Company denied that Tim Cook deceived investors when he said iPhone sales were strong weeks before revenue warning
Apple has agreed to pay $490m to settle a class-action lawsuit led by the UK’s Norfolk county council.
The class action alleged chief executive Tim Cook misled investors about a steep downturn in iPhone’s sales in China that culminated in a jarring revision to the company’s revenue forecast.
Continue reading...Tech such as laptops, tablets and instant messaging has more positive effect on wellbeing, says thinktank
Exposure to new technologies including trackers, robots and AI-based software at work is bad for people’s quality of life, according to a groundbreaking study from the the Institute for Work thinktank.
Based on a survey of more than 6,000 people, the study analysed the impact on wellbeing of four groups of technologies that are becoming increasingly prevalent across the economy.
Continue reading...Penalty for breaching competition law is four times higher than forecast as Brussels looks to send message to tech firms
Apple has been fined €1.8bn (£1.5bn) by the EU after an investigation found it had limited competition from music streaming services such as Spotify.
The fine is nearly four times higher than expected as the European Commission attempts to show it will act decisively on tech companies who abuse their dominant position in the market for online services.
Continue reading...Researchers find large language models, which power chatbots, can deceive human users and help spread disinformation
The UK’s new artificial intelligence safety body has found that the technology can deceive human users, produce biased outcomes and has inadequate safeguards against giving out harmful information.
The AI Safety Institute published initial findings from its research into advanced AI systems known as large language models (LLMs), which underpin tools such as chatbots and image generators, and found a number of concerns.
Continue reading...Chief executive, Rene Haas, says UK-based firm is benefiting from huge demand for AI-powered products and apps
Shares in Arm have soared by more than 50% after raising profit and revenue forecasts amid red-hot demand for artificial intelligence technology, valuing the UK-based tech company at double the market capitalisation when it floated in September.
Shares in the world’s biggest supplier of design elements for processing chips used in products from smartphones to games consoles opened up 58% on the Nasdaq in the US on Thursday.
Continue reading...Government to say binding measures for overseeing artificial intelligence are needed, but not immediately
Ministers have been warned against waiting for a Post Office-style scandal involving artificial intelligence before stepping in to regulate the technology, after the government said it would not rush to legislate.
The government will acknowledge on Tuesday that binding measures for overseeing cutting-edge AI development are needed at some point – but not immediately. Instead, ministers will set out “initial thinking for future binding requirements” for advanced systems and discuss them with technical, legal and civil society experts.
Continue reading...Critics say assumption in English and Welsh law that computers are ‘reliable’ reverses usual burden of proof in criminal cases
Ministers need to “immediately” update the law to acknowledge that computers are fallible or risk a repeat of the Horizon scandal, legal experts say.
In English and Welsh law, computers are assumed to be “reliable” unless proven otherwise. But critics of this approach say this reverses the burden of proof normally applied in criminal cases.
Continue reading...ONS data also reveals working mothers spend on average an hour and a quarter more a day on household chores than male partners
You may not catch them on TikTok or Snapchat, but the latest data shows that the over-70s are spending more time online than any generation besides Gen Z.
According to figures from the Office for National Statistics detailing how different Britons report spending their time, the 70-plus age group is second only to those in their 20s when it comes to the average amount of time using a computer or device as a primary activity (separate from working or watching streamed video).
Continue reading...The man in red’s distinct visage emerges by algorithm, proving not any old bearded man looks like him
Santa impersonators watch out. Scientists have created a Santa-detection machine and used it to prove what children have been telling adults for generations – that Santa has a unique face which clearly distinguishes him from other elderly bearded men.
Previous research has suggested that children as young as three can identify Santa Claus based on his distinctive appearance.
Continue reading...Agreement between European Parliament and member states will govern artificial intelligence, social media and search engines
The world’s first comprehensive laws to regulate artificial intelligence have been agreed in a landmark deal after a marathon 37-hour negotiation between the European Parliament and EU member states.
The agreement was described as “historic” by Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner responsible for a suite of laws in Europe that will also govern social media and search engines, covering giants such as X, TikTok and Google.
Continue reading...Computer and AI giant rolls out machine using ‘Heron’ chips using subatomic particles instead of ones and zeros
The computer and artifical intelligence technology giant IBM on Monday unveiled a new quantum computing chip and machine that the company says could serve as the building blocks of much larger and faster systems than traditional silicon-based computers.
IBM’s rollout of what it calls Quantum System Two, which uses three “Heron” cryogenically cooled chips, comes as tech rivals including Microsoft, Alphabet’s Google, China’s Baidu and others are racing to develop machines that use quantum bits – subatomic particles that unlike the ones or zeros of traditional computing can be in “superposition” of both one and zero at the same time.
Continue reading...Protection groups call for urgent action to help pupils understand risks of making images that legally constitute child sexual abuse
Children in British schools are using artificial intelligence (AI) to make indecent images of other children, a group of experts on child abuse and technology has warned.
They said that a number of schools were reporting for the first time that pupils were using AI-generating technology to create images of children that legally constituted child sexual abuse material.
Continue reading...Reports say new model Q* fuelled safety fears, with workers airing their concerns to the board before CEO Sam Altman’s sacking
OpenAI was reportedly working on an advanced system before Sam Altman’s sacking that was so powerful it caused safety concerns among staff at the company.
The artificial intelligence model triggered such alarm with some OpenAI researchers that they wrote to the board of directors before Altman’s dismissal warning it could threaten humanity, Reuters reported.
Continue reading...Sam Altman and Toner reportedly discussed a paper she had written criticising the timing of OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT shortly before Altman was fired
After a tumultuous few days at OpenAI, Sam Altman has returned to the helm. But who is the young Australian board member who was reportedly in dispute with the chief executive in the lead up to his firing?
Helen Toner, along with two of the other three board members responsible for firing Altman less than a week ago, is now off the board of OpenAI.
Continue reading...Photographs were seen as less realistic than computer images but there was no difference with pictures of people of colour
It sounds like a scenario straight out of a Ridley Scott film: technology that not only sounds more “real” than actual humans, but looks more convincing too. Yet it seems that moment has already arrived.
A new study has found people are more likely to think pictures of white faces generated by AI are human than photographs of real individuals.
Continue reading...Conservatives furious at PM’s ‘naive’ meeting with Musk ahead of last Westminster session before election
Tory MPs have accused Rishi Sunak of “offering the electorate dystopia” after an appearance with Elon Musk in which the billionaire warned that artificial intelligence could take everyone’s jobs and leave them searching for meaning in their lives.
Many MPs were left baffled by the prime minister’s decision to conduct an interview with the Tesla and X (formerly Twitter) owner at the end of the AI safety summit at Bletchley Park. However, some are furious about the event, which painted a bleak picture of the future.
Continue reading...The prime minister flattered the entrepreneur who in turn put aside his abrasive persona for their talk on AI
Earlier this week, Elon Musk was interviewed by the American podcast host Joe Rogan. On Wednesday he was grilled by reporters outside the AI safety summit in Bletchley Park. On Thursday, it was the turn of the British prime minister.
British officials have crowed for days about their success in getting the world’s richest man to attend the summit, which was a pet project for Sunak. So delighted were they at the UK’s pulling power they decided to give the X owner a 40-minute in-person conversation with the prime minister in the glamorous surrounds of Lancaster House, previously used as a set for The Crown.
Continue reading...Even China is part of the UK’s ‘Bletchley declaration’ – but Britain is not the only country ambitious to lead on the issue
Sitting in a purpose-built hut in the grounds of the historic Bletchley Park country estate, British officials believed they had pulled off a diplomatic coup.
On stage in front of them was the UK’s technology secretary, Michelle Donelan, and behind her were high-level representatives from the US and China, together for the first time to discuss the international regulation of artificial intelligence.
Continue reading...Bletchley summit communique does not agree to set up testing hub in UK, as some in government had hoped
The UK, US, EU, Australia and China have all agreed that artificial intelligence poses a potentially catastrophic risk to humanity, in the first international declaration to deal with the fast-emerging technology.
Twenty-eight governments signed up to the so-called Bletchley declaration on the first day of the AI safety summit, hosted by the British government. The countries agreed to work together on AI safety research, even amid signs that the US and UK are competing to take the lead over developing new regulations.
Continue reading...The actor’s likeness was used in an online advertisement without her permission
Scarlett Johansson has taken legal action against an AI app that used her name and likeness in an AI-generated advertisement without her permission.
The 22-second ad, posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, by an image generating app called Lisa AI: 90’s Yearbook & Avatar, used real footage of Johansson to generate a fake image and dialogue for her.
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