UK fears a'triple whammy': oversized investment in AI stocks, slower adoption of AI than predicted and the breakneck pace of AI's development The UK wants a piece of the mammoth global investment in AI but fears it as well. In the coming weeks, the Bank of England is planning to ease capital rules to help encourage more lending. But the central bank simultaneously expressed concerns that there are too many loans going to investors like hedge funds, who are using that money to buy up AI stocks. The central bank's moves reflect the country's global position: hoping to catch up to the US and China in the AI race, struggling to mobilize its resources to do so, and too wary of the risks to go full bore. UK banking regulators have recently been under enormous pressure to do more to stimulate growth, my colleague Kalyeena Makortoff this week reports.

Check your subscription status, update your details and more. Powerful artificial intelligence models built by Chinese companies have gone from inducing widespread panic to being met with a shrug of the shoulders - what changed? When Chinese company DeepSeek released its open-source R1 model in January 2025, it made headlines around the world. The large language model (LLM) was reported to rival some of the most powerful AIs from US companies, but it was completely free for anyone to download. A trillion dollars was wiped off the value of US tech companies and US lawmakers immediately proposed banning it on government devices.

You'll start seeing the'Ask Gemini' button in your browser. Google has just rolled out Gemini for Chrome in the UK. The integration doesn't sit well with everybody -- and Gemini isn't the most popular AI assistant out there -- but you will start seeing an Ask Gemini button with a sparkle icon soon if you're in the United Kingdom and use Google's browser. Gemini's Chrome integration used to be exclusively available to AI Pro or AI Ultra subscribers, but Google made it more widely available in the US on desktop in late 2025. The company then rolled out the feature to Latin America and the Middle East, and then to Canada, India and New Zealand, until it made its way to over 50 countries around the world.

Who will win the World Cup? Who will win the 2026 FIFA World Cup? Here's what AI predicts As the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup enters its final stages, AJLabs asked nine leading AI models to predict the tournament's final podium based on all available data for each team, including: France emerged as the favourite to lift the trophy, receiving five (Gemini, Grock, DeepSeek, Le Chat and Qwen) of the nine champion votes. Argentina, the defending world champions, received the remaining four votes (ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Meta AI). Predictions for the runner-up were more divided: France and Argentina each received three votes, followed by England with two and Spain with one. Spain was the clear favourite to finish third, receiving six of the nine third-place predictions, while England and France each received fewer votes. The predictions reflect a broad AI consensus around the four remaining contenders, France, Argentina, Spain and England, but also highlight differences in how leading language models weigh recent performances, squad depth and tournament momentum.

Labor MP says'a fair day's pay for a fair day's work' was a founding principle of the ALP as media union calls for tougher new rules on AI use of creative work Husic also urged his colleagues to place stricter rules on the big tech firms or be "doomed to failure". Husic, who has long advocated for a more interventionist approach on AI policy, said big firms like OpenAI and Anthropic should not be left to self-regulate, and that the federal government should be setting strong rules. "If we were to wait for social licence with industry, we wouldn't get emissions reduction. Governments sometimes have to step in," Husic told Sky News on Tuesday. Going down the path of social licence with tech is a path that's sadly doomed to failure, because we tried self-regulation for a couple of decades and found out that it didn't work." The prime minister will deliver a highly anticipated speech in Sydney on Wednesday to address growing concerns around social licence and the necessary policy guardrails for AI, datacentres and Australian intellectual property. We've grown up with the notion of a fair day's pay for a fair day's work - that people should be remunerated fairly for the labour, the effort that they provide. Asked whether he thought his colleagues were doing that, Husic replied: "Obviously, there's a debate that's going on behind the scenes.

Damage caused by the use of generative AI is becoming a serious concern, including from AI covers, in which people have AI tools learn the voices of singers and voice actors, and sing songs using the professionals' voices. The Justice Ministry has come up with a draft report calling for the protection of the voices and images of famous individuals as the use of generative artificial intelligence grows. The draft report on civil responsibility over the unauthorized use of portraits and voices of famous people was submitted to an expert committee Monday. The ministry will release a final report as early as August after receiving expert feedback. Many things remain unclear regarding what constitutes the illegal use of voices, as no Japanese court ruling has been issued on related rights. The ministry said that it hopes the final report will be used as a reference in lawsuits and AI development.

Hundreds of experts warn the world must prepare now for AI's impact Hundreds of experts have signed an open letter demanding that policymakers and technology leaders "must act now" to prepare for the economic impact of artificial intelligence. The brief letter, released on Monday and organised by Stanford University's digital economy lab, carries the signature of more than 200 economists and AI researchers, including 16 Nobel laureates. "It could bring risks, including large-scale job displacement, as well as opportunities such as major gains in living standards," the statement added. To address this impending disruption, the letter calls for governments and industry to create "incentives, guardrails, and institutions" that ensure AI is complementary to humans and beneficial to society. Anton Korinek, a University of Virginia professor who organised the initiative, stressed that the window for action is narrowing.

Inside Story How is the US tech industry regulated? How is the US tech industry regulated? Apple is taking on OpenAI in court. The tech giant has filed a lawsuit against the artificial intelligence company for what it calls pervasive theft. OpenAI has denied the accusations.

PCWorld reports that OpenAI and Anthropic have temporarily relaxed usage limits for their latest AI models, including GPT-5.6 Sol and Claude's Fable 5. ChatGPT Plus, Business, and Pro subscribers can now access GPT-5.6 Sol without the previous five-hour usage window restrictions. This increased access appears driven by competition between the AI companies, giving users more opportunities to experience advanced reasoning capabilities. If you haven't kicked the tires yet on the latest and greatest ChatGPT and Claude models, this is your lucky week. OpenAI is (fittingly) opening the flood gates to GPT-5.6 Sol, its just-released and most powerful model, announcing Sunday that it's "temporarily" lifting the five-hour usage window for ChatGPT Plus, Business, and Pro subscribers. At the same time, Anthropic is - again - extending the trial period for Fable 5, its own new top-of-the-line, giving Claude subscribers another week of in-plan access .

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