5 h. ago AstraZeneca's £200m blow to Labour as pharma giant scraps major investment

Hours after official figures showed output from the pharmaceuticals industry in the UK fell 4.5 per cent in July, Britain's biggest firm said the project at its research site has been 'paused'.

Economics

5 h. ago Nine Met Police cops suspended over 'racist, homophobic and misogynist conduct'

A major internal investigation has been launched into officers at Charing Cross police station in central London where staff previously joked about raping women

Events

11 h. ago Marks and Spencer considers extending Archie Norman’s term as chair

Move would go against nine-year recommendation but major investors signal support for boardroom continuity

Politics

19 h. ago ‘Hollywood has everthing to do with the terrible state of the world’: Charlie Kaufman on AI, Eternal Sunshine and toothache

As his most commercial film, 2004’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, is re-released, the critically acclaimed director says he can’t get a movie off the ground now – but will never give in to the ‘Hollywood machine’Charlie Kaufman is in a funk. The genius screenwriter behind Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Synecdoche, New York, the devastating Buñuelian comedy of mortality that he also directed, can’t get a movie off the ground. “I’m having great difficulty,” he sighs. “I’m not a person that people want to trust with their money. It’s very frustrating.”Earlier this year, production of a film he was preparing to make – Later the War, starring Eddie Redmayne as a manufacturer of dreams who diversifies into nightmares – was shut down in Belgrade; he hopes it will resume. To make matters worse, he sorely needs some shut-eye. “Not to get into it, but I’m not a great sleeper,” he says, reaching out of frame for his coffee. The webcam is an...

Events

19 h. ago ‘Hollywood has everything to do with the terrible state of the world’: Charlie Kaufman on AI, Eternal Sunshine and toothache

As his most commercial film, 2004’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, is re-released, the critically acclaimed director says he can’t get a movie off the ground now – but will never give in to the ‘Hollywood machine’Charlie Kaufman is in a funk. The genius screenwriter behind Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Synecdoche, New York, the devastating Buñuelian comedy of mortality that he also directed, can’t get a movie off the ground. “I’m having great difficulty,” he sighs. “I’m not a person that people want to trust with their money. It’s very frustrating.”Earlier this year, production of a film he was preparing to make – Later the War, starring Eddie Redmayne as a manufacturer of dreams who diversifies into nightmares – was shut down in Belgrade; he hopes it will resume. To make matters worse, he sorely needs some shut-eye. “Not to get into it, but I’m not a great sleeper,” he says, reaching out of frame for his coffee. The webcam is an...

Events

24 h. ago Nvidia and OpenAI to back major UK investment in artificial intelligence

Jensen Huang and Sam Altman will join US President Donald Trump’s state visit to Britain next week

Politics

38 h. ago Gary Neville's failed investment took major hit on net worth with Roy Keane impacted too

Gary Neville has been left gutted after losing a sizeable sum in a failed investment, while former Manchester United team-mate Roy Keane also conceded he has lost out in the past

Events

38 h. ago How thousands of ‘overworked, underpaid’ humans train Google’s AI to seem smart

Contracted AI raters describe grueling deadlines, poor pay and opacity around work to make chatbots intelligentIn the spring of 2024, when Rachael Sawyer, a technical writer from Texas, received a LinkedIn message from a recruiter hiring for a vague title of writing analyst, she assumed it would be similar to her previous gigs of content creation. On her first day a week later, however, her expectations went bust. Instead of writing words herself, Sawyer’s job was to rate and moderate the content created by artificial intelligence.The job initially involved a mix of parsing through meeting notes and chats summarized by Google’s Gemini, and, in some cases, reviewing short films made by the AI. Continue reading...

Politics

61 h. ago Solving AI and copyright issue ‘will not be kicked into long grass’, says Nandy

The Culture Secretary told MPs that the debate on artificial intelligence and its impact on creatives had become binary and promised a new approach.

Politics

4 d. ago Judge skewers $1.5B Anthropic settlement with authors in pirated books case over AI training

A federal judge on Monday skewered a $1.5 billion settlement between artificial intelligence company Anthropic and authors who allege nearly half million books had been illegally pirated to train chatbots, raising the specter that the case could still end up going to trial

Culture

4 d. ago Microsoft taps Nebius to supply up to $20bn of AI computing power

Big Tech group inks five-year deal to help power its artificial intelligence ambitions

Politics

4 d. ago Impact of chatbots on mental health is warning over future of AI, expert says

Nate Soares says case of US teenager Adam Raine highlights danger of unintended consequences in super-intelligent AIThe unforeseen impact of chatbots on mental health should be viewed as a warning over the existential threat posed by super-intelligent artificial intelligence systems, according to a prominent voice in AI safety.Nate Soares, a co-author of a new book on highly advanced AI titled If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies, said the example of Adam Raine, a US teenager who killed himself after months of conversations with the ChatGPT chatbot, underlined fundamental problems with controlling the technology. Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago Can you spot the difference? Fashion model clones herself in bid to beat AI takeover

A world where digital ads use AI models instead of real people may not be too far away so Hannah James has decided to hop on the trend early to make sure she's still compensated for her work.

Culture

5 d. ago AI shakes up the call center industry, but some tasks are still better left to the humans

Artificial intelligence is transforming call centers by streamlining tasks and improving customer service

Politics

6 d. ago ‘Existential crisis’: how Google’s shift to AI has upended the online news model

Media sites are taking action on several fronts as traffic referrals dry up and AI companies plunder their contentWhen the chief executive of the Financial Times suggested at a media conference this summer that rival publishers might consider a “Nato for news” alliance to strengthen negotiations with artificial intelligence companies there was a ripple of chuckles from attendees.Yet Jon Slade’s revelation that his website had seen a “pretty sudden and sustained” decline of 25% to 30% in traffic to its articles from readers arriving via internet search engines quickly made clear the serious nature of the threat the AI revolution poses. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago AI startup Anthropic agrees to pay $1.5bn to settle book piracy lawsuit

Settlement could be pivotal after authors claimed company took pirated copies of their work to train chatbotsThe artificial intelligence company Anthropic has agreed to pay $1.5bn to settle a class-action lawsuit by book authors who say the company took pirated copies of their works to train its chatbot.The landmark settlement, if approved by a judge as soon as Monday, could mark a turning point in legal battles between AI companies and the writers, visual artists and other creative professionals who accuse them of copyright infringement. Continue reading...

Economics

7 d. ago Anthropic to pay $1.5 billion to settle lawsuit over pirated chatbot training material

Artificial intelligence company Anthropic has agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit by book authors who say the company took pirated copies of their works to train its chatbot

Economics

7 d. ago National jeweller invests £1.3M in major refurbishment of Glasgow store, doubling its size

Family-owned national diamond, jewellery and watch retailer, Beaverbrooks, is doubling the size of its Glasgow Fort store with a £1.3m investment.

Economics

7 d. ago Computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton: ‘AI will make a few people much richer and most people poorer’

The ‘godfather of artificial intelligence’ on ‘the only hope’ for humanity, why China has an advantage — and when machines will outstrip us

Science

7 d. ago Melania Trump ditches traditional First Lady fashion rulebook once again to sport a chic oversized power suit during White House meeting 

Melania joined a meeting of the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence Education at the White House in Washington, D.C, sporting an oversized suit.

Politics