Google’s AI struggles scream trouble as new Chinese models (again) throw US tech dominance into question

Hello, I’m Blake Montgomery, writing to you after a double-header feature of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and the World Cup final. What a

Tech workers are increasingly unionizing, trading Silicon Valley’s myth of exceptionalism for collective bargaining to contest the corporate deployment of artificial intelligence

For decades, the technology industry was a fortress that labor unio

Historian Kim Phillips-Fein’s book Country of Lords looks back at the many men who have tried to fight against egalitarianism, from John Adams to Peter Thiel

The historian Kim Phillips-Fein’s new book is published amid celebrations of the 250th a

An autobiographical game about the devastating effects of chronic illness on an artist’s creative life gives players the chance to slow the pace right down

Bub does not look like a traditional video game. Artist and stop-motion animator

They claim to fix fine lines, blemishes, and redness – but which stand up to scrutiny? After consulting dermatologists and putting them to the test, we have crowned a brand new number one

• The best anti-ageing creams, serums and treatmen

Maps of Hope has been certified by Proudly Human, a company led by former chief scientist, Dr Alan Finkel

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Staff told positions will be cut via voluntary and targeted redundancies as part of ‘evolution’

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…

The company argues that it’s for individuals to ensure they don’t ‘actively exploit’ this technology. That won’t keep children safe

It took me a while to realise what the man sitting next to me on the train was doing. He was flicking through pict

Research during Hungary election shows AI recommended parties not running and gave highly volatile answers to identical prompts

AI chatbots provide inaccurate, inconsistent and unreliable guidance to voters asking which party they should back, a

Industry says government’s failure to address cooling demands means AI growth plans are ‘fatally flawed’

The UK will not have enough water for future datacentres, the water industry has said in stark criticism of the government’s AI growth plans.

Google’s ‘Debug’ project in California and Florida aims to reduce mosquito numbers by releasing millions of sterilised males

In the United States, Google’s (now Alphabet) Debug initiative has asked the federal government for permission to release

Anker 511 Nano 3 is the kind of charger you’ll want a few of, and for $15.99, you can afford to stock up

• This clever router fixed my spotty home wifi – and it’s currently on sale

A beefy USB charger with half a dozen ports

The developer of Duck Detective reveals details of her ‘sad grandma game’ follow-up: a whodunnit – or who-plans-to-do-it? – with a darker edge

Someone wants to kill grandma. In this Knives Out-inspired mystery game, each of your family m

The 764 network is just one part of a growing online ecosystem that pushes young members into brutal and degrading acts. It has perpetrators and victims in dozens of countries

In late 2024, in a quiet suburb of Stockholm, a 14-year-old boy approa

Global increase in cases of predators coercing children to harm themselves or produce child sexual abuse material

Cases of predators coercing children into producing sexual photos and videos of themselves have surged globally in the past year, a

Company aims to develop AI software that cuts research times and use of rare metals in chipmakers’ supply chains

• Business live – latest updates

Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, and the UK government have invested in a £2bn Br

Experts warn increase in enhanced photos on birding platforms creating fake sightings, threatening credibility of tool used by scientists

For many birdwatchers, recording a species outside its normal range is the holy grail. In the UK, the discov

New national plan is accompanied by Labor push for digital duty of care legislation

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The use

Surprisingly easy to manoeuvre and skilled at cleaning carpet and hard floor, Shark’s upright bagless model is one of the best corded vacuums I’ve tested

• The best vacuum cleaners

Corded vacuum cleaners aren’t as glamorous

Experts believe it’s at least possible. We urgently need a plan to navigate the ethical implications

In January, the AI company Anthropic published a new constitution for Claude, its most advanced large language model (LLM), which contained the c

New laws would give Vcat power to force social and AI platforms to identify anonymous users in move premier says will protect children

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Social media companies coul

They are out to steal your password to commit further fraud such as crypto scams or phishing attacks

You have had an X account for years, since it was known as Twitter. When an email arrives about a new login from a location nowhere near where yo

Australia risks ‘shipping’ intellectual capability overseas if educational rigour not restored, experts warn

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The PM’s vision must look beyond datacentres and copyright to questions of capability, security and public benefit

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Every new technology has a tipping point, when

MPs and industry experts say potential reorganisation will waste time at critical moment for AI and economic growth

Andy Burnham’s plan to scrap the government’s technology department has triggered an angry backlash from MPs, Whitehall officials

Cheerleading by the president, who made $1.2bn last year off uninsured currency, does not bode well for US economy

The scale of the graft is decidedly off the charts, but the revelation that Donald Trump raked in a personal fortune of $2.2bn duri

The Spanish-language broadcaster has won over millions of US viewers with its energetic commentary during games

Soccer fans looking to watch the 2026 World Cup on US television have been presented with two very different options this tournament.

Republican Josh Hawley accuses Mark Zuckerberg’s firm of relentlessly pursuing and attempting to bankrupt her

A US senator has accused Meta of using lawfare in “efforts to destroy” a whistleblower who made allegations about the social media compa

Shift in pecking order illustrates that investors are reassessing outlook for artificial intelligence

Apple overtook Nvidia on Friday to become the world’s most valuable company, reshuffling the top ranks of tech heavyweights as investors reasses

Meta touts safety features – but for women, the dangers of these recording devices are obvious

Imagine if every time you left the house, you couldn’t be sure that the stranger you met at a bar – or even the person walking by you in the street – w

Designers say that as well as offering a degree of protection from surveillance, their clothes make a powerful fashion statement about the importance of privacy

As facial recognition technology is rolled out across Britain’s public spaces, a new

Evil Empire creatives explain how it is playing to today’s ‘metroidvanias’ and honouring the original’s legacy with much fresh slaying to be done

Since the last Castlevania game hit the shelves (2014’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2), Kona

BBC Philharmonic/Havlat/Kaziboni/Piatti Quartet
(NMC)
Einstein’s field equations, Newton’s universal law and artificial intelligence are among the subjects of Laidlow’s ambitious orchestral works

Robert Laidlow is as at

Since 2017, Iason Gabriel has worked at the tech giant, trying to anticipate – and think through – the impact of AI. But as commercial and geopolitical pressures escalate, can ethicists make any difference?

By Robert P Baird. Read by Simon Darwen

Vicki Brady told senators maintenance staff were unaware of mass outage risk as critical software failure ‘rippled slowly across the network’

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The petition to Sundar Pichai, the CEO, included more than 4,500 signatures and included calls for buyout options

Google workers on Thursday delivered a petition calling for layoff protections as tech giants continue to slash their workforces whi

The entrepreneur is known in Washington as the financial power behind the president’s crypto fortune. How did Sun’s business love-in with the Trump family spiral into dueling lawsuits?

The most infamous financial scandal in US presidential histor

Case is one of first brought by an AI company against a user ⁠for allegedly using a tool to generate child abuse material

Elon Musk’s artificial-intelligence startup xAI has sued a South Carolina man arrested ⁠earlier this year on charges of sexu

Keith Thomas can move arms and hands, and feel sensation of touch after ‘double neural bypass’ and months of training

A man who was paralysed from the chest down in a swimming accident six years ago has been able to feed himself and drink from a

PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2; Undercoders
Colourful, counter-cultural and captivating – this rail riding game set in a dystopian Japan is as weird as it is exhilarating

Every now and again a game appears with

Ofcom concerned TikTok’s age verification is ineffective, leaving some exposed to posts on suicide, self-harm and pornography

TikTok is under formal investigation over concerns it has failed to protect children from harmful content, the UK’s onli

Thalha Jubair, 20, and Owen Flowers, 19, sentenced to five and a half years each for cyber-attack that cost Transport for London £39m

The data of millions of commuters was stolen, Londoners were left out of pocket and 27,000 Transport for London

Psychologist Candice Odgers has studied adolescent mental health for 25 years. She fears the current debate around smartphones obscures some of the biggest issues facing teenagers – from the impact of Covid to the health of their adult caregivers

Whistleblower suggests internal security services deployed spyware from 2017 against key domestic and foreign targets

A former member of Morocco’s domestic intelligence service has helped to provide an unprecedented insight into how the north Afr

Uncrewed systems are the future for armed forces and the Netherlands is leading the way ‘to keep people out of danger zones’

On each side of the target ship, a black vessel keeps a watchful distance. Defender 1 and Defender 2 are the eyes and ear

When the PM talks about new laws applying to the ‘next generation of large-scale datacentres’ what does he mean?

• Albanese’s AI blueprint sparks calls for datacentre moratorium until new regulations in place

Expectations we

AI-friendly president shared a post saying governor Kathy Hochul should scrap the one-year policy ‘IMMEDIATELY’

Donald Trump railed against the New York governor, Kathy Hochul, for pausing the construction of large new datacenters, the resource-i

All the young people the Guardian spoke to disagreed with aspects of the government’s proposed block

Sixteen- and 17-year-olds in Britain are to be encouraged to observe a midnight to 6am social media curfew but will be able to opt out by changin

The reality is Australia won’t be able to direct much of the activity of Anthropic, Microsoft, Google or OpenAI

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Prime minister’s plan will create energy regulations for datacentres in Australia

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Environmen