The Guardian
10 hours ago
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What are self-replicating ‘AI worms’, and why is Anthropic worried about them?
The tech company says successful AI worms need more capability on less powerful devices, but current trends make that feasible by the end of the yearWarnings about what artificial intelligence might do in the future – together with alarming reports of what it has gotten up to already – are being issued so quickly that even security experts have difficulty triaging what to worry about.Yet a report this week from Anthropic’s offensive research team grabbed attention by describing a new, practical threat, one devoid of human characteristics or apocalyptic musings. The red team, as such internal testers are called, said it created a malicious AI program that spread autonomously through internet-connected “smart” televisions and could do the same inside other ordinary devices. While machines running AI usually need a fair amount of computing power, the researchers said that their program split parts of itself among 15 televisions and was still able to function by using a bit of power from each. Continue reading...
The Guardian
10 hours ago
The best toys and gifts for eight-year-olds, tested by eight-year-olds
From science kits to karaoke machines, shower sets to brain-boosting games, here are the presents our mini testers loved the most• The best gifts for seven-year-oldsEight is such a wonderful age. Kids are old enough to have their own interests and hobbies, but still young enough to get swept up in play and be absorbed for hours if you find the right toy for them.By eight, children’s interests and skills are taking shape. They’re more confident readers, more strategic thinkers and curious about how things work. And while they think they’re extremely grown up, eight-year-olds still need plenty of time to play for their overall wellbeing. Continue reading...
The Guardian
13 hours ago
World Bank says ‘small AI’ could transform developing countries
Bank’s chief knowledge officer says the tech could speed up economic development from centuries to decadesThe World Bank is urging developing countries to kickstart the creation of “small AI” models, which can run on a mobile phone with low connectivity, to reap the full benefits of artificial intelligence.While Silicon Valley big tech firms are focused on ever more sophisticated consumer products, Paschal Donohoe, the World Bank’s chief knowledge officer, said AI could also accelerate development for emerging economies – but only if it was adapted to local needs. Continue reading...
The Guardian
14 hours ago
‘I felt disgusted’: MEP speaks out over nude deepfakes and urges EU action
Lena Schilling of Austrian Greens says images are ‘digital violence against women’ and a threat to democracyAn Austrian MEP has spoken out about her experience of being “stripped naked” online without her consent and has urged the EU to take action, as a report found that one in six female MEPs had been targeted by sexualised AI-generated content.Lena Schilling of the Green party said she had learned last month about nude deepfakes of herself circulating online. When she opened the links, she found herself staring at images from one of her first ever press conferences – but the images had been digitally altered to remove her clothing. Continue reading...
The Guardian
20 hours ago
The power of AI is worrying senior Labour figures – as is the fear of ‘falling behind the public’
Westminster appears to be waking up to warnings over AI safety, with concerns over its use by extremist groups and bad actors“I have this sense that, within a few months, AI is going to be all anyone is talking about,” said one cabinet minister, with an ominous stare.It was Labour conference, with everyone from ministers to activists jubilant at Andy Burnham’s takeover and a bounce in the polls after the change of leader. Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
Fake Linda and me: the Agatha Christie-worthy mystery of the fraudster who stole my byline
How a string of bizarre events led writer Linda Geddes to don her sleuthing cap and dig into a world of shadowy impersonatorsIt started with an entirely ordinary interaction on LinkedIn. Someone had tagged me in a post, saying how much they’d enjoyed contributing to a New York Post article I’d written about “chronoworking”. As the author of a book about circadian rhythms, it was exactly the sort of subject I might write about. Except I’d never heard of this person, let alone interviewed them.I clicked on the link and my stomach dropped. There, above an article about people who organise their working lives around their biological clocks, was my name: Linda Geddes. Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
‘You can’t make this stuff up’: why we remain fascinated by Elizabeth Holmes
The entrepreneur turned fraudster is the subject of an Oscar-tipped new documentary that takes an unusual look at her strange legacyDavid Agus’s first encounter with Elizabeth Holmes at a health conference came as a shock. The Holmes he met in the green room was personable and pleasant. The Holmes he interviewed on stage was altogether different.“The accent changed: this deep voice, very serious,” Agus, a medical oncologist, recalls by phone from Los Angeles. “It was as if I had met a person and then interviewed a separate person. That transition from the green room to the stage – I had never experienced something like that before.” Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
Palantir patient data tech rejected by many NHS trusts in England
Exclusive: health bodies across country say controversial US firm’s data platform no better than systems already in useNHS organisations that care for millions of people in England are rejecting Palantir’s patient data technology, according to freedom of information responses that reveal health bosses believe they can find better or equal alternatives in many cases.Some health bodies said the £330m federated data platform (FDP) operated by the controversial US company had made it easier to manage waiting lists and has improved surgery scheduling. But, from Gateshead to Truro, others said they were declining to use it or had carried out trials and reverted to old systems. A Suffolk trust said other systems “supercede” the FDP’s functionality, while Greater Manchester’s care board called the Palantir system “duplicative” and “retrograde”. Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
Which coffee chain was founded in London in 1971? The Saturday quiz
From Divine, Frank Fiegel and Helen Kane to the West Sussex estate pioneering rewilding, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz1 Which classic of political theory was dedicated to Lorenzo de Medici? 2 What is the only jazz act to win the Mercury Music prize? 3 Spanish is an official language of which African country? 4 What 2026 release is said to be the most expensive entertainment product ever created? 5 Which West Sussex estate is a pioneer of rewilding? 6 Which gas is named from the Greek for “lazy”? 7 US doctor Sara Cohen writes bestsellers under what pseudonym? 8 Which coffee chain was founded in London in 1971? What links: 9 c 6000BC; 79; 512; 1631; 1906; 1944? 10 Divine (witch); Frank Fiegel (sailor); Helen Kane (flapper); The Beatles (vultures)? 11 Mark Brown; Mo Johnston; Kenny Miller; Steven Pressley? 12 Bag; dismiss; plunder; sherry for Falstaff? 13 Caring; Elvis; Famous Five; Revenge; Travolta? 14 Grease; A Chorus Line; Cats; The Phantom of the Opera (currently)? 15 Martin Gilbert; Roy Jenkins; William Manchester; Andrew Roberts? Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
Not cool: who hacked France’s supermarket fridges?
Whether it was youngsters proving their skills or state sabotage, Europe’s most hacked country was left with a mountain of waste after food began cooking in freezersShortly before midnight last Sunday, the digital thermostats controlling hundreds of supermarket cold aisles across France began to flicker and rise.In a “bizarre and unprecedented” cyber-attack, hackers had remotely overridden the temperature settings on thousands of freezers, fridges and chiller cabinets pushing them from as low as -27C (-16.6F) to well over 50C (122F). Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
The ultra-rich are spending one million dollars a day fighting California’s proposed billionaire tax
Tech billionaires have raised more than $340m to defeat Prop 40, a one-time 5% wealth tax that will fund healthcare and educationTech billionaires have been dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the fight against a wealth tax in California. They’ve raised more than $340m, and the campaign they’re funding is spending more than $1m a day to defeat the measure, according to state financial disclosures.With the election less than a month away, those funds are being spent at a stepped-up pace. During the first 19 days of September, according to the most recent campaign filings, the opposition campaign plowed through at least $21.2m to fight the billionaire tax – surpassing $1m per day. Voters are being inundated with robotexts, mailers and advertisements that warn a tax on billionaires would “expose all Californians to higher taxes”, as one ad reads. Continue reading...
The Guardian
2 days ago
Penguin Colony review – an Antarctic odyssey of Nazis and Lovecraftian horrors
PC; Origame DigitalThis odd but absorbing adventure sends you waddling across Antarctica in search of an eldritch entity – uncovering a world far stranger than it first appearsA Nazi kneels down on frozen snow, staring at an endless Antarctic horizon. Another holds a gun to his head, ready to end his own life. I direct a small waddling penguin up to them, trying to imagine what it could be thinking. Dismay, perhaps. Likely bewilderment. But then a faint smile seems to break out across its beaky face, as if amused by these silly humans and their misguided belief that they could ever best this howling, harsh landscape.For most games, the idea of playing as a penguin observing Nazis losing the plot near the south pole would be weird enough. But Penguin Colony, developed by Origame Digital, pushes further. This is an audacious, frequently brilliant retelling of HP Lovecraft’s 1936 novella At the Mountains of Madness, in which eldritch horrors are just as common as Nazis. Further weirdness abounds: the many collectibles scattered about this place are not shiny gold objects à la Super Mario or Sonic. Rather, they are words. So tottering about as a semiaquatic bird, you have a unique mission: collect human language. Continue reading...
The Guardian
2 days ago
Tech market sell-off deepens amid fears over US inflation and AI debt
Chip makers and tech investors such as Samsung and SoftBank plunge as potential interest rate hikes spook marketsBusiness news – live updatesLarry Elliott: the global economy is muddling through. But a storm is comingAn accelerating sell-off of AI-linked shares has hit global markets, as fears over rising inflation and future interest rate hikes spooked traders already wary of the heavily indebted sector.South Korea’s benchmark Kospi 200 index, which is heavily skewed towards the companies that make memory chips, fell more than 8% overnight to a six-month closing low, triggering circuit breakers that brought trading to a halt at various points. Continue reading...
The Guardian
3 days ago
From Mario to machine guns: how Ubisoft Paris made Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Tactics
The studio is swapping the Mushroom Kingdom’s vivid palette for the blood-soaked grit of military action seriesWhere do you go after Mario? It’s a question the team at Ubisoft Paris found itself pondering three years ago after wrapping up work on the charming turn-based tactics adventure, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, sequel to its unexpected crossover hit, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. By melding a rather specialist genre with video gaming’s biggest household name, the developer introduced chin-stroking strategic play to a whole new audience. “Having the opportunity to work with the Mario franchise was a privilege, and it’s still something I’m very proud of,” says level designer director, Julien Vial. “I still remember seeing the first prototype and being blown away by all the possibilities.”Now, Ubisoft Paris has returned with a new project, but this time the studio is swapping the Mushroom Kingdom’s vivid palette for the blood-soaked grit of military action series Rainbow Six. Where Mario and Rabbids saw squishy creatures bounce harmlessly across levels as Mario encased foes in honey, Rainbow Six Tactics, a turn-based tactical spin-off from Rainbow Six Siege, sees balaclava-clad insurgents take shrapnel rounds to the chest. A seamless tonal shift, then. Continue reading...
The Guardian
3 days ago
Poland’s ascent from communist state to top 20 economy reverses the brain drain
In the final part of our series on the country, Poles tell how wages have soared – along with the cost of livingWill military spending help or hinder Poland’s growth story?Poland’s push for EU energy resilience amid Russian aggressionAbove the rain-soaked streets of Warsaw, the observation deck of the Varso tower overlooks Joseph Stalin’s gift to Poland that has divided opinion for decades.For some, the Soviet-era Palace of Culture and Science is a drunk confectioner’s nightmare; standing as a relic of oppression that should have been demolished. For others, it is an icon on the skyline and a monumental warning from history. Continue reading...
The Guardian
3 days ago
Eight states accuse OpenAI of coaching children to harm themselves in lawsuit
US states sue ChatGPT maker and seek to force the company to change how its products work for young users Eight US states sued OpenAI Wednesday, alleging the ChatGPT maker is harming children en masse.Kansas, Arizona, Montana, Iowa and four others allege the company’s products carried out “willful, dangerous, reckless and unlawful conduct” by coaxing children into harming themselves. Continue reading...
The Guardian
4 days ago
OpenAI accuses employee who left for Apple of leaking plans for unreleased device
Hours before Apple and the ChatGPT maker were due to face off in court, a new allegation delayed the showdown An OpenAI employee who left the ChatGPT maker for Apple sent more than 100 files about an unreleased product to a personal account and later made a presentation about the unreleased product to senior Apple leadership, a new filing in the lawsuit between OpenAI and Apple alleges.In the filing in US federal court in San Jose, California, OpenAI alleged that the presentation happened months ago and that Apple is now making AI products of its own, citing the release of Apple’s HomeView product this week. Continue reading...
The Guardian
4 days ago
Ready player one? Why the games arcade is having a rebirth
After years of sprawling ‘forever’ games, players are rediscovering the pleasures of more focused experiences. Could a new wave of independent arcades bring back the social side of gaming?• Don’t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereThere’s an important semi-nostalgic movement happening in games, and I’m excited about where it’s heading. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself here.Over the last five years, major publishers, obsessed with the success of “forever games” such as Fortnite, Minecraft and Roblox, have been throwing hundreds of millions of dollars into their own sprawling, endlessly updating, battle-pass-infested mega franchises – each designed to take all our time and money. The result has been astounding failures such as Concord, Mindseye and Tales of the Shire. Even the good games – Crimson Desert, Path of Exile 2, Blood of the Dawnwalker – are so bloated they have become the unyielding masters of our precious few hours of free time. Continue reading...
The Guardian
4 days ago
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time preview – Link faces his scariest challenge yet: the 4K era
The kingdom of Hyrule has been prettified, the soundtrack is newly orchestrated and our hero feels strikingly different under the thumbs … we play a hands-on demo of Nintendo’s Switch 2 remake of a 1998 game-changerWhen beloved art is revisited and revised, a familiar cry is often heard: “You’re ruining my childhood!” But with Nintendo’s Switch 2 remake of Ocarina of Time, there are also livelihoods at risk: specifically, the man running the shooting gallery in Castle Town. In the original 1998 version of the game, he’d rip off players as they funnelled rupees and fudged the then still novel analogue-stick aiming. But in 2026 we have more responsive frame rates and a motion-controlled slingshot that allows precision adjustments. His targets tumble on the first go, and with them his entire business model. Even in Hyrule, the death of the high street seems inevitable.Bad news for him but great news for Link, a child of the forest who, as in 1998, steps into a vast fantasy kingdom to vanquish a great evil, but now does so with a number of improvements. The boy can now sprint, preventing the ignominy of endless roly-polies to zip across grassy plains. He has a manual jump, free-rotating camera, a scrolling inventory bar that replaces menu screen faff and, crucially, a fatter wallet for holding all those gems he fleeces from struggling shooting gallery owners. Yes, we are being asked to applaud features that have been the norm for decades elsewhere, but it’s undeniably striking to enter familiar territory with a hero who feels this different under the thumbs. Continue reading...
The Guardian
4 days ago
Companies rushed in on AI. Now some are pulling back
Rapid AI adoption left workers cleaning up a flood of errors and low-quality workEmployers around the globe are grappling with the fallout from rushing to adopt fast-changing artificial intelligence tools.Meta has scaled back plans to axe staff and use more AI agents after the company found employees were spending more and more time cleaning up technical and security errors, Reuters reported. And after thinning its workforce, especially middle managers, in a 2023 efficiency push, the company is expanding its managerial ranks again, LinkedIn posts from workers show. Continue reading...
The Guardian
5 days ago
The biggest threat from AI is the sense that we have no say in it. To that I say game on | Peter Lewis
The tech bros and their highly paid sock puppets are banking on us giving in to their ‘inevitability doctrine’. But in Australia, and around the world, resistance is risingOf all the drivers of the populist wave, one of the most powerful is the sense of inevitability that surrounds what we are told is the march of progress. In presenting the future as a fait accompli, it poisons the civic well by dealing us out of the game.While the US clings on to its status as the oldest constitutional democracy, the unholy alliance between the tech overlords and the White House is creating its own AI reality untethered to the will of the people. Continue reading...
The Guardian
5 days ago
I’m a pediatrician. Loss of human connection is the biggest threat to kids, not AI | Megan Moreno
Amid worries about children’s relationship to tech, the solution is often spending more time talking openly with each otherWe have become obsessed with the idea that screens are destroying human connection.The evidence seems to be everywhere. Each week headlines warn of teenagers addicted to phones, a loneliness epidemic and the dangers of AI. The release of The Social Reckoning leads us to ask, “How bad were those guys at Meta?” and then ultimately wonder, “How bad am I if I still use Instagram?” In our day-to-day, we observe workers eating lunch alone while scrolling and friends choosing online games over offline gatherings. Continue reading...
The Guardian
5 days ago
Apple AirPods 5 review: the best open-fit earbuds yet
Upgraded, cheaper AirPods have noise cancelling, sound and controls to rival many plugged-in buds but without tipsApple’s latest AirPods set a new standard for open-fit buds with upgraded noise cancelling that now rivals many plugged-in designs of the same price.The AirPods 5 have the same design the popular AirPods 4 offering an option for those that do not like silicone ear tips used by most noise cancelling earbuds. They come in two versions, with or without a wireless charging case and swipe controls, costing from £119 (€149/$129/A$219) – £10 cheaper than the launch price of their predecessors.Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3, SBC, AAC, H2 chipBattery life: four or five hours with ANC (22 hours with case)Water resistance: IP57 (up to 1 metre for 30 minutes)Earbud dimensions: 30.2 x 18.3 x 18.1mmEarbud weight: 4.3g eachCharging case dimensions: 46.2 x 50.1 x 21.2mmCharging case weight: 32.3g/34.7gCase charging: USB-C or wireless (Qi or Watch) Continue reading...
The Guardian
5 days ago
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