Microsoft says its new $30bn (£22bn) investment in the UK's AI sector - its largest outside of the US - should significantly boost Britain's economy in the next few years. Its package forms a major part of a £31billion agreement made between the UK government and various other US tech giants, including Nvidia and Google, to invest in British-based infrastructure to support AI technology, largely in the form of data centres. Microsoft will also now be involved in the creation of a powerful new supercomputer in Loughton, Essex. Speaking exclusively to the BBC Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told the BBC of the tech's potential impact on economic growth. It may happen faster, so our hope is not ten years but maybe five.

In little more than 1,600 words voicing his scepticism over net zero policies, Tony Blair this week propelled himself and his increasingly powerful institute back into the national debate. In the past eight years, the former prime minister has built a global empire employing more than 900 people across more than 40 countries, providing policy advice to monarchs, presidents and prime ministers. But while Blair's thinktank has brought him influence in his post-Downing Street career, it has also renewed scrutiny on his political views and how they are shaped by his commercial relationships. The Labour MP James Frith said on Wednesday: "I give congratulations to the marketing department at the Tony Blair Institute (TBI), who have managed to time it brilliantly to get maximum coverage." Patrick Galey, the head of fossil fuel investigations at the nongovernmental organisation Global Witness, said: "Blair's well-documented links to petrostates and oil and gas companies ought to alone be enough to disqualify this man as an independent and reliable arbiter of what's possible or commonsense in the energy transition."

In its report The Climate Paradox: Why We Need to Reset Action on Climate Change, the Tony Blair Institute argues that global institutions such as COP and the UN have failed to make sufficient progress in halting climate change. At the same time, it argues, the public have lost faith in climate policies because the promised green jobs and economic growth have failed to materialise, thanks in part to global instability and the Covid pandemic. Writing in the foreword, Sir Tony says: "Though most people will accept that climate change is a reality caused by human activity, they're turning away from the politics of the issue because they believe the proposed solutions are not founded on good policy." He says "any strategy based on either'phasing out' fossil fuels in the short term or limiting consumption is a strategy doomed to fail". He also warns against the "alarmist" tone of the debate on climate change, which he says is "riven with irrationality".

Hosted by Eleanor Drage and Kerry Mackereth, The Good Robot is a podcast which explores the many complex intersections between gender, feminism and technology. Bridget is an expert in how AI is impacting Africa and the major challenges in implementing AI use across the continent. She tells us about what good technology means in the contexts in which she works and the benefits and drawbacks of Google and other Big Tech companies operating in Africa. Bridget Boakye is a Ghanaian entrepreneur, data scientist and writer. She is.the Artificial Intelligence Lead in the Internet Policy Unit of the Tony Blair Institute.