Don’t blame AI for the Iran school bombing | Letters

Your article on the Iran school bombing rightly challenges the reflex to blame artificial intelligence (AI got the blame for the Iran school bombing. The truth is far more worrying, 26 March). However, the deeper problem lies not in the technology but in the language now forming around it. To say that there was an “AI error” quietly removes the human subject from the sentence. Where once civilians were “dehoused” or “collateral damage”, responsibility is now displaced altogether: from people to systems

Patrick McKeown obituary

For the past four years, the James Webb space telescope has been returning stunning images of stars and galaxies that formed in the early universe. Parked in orbit a million miles from the Earth, the observatory is an extraordinarily sophisticated machine that shares a special engineering heritage with a swelling number of modern devices, from mobile phones to medical scanners and turbine blades.All are products of precision engineering, a discipline that blends the traditions of surveying, navigation, astronomy and time-keeping to create the technology that underpins our lives today. And one of its prime exponents was Patrick McKeown.McKeown, who has died aged 95, wrote the “11 principles of machine design” that were a distillation of everything he had learned about accuracy, stability and error correction in mechanical systems, and that have become the bedrock of precision engineering across the world

Apple at 50 quiz: top sellers, turkeys and turtlenecks

In the 50 years since it was founded, Apple has long been seen as one of the most significant technology companies globally. The design and manufacturing decisions taken in Cupertino, California have affected product design across the world, helping usher in an era of ubiquitous touchscreen computing while insisting on exacting user experience design principles. How much do you know about the history of one of the most powerful computing companies on the planet? Test yourself with these 12 questions.The Guardian’s Apple at 50 quiz

MP rejects Palantir’s claims that criticism of NHS England deal is ‘ideologically motivated’

Claims by Palantir that concerns over the US data analytics company’s multimillion-pound NHS contract are “ideologically motivated” have been rejected by the chair of a parliamentary committee.It was also appropriate for the government to seek guidance on activating a break contract in the deal, said Chi Onwurah, a Labour MP who heads the science, innovation and technology select committee.Louis Mosley, the executive vice-chair of Palantir in the UK, had urged the government not to give in to “ideologically motivated campaigners” as ministers explored a way out of a £330m NHS contract with the tech company for England.Ministers have sought advice on triggering a break clause in Palantir’s deal to deliver the Federated Data Platform (FDP) amid questions over the company’s presence in the public sector.The FDP is an AI-enabled data platform designed to connect disparate health information across the NHS

US tech firm Oracle cuts thousands of jobs as it steps up AI spending

Oracle is cutting thousands of jobs as the US technology company seeks to reassure investors that its bet on AI infrastructure will pay off.The $420bn (£315bn) company, which is headquartered in Austin, Texas, started making employees redundant on Tuesday, with thousands of its 162,000-strong workforce expected to leave.About 10,000 people have lost their jobs so far, the BBC reported, citing an unnamed employee at the company, which is chaired by Larry Ellison, the billionaire ally of Donald Trump. Ellison is worth $189bn and is the world’s sixth richest person, Forbes estimates.Michael Shepherd, a senior manager at Oracle, who was not affected by the cuts, posted on the social media site LinkedIn that there had been a “significant reduction in force” at the business

I wore Meta’s smartglasses for a month – and it left me feeling like a creep

Content creators love the built-in camera; sceptics call them ‘pervert glasses’. Do we really need any more hi-tech wearables, even with a voice assistant that sounds like Judi Dench?Lately, I’ve been hearing Judi Dench’s voice in my head. She tells me tomorrow’s forecast, when to turn right, that there’s been another message in my group chat. Day or night, Dame Judi is eager to assist. When I ask the eight-time Academy Award nominee what I’m looking at, she answers: a residential area, a person in a pub, daffodils