'Like a billionaire on acid': Star Wars director Gareth Edwards comes out in favour of AI Speaking at Amazon's AI on the Lot event, the Rogue One film-maker Gareth Edwards said'it'll do anything you ask' and'it's going to be better than CGI' Jurassic World Rebirth and Rogue One director Gareth Edwards has enthusiastically endorsed the use of generative AI in film-making, saying "it is a fucking genius at helping you" and "it's going to be better than CGI". Edwards was speaking at AI on the Lot, an event in Culver City, California, organised by Amazon, and in remarks reported by the Hollywood Reporter said: "I can't see a reason why you wouldn't become interested in this stuff as a film-maker. It's so clearly a tool that might be up there with the camera. It's going to be better than CGI." Edwards said that AI is most useful in the preparatory stages of film-making, saying: "It's only good for iteration and discovering what the movie should be, and then once you know what it is, go in and start making it your movie." He added: "It has no taste whatsoever. It is a fucking genius at helping you. I view it like having a second-unit director who is a billionaire on acid. Like, it'll do anything you ask, not a problem. And you'll give it notes, and it'll be like, 'I don't do notes. I'll just do something totally different.' Edwards' positive view of AI was echoed by veteran writer and director Paul Schrader, who was also speaking at the event. In remarks reported by Deadline, Schrader said: "I don't think the real future of AI commercially is in all this flash, all these monsters - that's just jacked-up special effects on steroids," he said. "The real tip of the spear is when we can create an AI protagonist, not a hybrid, and that movie makes money.

Data in the report show 4% of workers believe they have already lost a job because of AI. Data in the report show 4% of workers believe they have already lost a job because of AI. Exclusive: IPPR thinktank calls for new measures to boost employees' influence at'pivotal moment' in history Workers urgently need more bargaining power over the way AI is adopted in the workplace to ensure the benefits are fairly shared, according to a TUC-backed report from a leading thinktank. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is calling for a package of measures to boost employees' influence at what it calls a "pivotal moment in the history of work". Its report cites survey data showing that while 20% of workers say AI is making their working life better, 21% say it has made it worse - and 4% believe they have already lost a job because of the technology.

'In Silicon Valley, some have suggested that the pope doesn't know what he's talking about.' 'In Silicon Valley, some have suggested that the pope doesn't know what he's talking about.' The intelligent and thoughtful encyclical is an important warning of the uses and misuses of a rapidly developing technology. O ften I'm asked if I think that the novels of the future will all be written by AI. Do I worry that a machine can do what I do, only better? I usually say something like: "No algorithm is going to write Anna Karenina!" which is also not a real answer.

How the Pope's Magnifica Humanitas offers a template for individuals to meet the AI moment Despite a lack of regulation, we still have the ability to steer artificial intelligence in ways that can benefit our common humanity. Pope Leo XIV's new encyclical on artificial intelligence includes a statement that warrants serious attention from technologists and policymakers: "Technology is never neutral." As the pope says, the choice before us--the choice AI presents--is one between the Tower of Babel and the rebuilding of our common humanity. In the biblical story of the Tower of Babel, humans sought to build a massive structure that reached all the way to Heaven, only to have their project thwarted when God made those involved unable to understand one another. It was a pursuit fixated on relentless growth, divorced from any concern about God's commandments or the human cost. It resulted in failure and atomization.

A new book suggests that it's time to embrace A.I. on your own terms. "I, Joanna Stern, do solemnly swear to live with the machines for the next 365 days." Thus begins the year-long experiment chronicled in Stern's book, " I Am Not a Robot," a romp through the landscape of applied artificial intelligence, published this month. Early in 2025, Stern, a former technology reporter for the, decided to "cram artificial intelligence into as many corners" of her life as possible. In the course of a year, she used more than a hundred A.I.-based products, including glasses, bracelets, cars, robots, and a toothbrush.

Sex workers appear on the livestreams of famous manosphere influencers to boost their followings--but often end up being degraded. Adult film star Willow Ryder didn't immediately recognize the man who entered the Miami party she was at earlier this month, but she knew he wasn't part of the sex work industry . He had an entourage and what appeared to be a hulking bodyguard. Her friends told her it was Clavicular, aka Braden Peters, a popular Kick livestreamer known for " looksmaxxing," or resorting to extreme measures to improve his appearance. Ryder says she didn't know exactly who Clavicular was or what he talked about on his stream, but she knew that he had a massive following.

The film forms part of a research project undertaken by Alan Warburton which also includes a research paper and a series of satellite events. The film is based on doctoral research undertaken at Birkbeck's Vasari Centre for Art & Technology. It was commissioned by the National Videogame Museum in collaboration with the Open Data Institute (ODI) and Cambridge University's Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence . The ODI hosted a webinar on 6 May to discuss the content of the film. The panellists explored what AI can and can't do, what effects a collapse of real and virtual could have on visual culture, and if we're living in a post-truth world.

A humanoid robot is displayed at the Humanoids Summit in Tokyo on Thursday. Amid growing anticipation of physical artificial intelligence, robots are increasingly being seen as a viable option to fill labor gaps. This topic was one of the major agendas during the two-day Humanoids Summit in Tokyo, which ended on Friday. "In Japan the United States globally, we just don't have the birth rates to sustain the workforce that we need," said Brendan Schulman, vice president of policy at Massachusetts-based robotics company Boston Dynamics during a speech at the event. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

Romania and its NATO allies have reacted angrily after a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in eastern Romania, injuring two people. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bucharest on Friday labelled the crash of the drone, part of an overnight attack aimed at Ukraine, a serious violation of international law. The incident is just the latest incursion along the alliance's eastern flank, raising concern that the risk of an open confrontation between Russia and NATO states is rising. Romania said the overnight drone was tracked by radar in its airspace before crashing onto the roof of a residential building in the city of Galati. Two F-16 fighter jets and a helicopter were scrambled, as authorities issued emergency alerts to residents.

Romania says a drone struck an apartment building in Galați, injuring a woman and child, marking the first time a Russian drone hit a populated area in the NATO member state.