Team behind AI program AlphaFold win Lasker science prize

Award for work on shapes of proteins raises prospect of AI research earning a Nobel for first timeResearchers behind Google DeepMind’s AlphaFold program have landed one of the most prestigious prizes in science for solving a grand challenge in biology that stood for half a century.Demis Hassabis and John Jumper, who led the development of AlphaFold, an artificial intelligence program, share the $250,000 Lasker basic medical research award for their “revolutionary technology” to

Shares in Uber, Mastercard and American Express fall on back of apocalypse scenario posted on SubstackUS stock markets have been hit by a further wave of AI jitters, this time from yet another viral – and completely speculative – warning about the impact of the technology on the world’s largest economy.The latest foreboding is from Citrini Research, a little-known US firm that provides insights on “transformative ‘megatrends’”. Its post on Substack, whic

New constructions delayed or cancelled, raising questions about US’s ability to expand infrastructure to support boomCancellations and delays of new US datacenters have increased as the artificial intelligence boom runs up against a slate of issues, including supply chain snags, energy shortages and tariff-induced restraints.Grassroots opposition from local communities has also derailed some plans, and some investors have grown wary of datacenters amid fears of an AI bubble. Continue readi

We report from California’s Silicon Valley, where billionaires pour money into midterms, and the AI Impact summit, where India pushes back on ‘AI monopoly’ held by US and ChinaHello, and welcome to TechScape. This week, we’re examining the tech industry’s push for influence in two places separated by a time difference of 13 hours and 30 minutes. The first is where tech sees its next big market, the second its home turf. My colleague Robert Booth reports from last we

AI is already coming for our dignity – tricking us with amusing little online scenarios. How long before it comes for everything else?
Moan all you like about technology, there’s no denying it’s made friendship easier. In an ideal world you would spend quality time together, have deep meaningful chats on the phone and swap well thought out, insightful texts. But when you’re busy, tired, or just not in the mood, what a relief that you can send a meme, or a quick video, and

Facebook owner’s investment described by semiconductor company as ‘big bet’ on artificial intelligenceBusiness live – latest updatesThe owner of Facebook has agreed to buy $60bn (£44.5bn) of artificial intelligence chips from the US semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices despite fears over the vast sums being spent on the AI industry.Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, has clinched the five-year deal in which it will also buy 10% of the chip company.

Justice secretary says only his measures will stop backlog in England and Wales from increasing exponentiallyThe backlog in criminal courts in England and Wales will take a decade to fall to pre-Covid levels despite radical changes including curtailing jury trials, according to figures from the Ministry of Justice.The justice secretary, David Lammy, said the government was determined to press ahead with the jury trial changes despite a potential rebellion from Labour MPs. He took aim at critics,

We explore the strange food-obsessed world of a new game whose tech was once called ‘an insult to life itself’ by Hayao Miyazaki, the film-maker behind Spirited AwayA strange piece of software has recently landed on the PC gaming store Steam. And “software” feels like the cleanest way to describe it. Existing somewhere between a full-blown life sim, a science project and a kind of haunted fish tank, Anlife: Motion-learning Life Evolution probably would have disappeared wi

Exclusive: NCA’s Alex Murray says he hopes new £115m police AI centre can limit unfairness found in tools‘It’s not Robocop’: UK police embrace AI ‘efficiency’ in complex investigationsA police chief has admitted artificial intelligence used to boost crime fighting will contain bias but pledged to combat the risks.Labour wants a dramatic expansion of police use of AI within England and Wales, with police chiefs also believing it could help keep law enforc

Detectives say tools supplied by Palantir were integral to convictions of a criminal gang that stole £800,000It was fraud on a grand scale. The “Fuck the Police” criminal gang based in Luton and Romania stole £800,000 in more than 3,000 withdrawals from cash machines in dozens of locations throughout 2024.The police investigation matched the crime in its complexity. When detectives in Bedfordshire seized the suspects’ two dozen smartphones, they were faced with a mo

Long-awaited news bargaining code with Google, Meta and TikTok at risk of further delay, chief executive saysSign up for Guardian Australia’s free weekly media newsletter hereThe head of Nine Entertainment has called on the prime minister to prioritise a policy to force global platforms to compensate local media as artificial intelligence-fuelled big tech disrupts the revenue models of publishers around the world.Nine’s chief executive officer, Matt Stanton, said while presenting the

Long-awaited news bargaining code with Google, Meta and TikTok at risk of further delay, chief executive saysSign up for Guardian Australia’s free weekly media newsletter hereThe head of Nine Entertainment has called on the prime minister to prioritise a policy to force global platforms to compensate local media as artificial intelligence-fuelled big tech disrupts the revenue models of publishers around the world.Nine’s chief executive officer, Matt Stanton, said while presenting the

When the most profound human emotion becomes an automated transaction in an online shop, the techlords have wonThe Guardian reported on the arrival of “Fate” and, friends, I laughed. Or maybe I cried.It’s apparently the first “agentic AI dating app”. An AI personality named “Fate” interviews users, runs data matches on their hopes and dreams, then suggests five potential matches based on the hard data of observable complementary language patterning, &ldq

Anthropic says three Chinese firms used ‘distillation’ technique to extract information from its Claude chatbotUS artificial intelligence company Anthropic said on Monday it had uncovered campaigns by three Chinese AI firms to illicitly extract capabilities from its Claude chatbot, in what it described as industrial-scale intellectual property theft. OpenAI leveled similar charges last month.Anthropic said DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, and MiniMax used a technique known as “distillati

Ofgem says about 140 proposed projects, driven by AI use, could require more power than current peak demandThe amount of power being sought by new datacentre projects in Great Britain would exceed the national current peak electricity consumption, according to an industry watchdog.Ofgem said about 140 proposed datacentre schemes, driven by use of artificial intelligence, could require 50 gigawatts of electricity – 5GW more than the country’s current peak demand. Continue reading...

This US tech giant should not have been given NHS or Ministry of Defence contracts, writes Stephen Saunders. Plus a letter from Jan SavageFor 100 years, the UK government has led us through existential threats, including two world wars. But instead of resisting the latest threat to democratic accountability, it has welcomed it with open arms: Palantir Technologies (NHS deal with AI firm Palantir called into question after officials’ concerns revealed, 12 February).This polarising US survei

OpenAI CEO also downplayed concerns about how much water datacenters require at AI summit in IndiaOpenAI boss Sam Altman has tried to ease concerns about how much power is used by artificial intelligence models by comparing it to the amount of energy required by human development.“People talk about how much energy it takes to train an AI model – but it also takes a lot of energy to train a human,” Altman told The Indian Express recently while in India for the AI Impact summit.

Ofgem says about 140 proposed projects, driven by AI use, could require more power than current peak demandThe amount of power being sought by new datacentre projects in the UK would exceed the country’s current peak electricity consumption, according to an industry watchdog.Ofgem said about 140 proposed datacentre schemes, driven by use of artificial intelligence, could require 50 gigawatts of electricity – 5GW more than the country’s current peak demand. Continue reading...

Ofgem says about 140 proposed projects, driven by AI use, could require 50 gigawatts of electricityThe amount of power being sought by new datacentre projects in Great Britain would exceed the national current peak electricity consumption, according to an industry watchdog.Ofgem said about 140 proposed datacentre schemes, driven by use of artificial intelligence, could require 50 gigawatts of electricity – 5GW more than the country’s current peak demand. Continue reading...

Amid talk of artificial intelligence taking our jobs, the big unasked question is: how will we be fed?How will we be fed? That’s the biggest question not seriously being addressed amid all this talk about whether or not artificial intelligence will end up taking over all of our jobs.Formidable though the technology appears, similar fears have popped up repeatedly since the Industrial Revolution, and most working-age adults remain employed. Still, what is sorely missing is a serious debate

New subscription features on app for gay and bisexual men come with a price tag – from $109.99 a month in Australia to $349 in the USFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAmid dating app fatigue and concerns over the safety of its users, Grindr is testing out highly priced subscriptions that will incorporate AI into finding people matches.The app for gay and bisexual men shows users’ profiles in a grid for tho

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions asks whether we could cope with a world where computer gave up saying no …Readers reply: what would be the most socially useful way to spend a billion dollars?After years of computer saying no, and giving us all migraines and premature grey hair, I’m starting to worry that computer – or rather AI large language models like ChatGPT and Gemini – are taking too much of a fancy to playing nice and

The fast take-up of innovative technology risks creating a ‘two-speed system’, an Independent Schools Australia paper warnsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastOnce upon a time, school students would submit an essay, and teachers would mark it. Job done.Enter “Thinking Mode”. Now, in some Australian schools, once a student finishes an assignment an AI chatbot will interrogate them about it: put them on the spot in a two-way dialogue, to make sure the

Exclusive: Police Federation condemns deployment of US firm’s tech to analyse behaviour as ‘automated suspicion’Scotland Yard is using AI tools supplied by the US tech company Palantir to monitor staff behaviour in an attempt to root out failing officers, the Guardian has learned.The Metropolitan police has previously declined to confirm or deny whether it used technology supplied by the company, which also works for the Israeli military and Donald Trump’s ICE operation.