UK government yet to trial OpenAI tech months after signing partnership

When the UK government signed a memorandum of understanding with OpenAI, the tech firm behind ChatGPT, the partnership was hailed as one that could harness artificial intelligence to “address society’s greatest challenges”.But eight months on from the fanfare of that announcement, the government has yet to hold any trials involving the firm’s tech.A freedom of information (FoI) request asked the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) for information about trials conducted under the memorandum, which said the company would work with civil servants to “identify opportunities for how advanced AI models can be deployed throughout government and the private sector”.The department replied that it held none of this information and had “not undertaken any trials under the memorandum of understanding with OpenAI”.In response to a query from the Guardian, DSIT pointed to an agreement under which the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) last October enabled civil servants to use ChatGPT “with an option for UK-based data storage for customers”

Tory peer accuses Nick Timothy of ‘instilling fear’ over Islamic prayers

The shadow justice secretary, Nick Timothy, has been accused by a Conservative peer and former counter-extremism minister of “instilling fear” among Muslims with his comments about public prayer.British Muslims were openly talking about leaving the Conservative party, added Tariq Ahmad, who said he had raised his concerns with the party leadership and expected action to be taken.“I have known Nick for a long time and am deeply disappointed by his divisive comments. He needs to reflect carefully on his own words,” Lord Ahmad told the Guardian.“If he is aspiring to be lord chancellor, he has to stand up for the principles of equality and justice before the law for all, that comes with that responsibility

Department of Health retracts claim sunbeds are as dangerous as smoking

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has had to retract a misleading claim that sunbeds are as dangerous a cancer risk as smoking.In January, health officials announced stricter rules for sunbeds, incorrectly claiming they were “as dangerous as smoking”. The comparison was repeated in social media posts shared by the health secretary and NHS England and was reported by a number of media outlets.But the factchecking organisation Full Fact said the claim was wrong, concluding “misleading information about the risk of cancer … risks making smoking seem less harmful than it is”.While both smoking and sunbeds cause cancer, the risks are not equal

More British teenagers stranded abroad as result of new rules on dual nationals

Two more British teenagers have found themselves unable to return to the UK because of new Home Office border rules on British dual nationals.Their cases emerged just hours after reports a 16-year-old British schoolgirl was blocked from boarding a flight in Denmark home to the UK because she was a dual national and did not have a British passport. She has missed two weeks of school so far.A 19-year-old student, Anna*, from Oxfordshire is stuck in Madrid after a university-organised trip to the Spanish capital.She is part French and had not yet obtained a British passport to comply with the new rules, which require British dual nationals to present a passport, new or expired, or certificate of entitlement to airlines before boarding flights to the UK

Is it time for the UK to acknowledge the ‘rhetoric to reality gap’ on its military power?

It will have been more than three weeks since the US and Israel first attacked Iran when the first British warship finally arrives off the coast of Cyprus, a belated defensive deployment that has highlighted the lack of military capacity available to the UK.Nominally, HMS Dragon was one of three destroyers available out of six. In reality the warship has had to be hauled out of dry dock, prepared and then, after launch, tested for several days in the Channel. Its arrival date is still unconfirmed.“It’s clear one of the military’s big problems is giving the government contingency options,” said Matthew Savill, of the Royal United Services Institute, reflecting years of spending constraints

Claimants drop lawsuit against Gerry Adams over IRA bombings

Three victims of IRA bombings who sued Gerry Adams alleging he was a member of the paramilitary group and culpable for the attacks have withdrawn their lawsuit on the last day of the civil trial.John Clark, Jonathan Ganesh and Barry Laycock, who were injured respectively in the 1973 Old Bailey bombing and the 1996 London Docklands and Manchester bombings, were seeking symbolic “vindicatory” damages of £1 each.They alleged that the former Sinn Féin leader, who is credited with helping to bring about the Northern Ireland peace process that ended the Troubles, was a member of the IRA and had sat on its army council. Adams denied being a member of the IRA or being involved in bombings.On Friday, the ninth and final day of the trial, the claimants’ lawyer, Anne Studd KC, was expected to finish her closing submissions, but she told the high court that the claim would be discontinued after “proceedings developed overnight”