Half of adults in the UK are concerned about the impact of artificial intelligence on their job, according to a poll, as union leaders call for a "step change" in the country's approach to new technologies. Job losses or changes to terms and conditions were the biggest worries for the 51% of 2,600 adults surveyed for the Trades Union Congress who said they were concerned about the technology. AI is a particular concern for workers aged between 25 and 34, with nearly two-thirds (62%) of those surveyed reporting such worries. The TUC poll was released as a string of large employers – including BT, Amazon, and Microsoft – have said in recent months that advances in AI could lead them to cut jobs. Britain's job market is slowing amid a cooling economy, with the UK's official jobless rate at a four-year high of 4.7%, although most economists do not believe this is linked to an acceleration in investment in AI.

More than a quarter of UK adults have used generative artificial intelligence such as chatbots, according to survey showing that 4 million people have also used it for work. Generative AI, which refers to AI tools that produce convincing text or images in response to human prompts, has gripped the public imagination since the launch of ChatGPT in November. The rate of adoption of the latest generation of AI systems exceeds that of voice-assisted speakers such as Amazon's Alexa, according to accounting group Deloitte, which published the survey. Deloitte said 26% of 16- to 75-year-olds have used a generative AI tool, representing about 13 million people, with one in 10 of those respondents using it at least once a day. "It took five years for voice-assisted speakers to achieve the same adoption levels. It is incredibly rare for any emerging technology to achieve these levels of adoption and frequency of usage so rapidly," said Paul Lee, a Deloitte partner.

People want increased regulation and more accountability in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), new research by Fountech.ai The AI firm commissioned an independent survey among 2,000 UK adults to uncover their attitudes towards the current state of AI development. It found that the majority (64%) want to see more regulation introduced so that the technology is safer to use and does not pose threats to society. Those aged over 55 appear more sceptical of AI, with almost three quarters (73%) keen to see additional guidelines introduced to improve safety standards. This is in comparison to just over half (53%) of those aged between 18 and 34 who held this view.

The rise of artificial intelligence may be proving a boon to marketers, but the older consumers are, the less comfortable they feel about it, according to new research into online fashion buying. The survey, conducted by YouGov for Swedish eCommerce company Apptus, found that only a quarter (24%) of UK adults aged 55 and over would like to see online fashion retailers adopt online systems to tailor their shopping experience. In contrast, 56% of those aged between 18 and 24 - the first to have grown up with smartphones, social media and Google - report they would like to see fashion retailers adopt online systems to tailor their shopping experience. Apptus UK country manager Andrew Fowler said: "The older generation has grown up in a world where there were no computers on desks at their first place of employment, they have seen technology replace jobs and, culturally, films like 2001 A Space Odyssey and Terminator have shown artificial or synthetic intelligence in a worrying light as machines go'rogue'. "The digitally immersed Generation Z, on the other hand, has grown up with technology that, arguably, enhances their social lives, entertains them and is comfortingly omnipresent - try telling a Generation Z that there is no WiFi.

The world around us is becoming increasingly automated, with many of us leaning on digital assistants such as Cortana, Echo and Siri to run our lives. Before too long it is highly likely that our cars will be driverless, fridges will restock automatically and our homes will heat themselves. Recently, Westworld - the sci-fi thriller about a technologically advanced, Western-themed amusement park populated by androids that malfunction and begin killing the human visitors - became the biggest watched show of all time on Sky Atlantic. Could this fiction be closer to reality than many of us would care to admit? Our recent study asked this question, and for almost two-thirds of respondents, the answer is yes.

Mobile phone technology has progressed at an astonishing pace, with advanced technologies like fingerprint scanners and artificial intelligence now becoming a common sight on handsets. Yet it appears we're a stickler for tradition, with alarm clocks and maps topping out in a list of our favourite smartphone features in a survey by uSwitch. In a study of 2,000 UK adults, 42% cited GPS technology – used for map and navigation apps – as the most useful feature on their phone. This came above even mobile messaging apps such as Facebook and WhatsApp, which ranked highest with 36% of respondents. Alarm clock apps – which have largely replaced clock radios to become the default method for getting us out of bed every morning – were considered the most useful mobile phone feature by 35% of UK adults.