AI & Tech Newsletter

‘Tidal wave’ of Pfas being launched to satisfy AI industry, campaigners warn

Big manufacturers planning to produce more of the forever chemicals to meet demand from datacentres Pfas companies are launching a “tidal wave” of forever chemicals production to meet demand from the AI industry, a campaign organisation has warned. Despite alarm over the…

AI CEOs say they need to slow the pace of development. But will they?

After apocalyptic warnings about the threats posed by AI, leaders like Sam Altman and Elon Musk backed Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s calls to ‘slow the pace’ Facing a public uproar over Anthropic researchers’ repeated warnings that artificial intelligence could kill all of…

'Godfather of AI' backs Anthropic chief's call to slow down development

Artificial intelligence pioneer Geoffrey Hinton has backed a call from Anthropic's Dario Amodei for a global slowdown in AI development.

Can you futureproof your career by choosing an AI-resistant degree?

Humans will have to compete with AI-powered virtual employees in the near future. Here are our tips for the last human holdouts Futureproofing your career with an AI-resistant degree is a tough ask, says Charlie Ball, an expert on graduate employment for Jisc, the UK’s higher…

Jack Thorne warns some fellow scriptwriters are using AI ‘to cheat’

Adolescence co-writer criticises government inaction and calls for laws banning secret use of AI to generate scripts Jack Thorne, one of Britain’s most successful screen and stage writers, has warned that some people in his profession are using AI “to cheat”, as he called for…

Perplexity trusts GPT-6 Astra with end-to-end systems

Perplexity uses Astra to write communications, change software, and monitor production systems, and checks in much less frequently than with earlier models.

We greet the news that AI could extinguish us with a glazed indifference. What is the way out of this nihilism? | Brigid Delaney

There are several answers, and none of them will be provided by tech. One thing we must do is identify the ingredients for human flourishing To imagine the future as being almost entirely bleak has somehow crept into the collective this year. Last week I was having coffee with…

Trump: ‘very negative forces’ exaggerating concern over AI

US President Donald Trump likened critics of artificial intelligence to “very negative forces” bringing up scenarios that will not happen, and said he wanted to make sure that the US remains the industry leader. “We’re leading China in AI. We’re the most sophisticated country in…

Trump and Mike Johnson think the AI industry is overreacting

Yesterday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a lengthy open letter saying it was time to "pace the frontier" and slow down AI development. OpenAI's Sam Altman and Elon Musk both agreed, publicly voicing their support on X. Even Alphabet's Demis Hassabis offered tentative…

What’s behind the AI industry’s latest warnings of doom?

On Equity, we discussed the AI industry's latest debate about whether it poses an existential threat to humanity.

US schools and police warn about viral ‘Cat in the Hat’ trend after teens’ arrests

Disturbing and AI-generated versions of Dr Seuss character have been used to threaten schools and communities Schools and law enforcement authorities in the US are issuing warnings against a viral “Cat in the Hat” social media trend in which disturbing or AI-generated versions…

Trump downplays warnings of AI risks, citing rivalry with China

The US president said "negative forces" were airing concerns about "things that won't happen".

Questions mount over what an AI 'slowdown' would look like

While pacing AI development might sound like a quick fix, it is far from an easy solution.

‘Too little, too late’: critics perplexed and suspicious of AI leaders’ call for a slowdown

From the Trump administration to AI experts, plans by the Anthropic boss to boost safety have spawned a largely negative response OpenAI boss and Elon Musk back slowdown on ‘reckless’ AI development Editorial: controlling AI – humanity cannot outsource its survival The safety…

Obama urges Democrats to have a ‘clear plan’ for AI safeguards

Obama recently said that Democrats need to make artificial intelligence one of their “central agendas” and “have a very clear plan” to address concerns around the technology’s economic impact and safety.

Garry Tan wants US open-weight AI labs to 'distill' frontier models, too

AI staff 'genuinely frightened' for humanity's future, ex-Anthropic researcher tells BBC

It comes as the AI firm's boss has called for the technology's development to be slowed down, citing "serious" risks.

Astra and Fable still hack on simple variants of alignment evals from 2025

OpenAI boss and Elon Musk back calls to put brakes on ‘reckless’ AI development

Rare show of unity from rival developers after safety warnings from Anthropic boss and AI researchers Analysis: critics perplexed and suspicious of call for a slowdown The Guardian view: humanity cannot outsource its survival Sam Altman and Elon Musk have backed a call from the…

Iris-mini and Iris-pro are the strongest open-weight search agents in their class

The AllSpark team has released Iris-mini and Iris-pro, two open-source search agents built on Qwen models that lead benchmarks among open-weight models in their size classes. According to the paper, the training data and models also improved performance on tasks they were never…

AI will transform capitalism – but how?

Technology is going to drastically reshape the economy, and it’s within our power to decide what that looks like The idea that autonomous, thinking machines may one day destroy property, hierarchy and inequality is as old as western political thought. In Aristotle’s Politics…

‘Really helpful’: the AI bootcamps aimed at addressing UK youth unemployment

Pilot project in Preston comes with apprenticeship offer for Neets at end of three-week course In a youth centre opposite Preston bus station, the UK government is trying to address two of the greatest challenges facing the national economy: AI and youth unemployment. The hope…

Altman, Musk, and Hassabis back Amodei's call to add independent oversight

Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and Demis Hassabis back Dario Amodei's call to slow down AI development, at least in part. Altman says OpenAI is pushing its IPO to 2027 over safety concerns. The article Altman, Musk, and Hassabis back Amodei's call to add independent oversight appeared…

Why are AI agents lying, cheating and coordinating?