It looks like a golden chandelier and contains the coldest place in the universe. What I am looking at is not just the most powerful computer in the world, but technology pivotal to financial security, Bitcoin, government secrets, the world economy and more. Quantum computing holds the key to which companies and countries win - and lose - the rest of the 21st Century. In front of me suspended a metre in the air, in a Google facility in Santa Barbara California, is Willow. Frankly, it was not what I expected.

President Trump's favourite word is tariffs. He reminded the world of that in his pre-Christmas address to the nation. With the world still unwrapping the tariffs gift from the first year of his second term in office, he said they were bringing jobs, higher wages and economic growth to the US. What is less debatable is that they've refashioned the global economy, and will continue to do so into 2026. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that although the tariff shock is smaller than originally announced, it is a key reason why it now expects the rate of global economic growth to slow to 3.1% in 2026.

BBC Verify has been tracking the Marinera for weeks. Housing, Europe ties, economy... what Canadians are hopeful for in 2026 The BBC spoke to people in Toronto and Montreal to find out what they're optimistic about heading into the new year. The powerful storm system brought blizzard conditions to areas of the Midwest and East Coast causing some travel delays. Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency for parts of California, including Los Angeles, San Bernardino and San Diego. The White Settlement Police Department is searching for two suspects.

Website of Claude seen in an iPhone screen on 21 May 2023. Website of Claude seen in an iPhone screen on 21 May 2023. Anthropic is planning a $10bn fundraise that would value the Claude chatbot maker at $350bn, according to multiple reports published on Wednesday. The new valuation represents an increase of nearly double from about four months ago, per CNBC, which reported that the company had signed a term sheet that stipulated the $350bn figure. The round could close within weeks, although the size and terms could change.

The Take Is AI headed for a breaking point? From surveillance, job losses and resistance movements, what the next phase of AI could mean in 2026. Artificial intelligence is moving fast: from chatbots to autonomous systems and physical machines. As investment surges, so do concerns about job losses, surveillance, warfare and whether the boom can last. We take a look at where AI is headed in 2026 and the growing resistance against unchecked technological power.

Sarah Owen, chair of the committee, said'we do not view it as appropriate to use such a platform to share our work'. Sarah Owen, chair of the committee, said'we do not view it as appropriate to use such a platform to share our work'. The influential Commons women and equalities committee has decided to stop using X after the social media site's AI tool began generating thousands of digitally altered images of women and children with their clothes removed. The move by the cross-party committee places renewed pressure on ministers to take decisive action after the site was flooded with images including sexualised and unclothed pictures of children, generated by its AI tool, Grok. Sarah Owen, the Labour MP who chairs the committee, said that given preventing violence against women and girls was among its key policy areas, "it has become increasingly clear that X is not an appropriate platform to be using for our communications".

In this week's newsletter: Stranger Things' climactic showdown is the latest pop culture spectacle to feel like its been ported straight from a console. The industries' reciprocally influential relationship can be to everyone's gain Don't get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? I t had begun to feel like an endurance test by the end, but nonetheless, like the sucker I am, I watched the Stranger Things finale last week. Because approximately 80% of the final season comprised twentysomething "teenagers" explaining things to each other while using random 1980s objects to illustrate convoluted plans and plot points, my expectations were not high. After an interminable hour, finally, something fun happens, as the not-kids arm themselves with machine guns and molotovs and face off against a monstrously gigantic demon-crab.

AI company's chatbot faces criticism over its generation of sexualized, nonconsensual images of women and girls Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company has raised $20bn in its latest funding round, the startup announced Tuesday, even as its marquee chatbot Grok faces backlash over generating sexualized, nonconsensual images of women and underage girls. The funding round exceeded its initial $15bn target, according to xAI's press release. The company touted Grok's image-generation abilities in the announcement of its latest funding round. Nonetheless, the company has been able to win government contracts and billions of dollars in investment amid the AI boom. Over the past week, Grok has responded to tens of thousands of prompts from users on X requesting the chatbot remove women's clothing in images or pose them in sexualized ways.

During a two-hour period on December 31, the analyst gathered more than 15,000 URLs of images created by Grok and screen-recorded the chatbots' "media" tab on X, where generated images--both sexualized and non-sexualized--are posted. WIRED reviewed more than a third of the URLs that the researcher gathered and found that over 2,500 were no longer available, and nearly 500 were marked as "age-restricted adult content," requiring a login to view. Many of the remaining posts still featured scantily clad women.

The world's longest-living vertebrates maintain their vision for centuries. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. The Greenland shark () is well-known for its impressive lifespan. Marine biologists believe the world's longest-living vertebrate often reaches over 400 years old, and possibly lives even longer. But while the shark isn't known for its vision, a lot could be learned from the deep-sea predator's eyes. According to new research recently published in the journal, the Greenland shark retained its visual organs throughout millions of years of evolution for a reason.