The UK's economy grew faster than expected in July, latest official figures have shown. The economy expanded by 0.4% in the month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, whereas economists had predicted no growth. The expansion was helped by a strong performance from the services sector, and particularly computer programming. It follows growth of 0.3% in June and zero growth in May. According to the ONS director of economic statistics, Liz McKeown, there was evidence that businesses involved with artificial intelligence and related technologies helped to boost the sector, not just in July but in May and June as well.

Faisal Islam: Chancellor's attempts to boost vibes may limit tax rises The chancellor may have thought about shifting the venue of his first major speech this morning. It was an absolute and total coincidence that he chose to make it in the Coventry Manufacturing and Technology Centre (MTC), just a few minute's drive from the city's totemic HQ of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). In the event, no one was pulling punches. The 4,000 office-based job losses at JLR were confirmed as John Healey answered questions a few miles away. Healey chose to lean into it as an example of the global turbulence against which the UK needs more resilience. The difference between this chancellor and his predecessor was he also feels that stressing fiscal discipline should instil confidence in consumers, businesses and investors, and not sap it away amid rolling fears of tax hikes.

Has the A.I. Job Apocalypse Been Postponed? So far, the proliferation of products such as Claude and ChatGPT hasn't led to mass displacement of workers. But deployment is accelerating and economic pressures are rising. Nearly three years ago, shortly after OpenAI released ChatGPT-4, Sam Altman, the company's C.E.O., suggested that the artificial-intelligence revolution could eliminate up to half of all existing jobs. "I think that's good," Altman said, at a conference.

Despite fears about the rapid growth of generative AI, industry leaders point to robust employment figures and argue that the tools have so far done little to reduce demand for design skills. Despite fears about the rapid growth of generative AI, industry leaders point to robust employment figures and argue that the tools have so far done little to reduce demand for design skills. Firms are more likely to use technology as'the intern in the office' than as a replacement for skilled staff Professional designers should not feel "threatened" by the rapid growth of generative AI, according to business leaders, despite fears over job losses in the sector. With design and film production companies and manufacturers all adopting AI at an accelerating pace, industry bodies said the technology would be used to enhance the work of designers rather than replace them. Mat Hunter, the chief executive of the Design Council - a charity which champions the industry - said that while AI was increasingly being used by designers, "they are using it to add value".

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Almost half of people in Britain live in areas where economic growth does not translate into a better quality of life with a stark North-South divide in the spending power of households, a new report finds. Researchers at consultancy firm PwC said every region the north of England, midlands and Wales had a lower spending power than the country's average, with London and the South East comfortably above. The findings come as Prime Minister Andy Burnham has pledged to tackle the cost of living and regional inequalities in order to boost living standards. But questions remain over the new PM's economic policies with surges in UK government borrowing costs set to impact public spending choices. The report released on Thursday said the equivalent of 12.5 million households - 46% - lived in parts of the country where economic growth, often seen through increased business investment and job opportunities, were not leading to better living standards.

Long-term government borrowing costs have risen to a 28-year high, putting further pressure on Prime Minister Andy Burnham ahead of his first Budget next month. The yield on a 30-year gilt -- a loan to the British government -- rose to 5.89%, the highest since 1998. The effective cost of borrowing for governments across the globe has continued to rise this morning with new multi-decade highs in market interest rates. The moves reflect concerns about inflation arising from the ongoing Iran war, competition from major tech firms for long-term borrowing, and concerns about state borrowing levels. All of those factors will make the Budget process trickier for Burnham, who will face MPs on Tuesday for the first time as prime minister, and his Chancellor John Healey. Higher borrowing costs will reduce the amount of headroom the government has against its self-imposed fiscal rules, limiting the amount Healey can spend on consumer-friendly measures to ease the cost of living.

The Bank governor recently told City bosses: 'No country can seal itself off from the cross-border nature of systems that are prevalent today.' The Bank governor recently told City bosses: 'No country can seal itself off from the cross-border nature of systems that are prevalent today.' Andrew Bailey warns G20 members about risk of cyber-disruption spreading'across jurisdictions' The Bank of England's governor, Andrew Bailey, has joined the throng of figures warning about the global risks posed by the most advanced artificial intelligence technology. In a two-page letter sent to international finance ministers and central bank governors as part of his role as chair of the international Financial Stability Board (FSB), Bailey said "frontier" AI models were "showing increasingly sophisticated autonomy and problem-solving abilities, as well as threat capabilities". He said the models risked destabilising the "highly interconnected" global financial system via cyber-disruption that "can spread across jurisdictions".

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