74 m. ago Kate Garraway speaks out on ‘hurtful’ AI hoax which claimed to show ‘new boyfriend’

Kate Garraway has revealed that she was a victim of an AI hoax which doctored images of her and a “new boyfriend”.

Politics

2 h. ago Kate Garraway became aware of AI boyfriend images after people congratulated her

Garraway recounted how the fake images began nearly a year ago, just after the death of her husband Derek Draper.

Events

3 h. ago Musk’s X to block Grok AI tool from creating sexualised images of real people

UK government claims vindication after Keir Starmer criticised earlier decision to keep functionality as ‘horrific’The UK government has claimed “vindication” after Elon Musk’s X announced it had stopped its AI-powered Grok feature from editing pictures of real people to show them in revealing clothes such as bikinis, including for premium subscribers.After a fortnight of public outcry at the tool embedded into X being used to create sexualised images of women and children, the company said it would “geoblock” the ability of users “to generate images of real people in bikinis, underwear, and similar attire via the Grok account and in Grok in X”, in countries where it was illegal. Continue reading...

Politics

3 h. ago Raducanu stunned by wildcard Preston in Hobart after tough Australian Open draw

Australian Taylah Preston, world No 204, wins 6-2, 6-4Raducanu could face Sabalenka early in MelbourneEmma Raducanu ended her preparations for the Australian Open with a miserable 6-2, 6-4 defeat by Taylah Preston, a 20-year-old Australian wildcard, in the quarter-finals of the Hobart international.As the top seed in Hobart, a small WTA 250 tournament, Raducanu had entered the tournament with a real opportunity to compete for an elusive second career WTA title since her win at the US Open more than four years ago. Instead, the challenging rainy conditions were seemingly all it took to unsettle the Briton, who put in a dismal performance on Thursday evening. Her defeat against Preston, the WTA No 204, is her fourth-worst defeat by ranking since 2021. Continue reading...

Politics

3 h. ago Everything we know about changes to Grok following backlash on sexualised images

Elon Musk has announced a U-turn on Grok's usage on social media platform X following pressure from the UK government

Politics

3 h. ago Minneapolis's night of chaos as protests erupt after another ICE shooting

Shocking images showed agents deploying tear gas and pepper balls at numerous protesters in a brutal clash, after another ICE official shot a person in Minneapolis

Events

4 h. ago Andy Warhol would have hated safe spaces. So why keep dragging dead artists into today’s culture wars?

Critics and curators are reframing great artists, from Gentileschi to Soutine, to fit with modern ethical narratives. But this ignores the glorious ambivalence of their creationsOne rainy afternoon last winter, sitting under a blanket with a cup of tea, I found myself Googling paintings by Chaïm Soutine. It’s a pastime I’ve indulged ever since visiting an exhibition of his portraits of hotel staff on the French Riviera during the 1920s – paintings that combine such a mixture of tenderness and debasement that it’s as if his brush is kissing and beating his subjects at the same time.I flicked through images of hopelessly innocent cooks and bellboys, with complexions the colour of raw sausage and ears that look as if they have been brutally yanked. And as I did, I came across a review of the very show where I had first encountered Soutine’s works. Ah, I thought, looking forward to luxuriating in literature about his particular genius for kindly sadism. Continue reading...

Events

4 h. ago Schoolgirl's haunting letter from 1969 makes eerily accurate predictions

A letter written in 1969 by an 11-year-old girl imagining the world in 1980 was discovered down the back of a sofa

Politics

4 h. ago Elon Musk confirms X will restrict Grok photo editing amid sexualised images concerns

In a post on X on Wednesday, the company said it had imposed restrictions on "editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis".

Culture

5 h. ago Elon Musk’s X to stop Grok AI undressing images of real people following huge backlash

Elon Musk’s company says it has imposed restrictions on ‘editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis’

Politics

5 h. ago Off the Scales by Aimee Donnellan review – inside the Ozempic revolution

A fascinating deep dive into the discovery, use and implications of a revolutionary new treatmentFew aspects of being human have generated more judgment, scorn and condemnation than a person’s size, shape and weight – particularly if you happen to be female. As late as 2022, the Times’s columnist Matthew Parris published a column headlined “Fat shaming is the only way to beat the obesity crisis” in which he attributed Britain’s “losing battle with fat” to society’s failure to goad and stigmatise the overweight into finally, shamefacedly, eating less. The tendency to equate excess weight with poor character (and thinness with grit and self-control) treats obesity as a moral as well as physical failing – less a disease than a lifestyle choice.One of the great strengths of Reuters journalist Aimee Donnellan’s first book is its insistence on framing the discovery of the new weight-loss drugs within the fraught social and cultural context of beauty norms, body image a...

Politics

5 h. ago Malaysians joke they could be ‘the next Venezuela’ after US embassy’s admiring post

Jokes abound online after US embassy posts stunning image from space, with Malaysians telling Trump they have ‘no oil... just tiger and crocodile’

Politics

6 h. ago X says Grok, Musk's AI chatbot, is blocked from undressing images in places where it's illegal

Elon Musk’s X says its AI chatbot Grok won't be able to edit photos of real people in revealing clothing in places where that is illegal

Events

7 h. ago Elon Musk’s Grok made the world less safe – his humiliating backdown gives me hopium | Van Badham

The AI chatbot’s torrent of nonconsensual deepfakes isn’t its first scandal and won’t be its last. Responsible governments should simply ban itGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastBillionaire and career Bond-villain cosplayer Elon Musk has been forced by public backlash into a humiliating backdown over use of his AI chatbot, Grok. Watching the world’s richest man eat a shit sandwich on a global stage represents a rare win for sovereign democracy.Because – unlike his company history of labour and safety abuses his exploding rockets his government interventions that deny aid to the starving disabling Starlink internet systems in war zones sharing “white solidarity” statements or growing concern about overvaluations of his company’s share price – the nature of Grok’s latest scandal may finally be inspiring governments towards imposing some Musk-limiting red lines. Continue reading...

Politics

7 h. ago The pub that changed me: ‘The barman banned me – no process, no second chances, no appeal’

The world’s largest Wetherspoon’s has seal-spotting views, a green leather banquette and a grand central staircase. I would do anything for that pub, so imagine my surprise when I was given my marching ordersIn the most prime imaginable bit of Ramsgate beach real estate, right on the sand, stands a handsome, turn-of-the-last-century building that had claimed for the longest amount of time, some years in neon, to be a casino. I’d never been allowed in as a kid. Then in the 90s it was leaning towards defunct, by the 00s it looked a bit haunted, then there was a fire, and wham, 2017, it turned into a Spoons. It had been trailed for a few months ahead, and I’d sworn off it; the living nightmare that was Brexit was only a few months old and Wetherspoon’s Tim Martin was one of its most gracelessly triumphant fuglemen. He could keep his (incredibly cheap) pints and his (superhumanly fast) nuggets. Continue reading...

Events

7 h. ago Elon Musk’s X restricts Grok photo editing amid concerns about sexualised images

Ofcom had earlier launched an investigation over reports Grok was allowing users to manipulate images of women and children.

Culture

10 h. ago Elon Musk’s X bans Grok AI tool from creating images of real people undressed

X announced the policy update the same day the state of California launched probe into allegations of nonconsensual AI-generated explicit images on the platform

Politics

10 h. ago Musk’s X to block Grok AI tool from creating sexualized images of real people

Amid global backlash, billionaire had only hours earlier said he was not aware of any ‘naked underage images’Elon Musk’s xAI has announced it will block the ability of its Grok AI tool to alter images of real people to put them in “revealing clothing such as bikinis”, amid a global backlash over the tool being used to generate explicit imagery.The move came just hours after the billionaire said he was was not aware of any “naked underage images” made by Grok. Continue reading...

Politics

13 h. ago Revealed: How police lied again and again about the risks from Israeli fans

When Maccabi Tel Aviv were drawn to play Aston Villa in the Europa Leaguelast August, few could imagine that a single fixture would damage the fabric of British policing.

Events

13 h. ago Arbeloa starts Real Madrid tenure with disastrous Copa del Rey defeat at Albacete

Albacete 3-2 Real MadridHosts, 17th in the second tier, pull off huge upsetFor 20 minutes of Álvaro Arbeloa’s debut as manager of Real Madrid, the fog came down and no one could see any football. For the other 70, they couldn’t either. Not from his team, at least. From Albacete Balompié, 17th in the second division, they witnessed something magical. An outrageous goal scored with single second to go was the perfect end to the greatest story they ever told, history made. When the final whistle went, Madrid headed straight down the tunnel, defeated again, while the party began in the Carlos Belmonte.Arbeloa had said he wanted to see Vinícius Júnior dance; instead, it was Albacete’s fans who would, long into the night of their lives. This could not have been any better; at Madrid, things can always get worse, the crisis deepening. Careful what you wish for and all that. “At this club every defeat is a tragedy, so imagine one like this,” Arbeloa said. “Failure is the road to success,” M...

Events