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‘They sowed chaos to no avail’: the lasting legacy of Elon Musk’s Doge
The billionaire – who had no government experience – left various federal agencies in disarray while overseeing an ‘efficiency’ drive across Washington As Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, splurged more than $250m on Donald Trump’s 2024 re-election campaign, the US president commissioned his new ally to oversee a sweeping “efficiency” drive across the federal…
Elon Musk’s 2025 recap: how the world’s richest person became its most chaotic
How the tech CEO and ‘Dogefather’ made a mess of the year – from an apparent Nazi salute during his White House tenure to Tesla sales slumps and Starship explosions The year of 2025 was dizzying for Elon Musk. The tech titan began the year holding court with Donald Trump in Washington DC. As the…
The office block where AI ‘doomers’ gather to predict the apocalypse
Safety researchers feel excessive financial rewards and an irresponsible work culture have led some to ignore a catastrophic risk to human life On the other side of San Francisco bay from Silicon Valley, where the world’s biggest technology companies tear towards superhuman artificial intelligence, looms a tower from which fearful warnings emerge. Right in the…
Cryptocurrency slump erases 2025 financial gains and Trump-inspired optimism
Last few months of the year have seen $1tn in value wiped from the market, despite all-time-high price of bitcoin As 2025 comes to a close, Donald Trump’s favorable approach to cryptocurrency has not proven to be enough to sustain the industry’s gains, once the source of market-wide optimism and enthusiasm. The last few months…
Bernie Sanders criticizes AI as ‘the most consequential technology in humanity’
Republican senator Katie Britt also proposes AI companies be criminally liable if they expose minors to harmful ideas US 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…
‘It brings you closer to the natural world’: the rise of the Merlin birdsong identifying app
Merlin has been trained to identify the songs of more than 1,300 bird species around the world When 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,…
‘Undermines free speech’: Labour MP hits back at US government over visa ban on UK campaigners
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…
Extremists are using AI voice cloning to supercharge propaganda. Experts say it’s helping them grow
Researchers warn generative tools are helping militant groups from neo-Nazis to the Islamic State spread ideology While 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…
Elon Musk’s massive 2018 Tesla pay package restored by Delaware court
Decision from state supreme court on deal once worth $56bn and now worth some $139bn overturns ruling that prompted angry Musk backlash Elon 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…