Experts have warned that action needs to be taken on the use of artificial intelligence-generated or enhanced images in politics after a Labour MP apologised for sharing a manipulated image of Rishi Sunak pouring a pint. Karl Turner, the MP for Hull East, shared an image on the rebranded Twitter platform, X, showing the prime minister pulling a sub-standard pint at the Great British beer festival while a woman looks on with a derisive expression. The image had been manipulated from an original photo in which Sunak appears to have pulled a pub-level pint while the person behind him has a neutral expression. The image brought criticism from the Conservatives, with the deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, calling it "unacceptable". "I think that the Labour leader should disown this and Labour MPs who have retweeted this or shared this should delete the image, it is clearly misleading," Dowden told LBC on Thursday.

After two years of faltering sales and fallout from the 2018 arrest of then-Chairman Carlos Ghosn, Nissan Motor Co.'s newly installed management is at another crossroads: how to get Japan's second-largest automaker out of a rut and beyond the shadow of the disgraced executive who drove its strategy for decades. It's a tall order, particularly considering Nissan's hefty pile of debt, around ¥8.3 trillion ($80 billion) -- double what it had 10 years ago -- lackluster showing in Europe, and U.K. factory supply chain woes. Nissan is also facing unparalleled competition, especially in the realm of advanced autonomous driving. The automaker spends only about half of the ¥1 trillion that Toyota Motor Corp. outlays annually on research and development and carmakers in general lag behind capital-rich tech firms like Alphabet Inc., which has spent more than $1 billion on self-driving technology via subsidiary Waymo LLC. Nissan Senior Vice President Takao Asami is cognizant of the challenges, admitting that "if we lose out in terms of technology, we're going to lose out in terms of business." "Lately there's been a lot of discussion internally about what our DNA is, what areas we can dig deep into and win," Asami said in an interview.

Nissan Chief Executive Makoto Uchida told shareholders Monday he is giving up half his pay after the automaker sank into the red amid plunging sales and plant closures in Spain and Indonesia. Uchida apologized for the poor results and promised a recovery by 2023, driven by cost cuts and new models showcasing electric cars and automated-driving technology. "We will tackle these challenges without compromise," he said at a live-streamed meeting. "I promise to bring Nissan back on a growth track." All the world's automakers have been hurt by nose-diving sales caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

TOKYO/PARIS - What kind of financial blow has the widening scandal surrounding Carlos Ghosn delivered to Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA? Investors are about to get a glimpse when closely watched earnings releases come out this week. The alliance partners have spent the last two months coping with a major reputational hit from Ghosn's arrest, indictments by Tokyo prosecutors over alleged financial improprieties and an unflattering spotlight on both companies' corporate governance controls. Taken together, these negatives could leave the alliance partners falling behind competitors such as Volkswagen AG and Toyota Motor Corp. in the race to adapt to the changing terrain. The risks may be greater for Nissan since the lion's share of allegations against Ghosn reflect his tenure there, and its business challenges are tougher than Renault's.

Carlos Ghosn's ouster as chairman of Nissan Motor Co. signals that the automaker is seeking to reshape itself to better deal with a rapidly changing market environment, breaking from nearly two decades under his charismatic leadership style, according to some analysts. Chasing volume and sharing costs were a large part of Ghosn's business strategy for one of the world's most successful auto partnerships -- the alliance between Nissan, Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. -- led by the Brazil-born executive. Nissan officials say they intend to maintain the alliance due to its benefits, even as the company's board on Thursday approved the dismissal of Ghosn as chairman following his arrest for alleged financial misconduct. Ghosn, sent in by Renault in 1999, closed plants, cut thousands of jobs and streamlined its supply chain to pull the automaker back from the brink of bankruptcy. He set lofty numerical targets to propel growth at Nissan, and as a result, the Japanese-French alliance he forged in pursuit of greater economies of scale grew into one of the world's biggest auto groups.

LAS VEGAS – The world's largest automotive alliance will invest as much as $1 billion (about ¥112 billion) to fund mobility startups over the next five years as it looks to make inroads with new technology at a time of rapid upheaval for the transportation sector. Carmaking partners Renault SA, Nissan Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will invest as much as $200 million during the venture capital fund's first year, the alliance said in a statement Tuesday. The fund, called Alliance Ventures, will finance new developments in electrification, autonomy, connectivity and artificial intelligence. "The way we're organized now is not sufficient," Carlos Ghosn, chairman of the alliance, said in an interview at CES in Las Vegas, citing a need for the creativity of startups and outside partners. "I don't think we can do it alone."

LAS VEGAS--The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance is creating one of the largest venture-capital funds dedicated to automotive technologies, escalating an already feverish pursuit by global auto makers to reinvent personal transportation. The company said it will commit $200 million annually over five years--for a total of $1 billion--to invest in a variety of startup technologies, including battery and self-driving vehicle advances. The new corporate venture fund is part of a push by Renault-Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn to speed development of technologies that the alliance's three auto makers don't have in-house. The message to tech startups, Mr. Ghosn said at an event tied to the CES show happening here: "Please come see us." The spending comes on top of the 8.5 billion euros ($10.1 billion) annually that Renault SA, RNO 1.23%

PARIS – The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance is gambling that mass-market drivers are going to pivot soon to electric cars, announcing plans Friday to produce 12 new electric models by 2022 and to make electric cars 30 percent of its overall output. The carmakers -- who collectively sold more vehicles than any other company in the world in the first half of this year -- also announced plans to make "robo-taxis," driverless public transport vehicles and autonomous cars aimed at middle-class consumers. The announcements are part of an overall strategic plan released Friday, aimed at taking advantage of the alliance's growing reach after taking in Mitsubishi Motors Corp. last year to consolidate its position and make electric and driverless cars more affordable. They also unveiled a new logo for the three-way alliance and renamed it Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi. CEO Carlos Ghosn is betting that upcoming government restrictions on diesel and gasoline cars will push drivers to go electric instead. "We don't' know how much time it's going to take . . . Britain and France have decided to ban new diesel and gasoline car sales from 2040 and China is considering a similar move.

Autonomous cars will dominate the streets by 2022, according to Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi Alliance Chairman Carlos Ghosn. The firm, which has an established autonomous car program, wants to give drivers control of their cars; their autonomous cars are not driverless cars -- instead, drivers can decide when they want to drive and when they want the car to drive for them. Ghosn says that autonomous cars provide a "huge advantage" for drivers, and as a result, the industry will have "massive growth" in the coming years. Instead of focusing on the road for hours at a time, people can "rest … relax … see a movie" while the car does its work for them. With autonomous cars featured heavily in news reports -- and even spotted in several testing-ground locations in the United States -- the hype surrounding autonomous cars begs the question: when will we see autonomous cars on the road?

The leader of one of the world's largest automobile producers expects that cars will soon drive themselves and sync to the world around them -- but don't count out the human behind the wheel just yet. Carlos Ghosn, the chief executive and chairman of an alliance that includes Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi, said Thursday that humans will remain involved in the operation of vehicles for the foreseeable future, even as cars with self-driving technology enter the market in the next five years. You will push a button to activate the car's autonomous driving feature, he said, but it will encounter everyday scenarios it cannot compute and that require human assistance. "Artificial intelligence is still way below the creativity of the human brain," Ghosn said. Imagine a self-driving car coming upon a broken-down vehicle in the road, but there is a solid line to either side of it, Ghosn said.