Month: July 2026

Direct oversight of ‘critical third parties’ such as Oracle and Microsoft given to ensure resilient cyber-defences and help safeguard UK economy The Bank of England has been handed powers to regulate important tech firms including Amazon and Google from next week, amid fears that system failures could threaten financial stability and harm consumers. From Monday, …

Bank of England handed powers to regulate key tech firms including Amazon and Google Read More »

Regulators say Facebook and Instagram features such as autoplay and infinite scroll contribute to ‘compulsive use’ EU regulators have accused Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, of failing to tackle the risks of its “addictive design” on the physical and mental health of users. In an official charge sheet against Meta released on Friday, …

EU accuses Meta of failing to tackle mental health risks of ‘addictive design’ Read More »

Civil liberties groups say Facewatch system in stores such as Sainsbury’s and B&M is ‘dangerous escalation’ Facial recognition technology in shops will soon alert police in real time to the presence of serious offenders, with civil liberties groups warning of a “dangerous escalation” towards surveillance and criminalisation in the retail sector. Facewatch, a facial recognition …

Alarm over launch of facial recognition in UK shops that instantly alerts police Read More »

Pokémon Go celebrated its 10th anniversary with a Times Square takeover in New York featuring a special event to defeat the Pokémon species Mewtwo. Nearly 2,000 people played the game together simultaneously in what organisers called one of the largest in-person Pokémon battles in history Continue reading… Pokémon Go celebrated its 10th anniversary with a …

Pokémon Go fans gather in Times Square to celebrate 10 years of game – video Read More »

Exclusive: Senator Ed Markey on why he has proposed legislation aimed at curbing datacenters, automated hiring systems and harm to children US senator Ed Markey is worried about the perils of unregulated artificial intelligence. What part? All of it: the costs associated with thirsty, energy-guzzling datacenters, intrusive workplace surveillance, bias in discriminatory algorithms, AI overriding …

‘AI accountability agenda’: US senator unveils package of bills to curb tech’s harms Read More »

Returning from annual leave, Telstra chief executive Vicki Brady has faced a barrage of questions for the first time since the company’s nationwide outage on Wednesday affected train services, payment systems and triple zero calls. Brady says the failure was not the result of job restructuring, insisting that ‘people and processes worked as they should …

Telstra CEO Vicki Brady faces questions on nationwide outage – video Read More »

Exclusive: Plan to improve skills of thousands of financial sector workers to keep pace with tech revolution Chancellor Rachel Reeves is to announce a new City “skills compact” that will commit firms such as Barclays and Lloyds to retraining thousands of financial sector workers for the AI revolution. The financial services skills compact will be …

Reeves to launch City ‘skills compact’ committing firms to retrain staff in AI Read More »

SK hynix, a supplier of advanced memory chips, has seen profits skyrocket thanks to the global race to build AI datacentres South Korean chip maker SK hynix set pricing for its mega US listing on Friday, aiming to raise $26.5bn as it takes advantage of the AI boom in what will be one of the …

South Korea chip maker SK hynix rides AI boom raising $26.5bn in huge US listing Read More »

Schwarzman Centre, OxfordHeadlong’s take on Karel Čapek’s 1920 tale of romance and robots is rife with timely debates about tech’s threat but at times the philosophical discussions drag on If our world is currently thinking through the brave new future of generative AI and super intelligence, Karel Čapek’s 1920 play RUR: Rossum’s Universal Robots proves …

Robota review – machines on the march in next-gen version of sci-fi classic Read More »

Returning from annual leave, Telstra chief executive Vicki Brady has faced a barrage of questions for the first time since the company’s nationwide outage on Wednesday affected train services, payment systems and triple zero calls. Brady says the failure was not the result of job restructuring, insisting that ‘people and processes worked as they should …

Telstra CEO Vicki Brady faces questions on nationwide outage – video Read More »