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Wikipedia Workers Unionize for the First Time

WIRED

More than 200 people in roles such as engineering, finance, and communications will now be represented by the Communications Workers of America. More than 200 staffers at the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit behind the encyclopedia Wikipedia, have voted 158-14 to join the Communications Workers of America labor union. The US National Labor Relations Board counted ballots on Thursday. Three Wikimedia employees tell WIRED they will now have a mechanism to challenge management as the organization faces growing competition from AI chatbots and a drop in volunteer editors. The 25-year-old, San Francisco-based foundation employs nearly 700 people across 39 countries, most of them working remotely.


Volkswagen board approves plan to cut 100,000 jobs

BBC News

The board of German car giant Volkswagen has approved a plan to cut another 50,000 jobs as part of a sweeping turnaround programme. It brings the total number of roles the company plans to shed by 2030 to 100,000. The group - which includes Audi, Porsche, Skoda as well as the VW brand - said in March that it would cut 50,000 roles by the end of the decade. The move is a strong signal for the future of the firm, which is taking responsibility for our entire workforce, VW's chief executive Oliver Blume said in a statement on Thursday. Blume told the BBC in July that the firm was looking to make the additional cuts.


White House 'Arcade' Invites Players to 'Build the Wall' and 'Fill a Trump Account'

TIME - Tech

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Are Trump's AI videos just memes or psychological warfare?

Al Jazeera

Are Trump's AI videos just memes or psychological warfare? Are Trump's AI videos just memes or psychological warfare? Trump's use of AI generated content has ramped up in recent months, going so far as posting videos of fake military strikes on Iranian infrastructure. His administration says he's'sending a message', but as Al Jazeera's Emma Withrow explains, the rest of the world is left to figure out if he's serious or not. Share Are Trump's AI videos just memes or psychological warfare? on social media Why are people calling Venezuela oil deal a new form of US colonialism?


AI tools that take notes for GPs could miss vital information, study suggests

BBC News

AI tools that are used to take medical notes from patients could miss vital information and lead to medical staff being deskilled, according to new research. The tools, called ambient AI scribes, are used by about 40% of GPs in the UK. The scribes listen to conversations between doctors and patients and convert the speech to text, generating written notes and letters. Academics at University of Edinburgh reviewed cases involving the scribes and found the tech had some positives, such as allowing clinicians to focus on complex tasks. However, they also said patients could be less forthcoming if they knew they were being recorded and found instances where doctors did not recognise their notes.


Transplanted Pig Kidney Still Working After a Record-Setting 9 Months in a Patient

WIRED

Gene-edited pig kidneys could offer a lifeline to patients stuck waiting for a human donor. A woman has lived with a pig kidney for more than nine months without needing dialysis, a record-setting achievement. The woman underwent the operation at Massachusetts General Hospital on November 22 last year. As of Thursday, the kidney has been functioning for 285 days, according to Cambridge, Massachusetts-based eGenesis, the biotech company that used Crispr gene editing to make the organ fit for human transplantation. Previously, the record for a person living with a transplanted pig kidney was 271 days, set by Tim Andrews. Most people in need of a kidney transplant wait three to five years on average to receive one, though it can take longer depending on blood type and other factors.


Lost in the algorithm: Hikers stranded on Mt. Shasta after following Gemini AI's plan

Los Angeles Times

Things to Do in L.A. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. Lost in the algorithm: Hikers stranded on Mt. The Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue Team assisted U.S. Forest Service climbing rangers on Mt. Shasta yesterday, when three novice hikers became stranded on the Clear Creek Route. This is read by an automated voice.


Sadiq Khan agrees to have his texts and emails searched in Palantir legal battle

The Guardian

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, stepped in to block a £50m deal between Palantir and the Met in May 2026. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, stepped in to block a £50m deal between Palantir and the Met in May 2026. Sadiq Khan has agreed for his text messages and emails to be searched as part of a legal battle with Palantir, the high court has been told, after he prevented the US technology company from working with the Metropolitan police . The London mayor stepped in to block a £50m deal between Palantir and the Met in May, with the artificial intelligence developer suing Khan's office over the decision. Legal representatives for the mayor said they "did not originally consider it necessary" for Khan to be among those to have their communications searched before next year's court case.


Prediction Market Betting Is Getting People Banned and Arrested

WIRED

This week on, we dig into the latest prediction market buzz, Flock's AI-powered police search tool, and how tech bros don't know how to talk about "rouge" AI agents This week, senior writer Kate Knibbs joins Brian Barrett, Zoë Schiffer, and Leah Feiger to discuss the two incidents that have been making noise in prediction markets: George Santos getting lifetime ban from Kalshi and a Google engineer's Polymarket insider-trading case. Plus, reporters reverse-engineered Flock's AI-powered person-search tool and spoke to experts about the accuracy of such technology, and the hosts unpack the online meltdown over how to talk about "rogue" AI agents. George Santos Just Got Hit With Kalshi's First-Ever Lifetime Ban This Is Flock's AI Search Tool for Cops What We Still Don't Know About OpenAI's Hugging Face Hack Write to us at [email protected] . You can always listen to this week's podcast through the audio player on this page, but if you want to subscribe for free to get every episode, here's how: If you're on an iPhone or iPad, open the app called Podcasts, or just tap this link . It's so nice to see you guys. Former US representative George Santos was the first person to be given a lifetime ban from Kalshi, and a Google engineer was accused of insider trading at Polymarket. We'll get into why both of these cases show that there are still plenty of blurry rules when it comes to prediction markets. This week, WIRED reporters were able to recreate Flock's AI powered search tool, the same one that has a track record of being misused by police officers. We're going to break down how it works, and whether the backlash against Flock cameras might have reached its boiling point. Do you guys remember George Santos?


How Americans and Canadians Are Feeling About the Escalating Trade War

TIME - Tech

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