Month: October 2025

Scientists warn of ‘insidious risks’ of increasingly popular technology that affirms even harmful behaviour Turning to AI chatbots for personal advice poses “insidious risks”, according to a study showing the technology consistently affirms a user’s actions and opinions even when harmful. Scientists said the findings raised urgent concerns over the power of chatbots to distort …

‘Sycophantic’ AI chatbots tell users what they want to hear, study shows Read More »

Baltimore county high schools have gun detection system that alerts police if it sees what it deems suspicious An artificial intelligence system (AI) apparently mistook a high school student’s bag of Doritos for a firearm and called local police to tell them the pupil was armed. Taki Allen was sitting with friends on Monday night …

US student handcuffed after AI system apparently mistook bag of chips for firearm Read More »

European Commission initial finding says Facebook and Instagram introduced unnecessary steps for users to submit reports Instagram, Facebook have breached EU law by failing to provide users with simple ways to complain or flag illegal content including child sexual abuse material and terrorist content, the European Commission has said. In a preliminary finding on Friday, …

Meta found in breach of EU law over ‘ineffective’ complaints system for flagging illegal content Read More »

We put nine clippers to the test for every beard and budget, from a decades-old classic to waterproof and travel-friendly models • Don’t get the Filter delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Shaving is costly and uncomfortable, and almost everyone who can grow a beard looks better with one. This was my (admittedly rather …

The best beard trimmers to groom in comfort and style, tested Read More »

When our family board game night got cancelled, I sampled digital spins on the classics instead. I’m not sure I should have bothered – with one exception… I don’t play video game versions of board games. Why would you? The whole point of video games is to be faster, more visually arresting, and less reliant …

Virtual Monopoly, Uno and Yahtzee over the real thing? No thanks | Dominik Diamond Read More »

Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to failing to stop money laundering in 2023 and was sentenced to four months Donald Trump issued a pardon for the founder of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange on Thursday. “President Trump exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden administration in …

Trump pardons founder of Binance, world’s largest crypto exchange Read More »

AWS explains in a lengthy post how a bug in automation software brought down thousands of sites and applications Amazon has revealed the cause of this week’s hours-long AWS outage, which took everything from Signal to smart beds offline, was a bug in automation software that had widespread consequences. In a lengthy outline of the …

Amazon reveals cause of AWS outage that took everything from banks to smart beds offline Read More »

Whether you’re on a budget, looking for an easy way to read when you travel, or want one for kids, here are our picks (they’re not all Kindles) Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things In the UK? Check out our top-rated e-readers here Bookworms may still …

The best e-readers in the US, for every kind of book lover Read More »

Beneath the free-market rhetoric, Washington actually intervenes to control the building blocks of AI systems At first glance, today’s artificial intelligence policy landscape suggests a strategic retreat from regulation. As of late, AI leaders such as the US have doubled down on this messaging. JD Vance champions AI policy with a “deregulatory flavor”. Congress considered …

Don’t be fooled. The US is regulating AI – just not the way you think Read More »

Anne Keast-Butler says government and business must to work together to tackle future attacks as AI makes cybercrime easier Companies need to do more to mitigate the potential effects of cyber-attacks, the head of GCHQ has said, including making physical, paper copies of crisis plans to use if an attack brings down entire computer systems. …

‘Attacks will get through’: head of GCHQ urges companies to do more to fight cybercrime Read More »