Latest posts

  • Fake rooms, props and a script to lure victims: inside an abandoned Cambodia scam centre

    Sprawling compound, including mock-up banks and police offices, uncovered by Thai military during border clashes It is as if you have walked into a branch of one of Vietnam’s banks. A row of customer service desks, divided by plastic screens, with landline phones, promotional leaflets and staff business cards. A seated waiting area and a…

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  • Meta reportedly plans sweeping layoffs as AI costs increase

    Sources tell Reuters layoffs could affect 20% or more of company as plans reflect broader tensions within big tech Meta is planning sweeping layoffs that could affect 20% or more of the company, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, as Meta seeks to offset costly artificial intelligence infrastructure bets and prepare for greater…

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  • Anthropic-Pentagon battle shows how big tech has reversed course on AI and war

    Less than a decade ago, Google employees scuttled any military use of its AI. Now Anthropic is fighting Trump officials not over if, but how The standoff between Anthropic and the Pentagon has forced the tech industry to once again grapple with the question of how its products are used for war – and what…

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  • ‘IG is a drug’: jury to deliberate as US trial over social media addiction wraps up

    Meta and YouTube accused of creating harmful products in trial seen as a bellwether for attitudes towards social media The first-ever jury trial over the potential harms of social media wrapped up on Thursday. Lawyers for Meta and YouTube have argued their platforms are safe for the vast majority of young people, while lawyers for…

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  • Elon Musk’s Tesla given go-ahead to supply electricity in Great Britain

    Ofgem licence means firm can replicate Texas setup of powering homes, businesses and EVs Elon Musk’s Tesla has won approval to supply electricity to households and businesses across Great Britain, as the tech billionaire expands his energy ambitions. The energy regulator, Ofgem, has formally granted Tesla an electricity supply licence, enabling it to provide electricity…

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  • ‘Invasive’ AI-led mass surveillance in Africa violating freedoms, warn experts

    Countries across the continent have spent more than $2bn on Chinese tracking technology that is not ‘necessary or proportionate’, new report finds The rapid expansion of AI-powered mass-surveillance systems across Africa is violating citizens’ right to privacy and having a chilling effect on society, according to experts on human rights and emerging technologies. At least…

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  • Musk’s xAI wins permit for datacenter’s makeshift power plant despite backlash

    Billionaire’s artificial intelligence company gets approval to run 41 methane gas turbines at its ‘Colossus 2’ in Mississippi Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI won approval on Tuesday to run 41 methane gas turbines at its “Colossus 2” datacenter in northern Mississippi. That’s nearly double the amount it has been operating. The turbines will help…

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  • Should we be boycotting ChatGPT? – podcast

    Rutger Bregman on why he thinks consumers should cancel their ChatGPT accounts The historian Rutger Bregman argues that consumers should boycott OpenAI’s ChatGPT after the company’s deal with the Pentagon. “A lot of people don’t know that their friendly chatbot, ChatGPT, has embedded itself into the authoritarian infrastructure of the Trump administration,” Bregman tells Helen…

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  • X suspends 800m accounts in one year amid ‘massive’ scale of manipulation attempts

    Social media company tells MPs of continual fight against state-backed efforts, with Russia being most prolific Elon Musk’s X said it had suspended 800m accounts over a 12-month period as it fights the “massive” scale of attempts to manipulate the platform. The social media company told MPs it was continually fighting state-backed attempts to hijack…

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  • Indonesia to ban social media for children under 16

    Platforms include YouTube, TikTok and Instagram as communication minister says ‘our children face real threats’ Indonesia will ban social media for children under 16, its communication and digital affairs minister said on Friday. Meutya Hafid said in a statement to media said that she signed a government regulation that will mean children under the age…

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