at that age,” the actor explained on CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. “They have this artificial intelligence (AI) programme. It can go through every foot of film that Lucasfilm owns because I did a bunch of movies for them and they have all this footage including film that wasn’t printed: stock. They could mine it from where the light is coming from, the expression. But that’s my actual face. Then I put little dots on my face and I say the words and they make it. It’s fantastic.” Continue reading...

PlayStation 5 (version tested), Xbox Series X, PC; Avalanche/Portkey Games

US-based PC maker makes move in order to reduce costs as ‘market conditions continue to erode’Dell is to cut 6,650 jobs, or 5% of its global workforce, as the PC maker becomes the latest US tech firm to reduce costs amid economic uncertainty.Dell told employees that market conditions were deteriorating and that initial attempts to save money, such as a hiring freeze and travel curbs, were not enough. Continue reading...

Aspiring architects are using social media, AI and digital technology to showcase their fantastical creations to the full“Something big is happening,” says Hamza Shaikh. “Architecture is entering a new age.” The ways in which buildings are imagined and communicated are, he argues, being transformed by a combination of social media and the ever-evolving techniques of digital drawing, to which artificial intelligence is adding new capabilities. And indeed, if it is not yet clear how blocks of flats or schools or shopping centres near you might be changed by this revolution, the energy and invention behind it are undeniable.There is also, as Shaikh justifiably claims, a social transformation. If, in the past, aspiring architects had to claw their way up a profession that favoured those with connections and money, now anyone from anywhere can make a name for themselves, if they have the talent, determination and access to technology. They do this not by realising completed buildings, but through compelling images of imaginary architecture. They don’t all use the most advanced techniques all the time – some work by hand, some (Shaikh included) with hybrids of manual and digital – but all use the internet to spread their work and exchange ideas. Continue reading...

As the US, China and now the EU compete for the fruits of the green economy, the UK is hamstrung by Tory dogma, dither and delayThe United States is out of the blocks. The European Union is hurrying along the track. China is competing too. Here in dear old blighty, we are not even at the starting line. While others are dashing towards the horizon, the UK still hasn’t tied its laces.The government appears to have barely noticed that there is a global race to dominate the green technologies of the future. In investment attracted, jobs created, income earned and lives bettered, the prizes for the winners will be huge. In prosperity foregone, the penalty for the laggards will be severe. Continue reading...

Discovery of Lope de Vega play could lead to other important finds, researchers sayLost or misattributed works by some of the finest writers of Spain’s Golden Age could be discovered thanks to pioneering AI technology that has been used to identify a previously unknown play by the wildly prolific dramatist, poet, sailor and priest Lope de Vega.This week Spain’s National Library announced that researchers trawling its massive archive had stumbled upon and verified a play that Lope is believed to have written a few years before his death in 1635. Continue reading...

The surreal Nothing, Forever, streaming 24 hours a day, is an eerie experiment in digital creativitySeinfeld went off the air in 1998, but it’s never really gone away – it’s been the subject of modern recreations, dedicated social media accounts and hip-hop/TV fusions. Its latest incarnation, however, is the oddest yet.Nothing, Forever is an endless, AI-generated version of the show that has been streaming on Twitch since mid-December. It tells the “story” – if you can call it that – of four characters, Larry, Fred, Yvonne and Kakler, who look like what would happen if Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer were sucked into a 1990s computer game. They spend their days discussing their lives and other trivial matters. And it never, ever stops: log on at any hour and there they are, talking about coffee quality or a difficult Monopoly game. Continue reading...

Everyone uses Wikipedia, but should it really be affecting what happens in court?Remember when loads of academics were confidently predicting that technology, from robots to AI, was about to destroy all our jobs? They were wrong. We went into Covid with record employment before the pandemic, not the robots, knocked a chunk of people out of the workforce.In fact, technology has done something almost worse: giving academics a whole new job producing studies showing how easily technology affects us even on important judgments, from hiring to court cases. Two came across my desk last week highlighting the danger. Continue reading...

Nicky Morgan and other Tory peers plan amendment to boost Ofcom’s powers to penalise social media firmsTougher rules are needed to target misogyny online as part of the online safety bill, a group of peers has said.Under the online safety bill, which is being finalised, social media firms will be legally required to abide by their terms and conditions, which generally bar misogynistic abuse. Failure to enforce them will result in fines and their services could be blocked by Ofcom, the online watchdog. Continue reading...

With 100m sales of its Switch console, a new Mario movie and even a California theme park, the Japanese tech giant is riding high again. What’s its secret?Every Nintendo fan remembers the game that converted them. Perhaps it was running and jumping around as Mario in an abstract, toylike playspace, thrilling at the lightness and precision of his movement. It could have been becoming hypnotised by falling Tetris blocks on the Game Boy’s tiny monochrome screen, or choosing a first Pokémon, marvelling at how the little collection of fat pixels representing your chosen critter instantly assumed an imagined personality. Millions of people had their first Nintendo moment during 2020’s lockdowns, moving to a virtual deserted island full of quirky neighbours in Animal Crossing.For more than 40 years, this Japanese giant of entertainment has been making video games that have shaped the tastes of the people who played them as children; there is surely no game developer working today who is untouched by its influence. Its latest console, meanwhile – the Nintendo Switch, released in 2017 – recently became the fastest ever to reach 100m sales, and stands a good chance of becoming the bestselling console ever. Barring an extremely unlikely sales slump over Christmas, the Switch will leapfrog to No 3 on the bestselling list when Nintendo announces its quarterly results this week. Only the DS and Sony’s PlayStation 2 are ahead of it. Continue reading...

Jenny Radcliffe is a professional ‘people hacker’ – someone who claims she can get past anyone and get in anywhere. No building is secure. How does she do it? Plus, an extract from her memoir‘Do I look like someone to mess with?” says Jenny Radcliffe, folding her arms in a really-don’t-mess-with-me kind of way. Her tattoos seem to be making the point, too. On her left forearm is a Latin phrase – facta non verba, actions not words – with a pair of devil’s horns; on her right, a feather, from the wings of an angel. Which is she, I wonder. Her boots – DM-like, many eyelets – suggest no angel; but the T-shirt is emblazoned with “Trust Me”.Radcliffe has an unusual job: she’s a social engineer. “Also known as a professional burglar, physical penetration tester … though it’s difficult to say that one to old ladies on trains,” she says. Yes, I can see that. Continue reading...

The verdict comes after a three-week trial that pitted shareholders against the billionaire and company CEOElon Musk and Tesla have been cleared of wrongdoing in a lawsuit over a pair of tweets from the executive that investors say cost them billions of dollars.After less than two hours of deliberation wrapping up a three-week trial, a jury in San Francisco ruled on Friday that the Tesla CEO had not deceived investors with two tweets posted in August 2018 about a Tesla buyout that never happened. Continue reading...

We must recognise the critical importance of strong copyright law and fair remuneration, writes Christian ZimmermannArtists, illustrators and photographers have often led the way in embracing new technology. The concerns that creators such as Harry Woodgate have about AI programs (‘It’s the opposite of art’: why illustrators are furious about AI, 23 January) that “rely entirely on the pirated intellectual property of countless working artists, photographers, illustrators and other rights holders” must be heeded.Evidence published recently by the House of Lords, gathered from the first-hand experience of visual artists, galleries and experts, demonstrates that the government’s proposed copyright exception will have far-reaching, detrimental consequences. Continue reading...

Alphabet CEO says company well positioned in AI field, as analysts say ChatGPT has reached 100m usersGoogle is to make its chatbot technology available to the public in “the coming weeks and months” as it responds to the success of ChatGPT, a Microsoft-backed artificial intelligence chatbot that has become a global phenomenon after it was made available free of charge.Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google’s owner, Alphabet, said the use of AI had reached an “inflection point” and the company was “extremely well positioned” in the field. Continue reading...

Take a break from news about real-life megacorps raking in billions while we all struggle to pay our gas bills, and revisit gaming’s most evil companiesSquaresoft’s environmentalist fable pitches a small group of eco-rebels against the might Shinra Electric Power Company – part energy supplier, part terrifying interplanetary dictatorship. The designers were prescient in their imagining of a multifaceted company equally adept in weapons, genetic engineering and politics, and with its own 24-hour news channel to help with propaganda. Continue reading...

Move to pay-for-access application program interface continues platform owner’s push for revenue

Juan Manuel Padilla asked the AI tool how laws applied in case of autistic boy’s medical funding, while also using precedent to support his decisionA judge in Colombia has caused a stir by admitting he used the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT when deciding whether an autistic child’s insurance should cover all of the costs of his medical treatment. He also used precedent from previous rulings to support his decision.Juan Manuel Padilla, a judge in the Caribbean city of Cartagena, concluded that the entirety of the child’s medical expenses and transport costs should be paid by his medical plan as his parents could not afford them. Continue reading...

Facebook parent company Meta bucks trend with better earnings than expected, as Apple sees first profit miss in seven yearsThe A-Team of big tech – Apple, Amazon and Alphabet – all delivered disappointing results on Thursday a day after Facebook owner Meta bucked the gloomy trend in technology, delivering better-than-expected results.Apple shares slid more than 4% on Thursday after the company posted a disappointing first-quarter earnings report, including rare misses on revenue, profit and sales. Continue reading...

Unprecedented take-up may make AI chatbot the fastest-growing consumer internet app ever, analysts sayChatGPT, the popular artificial intelligence chatbot, has reached 100 million users just two months after launching, according to analysts.It had about 590m visits in January from 100 million unique visitors, according to analysis by data firm Similarweb. Analysts at investment bank UBS said the rate of growth was unprecedented for a consumer app. Continue reading...

Information about trial in Chile, Peru and Costa Rica has since been taken down after being shared across help centre pagesNetflix has mistakenly launched a set of guidelines for cracking down on password sharing to global users.The streaming service said the guidelines being trialled in Chile, Peru and Costa Rica had been posted accidentally across its help centre pages including in the US on Wednesday, but had since been taken down. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Hollie Dance, who fought legal battle to stop her son’s life support being switched off, says he received threatening messagesFrom discovering her son unconscious with a ligature over his head to the lengthy but ultimately unsuccessful legal battle to stop his life support being switched off, Archie Battersbee’s mother has experienced heartbreak that is hard to imagine.That pain has now been compounded by the recent discovery that Archie was bullied online in the months before the catastrophic brain injury on 7 April last year, she told the Guardian. Continue reading...

Phone from 2007 with 2 megapixel camera and 8GB storage had sat on Karen Green’s shelf for years before she realized its worthA first generation, unopened 2007 iPhone is expected to sell for more than $50,000 when it goes to auction on Thursday.The phone, which has a 2 megapixel camera and 8GB of storage, was given to Karen Green as a gift when she got a new job, Business Insider reported. Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: The giant of British journalism starts his post-Channel 4 career with his new interview show. Plus: five of the best podcasts for women in midlife

Exclusive: Dutch MEP hopes site will give early warning of suspicious tactics such as use of front organisationsA group of MEPs are launching a website for European parliament staff and EU officials to raise the alarm about “shady lobbying” by big tech firms and other interest groups.Paul Tang, a Dutch Social Democrat MEP who is co-leading the initiative, said the “lobby leaks hotline” would be an early warning system and was necessary as the parliament had faced “shady lobbying” from powerful tech companies seeking to influence its decisions. He cited practices such as so-called astroturfing, where large companies use front organisations to represent their interests by the back door. Continue reading...

Parent company of Facebook and Instagram reports $32bn in revenue for fourth quarter, prompting rise in stock priceMeta investors got some good news in the social media company’s latest earnings report on Wednesday, which showed a smaller drop in revenues than analysts had expected.Meta, which also owns Instagram and Whatsapp, reported $32bn in revenue for the fourth quarter, which drove a rise in its stock price in extended trading on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Top-end Android phones with improved sustainability announced alongside Galaxy Book 3 laptopsSamsung’s latest top-end Galaxy S23 Android phones hope to tempt users with larger batteries, faster chips and improved photography, including one of the first 200MP next-generation cameras.Announced alongside a range of new Galaxy Book 3 Windows laptops on Wednesday, the Galaxy S23 Ultra superphone leads the line equipped with new camera technology and a stylus. Continue reading...

PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, PC; EA Motive/EA

Washington officials appear to confirm deal to restrict export of semiconductor manufacturing technology to ChinaA Washington official has made the most direct comments by a US authority to date acknowledging the existence of a deal with Japan and the Netherlands for those countries to impose new restrictions on exports of chipmaking tools to China.“We can’t talk about the deal right now,” said Don Graves, deputy commerce department secretary, on the sidelines of an event in Washington. “But you can certainly talk to our friends in Japan and the Netherlands.” Continue reading...

Company co-founded by Mike Lynch hit by wave of criticism of its sales, marketing and accounting practicesThe value of Darktrace has plummeted to a record low after the emergence of two new short sellers betting against its business, as the British cybersecurity firm was hit by a new wave of criticism of its sales, marketing and accounting practices.The company, which earlier this month warned of slowing numbers of new customers signing up for its artificial intelligence-led security products, has attracted the attention of Quintessential Capital Management (QCM) and the London-based Marshall Wace, one of the world’s biggest hedge funds with $60bn (£49bn) in client assets. Continue reading...

The former president was banned from Instagram and Facebook following the Jan 6 attacks, but Meta argues that new ‘guardrails’ will keep his behaviour in check. Plus: is a chatbot coming for your job?

Some social media users are building a following through ‘feelgood’ videos, in which, for instance, they give flowers to a stranger. The stranger then becomes their clickbait. Is there anything we can do to stop this?Maree only wanted to buy some shoes. A pair that she liked the look of had gone on sale, so she made a trip into the city to try them on. It was late in the day in June, mid-winter in Melbourne, and the shopping centre was quiet. After making her purchase, Maree stopped for a coffee. “And that’s when it happened,” she says.A young man approached her holding a posy of flowers. He asked Maree to hold them for him as he put on his jacket. “I wish I’d trusted my instincts and said no,” she says. “It was all so quick.” Maree took the flowers – then the man walked away, wishing her “a lovely day”. She held them out after him, bemused. Continue reading...

Is this the TV episode of the year? It’s a big call so early on in 2023, but it’ll take something incredible to top this brave, poignant, heartbreaking character studyThis article contains spoilers for The Last of Us TV series. Please do not read unless you have seen episodes one to three …Wow. Where to start? I’ll just come out and say it – I think that’s the single best episode of TV that will be broadcast all year. Continue reading...

Shou Zi Chew will face legislators amid concerns over the social media app’s alleged collusion with Beijing in accessing user dataAs the US legislative battle over TikTok continues to escalate, Shou Zi Chew, the chief executive of the video-sharing app, will make his first appearance before Congress to testify next month.Chew will testify before the House energy and commerce committee on 23 March, Republican representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers confirmed in a statement on Monday, as scrutiny of the Chinese-owned app over data privacy concerns grows. Continue reading...

Retail group says incident affected shoppers at JD, Size?, Millets, Blacks, Scotts and Millets Sport brandsThe fashion retailer JD Sports said the personal and financial information of 10 million customers was potentially accessed by hackers in a cyber-attack.The company said incident, which affected some online orders made by customers between November 2018 and October 2020, targeted purchases of products of its JD, Size?, Millets, Blacks, Scotts and Millets Sport brands. Continue reading...

Healthcare’s standard genome is mostly based on one American. As we enter the era of personalised medicine, this bias has drawbacks for much of the world’s populationIn June 2000, Bill Clinton, the then US president, stood smilingly next to the leaders of the Human Genome Project. “In genetic terms, all human beings, regardless of race, are more than 99.9% the same,” he declared. That was the message when the first draft of the human genome sequence was revealed at the White House.The single string of As, Ts, Cs and Gs eventually became the first human reference genome. Since its publication in 2003, the reference has revolutionised genome sequencing and helped scientists find thousands of disease-causing mutations. Yet at its core is a somewhat ironic problem: the code meant to represent the human species is mostly based on just one man from Buffalo, New York. Continue reading...

Pop was once all about four guys and their instruments. Now that gang mentality has been blown away by tech-savvy individualsWhen David Crosby helped found the Byrds, the idea of being in a band like the Beatles was intoxicating. The musician, who died last week, and his bandmates were so obsessed with the Beatles that they watched A Hard Day’s Night and went straight out to buy the same instruments.A modern-day Crosby would be well advised not to bother – bands are almost entirely absent from the music charts. Only four new songs by groups made it into the official Top 100 singles of last year, which was dominated by solo acts and a smattering of classics by the likes of Fleetwood Mac and Arctic Monkeys. Continue reading...

In the three months since Musk bought Twitter for £44bn, thousands have been sacked and the company has nosedived. Here, staff tell of a firm in disarray and an owner whose reputation is also plummetingIn April 2022, Elon Musk acquired a 9.2% stake in Twitter, making him the company’s largest shareholder, and was offered a seat on the board. Luke Simon, a senior engineering director at Twitter, was ecstatic. “Elon Musk is a brilliant engineer and scientist, and he has a track record of having a Midas touch when it comes to growing the companies he’s helped lead,” he wrote on the workplace messaging platform Slack.Twitter had been defined by the leadership of Jack Dorsey – a co-founder who was known for going on long meditation retreats, fasting 22 hours a day, and walking five miles to the office – who was seen by some as an absentee landlord, leaving Twitter’s strategy and daily operations to a handful of trusted deputies. To Simon and those like him, it was hard to see Twitter as anything other than wasted potential. Continue reading...