Artificial intelligence could provide the'ultimate second opinion' as it is just as good as doctors at analysing X-rays, scientists have claimed. Tests using AI software on millions of old scans diagnosed conditions at least as accurately as radiologists 94 per cent of the time. The joint study by Warwick University and King's College London suggested it could prove vital in avoiding human error when checking patients' results. The AI software, which can scan X-rays as soon as they are taken, is able to understand the seriousness of each condition and flag the more urgent ones immediately. The study's authors suggested it could be used to screen X-rays, freeing up time for busy doctors to focus on more critical patients and helping deal with chronic NHS staffing shortages.

Why is the little ol' Competition & Markets Authority, a UK regulator, inserting itself into the entertaining and important – but distant – drama at San Francisco-based OpenAI? Even if the CMA finds eventually that Microsoft, another US company, is pulling the strings at Sam Altman's show, what could it actually do? Doesn't it all paint the UK as an unfriendly place for tech investment, notwithstanding Rishi Sunak's eagerness to host AI summits and conduct cosy chats with Elon Musk? All fair questions, and the CMA should brace for more in that vein. It is indeed slightly odd that the UK regulator is the first out of traps in wondering, albeit in a preliminary manner, if Microsoft has gained effective control over OpenAI and, if it has, whether that amounts to a problem. But there is another way to look at developments: thank goodness a regulator somewhere is seeking clarity about what just occurred at OpenAI.

Microsoft Corp.'s partnership with OpenAI Inc. is facing the potential of a full-blown UK antitrust investigation three weeks after a mutiny at the ChatGPT creator laid bare deep ties between the two companies. The Competition and Markets Authority said Friday it was gathering information from stakeholders to determine whether the collaboration between the two firms threatens competition in the UK, home of Google's AI research lab Deepmind. Microsoft fell 0.7% in premarket trading. Microsoft has benefited richly from its investments, totaling as much as $13 billion, in OpenAI. By integrating OpenAI's products into virtually every corner of its core businesses, the software giant very quickly established itself as the undisputed leader of AI among big tech firms.

The UK's competition watchdog has paved the way for a formal investigation into the partnership between Microsoft and ChatGPT developer OpenAI by asking for comments on the arrangement. The Competition and Markets Authority made the announcement on Friday after a bout of leadership and boardroom turmoil at OpenAI, which is based in San Francisco. The company was established as a non-profit entity whose board controls a commercial unit, in which Microsoft is the biggest investor. The CMA said "recent developments" had prompted the organisation to review whether the partnership had resulted in "an acquisition of control". Last month, OpenAI's board fired and then reappointed its chief executive, Sam Altman, and announced the formation of a new board. Microsoft now has a non-voting observer seat on the OpenAI board.

The UK is considering an investigation into Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI to decide if it has resulted in an "acquisition of control" that's subject to antitrust law, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) wrote today. The regulator said it's considering "recent developments," no doubt referring to the Sam Altman CEO ouster drama in which Microsoft played a large role. "The CMA is now issuing an ITC to determine whether the Microsoft/OpenAI partnership, including recent developments, has resulted in a relevant merger situation and, if so, the potential impact on competition," it said in a news release. "The CMA will review whether the partnership has resulted in an acquisition of control -- that is, where it results in one party having material influence, de facto control or more than 50% of the voting rights over another entity." The regulator noted that the "close and multifaceted" partnership includes a multi-billion dollar investment by Microsoft, technology development cooperation and cloud services.

FILE: Beach goers make their way to the beach as they cross Pacific Coast Highway in downtown Huntington Beach during the US Open of Surfing on Wednesday, August 3, 2022, in Huntington Beach. LET IT RIP: Artificial Intelligence could soon make going to the beach a lot safer. AI HEALTH CARE: How artificial intelligence is changing treatment for stroke victims. NOT A WASTE: AI startup aims to revolutionize waste management by helping sort garbage. Ridley Scott attends the "Napoleon" UK Premiere at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on Nov. 16, 2023, in London.

Google has unveiled a new artificial intelligence model that it claims outperforms ChatGPT in most tests and displays "advanced reasoning" across multiple formats, including an ability to view and mark a student's physics homework. The model, called Gemini, is the first to be announced since last month's global AI safety summit where tech firms agreed to collaborate with governments on testing advanced systems before and after their release. Google said it was in discussions with the UK's newly formed AI Safety Institute over testing Gemini's most powerful version, which will be released next year. The model comes in three versions and is "multimodal", which means it can comprehend text, audio, images, video and computer code simultaneously. Gemini, which will be folded into Google products including its search engine, is being released initially in more than 170 countries including the US on Wednesday in the form of an upgrade to Google's chatbot Bard.

In the early 1950s, a huge hole was dug into the Cumbrian coast and lined with concrete. Roughly the length of three Olympic swimming pools and known as B30, it was built to hold skip loads of spent nuclear fuel. Those highly radioactive rods came from the 26 Magnox nuclear reactors that helped keep Britain's lights on between 1956 and 2015. When B30 was first put to work, it was designed to keep the fuel rods submerged for only three months before reprocessing work was carried out. But when 1970s miners' strikes shut down coal power stations and forced greater reliance on nuclear plants, more spent fuel than could be quickly reprocessed was generated.

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. Oxford University Press has named "rizz″ as its word of the year, highlighting the popularity of a term used by Generation Z to describe someone's ability to attract or seduce another person. It topped "Swiftie" (an enthusiastic fan of Taylor Swift), "situationship" (an informal romantic or sexual relationship) and "prompt" (an instruction given to an artificial intelligence program) in the annual decision by experts at the publisher of the multivolume Oxford English Dictionary. An Oxford English Dictionary is shown at the headquarters of the Associated Press in New York on Aug. 29, 2010. Oxford University Press has named "rizz″ as its word of the year, highlighting the popularity of a term used by Generation Z to describe someone's ability to attract or seduce another person.

Gone are the days where a billboard at the side of the road and an expensive TV advert during the X Factor were enough to get your product noticed. Now you've got to advertise in online video games, such as Roblox. If you haven't heard of Roblox, it's basically a more rubbish version of Minecraft. Instead of creating worlds, people – mostly children – create complete games. Roblox now houses more than 50m games that can be played on your phone, computer or games console, and 19% of all children in the UK are said to play it. It has had its success stories, turning the occasional teenager into a millionaire from their bedroom, but it also has a dark side, with children running up bills in the thousands buying pixelated meta-tat and, worse, receiving allegations of games being used for grooming.