445 articles from The Guardian Tech
Updated 8 minutes ago
Six-year-old Lian Yunzhi broke the women’s 3x3 average world record twice at two World Cube Association-certified competitions in Wuhan and Guangzhou, according to state broadcaster CCTV on Monday. She posted averages of 4.52 and 4.27 seconds, after solving the Rubik’s Cube five times. She is the first female speedcuber to average less than 4.5 seconds. Continue reading...
theguardian.com
US president calls UK prime minister ‘a natural businessperson’ as leaders meet at UN assembly in New York Donald Trump has asserted his relationship with the UK is “more up” with Andy Burnham than under Keir Starmer despite tensions between the two countries on a range of thorny issues including regulation of artificial intelligence, the Chagos islands and the war in Iran. At their first face-to-face meeting, the US president praised Burnham, who sat nervously alongside him, as a “natural businessperson”, saying…
theguardian.com
Lian Yunzhi solves 3x3 puzzle on several occasions in average time of under 4.5 seconds, according to state media A six-year-old Chinese girl has set a new women’s world record for solving a Rubik’s Cube in just over four seconds, state media reported. “Speedcuber” Lian Yunzhi broke the women’s 3x3 average world record twice this month at two World Cube Association certified competitions in Wuhan and Guangzhou, according to state broadcaster CCTV on Monday. Continue reading...
theguardian.com
Alongside warnings about its ability to destroy humanity, artificial intelligence is also hailed for its potential to revolutionise health treatment. Just how far can it take us? Her name was June. June would be the last month she ever knew. I remember the way her bed made her so small, swallowed her up in the middle of the room, turned as it was to face the window. With her liver failing, her skin was a ghostly apricot. June – I called her Nan – had been stalked by the king of terrors, the emperor of all…
theguardian.com
The former UK deputy prime minister is a board member of the UK-based company and owns 917,000 shares Nick Clegg could make approximately $40m (£30m) from the planned float of Nscale as the UK-based datacentre company prepares for a US stock market listing. The former UK deputy prime minister owns more than 917,000 shares in the startup, which is reportedly seeking a valuation of up to $35bn in a flotation. Based on Clegg’s stake of 0.12%, that could yield a valuation of about $42m for the ex-Liberal Democrat…
theguardian.com
António Guterres says humanity faces unprecedented convergence of threats but mechanisms for collective action are under growing strain The world’s fault lines have turned from cracks into canyons as superpowers show that they alone do not have the military, economic and technological power to guarantee security or solve the world’s problems, the outgoing secretary general of the United Nations has said in his final address to the general assembly. In a speech laced with despair but also glimpses of defiant hope,…
theguardian.com
Independent outlets are leaning on social media, chat and other nontraditional methods to fight disinformation When Allan Marrero, an asylum seeker from the Cayman Islands , was released after five months in immigration detention, his family made sure to invite one journalist to his celebration: Eileen Grench, a reporter with the independent, non-profit news outlet Documented. Grench had previously reported on Marrero , who was detained after interviewing with federal officials for a marriage-based green card. But…
theguardian.com
As animal behaviorists increasingly use AI in their research, they grapple with how to wield the technology responsibly I’m sitting in a small boat in Shark Bay, Australia, eavesdropping on a conversation between some of Earth’s most intelligent beings. The motor is off, the turquoise sea is glassy, and Stephanie King and I are motionless, transfixed by the whistles, clicks and squeezy, whirring noises made by the dolphins swimming below us. If anyone could tell me what these big-brained social mammals are saying,…
theguardian.com
Former chancellor, now senior figure at OpenAI, says UK needs datacentres to maintain ‘sovereignty’ over AI tech UK politics live – latest updates Datacentre nimbys are holding Britain back, George Osborne has said in reaction to nationwide protests about the giant water- and energy-guzzling structures. The former Tory chancellor is now the head of AI for countries at OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT. His job is to represent the company to governments around the world and he also has a role in enabling the…
theguardian.com
US president says Burnham will be ‘a great PM’ in friendly first meeting on the sidelines of UN General Assembly but makes jibe at Starmer If Andy Burnham wanted to inject some edge into his meeting with Donald Trump later (which he doesn’t), he could bring along a copy of today’s Financial Times. This front page headline speaks for itself. Mortgages ‘on the front line’ as Iran war deals £840 blow to homeowners British homeowners are paying an average of £840 a year more when they refinance their mortgages, as the…
theguardian.com
PlayStation 5, Xbox, PC; Remedy A surprisingly conventional game from a famously weird developer, this sequel to 2019’s Control is accomplished but safe This is an arthouse action game from Finnish developer Remedy, masters of exactly this type of thing. It’s a sequel, however, so not only must it clear the high bar that its strikingly distinctive predecessor has set – it must also ideally arrive with a bushel of new ideas. There are clear and valuable strengths here in character progression and the lustrous…
theguardian.com
RBA governor says AI is ‘great white hope’ but its adoption is so far adding to inflation, rather than economic growth Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Reserve Bank governor said AI could be a bubble and there was no evidence it is making the economy more efficient, as the Albanese government claims the technology will solve Australia’s economic malaise. Ahead of an expected interest rate rise next week Michele Bullock also said the slump in house prices was deeper than others in…
theguardian.com
Canadian province alleges deadly attack could have been prevented if company had warned police of shooter’s ChatGPT use British Columbia has sued OpenAI in California, saying a mass shooting at a school in the province could have been prevented if the company had warned local law enforcement that the shooter had used ChatGPT to plan the massacre. The lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court on Monday names OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, as defendants. It is seeking damages to fund recovery efforts in the…
theguardian.com
People in the UK are more interested in oral health than ever - and you can now buy prebiotic toothpastes and brushes that cost up to £600. Yet we remain in the midst of a serious dental crisis A December 1969 report from the consumer magazine Which? explored a relatively new gadget that, it predicted, many people would be giving as Christmas presents: the electric toothbrush. For those who hadn’t yet seen one, the magazine described it as “not that much different in principle from an ordinary brush – you have a…
theguardian.com
Lawyers say Black employees at Tesla experienced ‘rampant racism’ that was left unchecked for years at their flagship factory in California Dozens of Black employees at Tesla’s flagship plant in California said they were subject to racist slurs, unequal pay and promotions, and bullying by supervisors on a daily basis, a situation management did little to nothing to fix. Their complaints form the basis of a lawsuit brought against the Elon Musk-owned electric car company by the state of California, which began…
theguardian.com
At Lib Dems’ conference in Brighton, leader will accuse Andy Burnham of relying on Donald Trump and ‘tech bros’ to solve problem Ed Davey is to call for a global nuclear-style non-proliferation treaty to halt the development of super-intelligent AI when he makes his keynote speech at the Liberal Democrat conference, accusing Andy Burnham of relying on Donald Trump and “tech bros” to solve the problem. When he addresses the faithful on the final day of the gathering in Brighton, the party leader will call for a…
theguardian.com
Citizens Advice says providers of essential services such as energy, banking, phone and internet should guarantee the ‘right to talk to a human’ Stop relying on AI chatbots for customer care and guarantee the “right to talk to a human”, Citizens Advice has urged essential service providers, as research found they wasted time, caused stress and delayed problem solving for more than half of users. The spread of the AI-powered systems to provide help about the provision of vital services such as energy, banking,…
theguardian.com
PlayStation 5 (version played), PC; Screen Burn Tragedy, and an apocalyptic fog, befall a fishing community. It is up to outsider Simon to offer some kind of closure You spend a considerable portion of Silent Hill: Townfall in a kind of foetal position, cowering behind objects that will be eerily familiar to anyone who lived in the UK during the 1990s. Cars seem to be modelled on the era’s boxy Volkswagen Golfs; logos adorning phone boxes should narrowly escape the attention of copyright lawyers at BT Group. (For…
theguardian.com
Watchdog says users may have been unaware their information was used to target adverts or infer their interests Google has been fined more than €400m (£345m) over the way it processed users’ location data, following claims that the tech giant had manipulated users into agreeing to be constantly tracked on their mobile phones. The fine, imposed by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC), comes after complaints from multiple European consumer organisations that Google was following every step users took. Continue…
theguardian.com
PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox; Arbitrary Metric The latest work from the team behind Paratopic is part compulsive time-loop management sim, part eerie subterranean adventure Fetch the chair from storage. Deliver a message that causes disgust. Clean vomit in the afternoon and pour another glass in the evening. In Roman Sands RE:Build, you provide concierge service to delirious, broken people who couldn’t care less about the sweat on your forehead and the bags under your eyes. In this reimagining of the…
theguardian.com
Jensen Huang dismisses warnings from former Anthropic researcher and others as ‘doomsday narratives’ The boss of the chipmaker Nvidia has said AI will not develop to a point that will lead to the extinction of the human race within a few years, rejecting such assertions as overblown “doomsday narratives”. Jensen Huang, the co-founder and chief executive of the $5tn AI chipmaker, said the claims made on social media by the former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon that AI could become “superhuman” and kill off…
theguardian.com
Shortage of memory chips and other critical components reverses trend of electronics becoming cheaper Apple’s recent product launch caused headlines around the world as it unveiled its first folding phone. But hidden in the slick technology showcase was a nasty surprise: a £100 increase in the price of all iPhones, including older models. It is blamed on “RAMageddon”, which has reversed a decades-long trend of electronics becoming cheaper. It is the fallout from the AI gold rush hoovering up every memory chip…
theguardian.com
Seventh intergenerational report also outlines how Australia is on the brink of an uncertain age of artificial intelligence Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our new political email , free app or daily news podcast There will be more Australians dying than being born in 40 years’ time, according to the government’s latest intergenerational report, which lays bare the fundamental challenges of managing an ageing population at a time of rapid change and lower economic growth. The country’s…
theguardian.com
Unit1 hopes to offer lower cost version of shows such as Abba Voyage, showcasing living and dead artists in any venue The former chief executive of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s entertainment group has obtained a near-£15m investment for his UK music tech startup that hopes to recreate classic concerts by manifesting musicians as digital avatars. Unit1 was set up last year by Barney Wragg, an entertainment executive who ran Lord Lloyd-Webber’s Cats-to-Evita empire for five years from late 2011. It has secured the $20m in…
theguardian.com
