Tesla CEO’s feud with US president dominates Chinese social media, with many praising his ‘tech-driven mindset’
Few break-ups have as many gossiping observers as the fallout between the once inseparable Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
The ill-fated bromance between the US president and the world’s richest man, which once raised questions about American oligarchy, is now being pored over by social media users in China, many of whom are Team Musk.
Continue reading...Footage of three-a-side game shows humanoids struggling to kick the ball or stay upright
They think it’s all over … for human footballers at least.
The pitch wasn’t the only artificial element on display at a football match in China on Saturday. Four teams of humanoid robots took on each other in Beijing, in games of three-a-side powered by artificial intelligence.
Continue reading...Meta CEO reportedly to offer pay packages worth up to $100m, a gambit OpenAI’s Sam Altman calls ‘crazy’
Mark Zuckerberg reportedly spent months putting together a list of the top AI engineers and researchers across the globe, preparing to offer potential recruits lucrative compensation packages in Meta’s attempt to poach AI talent from key competitors.
Silicon Valley has been talking for weeks about the Meta CEO’s quest to attract top AI talent, including by offering pay packages worth up to $100m.
Continue reading...Court’s conservative justices said Texas law requiring online age verification didn’t violate free expression. PornHub had gone dark in Texas in protest of the law
The US supreme court ruled that a Texas law requiring that pornography websites verify the ages of their visitors was constitutional on Friday, the latest development in a global debate over how to prevent minors from accessing adult material online.
“HB 1181 simply requires adults to verify their age before they can access speech that is obscene to children,” Clarence Thomas wrote in the court’s 6-3 majority opinion. “The statute advances the state’s important interest in shielding children from sexually explicit content. And, it is appropriately tailored because it permits users to verify their ages through the established methods of providing government-issued identification and sharing transactional data.” Elena Kagan dissented alongside the court’s two other liberal justices.
Continue reading...Ofcom says research shows need for stricter age checks being introduced in July, which most major sites have signed up to
Nearly one in 10 children aged eight to 14 have watched online pornography, according to the UK’s communications watchdog, as most adult content providers gear up to adopt stronger age checks ahead of a 25 July deadline.
Ofcom published research showing that 8% of children aged eight to 14 in the UK had visited an online pornography site or app over a month-long period. Boys aged 13 to 14 were the most likely viewers, with two out of 10 visiting adult sites.
Continue reading...One of Doge’s best-known workers Edward Coristine, 19, quits a month after his former boss Elon Musk’s departure
One of the US so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) service’s best-known employees, 19-year-old Edward Coristine, has resigned from the US government, a White House official said on Tuesday, a month after the acrimonious departure of his former boss Elon Musk.
The White House official gave no further details on the move and Coristine did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
Continue reading...CMA proposes tightening regulation, which could lead to site giving users option to choose alternative services
Google could be forced to make a series of changes to its search business, including giving internet users an option to choose an alternative service, after the UK competition watchdog proposed tightening regulation of the company.
The Competition and Market Authority is preparing to give the world’s largest search engine the designation “strategic market status”, a term for tech companies deemed to have considerable market heft that enables the watchdog to use extra powers to regulate them.
Continue reading...Adult websites back online after court suspended decision requiring platforms based in the EU to verify users’ ages
Major adult websites Pornhub, YouPorn and RedTube were back online in France Friday after a court suspended a decision requiring pornographic platforms based in the European Union to verify users’ ages.
The three platforms’ owner, Aylo, based in Cyprus, had made its websites unavailable in France in early June as a protest against the French decree. Failure to comply could have lead to sanctions including fines or the blocking of the websites.
Continue reading...Andrew Jassy tells white collar workers that such technology means fewer people will be needed for some jobs
The boss of Amazon has told white collar staff at the e-commerce company their jobs could be taken by artificial intelligence in the next few years.
Andrew Jassy told employees that AI agents – tools that carry out tasks autonomously – and generative AI systems such as chatbots would require fewer employees in certain areas.
Continue reading...Radiographers voice concerns about being filmed without consent and say trend could violate other patients’ privacy
NHS staff have voiced concern about the growing numbers of patients who are filming themselves undergoing medical treatment and uploading it to TikTok and Instagram.
Radiographers, who take X-rays and scans, fear the trend could compromise the privacy of other patients being treated nearby and lead to staff having their work discussed online.
Continue reading...Peter Kyle calls on employees and businesses to act now to get to grips with technology amid forecasts of job losses
Workers in the UK should turn their trepidation over AI into “exhilaration” by giving it a try or they risk being left behind by those who have, the technology secretary has said.
Peter Kyle called on employees and businesses to “act now” on getting to grips with the tech, with the generational gap in usage needing only two and a half hours of training to bridge.
Continue reading...Chartered spaceflight for India, Poland and Hungary’s first astronauts in decades delayed indefinitely
A chartered spaceflight for India, Poland and Hungary’s first astronauts in decades has been delayed indefinitely because of leak concerns at the International Space Station.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) said Thursday that it had postponed the Axiom Mission 4 to the ISS to monitor the cabin pressure on the Russian side of the orbiting lab before accepting visitors. Officials stressed that the seven astronauts currently at the space station are safe and that other operations up there would not be affected.
Continue reading...Dolphin Surf will start at £18,650 – among the cheapest new vehicles on sale in Britain
The Chinese manufacturer BYD has launched its cheapest model in the UK, in the latest stage of its efforts to overtake Tesla as the world’s biggest electric carmaker.
The Dolphin Surf will start at £18,650, a price that puts it among the cheapest new vehicles on sale in Britain.
Continue reading...Tesla share price rises as former head of president’s ‘efficiency’ drive seems to retreat from explosive falling out
Elon Musk has expressed contrition for some of his tweets about Donald Trump last week, in an apparent effort to retreat from an explosive falling out that has threatened to damage the Tesla boss’s business interests.
Musk was by far the biggest donor to Trump’s presidential campaign, but tensions between the two erupted into public view last week and rapidly escalated, as the world’s richest man called for the president’s impeachment and mocked his connections to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in a series of posts.
Continue reading...Ofcom looks into whether 4chan and file-sharing services failed to put measures to protect users from illegal content
Britain’s media regulator, Ofcom, on Tuesday launched nine investigations into the internet message board 4chan as well as several file-sharing services over possible breaches of online safety laws.
Britain’s Online Safety Act, passed in 2023, sets tougher standards for platforms to tackle criminal activity, with an emphasis on child protection and illegal content.
Continue reading...Many posts spread the idea that mayhem overtook LA while police confrontations were limited to a small part of the city
Since protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles began, false and misleading claims about the ongoing demonstrations have spread on text-based social networks. Outright lies posted directly to social media mixed with misinformation spread through established channels by the White House as Donald Trump dramatically escalated federal intervention. The stream of undifferentiated real and fake information has painted a picture of the city that forks from reality.
Parts of Los Angeles have seen major protests over the past four days against intensified immigration raids by the US president’s administration. On Saturday, dramatic photos from downtown Los Angeles showed cars set aflame amid confrontations with law enforcement. Many posts promoted the perception that mayhem and violence had overtaken the entirety of Los Angeles, even though confrontations with law enforcement and vandalism remained confined to a small part of the sprawling city. Trump has deployed 2,000 members of the national guard to the city without requesting consent from California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, which provoked the state to sue for an alleged violation of sovereignty. The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has also ordered the US military to deploy approximately 700 marines to the city.
Continue reading...Suspension comes as 13m students take four-day gaokao tests for limited spots at country’s universities
Big Chinese tech companies appear to have turned off some AI functions to prevent cheating during the country’s highly competitive university entrance exams.
More than 13.3 million students are sitting the four-day gaokao exams, which began on Saturday and determine if and where students can secure a limited place at university.
Continue reading...Mayors welcome £500m set aside for regional authorities to target investment locally
New drug treatments, longer-lasting batteries and developing artificial intelligence are among research projects that will receive funding as part of an £86bn government investment into science and technology.
Ministers have announced a £22.5bn a year commitment in research and development (R&D) over the next four years, including up to £500m for regional authorities to target the investment locally.
Continue reading...A billionaire’s vendetta has threatened to cut off the US from the ISS and complicate national defense
After a year of effusive praise and expressions of love for each other, Elon Musk and Donald Trump exploded their political partnership in dramatic fashion this week. The highly public split included, among other highlights, the world’s richest person accusing the president of the United States of associating with a notorious sex offender. Trump said Musk had “lost his mind”.
As Musk and Trump traded insults, each on his own social network, they also issued threats with tangible consequences. Trump suggested that he could cancel all of Musk’s government contracts and subsidies – “the best way to save money”, he posted – a move that would have devastating consequences not only on the tech billionaire’s companies but also on the federal agencies that have come to depend on them. Musk responded by announcing that he would begin decommissioning the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that Nasa relies on for transport missions, although he later reversed the decision.
Continue reading...Key player in Trump’s drive to slash federal workforce keeps access to sensitive records including family court and mental health records
The US supreme court on Friday allowed members of the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) to access the sensitive records kept by the Social Security Administration while legal challenges play out.
The conservative-majority court, in an unsigned order with the three liberal justices dissenting, sided with the Trump administration in the appeal involving Doge, the team spearheaded by the billionaire Elon Musk.
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