Month: February 2026

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news Only seven new petrol-powered cars sold in Norway in January Silver is also looking very volatile. The spot price of silver tumbled by 19% yesterday, hot on the heels of its 27% plunge on 30 January. Continue reading… Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial …

Software sell-off deepens amid AI fears in ‘echoes of dot-com crash’ – business live Read More »

Preliminary EU ruling says app shifts brains of users into ‘autopilot mode’, with concerns for children and vulnerable adults Business live – latest updates TikTok could be forced into changes to make the app less addictive to users after the EU indicated the platform had breached the bloc’s digital safety rules. The EU’s executive arm …

TikTok could be forced to change app’s ‘addictive design’ by European Commission Read More »

At its new Stone Mountain, Georgia, facility, Roomba-like robots shuffle between stacks, another adds shipping labels while another arranges packages in pallets One of the reasons Amazon is spending billions on robots? They don’t need bathroom breaks. Arriving a few minutes early to the public tour of Amazon’s hi-tech Stone Mountain, Georgia, warehouse, my request …

Hail our new robot overlords! Amazon warehouse tour offers glimpse of future Read More »

Verdict could influence more than 3,000 similar cases against ride-hailing company A federal jury in Phoenix ordered Uber on Thursday to pay $8.5m after finding the company liable in a lawsuit brought by a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by a driver. The verdict could influence thousands of similar cases against the ride-hailing …

Uber found liable for sexual assault by driver and ordered to pay victim $8.5m Read More »

AI content for scams can be targeted at individuals and ‘produced by pretty much anybody’, researchers say Deepfake fraud has gone “industrial”, an analysis published by AI experts has said. Tools to create tailored, even personalised, scams – leveraging, for example, deepfake videos of Swedish journalists or the president of Cyprus – are no longer …

Deepfake fraud taking place on an industrial scale, study finds Read More »

Man misidentified by London supermarket using Facewatch system says: ‘I shouldn’t have to prove I am not a criminal’ A man was ordered to leave a supermarket in London after staff misidentified him using controversial new facial recognition technology. Warren Rajah was told to abandon his shopping and leave the local store he has been …

‘Orwellian’: Sainsbury’s staff using facial recognition tech eject innocent shopper Read More »

A leaked pitch to reshape Ethereum’s leadership exposed deep divisions over politics, power and ether’s static price US crypto developer Danny Ryan submitted a proposal in November 2024 to Vitalik Buterin, the founder and symbolic leader of Ethereum, a prominent blockchain powering the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency. Ryan, who had worked for seven years at the …

How cryptocurrency’s second largest coin missed out on the industry’s boom Read More »

South Crofty site could reopen aided by potential $225m investment as US seeks to secure supply of critical metal Donald Trump has aggressively pursued investment into hi-tech industries recent months, but the US administration has now set its sights on a more traditional sector: tin mining in Cornwall. The South Crofty mine, near the village …

Trump administration expresses interest in Cornish tin mine Read More »

A number of countries including Australia are investigating X over Grok-produced sexualised deepfakes Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, says global regulatory focus on Elon Musk’s X has reached a “tipping point” after a raid …

Condemnation of Elon Musk’s AI chatbot reached ‘tipping point’ after French raid, Australia’s eSafety chief says Read More »

Alphabet reports $34.5bn profit and revenue soars 48% in recent quarter as it plans a sharp increase in AI spending Google’s parent company, Alphabet, beat Wall Street expectations on Wednesday, and is planning a sharp increase in capital spending in 2026 as it continues to invest deeply in AI infrastructure. Alphabet on Wednesday reported profit …

Google parent earnings beat projections amid plans to invest deeply in AI Read More »