31 h. ago ‘We could hit a wall’: why trillions of dollars of risk is no guarantee of AI reward

Progress of artificial general intelligence could stall, which may lead to a financial crash, says Yoshua Bengio, one of the ‘godfathers’ of modern AIWill the race to artificial general intelligence (AGI) lead us to a land of financial plenty – or will it end in a 2008-style bust? Trillions of dollars rest on the answer.The figures are staggering: an estimated $2.9tn (£2.2tn) being spent on datacentres, the central nervous systems of AI tools; the more than $4tn stock market capitalisation of Nvidia, the company that makes the chips powering cutting-edge AI systems; and the $100m signing-on bonuses offered by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta to top engineers at OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago Economic conflicts are world’s greatest risk, WEF survey suggests

Extreme weather events and biodiversity loss identified as the biggest global threats over a 10-year timeframeEconomic conflicts between major powers are the greatest risk facing the world over the next two years, according to experts polled ahead of next week’s Davos summit.Among 1,300 business leaders, academics and civil society figures surveyed by the World Economic Forum (WEF), “geoeconomic confrontation” was identified as the most pressing threat. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago March of the penguins: the Golden Globes red carpet marks the return of the staid black suit

The performative male was over at the 2026 Golden Globes, where even risk-takers like Timothée Chalamet, Jacob Elordi and Jeremy Allen White did little to temper the black tie stuffinessTimothée Chalamet was the final clue. As he arrived in good time on the Golden Globes red carpet, the star of Marty Supreme put pay to speculation as to whether the chromatic marketing of the film’s ping pong balls would have him wearing orange. Instead, he wore a black T-shirt; vest, jacket and Timberland boots with silver buttons by Chrome Hearts, souped up with a five-figure Cartier necklace. Kylie Jenner, his partner and sartorial foil, was nowhere to be seen.Styled by Taylor McNeill, who was also responsible for Chalamet’s wildly amusing if chaotic red carpet campaign for the film, the look was bad boy Bond. It also set the tone for an evening of subdued tones. If we thought the penguin suit had gone extinct, we were wrong. The performative male is over – welcome to the return of the staid suit....

Politics

6 d. ago Sideboob steals the spotlight as Jenna Ortega and Lori Harvey push the 'risk it all' trend at Golden Globes 2026

Hollywood's boldest fashion statements took center stage at the 2026 Golden Globes, where daring and unapologetic sideboob became the night's defining trend.

Events

8 d. ago Indonesia blocks Musk’s Grok chatbot due to risk of pornographic content

Move comes after governments and regulators from Europe to Asia have condemned the AI tool and some have opened inquiries into sexualised contentIndonesia temporarily blocked Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot on Saturday due to the risk of AI-generated pornographic content, becoming the first country to deny access to the AI tool.The move comes after governments, researchers and regulators from Europe to Asia have condemned and some have opened inquiries into sexualised content on the app. Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago Ten years after his death, is David Bowie’s musical legacy at risk of fading from view?

From the V&A to the Stranger Things finale, the pop icon still looms large – but with lower streaming figures than his peers, how many new listeners are discovering his music?• ‘A perplexing, astonishing finale’: world pays tribute to David Bowie a decade after his deathWhen David Bowie died on 10 January 2016, such was the scale of media coverage and public mourning that one would have presumed his music would be everywhere for ever, elevated as he was, to misquote Smash Hits, to the position of the People’s Dame. It was briefly – Starman reached No 18, and Space Oddity No 24 – but then it wasn’t.Each year, Forbes compiles a posthumous celebrity rich list. Bowie appeared in 2016, ranked at No 11 with estimated earnings of $10.5m (£7.8m), and again in 2017, in the same position but with earnings of $9.5m (£7m). This was unsurprising given the enormous spike in interest there is in the immediate aftermath of a superstar’s death. Yet he didn’t appear in the Forbes list again until...

Events

9 d. ago Voices: How ready is the UK to send troops to Ukraine? Join The Independent Debate

Is the UK’s pledge to send troops to Ukraine realistic in 2026, or does it risk overstretching a military already under pressure?

Politics

2 w. ago AI’s reckoning with reality represents a growing economic risk for 2026

Revenues may be rising rapidly, but not by nearly enough to cover the wild levels of investment under wayThe US dictionary Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2025 was “slop”, which it defines as “digital content of low quality that is produced, usually in quantity, by means of artificial intelligence”.The choice underlined the fact that while AI is being widely embraced, not least by corporate bosses keen to cut payroll costs, its downsides are also becoming obvious. As 2026 gets underway, a reckoning with reality for AI represents a growing economic risk. Continue reading...

Economics

2 w. ago The cost of slop poses a risk to all of us as AI reckons with reality in 2026

Revenues may be rising rapidly, but not by nearly enough to cover the wild levels of investment under wayThe US dictionary Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2025 was “slop”, which it defines as “digital content of low quality that is produced, usually in quantity, by means of artificial intelligence”. The choice underlined the fact that while AI is being widely embraced, not least by corporate bosses keen to cut payroll costs, its downsides are also becoming obvious. In 2026, a reckoning with reality for AI represents a growing economic risk.Ed Zitron, the foul-mouthed figurehead of AI scepticism, argues pretty convincingly that, as things stand, the “unit economics” of the entire industry – the cost of servicing the requests of a single customer against the price companies are able to charge them – just don’t add up. In typically colourful language, he calls them “dogshit”. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago The cost of AI slop could cause a rethink that shakes the global economy in 2026

Revenues may be rising rapidly, but not by nearly enough to cover the wild levels of investment under wayThe US dictionary Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2025 was “slop”, which it defines as “digital content of low quality that is produced, usually in quantity, by means of artificial intelligence”. The choice underlined the fact that while AI is being widely embraced, not least by corporate bosses keen to cut payroll costs, its downsides are also becoming obvious. In 2026, a reckoning with reality for AI represents a growing economic risk.Ed Zitron, the foul-mouthed figurehead of AI scepticism, argues pretty convincingly that, as things stand, the “unit economics” of the entire industry – the cost of servicing the requests of a single customer against the price companies are able to charge them – just don’t add up. In typically colourful language, he calls them “dogshit”. Continue reading...

Economics

2 w. ago Google AI Overviews put people at risk of harm with misleading health advice

Exclusive: Inaccurate information presented in summaries, Guardian investigation findsPeople are being put at risk of harm by false and misleading health information in Google’s artificial intelligence summaries, a Guardian investigation has found.The company has said its AI Overviews, which use generative AI to provide snapshots of essential information about a topic or question, are “helpful” and “reliable”. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Six things you shouldn't do on New Year's Day or risk bad luck in 2026

New Year's Day is a time for fresh starts and new beginnings, but there are also a number of superstitions around what you should and shouldn't do on January 1st to ensure good luck in 2026

Events

3 w. ago ‘Not an enabler’? A glimpse behind the curtain at Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles

Are her recent candid remarks about Trump an attempt to distance herself from an increasingly unpopular president?She was now one of the family. When Donald Trump addressed supporters in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, in early December, he asked: “Susie Trump – do you know Susie Trump? Sometimes referred to as Susie Wiles.”The US president was referring to his chief of staff, who he said had persuaded him to return to the campaign trail ahead of the 2026 congressional midterm elections. But a week later, Wiles appeared at risk of becoming the family outcast. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Andoni Iraola addresses Bournemouth star's future after Antoine Semenyo transfer hint

Bournemouth are at risk of losing more star players to bigger clubs in 2026, having already lost the likes of Dean Huijsen, Milos Kerkez and Illia Zabarnyi last year

Politics