'People are being more discerning about spending money,' he says. 'People are being more discerning about spending money,' he says. T hey are already packing our groceries and delivering shopping. Now robots are coming to the kebab shop, alongside self-service screens and loyalty apps, as takeaways look for ways to tackle rising costs. German Doner Kebab (GDK), a perhaps surprisingly British-owned chain that has been springing up across the country, has turned to technology to keep its fast food business buzzing in the face of rising costs and tough times on the high street.

The prime minister, Keir Starmer, said the'burden of tackling abuse must no longer fall on victims' in an article written for the Guardian. The prime minister, Keir Starmer, said the'burden of tackling abuse must no longer fall on victims' in an article written for the Guardian. Tech firms must remove'revenge porn' in 48 hours or risk being blocked, says Starmer PM says measure, also applied to deepfake nudes, is needed owing to a'national emergency' of online misogyny Deepfake nudes and "revenge porn" must be removed from the internet within 48 hours or technology firms risk being blocked in the UK, Keir Starmer has said, calling it a "national emergency" that the government must confront. Companies could be fined millions or even blocked altogether if they allow the images to spread or be reposted after victims give notice. Amendments will be made to the crime and policing bill to also regulate AI chatbots such as X's Grok, which generated nonconsensual images of women in bikinis or in compromising positions until the government threatened action against Elon Musk's company .

Race for AI is making Hindenburg-style disaster'a real risk', says leading expert The race to get artificial intelligence to market has raised the risk of a Hindenburg-style disaster that shatters global confidence in the technology, a leading researcher has warned. Michael Wooldridge, a professor of AI at Oxford University, said the danger arose from the immense commercial pressures that technology firms were under to release new AI tools, with companies desperate to win customers before the products' capabilities and potential flaws are fully understood. The surge in AI chatbots with guardrails that are easily bypassed showed how commercial incentives were prioritised over more cautious development and safety testing, he said. "It's the classic technology scenario," he said. "You've got a technology that's very, very promising, but not as rigorously tested as you would like it to be, and the commercial pressure behind it is unbearable."

Will the Gulf's push for its own AI succeed? That, and US tech giants' plans to spend more than $600bn this year alone. Can the Gulf states capture some of the US's tech dominance for themselves? I spent most of last week in Doha at the Web Summit Qatar, the Gulf's new version of the popular annual tech conference. One theme stood out among the speeches I watched and the conversations I had: sovereignty.

In a number of instances, investigation showed that while one Telegram channel had been shut down, another with a near-identical name remained active. In a number of instances, investigation showed that while one Telegram channel had been shut down, another with a near-identical name remained active. Millions of people around the world are creating and sharing deepfake nudes on the secure messaging app Telegram, a Guardian analysis has shown, as the spread of advanced AI tools industrialises the online abuse of women. The Guardian has identified at least 150 Telegram channels - large encrypted group chats popular for their secure communication - that appear to have users in many countries, from the UK to Brazil, China to Nigeria, Russia to India. Some of them offer "nudified" photos or videos for a fee: users can upload a photo of any woman, and AI will produce a video of that woman performing sexual acts.

Since 2021, China has reportedly poured $100bn into support for AI datacentres. Since 2021, China has reportedly poured $100bn into support for AI datacentres. Beijing's AI policy is focused on real-life applications but Chinese companies are beginning to articulate their own grand visions S tanding on stage in the eastern China tech hub of Hangzhou, Alibaba's normally media-shy CEO made an attention-grabbing announcement. "The world today is witnessing the dawn of an AI-driven intelligent revolution," Eddie Wu told a developer conference in September. " Artificial general intelligence (AGI) will not only amplify human intelligence but also unlock human potential, paving the way for the arrival of artificial superintelligence (ASI)."

'Wake up to the risks of AI, they are almost here,' Anthropic boss warns Dario Amodei questions if human systems are ready to handle the'almost unimaginable power' that is'potentially imminent' Humanity is entering a phase of artificial intelligence development that will "test who we are as a species", the boss of the AI startup Anthropic has said, arguing that the world needs to "wake up" to the risks. Dario Amodei, a co-founder and the chief executive of the company behind the hit chatbot Claude, voiced his fears in a 19,000-word essay titled "The adolescence of technology". Describing the arrival of highly powerful AI systems as potentially imminent, he wrote: "I believe we are entering a rite of passage, both turbulent and inevitable, which will test who we are as a species." Amodei added: "Humanity is about to be handed almost unimaginable power, and it is deeply unclear whether our social, political, and technological systems possess the maturity to wield it." The tech entrepreneur, whose company is reportedly worth $350bn (£255bn), said his essay was an attempt to "jolt people awake" because the world needed to "wake up" to the need for action on AI safety.

'I knew the readers were there' Zoe Hannah and Maddy Myers (right), co-founders of feminist video games website Mothership. 'I knew the readers were there' Zoe Hannah and Maddy Myers (right), co-founders of feminist video games website Mothership. I've been a games journalist since 2007, but still there isn't much video games coverage that feels like it's specifically for people like me. W hether you're reading about the impending AI bubble bursting or about the video game industry's mass layoffs and cancelled projects, 2026 does not feel like a hopeful time for gaming. What's more, games journalists - as well as all other kinds of journalists - have been losing their jobs at alarming rates, making it difficult to adequately cover these crises.

No hospital network, government health portal, medical association or academic institution came close to YouTube's number of citations, the researchers said. No hospital network, government health portal, medical association or academic institution came close to YouTube's number of citations, the researchers said. How the'confident authority' of AI Overviews is putting public health at risk Google's search feature AI Overviews cites YouTube more than any medical website when answering queries about health conditions, according to research that raises fresh questions about a tool seen by 2 billion people each month. The company has said its AI summaries, which appear at the top of search results and use generative AI to answer questions from users, are "reliable" and cite reputable medical sources such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Mayo Clinic. However, a study that analysed responses to more than 50,000 health queries, captured using Google searches from Berlin, found the top cited source was YouTube .

How the'confident authority' of Google AI Overviews is putting public health at risk Experts say tool can give'completely wrong' medical advice which could put users at risk of serious harm Do I have the flu or Covid? Why do I wake up feeling tired? What is causing the pain in my chest? For more than two decades, typing medical questions into the world's most popular search engine has served up a list of links to websites with the answers. Google those health queries today and the response will likely be written by artificial intelligence.