Home city of Amazon and Microsoft passes moratorium as backlash against energy-guzzling AI infrastructure grows

Seattle has passed a year-long moratorium on the construction of new datacenters. The city council voted unanimously in favor of the t

AI company restricted access to Fable 5, its most powerful Mythos model, for months over cybersecurity concerns

Anthropic, the maker of the Claude artificial intelligence (AI) models, made a new version of its technology available to the general

Bluetooth sleep masks block out light and let you stream audio. I spent weeks testing some of the top-rated ones on the market

• The best sleep masks in the US: I spent nine weeks testing 32 masks, and these are my favorites

US embassy came out against UK’s proposed under-16 social media ban, which would affect American firms

White House displeasure over the prospect of an under-16 social media ban will not deter the UK from cracking down on tech platforms, the Briti

Tech company says it ‘caught and disrupted’ NSO Group’s attempts to access accounts in Jordan and Lebanon

A spyware firm has been targeting WhatsApp users with malicious links in contravention of a US court order forbidding it from doing so, Met

US spy-tech company to challenge London mayor’s intervention after he raised concerns over breach of procurement rules

Palantir intends to sue the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, after he blocked a contract between the US spy-tech firm and the Metropol

Also: Anthropic advocates for a ‘pause’ on AI advancement – days after filing to go public on the US stock market

Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, the US tech editor at the Guardian. Today we’re discussing Donald

Governor urges people to report videos on X that falsely show the men clashing in the Question Time studio

The Bank of England has warned the public against falling for AI-generated scams after deepfake videos of Nigel Farage fighting its govern

Medical Protection Society calls for law to be overhauled to help medics avoid liability for errors made by technology

Doctors and the NHS could be sued for medical negligence over mistakes made by artificial intelligence tools used in diagnosing

Datacentre off Shanghai coast uses less power and water than land-based equivalent

The world’s first wind-powered underwater datacentre has started operations off the coast of Shanghai, as China presses forwards with solutions for energy challen

David Lammy to announce trial of AI assistants in crown courts in effort to cut backlog of cases

A plan to roll out virtual legal assistants powered by artificial intelligence to crown courts has prompted warnings that the technology should not b

Echo project will help erase images as part of package of support to end ‘prolonged suffering of survivors’

Victims of child sexual abuse in England and Wales will be given help to remove online images of their abuse as part of a wider package of

ChatGPT maker expected to be valued at more than $850bn, one of most highly valued listings in market history

OpenAI has filed confidentially to go public on the US stock market, according to a company blogpost published on Monday. The artificial

At his final WWDC keynote, Tim Cook highlights AI-forward upgrade to the voice assistant to be widely released in fall

After years of anticipation, user frustration and false starts, Apple announced a major upgrade to Siri at its annual developer

Hundreds of video games were shown at June’s annual bonanza. After watching more than 15 hours of showcases, our video games editor picks the highlights

The sequel to a revered 2014 horror game from British developer Creative Assembly: this time

Launchers that shoot ‘bullet-like missiles’, chemical irritants and stinger grenades: experts say these weapons can cause serious injury or even death. But they are deployed by police against crowds with little scrutiny

Projectiles that release p

We cannot afford to make the same mistake as we did with gas. If tech companies are going to use our land, energy and water for AI, they must pay their fair share of tax

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• Regulator will monitor measures taken by companies

• ‘Spikes have often targeted Black and minority ethnic players’

Ofcom has written to social media companies to remind them of their responsibilities regarding onli

Our writer found a surprisingly effective way to cut down his smartphone use. Plus, what to eat while watching the World Cup – inspired by all 48 teams

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I recently

Drops follow sharp sell-off of US tech stock last week while oil prices seesaw after Iran and Israel exchange strikes

Stock markets have fallen amid concern about the prospects for tech stocks, while oil prices have risen after renewed conflict i

In response to AI’s hyperrealism, artists and creatives are gravitating toward the homespun and imperfect

Earlier this year, a group of film-makers, commercial directors and AI industry influencers gathered in New York City for the Runway AI Summ

Guardian analysis finds facilities to be built in some of the driest areas as outcry grows over water needed to power AI

A record-shattering drought has racked much of the US. But the artificial intelligence industry is pushing ahead regardless,

Released just before the World Cup kicks off, this upstart football game is positioning itself as a credible alternative to EA Sports FC

This month something extremely unusual happened in the video game world: someone launched a new football game

While we do not outright oppose the taking of AI company stock, or of a US a sovereign wealth fund, there are better ways to achieve the senator’s goals

Let no one accuse Bernie Sanders of ducking the big questions. Writing in the New York Times

Companies such as Apple and Google have until September to install software or face legislation, says PM

Apple and Google have been given until September to install software that blocks explicit images on children’s mobile phones or face legislat

Insurer found 18,400 suspect claims last year with some scammers using AI to fake accident scenes and documents

Bogus insurance claims worth more than £230m were detected by the insurance firm Aviva last year as scammers tried new tricks includin

Meta’s former head of global affairs says executives pivoted right in some cases for ‘rather more self-interested’ reasons

Silicon Valley companies including Meta have decided to embrace Maga politics, some for “rather more self-interested” reaso

90s PlayStation fans, rejoice: California studio Toys for Bob is making Spyro: Realms Beyond, intended to ‘inspire love, joy and laughter’

As the gaming mascots of millennial childhood have been resuscitated one by one for a nostalgic audience, o

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions explores a topical issue of personal cybersecurity

• Readers reply: If an alien asked you: ‘What is music?’ what would you play for them?

I’ve been str

Holy Family Catholic primary school says enthusiastic response from parents has been biggest surprise

Schools banning pupils from having smartphones are commonplace. But what about a school where pupils ban teachers from using their smartphones,

Expenditure is growing fast and consumer take-up accelerating. But alarm bells are sounding

The race is very much on. Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which makes AI models as well as space rockets, announced last week it is seeking a $1.77tn (£1.31tn) valua

Backlash against AI is taking an extremist turn, following in the footsteps of earlier techno-pessimist militants

When a 20-year-old man from Texas was arrested earlier this year for allegedly trying to burn down OpenAI’s headquarters and Sam Alt

Buyers are ripped off after assuming online stores were genuine because they are recommended by an AI tool

You want to buy a new bag and so you ask ChatGPT for help. You have always liked Russell & Bromley so you ask ChatGPT what is popular t

Plan backed by Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary had footprint reduced but concerns remain over its health impacts

Utah residents have teamed up with a progressive non-profit organization to sue over an under-development AI datacenter backed by celebrit

Kristen Gonzalez, a state senator who authored the bill, said moratorium would target ‘hyperscale’ datacenters over 20MW

New York moved closer toward becoming the first US state to enact a moratorium on large datacenters this week. On Thursday, t

Technology secretary promises to support people whose jobs are swept away by automation

Liz Kendall has insisted Labour will make artificial intelligence “work for workers”, and not abandon people whose jobs are swept away by its rapid advance.…

US firm says it will convene policymakers for discussion of dangers, in post detailing progress of its Claude model

Anthropic has floated the idea of a worldwide “temporary pause” on AI development – and said it was going to convene “policymakers

Royal Court, London
Teenage girls discuss the horrors they have seen via their phones as Georgie Dettmer’s reckoning with internet culture is brutally realised by director Jess Edwards

Georgie Dettmer’s gaze is unflinching.

As demand for cobalt, gold and other minerals grows, mining is accelerating deforestation in the Congo basin – and increasing the risk of deadly Ebola outbreaks

For decades after the discovery of Ebolavirus in 1976, outbreaks of the disease were

Jess Asato’s lawyer says others want to take action over demeaning sexualised material created by Grok AI tool

New claimants have come forward to take legal action against Elon Musk’s company xAI after the Labour MP Jess Asato launched a test cas

Tech giants claim Australia’s free trade agreement with US will be violated as they try to kill a proposal to force them to pay news companies

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Without disclosing that work has been generated using the technology, faith in existing industries will continue to be undermined

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PM says Britons are ‘reasonable, tolerant people’ and backs MP’s legal action against Grok firm over fake sexualised images

• UK politics live – latest updates

Elon Musk is “interfering in our politics” and attempting to cre

Ministers should end Palantir’s contract before medical confidentiality is sacrificed to Silicon Valley’s appetite for public data

Alarm bells ought to have rung when it emerged last month that Palantir engineers could gain “unlimited access” to

Deliveries in 30 minutes or less coming to Manchester and Birmingham and fresh groceries service to start in London

Amazon is expanding fast-track deliveries in the UK, including adding fresh fruit and vegetables to same-day services, after clos

Nothing does more for your ego than realising you can make a better decision than a bot with all of human knowledge at its digital fingertips

I am not, by nature, an early adopter. There comes a point in our lives where change becomes more irrita

IPO could raise up to $75bn, giving SpaceX market value of $1.77tn as it sets up Musk for extraordinary wealth

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is looking to raise $75bn (£55bn) from its blockbuster stock market listing next week as the rocket company aims for

Want to spend less time on your phone? We asked psychotherapists, professors and specialists for practical (and achievable) ways to cut down

• The best screen-free activities

Everywhere you look, people are glued to their s

Stronger checks likely to be needed in England to safeguard reputation of GCSEs and A-levels, says Ian Bauckham

Cheating in exams could be magnified by the new generation of wearable hi-tech devices such as smartglasses or invisible earpieces, ac

In 2025, the tech journalist invited artificial intelligence to do nearly everything for her, including editing the book she was writing about the experiment. Some of it was useful, some not – but it was her time with a chatbot companion that really sh