If video killed the radio star, then AI slop returned the favor. At least, that is what Josh Cowell, founder of camera maker CAIM1, will tell you. Short for Counter Artificial Intelligence Machine 1, the startup is working to reestablish our collective faith in the validity of images through its latest prototype: a camera that embeds cryptographic proof of a photo's authenticity directly into the image. As Cowell described in a blog post by the startup's silicon chip provider, Tropic Square, the traditional photograph is dead, and designing a secure camera to replace it is an exercise in healthy paranoia. When you take a photo using its prototype, CAIM1's internal chip creates a unique silicon fingerprint that certifies when, where, and with which camera the photo was taken.

As the publishing industry wrestles with paranoia over the provenance of manuscripts, writers are caught in an impossible bind. Andrea Bartz is a prolific novelist with an impressive résumé . Since 2019, she has published five thrillers, become a New York Times bestselling author, had her work optioned by the likes of Netflix and Hulu, and picked up an endorsement from Reese Witherspoon's influential book club. But while Bartz and many other writers were on guard against this plunder of their work, another AI threat was brewing. What happens when authors are accused of relying on artificial intelligence themselves?

Demonstrators against artificial intelligence hold a protest in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Candidates who favor stricter oversight of artificial intelligence racked up wins in key congressional races, aided by a pro-regulation political funding group backed in part by Anthropic at a time when Americans are increasingly uneasy over the rapidly developing technology. Public First, funded by Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei and other AI safety advocates, poured more than $63 million into the midterms to promote candidates aligned with its goal of stricter regulation, according to the group's numbers. The architects of two of the country's most sweeping state-level AI laws -- Colorado's Manny Rutinel and California's Scott Wiener -- will be among the incoming U.S. House members elected with help from Public First, bringing energy and expertise to Congress. Ten of the 17 congressional candidates the group backed were elected.

Why do the midterms matter? In September, a poll found that 70 percent of Democrats and 57 percent of Republicans supported limiting the construction of new data centres in the United States. But that opposition was tested in Tuesday's midterm election, with analysts examining key races to see if the public backlash would translate into votes. There were 41 ballot measures related to data centres in Tuesday's midterms, spread across the country. According to Data Centers on the Ballot, an election-monitoring project run by Redbud Consulting, voters are on track to reject data centre development in all but one of the contests.

You're viewing the US edition You can switch to the UK, AU or IE homepage at any time using this menu. The market rout on Wall Street spread to global stock markets this morning, as the Democrats' midterms victory triggered a retreat from artificial intelligence stocks. There was a sea of red in Asia, with Japan's Nikkei 225 plunging 6 per cent overnight in its worst one-day drop since April 2025, while South Korea and Taiwan's indices plunged more than 8 per cent at the open. In London, the FTSE 100 dropped over 200 points, or 1.96 per cent, to 10,571, having risen as high as 10,948 on Thursday before the tech slump soured the mood. European markets were equally fragile, with Germany's Dax and France's Cac indices falling 2.2 per cent and 1.76 per cent, respectively.

An example of the misuse of AI in war was the US bombing of a school in Minab, Iran, in February. An example of the misuse of AI in war was the US bombing of a school in Minab, Iran, in February. Plans to fill a gap in the global governance of autonomous weapons are in jeopardy as a group of nations led by Russia and the US move to use a UN conference this month to block proposals to negotiate a legally binding set of rules. The scale of the opposition will become clear at a diplomatic retreat starting on Friday before the seventh review conference on "certain conventional weapons" in Geneva due to be attended by 128 countries from 16 to 20 November. The review conference is seen as the key moment when the world could decide whether to back a mandate to negotiate a legally binding instrument negotiated within a defined timetable.

A tech stock rout that began overnight in the United States has persisted in Asian trading. Market authorities in South Korea paused trading on Friday as prices plunged across the region. Global markets have been rattled by a sharp fall in the trading price of tech stocks, which is driven by fears that the Democrats' victory in the US midterm elections will increase regulatory scrutiny of AI and slow the country's data centre build-out. Indices in South Korea and Taiwan plunged more than 8 percent after the opening bell, before cutting losses as authorities scrambled to stem the selling. Wall Street's volatility "fear gauge" soared overnight on Thursday and the tech-focused Nasdaq sank 5.5 percent, wiping $3 trillion off S&P 500 firms, as investors fretted that the Democrats could put the brakes on the AI boom being encouraged by President Donald Trump.

Asian markets plunged Friday, tracking a sell-off in Western stocks as investors feared Democrats' US midterm victory could bring tighter AI regulation and greater resistance to data centre expansion. Al Jazeera's Katrina Yu is tracking the numbers in Beijing. In Athens's pro-Palestinian heartland, Israeli buyers spark resentment Building wind turbines out of parts found in Gaza's rubble Paraguay's president impeached amid bank collapse crisis

Trending Now Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable Selects Look Up Safety Net Say More Mashable @Home In My Bag Versus Creator Playbook Getting Technical with Mashable All Series Midterms deliver clear message: 'The AI reckoning is here' The AI backlash had been brewing for awhile. Midterm voters made it official. Rebecca Ruiz is a Senior Reporter at Mashable. She frequently covers mental health, digital culture, and technology. Her areas of expertise include suicide prevention, screen use and mental health, parenting, youth well-being, and meditation and mindfulness.

Leading the Future, backed by Silicon Valley's biggest billionaires, had a war chest of $100 million and an aggressive stance against AI regulation. All of it didn't add up to much on Tuesday night. Leading the Future, the biggest pro-AI super PAC network, is walking away from the midterm elections with just over $20 million still in the bank and a roster of dozens of successful congressional candidates from both sides of the aisle. At first glance, that looks like a win. The details tell another story, though.