• Apple Drops $2 Billion on Israeli AI Facial Tracking Company

    Apple Drops $2 Billion on Israeli AI Facial Tracking Company
    Tim Cook is having a week.
  • Big tech results show investor demand for payoffs from heavy AI spending

    Meta wowed Wall Street with improvements in ad targeting fueled by AI alongside huge investment. Microsoft had less to show for its billions spentBig tech earnings so far this week have sent a clear warning: investors are willing to overlook soaring spending on artificial intelligence if it fuels strong growth, but are quick to punish companies that fall short.The contrast was clear in Thursday’s stock market reaction to earnings from Microsoft and Meta, highlighting how dramatically the s
  • Lloyds boss warns bankers must ‘reskill themselves’ to survive AI boom

    Charlie Nunn says banks will be hiring staff with different skill sets as customer experience will ‘radically change’Business live – latest updatesThe boss of Lloyds Banking Group has warned that bankers will need to “reskill themselves” to survive the oncoming AI boom that stands to transform the financial services sector.Charlie Nunn told reporters on Thursday that while he could not predict the full impact that AI would have over the next decade, it was clear tha
  • Scientists found a way to cool quantum computers using noise

    Quantum computers need extreme cold to work, but the very systems that keep them cold also create noise that can destroy fragile quantum information. Scientists in Sweden have now flipped that problem on its head by building a tiny quantum refrigerator that actually uses noise to drive cooling instead of fighting it. By carefully steering heat at unimaginably small scales, the device can act as a refrigerator, heat engine, or energy amplifier inside quantum circuits.
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  • US leads record global surge in gas-fired power driven by AI demands, with big costs for the climate

    Projects this year expected to triple global gas capacity, forecast finds, as concerns grow over impacts on planetThe US is leading a huge global surge in new gas-fired power generation that will cause a major leap in planet-heating emissions, with this record boom driven by the expansion of energy-hungry datacenters to service artificial intelligence, according to a new forecast.This year is set to shatter the annual record for new gas power additions around the world, with planned and under-co
  • 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 videoMillions 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 identified at least 150 Telegram channels – large encrypted group chats popular for their secure communication – that appear to have users in man
  • Millions created deepfake nudes on Telegram as AI tools drive global wave of digital abuse

    Analysis finds at least 150 channels on messaging app that have distributed AI-generated images and videoMillions of people around the world have created and shared 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 identified at least 150 Telegram channels – large encrypted group chats popular for their secure communication – that appeared to have users in many c
  • The slopaganda era: 10 AI images posted by the White House - and what they teach us

    Under Donald Trump, the White House has filled its social media with memes, wishcasting, nostalgia and deepfakes. Here’s what you need to know to navigate the trollingIt started with an image of Trump as a king mocked up on a fake Time magazine cover. Since then it’s developed into a full-blown phenomenon, one academics are calling “slopaganda” – an unholy alliance of easily available AI tools and political messaging. “Shitposting”, the publishing of del
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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 updatesThe UK could introduce a universal basic income 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 of the technology would mean there would have to be “some sort of concessionary arrangement with jobs tha
  • 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 effortSummer after summer, I used to descend into a creek that had carved a deep bed shaded by trees and lined with blackberry bushes whose long thorny canes arced down from the banks, dripping with sprays of fruit. Down in that creek, I’d spend hours picking until I had a few gallons
  • What technology takes from us – and how to take it back

    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 effortSummer after summer, I used to descend into a creek that had carved a deep bed shaded by trees and lined with blackberry bushes whose long thorny canes arced down from the banks, dripping with sprays of fruit. Down in that creek, I’d spend hours picking until I had a few gallons
  • South Korea’s ‘world-first’ AI laws face pushback amid bid to become leading tech power

    The laws have been criticised by tech startups, which say they go too far, and civil society groups, which say they don’t go far enoughSouth Korea has embarked on a foray into the regulation of AI, launching what has been billed as the most comprehensive set of laws anywhere in the world, that could prove a model for other countries, but the new legislation has already encountered pushback.The laws, which will force companies to label AI-generated content, have been criticised by local tec