‘These are some of the most complex structures ever created’: how tech reporting moved into the physical world

The Guardian’s global tech reporting team are investigating the impact of the vast datacentres being built to power the AI revolution. We spoke to them about how their beat has become increasingly offlineJournalists often use the term “shoe-leather reporting” to refer to the on-the-ground legwork that goes into covering certain stories. As the tech industry’s focus has shifted from screen-based realities to the physical world of colossal AI datacentres and social media ha

Josh Fawaz’s song, a cover of Like a Prayer, has raised questions about how generative AI is being used in music and whether it should be declaredAn Australian producer has gone from little-known artist to viral sensation in a matter of months, with his hit song catapulting on to global charts and receiving thousands of radio spins.There’s just one problem: music experts and other musicians are questioning whether he produced it. They claim Josh Fawaz’s most popular song, a cov

Senior China correspondent Amy Hawkins on China’s embrace of AI, from medical avatars to food delivery drones and state surveillanceWhile the spread of AI has been met perhaps with a lot of scepticism in the west, China has fully embraced the technology, explains Amy Hawkins, from millions of users talking to AI doctors, to the use of intelligent robots in factories, and drones delivering food on the Great Wall of China.AI has also been eagerly taken up by the state, not least in the oppor

Odyssey director addresses industry fears over artificial intelligence and says rightwing criticism of Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy is ‘irrelevant’The Oscar-winning director Christopher Nolan believes the kind of movies he makes – big-budget action films shot mostly on location – would survive the spread of artificial intelligence, a technology he says many people “disdain”.The Oppenheimer and The Dark Knight director is promoting his latest blockbust

Software engineering was one of the best-paying professions in the US in 2022, but the advent of AI has disrupted it, leading to several layoffs and underemploymentEvery weekday, Matt, a software engineer, looks forward to his four-hour train commute to Pawling, New York. It’s time he uses to work on his own project: a browser-based video game for which he writes every line of code himself.“I am actively trying to keep my axe sharp,” said Matt, who did not want to use his actua

Anthony Albanese will deliver a landmark speech on AI this week as MPs are torn between attracting datacentre investment and protecting the rights of creativesFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesWhen Anna Funder stood before a pack of journalists at Parliament House this month, she presented herself not just as a writer but also a “victim of crime”.The Stasiland author was using the analogy to illustrate how technology companies have flagrantly “hoovered up&rd

Experts say there will still be opportunities ahead in everything from teaching to hotels and the lawEntering the world of work often brings some uncertainty, but now there is another question: how can I AI-proof my career?We asked people from across various industries what they think the impact of AI will be on careers, and which jobs may be less affected. While it is still early days for the tech, many had ideas about how you can best prepare yourself for a successful career in this new w

Microsoft, Amazon and Google say they still aim to achieve net zero output despite construction boomMicrosoft, Amazon and Google’s collective carbon emissions have increased by nearly a fifth in the past year, driven largely by datacentre construction.In the financial year ending March 2026, the three tech companies emitted 119m mTCO₂e (metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent), or about a third of those of France. Continue reading...

Acting is about human connection across cultural and social divides. But we can’t expect much of that in the ‘Tillyverse’Rejoice, cinema lovers. Tilly Norwood is back! Not familiar? I don’t blame you, as she’s not exactly a household name yet – though a fleet of well-fed publicists is certainly trying to rectify that. Tilly Norwood is an “AI actor”, as in, an actor that’s not actually an actor at all. Just a series of digital blobs and lines

Meta was criticised for feature launched on Tuesday that automatically lets users generate images using content from public Instagram accountsMeta has said ⁠it is discontinuing an AI feature launched this week that allowed users to generate images using public Instagram ⁠accounts, after drawing widespread ⁠criticism over ​privacy concerns, including from a Hollywood union.“Our intent was to provide a useful creative tool and to give people control ⁠over whethe

Suit claims OpenAI poached Apple workers, coaxing them to share confidential material in bid to create hardwareApple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on Friday alleging the artificial intelligence firm stole company trade secrets in a move to create its own hardware device.The suit claims OpenAI poached Apple employees, coaxing them to hand over confidential material, product designs and other tightly held information. Continue reading...

Direct oversight of ‘critical third parties’ such as Oracle and Microsoft given to ensure resilient cyber-defences and help safeguard UK economyThe Bank of England has been handed powers to regulate important tech firms including Amazon and Google from next week, amid fears that system failures could threaten financial stability and harm consumers.From Monday, the Bank and fellow City regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will be in charge of ensuring that four large-scale

From welfare and defence spending to cost of living and geopolitics, we look at the key issues left over from StarmerAndy Burnham is expected to become prime minister in less than two weeks and has promised to significantly change Labour’s agenda and deliver improvements for all parts of the UK.But he will arrive with a bulging in-tray of challenges and issues left over from Keir Starmer – from geopolitics to the cost of living. Here is what Burnham can expect to find behind the Down

Civil liberties groups say Facewatch system in stores such as Sainsbury’s and B&M is ‘dangerous escalation’Facial recognition technology in shops will soon alert police in real time to the presence of serious offenders, with civil liberties groups warning of a “dangerous escalation” towards surveillance and criminalisation in the retail sector.Facewatch, a facial recognition system used by more than 100 businesses including Sainsbury’s, B&M and Spar to

Exclusive: Senator Ed Markey on why he has proposed legislation aimed at curbing datacenters, automated hiring systems and harm to childrenUS senator Ed Markey is worried about the perils of unregulated artificial intelligence.What part? All of it: the costs associated with thirsty, energy-guzzling datacenters, intrusive workplace surveillance, bias in discriminatory algorithms, AI overriding workers’ judgments, and deepening economic inequality – as those who profit most from AI rak

SK hynix, a supplier of advanced memory chips, has seen profits skyrocket thanks to the global race to build AI datacentresSouth Korean chip maker SK hynix set pricing for its mega US listing on Friday, aiming to raise $26.5bn as it takes advantage of the AI boom in what will be one of the world’s biggest ever stock sales.The Asian semiconductor giant plans to issue the equivalent of about 18m shares on Wall Street’s tech-heavy Nasdaq index later in the day. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Plan to improve skills of thousands of financial sector workers to keep pace with tech revolutionChancellor Rachel Reeves is to announce a new City “skills compact” that will commit firms such as Barclays and Lloyds to retraining thousands of financial sector workers for the AI revolution.The financial services skills compact will be launched on Tuesday, during what is likely to be Reeves’s final Mansion House speech to City bosses before Andy Burnham’s expecte

Returning from annual leave, Telstra chief executive Vicki Brady has faced a barrage of questions for the first time since the company's nationwide outage on Wednesday affected train services, payment systems and triple zero calls. Brady says the failure was not the result of job restructuring, insisting that 'people and processes worked as they should have'. She said Telstra would conduct a thorough investigation into the software glitch behind the outage.An earlier headline on this video incor

Schwarzman Centre, Oxford
Headlong’s take on Karel Čapek’s 1920 tale of romance and robots is rife with timely debates about tech’s threat but at times the philosophical discussions drag onIf our world is currently thinking through the brave new future of generative AI and super intelligence, Karel Čapek’s 1920 play RUR: Rossum’s Universal Robots proves the notion of robot consciousness and rebellion is not a new anxiety. So does Mary Shelley’s Frank

Plans to build a NZ$3.5bn datacentre in Makarewa in the country’s south has drawn concern about electricity and water use, and potential noise pollutionPeople living near the site of New Zealand’s first planned AI datacentre are calling for more transparency about the project, especially about how the centre’s huge electricity and water use and potential noise pollution could affect them.Singapore-based company Datagrid has secured approval to build a NZ$3.5bn (US$2bn) AI datac

Instagram users should check privacy settings after rollout of new Meta AI image generator, advocates warnMeta has sparked blowback from privacy advocates for allowing its new AI image maker to generate photos of users with public profiles by default.Users of Meta’s Muse Image AI tool, released Tuesday, can tag public Instagram profiles and generate pictures that pull from faces of people featured in these social media posts. Instagram users are not notified when their posts are integrated

Newly minted rich and those anticipating huge IPOs are fueling buying and charter spree in the private jet sectorSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email Aviation lawyer Amanda Applegate skipped her annual vacation last month as a surge of wealth from AI startups and SpaceX sent a wave of tech investors shopping for private jets, ⁠burying her in paperwork for aircraft-purchase agreements.The ⁠attorney, based in Cleveland, Ohio, attributed the rush to a handful ​of majo

Staggered release of ChatGPT 5.6 follows similar restrictions on rival firm Anthropic’s latest AI modelsOpenAI released its latest advanced AI model, called ChatGPT 5.6, on Thursday after earlier delaying the public rollout over US government concerns about cybersecurity. The Trump administration had requested last month that OpenAI limit the release to a small group of government-approved users.OpenAI complied with the White House’s request last month. The company stated in a blogpo

AI companies want to capture the value created by entire industries. That concentration of wealth and power is society’s greatest riskOpposition to AI datacenters has emerged as a primary theme in US politics, one that – surprisingly – doesn’t fall along party lines. We applaud people coming together for constructive debate on any issue, and agree that communities need to evaluate whether any economic benefits these datacenters bring is worth their costs. Still, we worry

We don’t need AI videos of fake animals. There are real ones out there and they’re really cuteGenerative AI has gone too far. Many have said it, but I need to add my human voice to the cacophony.There are many reasons I dislike the growing use of generative AI. It is environmentally disastrous, necessitating massive, water-guzzling datacentres. In a world where many people do not have access to clean water and where countries like Australia suffer worsening droughts, people are unthi

Meta said it was working with officials to be a ‘good neighbor’ and drinking water supplies were not affectedOfficials in Wyoming said a contractor for Mark Zuckerberg’s tech company, Meta, flushed bacteria-contaminated water into public sewers during construction of a controversial new AI datacenter.The incident prompted water authorities in Cheyenne to implement strict safety regulations on how wastewater from such projects is disposed of, according to the Wyoming Tribune Eag