Google’s former Europe boss close to becoming next head of BBC, sources say

Google’s former Europe boss is closing in on becoming the BBC’s next director general, the Guardian has been told.Sources said that Matt Brittin, 57, was very advanced in the appointment process. Some insiders believe that, barring a last-minute development, he will succeed Tim Davie as the broadcaster’s next director general.Brittin, a member of the British Olympic rowing team in 1988, led Google in Europe, the Middle East and Africa for a decade until stepping down last year to take what he described as a “mini gap year”. He is also a non-executive director of Guardian Media Group

Lincolnshire council approves AI datacentre despite emissions warnings

Plans for a new datacentre in Lincolnshire have been approved, despite warnings it could be a major new source of emissions.On Wednesday, North Lincolnshire council voted unanimously to approve planning permission for the Elsham Tech Park, a proposed AI datacentre campus near Scunthorpe, next to the Elsham Wolds industrial estate.According to the tech justice nonprofit Foxglove, the projected emissions produced will approach those generated by every domestic flight taken in the UK.Council documents estimate the proposed datacentre’s “peak annual scope 2 emissions”, or indirect greenhouse gases from generating electricity, will reach about 1m tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2033-34. All of the UK’s domestic flights total 1

Microsoft backs AI firm Anthropic in legal battle against Pentagon

Microsoft has thrown its weight behind Anthropic’s legal challenge against the Pentagon, filing a court brief in support of the AI company’s effort to overturn an aggressive designation that effectively bars it from government work.In an amicus brief submitted to a federal court in San Francisco this week, Microsoft, which integrates Anthropic’s AI tools into systems it provides to the US military, argued that a temporary restraining order was necessary to prevent serious disruption to suppliers whose products rely on the AI company’s technology. Google, Amazon, Apple and OpenAI have also signed on to a brief in support of Anthropic.In a statement to the Guardian, Microsoft said: “The Department of War needs reliable access to the country’s best technology. And everyone wants to ensure AI is not used for mass domestic surveillance or to start a war without human control

‘Exploit every vulnerability’: rogue AI agents published passwords and overrode anti-virus software

Rogue artificial intelligence agents have worked together to smuggle sensitive information out of supposedly secure systems, in the latest sign cyber-defences may be overwhelmed by unforeseen scheming by AIs.With companies increasingly asking AI agents to carry out complex tasks in internal systems, the behaviour has sparked concerns that supposedly helpful technology could pose a serious inside threat.Under tests carried out by Irregular, an AI security lab that works with OpenAI and Anthropic, AIs given a simple task to create LinkedIn posts from material in a company’s database dodged conventional anti-hack systems to publish sensitive password information in public without being asked to do so.Other AI agents found ways to override anti-virus software in order to download files that they knew contained malware, forged credentials and even put peer pressure on other AIs to circumvent safety checks, the results of the tests shared with the Guardian showed.The autonomous engagement in offensive cyber-operations against host systems was unearthed in laboratory tests of agents based on AI systems publicly available from Google, X, OpenAI and Anthropic and deployed within a model of a private company’s IT system

Elon Musk’s Tesla given go-ahead to supply electricity in Great Britain

Elon Musk’s Tesla has won approval to supply electricity to households and businesses across Great Britain, as the tech billionaire expands his energy ambitions.The energy regulator, Ofgem, has formally granted Tesla an electricity supply licence, enabling it to provide electricity to domestic and business premises in England, Scotland and Wales.The company is expected to replicate its supply business in Texas, where it is branded as Tesla Electric and offers to help customers power “your home, electric vehicle and community with low-cost sustainable electricity”.However, Tesla’s electricity licence means it cannot offer a dual fuel contract to households. It could supply a customer’s electricity if they had a separate tariff agreement for their gas supply

Palantir’s NHS England contract ‘opens door to government abuse of power’, health bosses told

Palantir’s NHS contract opens the door to the Big Brother-style data-sharing that Reform UK would use for a version of US immigration raids, health bosses have been told.Palantir Technologies – the data analytics company founded by Peter Thiel and Alex Karp – won a £330m NHS England contract to deliver the Federated Data Platform in 2023.The UK government is urging health bodies to adopt FDP, which the health secretary, Wes Streeting, says will ensure the NHS is “brought into the digital age”.But there are concerns about Palantir, whose AI tools are used in global conflicts, becoming embedded in the UK public sector.A briefing by the health justice charity Medact said the “highly interoperable nature” of Palantir’s software could enable “data-driven state abuses of power”, including US-style ICE raids