Prime minister says action will be taken on young people's social media access in'months, not years' What social media restrictions has Keir Starmer announced? Keir Starmer has pledged action on young people's access to social media in "months, not years", while saying this did not necessarily mean a complete ban on access for under-16s. Speaking at an event in London after the government promised to extend the crackdown to AI chatbots that place children at risk, Starmer said the issue was nuanced and that a ban was not definite, noting concerns from charities such as the NSPCC. "I think this is such an important issue that we need to go into it with a ban as a possibility," he told a community hub in Putney, saying he would "definitely want to look at the evidence" gathered during a three-month consultation. He added: "There are powerful arguments on both sides. Some people simply say just get all under-16s off social media, and that's the end of it. NSPCC, obviously an organisation very concerned with children's protection, says no, it'll push children to even darker places. "Others - I was with young people this morning, 15-and 16-year-olds who are actually going to be affected by this - they said to me, look we get our news from social media, we don't read the papers, and therefore you'll stop us accessing the news.

Campaigners from Stop Image-Based Abuse delivered a petition to Downing Street calling for greater protection against deepfake image abuse. Campaigners from Stop Image-Based Abuse delivered a petition to Downing Street calling for greater protection against deepfake image abuse. Victims of deepfake image abuse have called for stronger protection against AI-generated explicit images, as the law criminalising the creation of non-consensual intimate images comes into effect. Campaigners from Stop Image-Based Abuse delivered a petition to Downing Street with more than 73,000 signatures, urging the government to introduce civil routes to justice such as takedown orders for abusive imagery on platforms and devices. "Today's a really momentous day," said Jodie, a victim of deepfake abuse who uses a pseudonym.

In May 2023, three of the most important CEOs in artificial intelligence walked through the iconic black front door of No. 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the U.K. Prime Minister, in London. Sam Altman of OpenAI, Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind, and Dario Amodei of Anthropic were there to discuss AI, following the blockbuster release of ChatGPT six months earlier. After posing for a photo opportunity with then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in his private office, the men filed through into the cabinet room next door and took seats at its long, rectangular table. Sunak and U.K. government officials lined up on one side; the three CEOs and some of their advisers sat facing them. After a polite discussion about how AI could bring opportunities for the U.K. economy, Sunak surprised the visitors by saying he wanted to talk about the risks.

Rishi Sunak's advisers are trying to thrash out an agreement among world leaders on a statement warning about the risks of artificial intelligence as they finalise the agenda for the AI safety summit next month. Downing Street officials have been touring the world talking to their counterparts from China to the EU and the US as they work to agree on words to be used in a communique at the two-day conference. But they are unlikely to agree a new international organisation to scrutinise cutting-edge AI, despite interest from the UK in giving the government's AI taskforce a global role. Sunak's AI summit will produce a communique on the risks of AI models, provide an update on White House-brokered safety guidelines and end with "like-minded" countries debating how national security agencies can scrutinise the most dangerous versions of the technology. The possibility of some form of international cooperation on cutting-edge AI that can pose a threat to human life will also be discussed on the final day of the summit on 1 and 2 November at Bletchley Park, according to a draft agenda seen by the Guardian.

Concerns that criminals or terrorists could use artificial intelligence to cause mass destruction will dominate discussion at a summit of world leaders, as concern grows in Downing Street about the power of the next generation of technological advances. British officials are touring the world ahead of an AI safety summit in Bletchley Park in November as they look to build consensus over a joint statement that would warn about the dangers of rogue actors using the technology to cause death on a large scale. Some of those around the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, worry the technology will soon be powerful enough to help individuals create bioweapons or evade human control altogether. Officials have become increasingly concerned about such possibilities, and the need for regulation to mitigate them, after recent discussions with senior technology executives. Last week, the scientist behind a landmark letter calling for a pause in developing powerful AI systems said tech executives privately agreed with the concept of a hiatus but felt they were locked into an AI arms race with rivals.

The scene is 10 Downing Street, the home of the prime minister. It's a crisp, cool day. A lawn mower can be heard in the distance. There's a knock at the door, and it's answered by a policeman! Now, before anyone gets any ideas, the setup to this particular story is the work of an AI - Google's chatbot named LaMDA, to be precise, which made headlines in the summer when a now ex-engineer claimed it was sentient. Since then, the tech giant has started running a very limited trial to put it through its paces.

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick still has questions to answer over his role in a planning case involving a Tory donor, Sir Keir Starmer has said. The Labour leader told the BBC the matter was "far from closed" but stopped short of calling for the minister's resignation. Mr Jenrick is under fire after granting permission for a luxury housing development to donor Richard Desmond. Downing Street said the PM had full confidence in the minister. Mr Jenrick says he was motivated by a desire to see more homes built when he overruled government inspectors to give the green light to Mr Desmond's plans for a 1,500 home development at the former Westferry printing works, in London's Isle of Dogs.

Boris Johnson's most senior aide, Dominic Cummings, is facing conflict of interest accusations over a consultancy role he undertook for a government-endorsed healthcare startup that is in position to receive a share of a new £250m flagship public fund. Cummings advised Babylon Health, a controversial artificial intelligence (AI) firm working within the NHS, on its communications strategy and its senior recruitment, an investigation by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism can reveal. A GP app developed by the company was later backed publicly on multiple occasions by the health secretary, Matt Hancock. The former Vote Leave campaign director's formal role with Babylon concluded in July last year but he continued to advise the firm about recruitment until September 2018 – the same month Hancock visited the firm and told staff he wanted the NHS to help the company expand. In August this year, shortly after Boris Johnson entered No 10 with Cummings as his top adviser, Downing Street and the Department of Health announced a £250m fund to boost the use of AI in the NHS by using automated systems for diagnoses or data analysis.

The head of the NHS in England, Simon Stevens, is in the news this morning. According to the Times, five million patients a month are waiting more than three weeks to see their GP. And the paper says 1,000 fewer family doctors are in post than when ministers pledged to recruit an extra 5,000 in 2015. Mr Stevens' plan for joined up care to keep patients out of hospital "relies on beefed-up GP surgeries offering more treatment and co-ordination locally, but despite extra money, £20,000 'golden hellos' and overseas recruitment drives, numbers continue to fall", the Times adds. Meanwhile, Mr Stevens is said to be at loggerheads with Downing Street, the Treasury and Department of Health and Social Care about how much his long-term plan for the health service can promise to boost care.

More than half of parents struggle to keep up with the costs of the latest technology for their kids, it has emerged. Of 2,000 parents polled, one third admitted "going without" themselves in order to buy the latest products for their children. The study also found 37 per cent save all year to ensure their little ones have the same high-tech gadgets as their mates. How technology brought the #MeToo movement to India Over 75% of grandparents'learn about technology from grandchildren' Technology transforms how dogs sniff out poached African ivory But while eight in 10 parents feel'under pressure' to make sure their kid has the latest technology, seven in 10 have refused to buy brand new due to the sky-high price tags. And 38 per cent have opted for refurbished kit instead.