Trump doubles down on united Ireland comments on day two of visit
The US president was speaking at the Irish Open on Sunday and said "many people agree" with his comments.
‘Too little, too late’: critics perplexed and suspicious of AI leaders’ call for a slowdown
From the Trump administration to AI experts, plans by the Anthropic boss to boost safety have spawned a largely negative responseOpenAI boss and Elon Musk back slowdown on ‘reckless’ AI developmentEditorial: controlling AI – humanity cannot outsource its survivalThe safety debate that ignited when whistleblowers last week warned that the most advanced AI poses an existential threat to humanity should come with a health warning: side effects include whiplash. It was only seven days ago that AI enthusiasts were cheerily toying with OpenAI’s newest model GPT-6 Astra which was marketed in part as a lifestyle tool to help people book tennis courts, run fashion companies and order takeaways.By Wednesday, cutting-edge AI started to look a lot less appealing when the resigning Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon warned “the people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade”. Yes, he was talking about artificial superintelligence – an as-yet-nonexistent version of the technology that outcompetes humans in most domains – but his comments, and the chorus of experts that echoed him, jangled plenty of nerves. Continue reading...
The Guardian view on the government’s corporate reforms: entrenching neoliberalism, not ending it | Editorial
A recent consultation on corporate reporting prizes the interests of shareholders over society. It’s a step in the wrong directionThe question of what corporations are for is deeply political. In a 1970 article for the New York Times, Milton Friedman argued that the “social responsibility of business is to increase its profits”. The idea that CEOs should worry about providing good jobs was “pure and unadulterated socialism”, he wrote. Friedman and his fellow neoliberals saw companies as vehicles for enforcing their politics. Their ideas endured: UK bosses are now paid 130 times more than average workers.Despite Andy Burnham’s pledge to end neoliberalism, a 12-week consultation recently launched by his government risks entrenching it. The consultation was first announced as part of the Starmer government’s crusade against “red tape”. The average annual report for some businesses now runs to 98,000 words, and no doubt there are areas that could be simplified. But the consultation proposes removing vital information and presumes that company reports primarily serve shareholders, rather than other stakeholders. Both are steps in the wrong direction. Continue reading...
Obama reportedly urges Democrats to prioritize safety plan for AI
Ex-president urged party at closed-door fundraiser to create sweeping framework, from safety ‘slow-down’ to job lossesBarack Obama urged Democrats to prioritize a “public conversation” about AI management and safety in a closed-door Manhattan fundraiser last week.The comments by the former US president reportedly urged the party to create a sweeping framework for everything from a safety “slow-down” to domestic job losses and children’s wellbeing. Continue reading...
Reform’s Robert Jenrick ‘very confident’ £72m donations are ‘perfectly legal’ – as it happened
Party’s economic spokesperson says donations are a ‘breakthrough moment’ as Labour’s Angela Rayner warns of possible retrospective actionReform UK’s £72m donations may be caught by new bill, Rayner suggestsChristopher Harborne matches £36m Reform donation of Ben DeloAnalysis: Donations of £72m make Reform’s prospects both rosier and riskierWill also point out here that across the Sunday politics shows this morning, neither Labour nor the Tories ruled out accepting such huge sums from crypto-billionaires in the future.Nigel Farage says that donations just go to putting Reform on a “more level playing field” with the more established parties. Continue reading...
