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  • Barnsley rebranded UK’s first ‘tech town’ as US giants join AI push

    Minister announces Microsoft, Cisco and Adobe to help apply AI to local schools, hospitals, GPs and businesses In 2002 Barnsley toyed with a redesign as a Tuscan hill village as it sought out a brighter post-industrial future. In 2021 it adopted the airily vague slogan “the place of possibilities”. Now it is trying a different…

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  • ‘Deepfakes spreading and more AI companions’: seven takeaways from the latest artificial intelligence safety report

    Annual review highlights growing capabilities of AI models, while examining issues from cyber-attacks to job disruption The International AI Safety report is an annual survey of technological progress and the risks it is creating across multiple areas, from deepfakes to the jobs market. Commissioned at the 2023 global AI safety summit, it is chaired by…

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  • Viral AI personal assistant seen as step change – but experts warn of risks

    OpenClaw is billed as ‘the AI that actually does things’ and needs almost no input to potentially wreak havoc A new viral AI personal assistant will handle your email inbox, trade away your entire stock portfolio and text your wife “good morning” and “goodnight” on your behalf. OpenClaw, formerly known as Moltbot, and before that…

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  • What is Moltbook? The strange new social media site for AI bots

    A bit like Reddit for artificial intelligence, Moltbook allows AI agents – bots built by humans – to post and interact with each other. People are allowed as observers only On social media, people often accuse each other of being bots, but what happens when an entire social network is designed for AI agents to…

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  • AI-generated news should carry ‘nutrition’ labels, thinktank says

    The Institute for Public Policy Research also argues that tech companies must pay publishers for content they use AI-generated news should carry “nutrition” labels and tech companies must pay publishers for the content they use, according to a left-of-centre thinktank, amid rising use of the technology as a source for current affairs. The Institute for…

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  • Universal basic income could be used to soften hit from AI job losses in UK, minister says

    Lord Stockwood says people in government ‘definitely’ talking about idea as technology disrupts industries • Business live – latest updates The UK could introduce a universal basic income (UBI) to protect workers in industries that are being disrupted by AI, the investment minister Jason Stockwood has said. “Bumpy” changes to society caused by the introduction…

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  • What technology takes from us – and how to take it back | Rebecca Solnit

    Decisions outsourced, chatbots for friends, the natural world an afterthought: Silicon Valley is giving us life void of connection. There is a way out – but it’s going to take collective effort Summer after summer, I used to descend into a creek that had carved a deep bed shaded by trees and lined with blackberry…

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  • Millions creating deepfake nudes on Telegram as AI tools drive global wave of digital abuse

    Analysis finds at least 150 channels on messaging app that are distributing AI-generated images and video Millions of people around the world are creating and sharing deepfake nudes on the secure messaging app Telegram, a Guardian analysis has shown, as the spread of advanced AI tools industrialises the online abuse of women. The Guardian has…

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  • Google DeepMind launches AI tool to help identify genetic drivers of disease

    AlphaGenome can analyse up to 1m letters of DNA code at once and could pave way for new treatments Researchers at Google DeepMind have unveiled their latest artificial intelligence tool and claimed it will help scientists identify the genetic drivers of disease and ultimately pave the way for new treatments. AlphaGenome predicts how mutations interfere…

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  • ‘Wake up to the risks of AI, they are almost here,’ Anthropic boss warns

    Dario Amodei questions if human systems are ready to handle the ‘almost unimaginable power’ that is ‘potentially imminent’ Quarter of Britons fear losing jobs to AI in next five years Humanity is entering a phase of artificial intelligence development that will “test who we are as a species”, the boss of the AI startup Anthropic…

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