‘Godfather’ of artificial intelligence has a surprising blindspot | Letters

Prof Geoffrey Hinton, the “godfather  of artificial intelligence”, states that he struggles to find examples of “more intelligent thing[s] being controlled by … less intelligent thing[s]”; the mother-baby relationship is the only example he can cite (‘Godfather of AI’ shortens odds of the technology wiping out humanity over next 30 years, 27 December). This seems a strange outbreak of aspect blindness, especially given Hinton’s specialism.Many theorists (Graham Harman, Timothy Morton, Jane Bennett, Bruno Latour and others) offer persuasive arguments showing how (to borrow from Freud) “man is not master in his own house”: human behaviour is continually, at times conspicuously, regulated by non-human drivers, many of them seemingly pretty dumb. Coronaviruses offer a topical example. The present barely regulated rise of AI is unarguably scary, but dealing with it effectively will involve humans getting real about their non-mastery of all they survey and interrogating the ways that stuff (both smart and dumb) controls us, as well as vice-versa

Musk accused of ‘politicising’ rape of young girls in UK to attack Starmer

Elon Musk has “politicised” the rape of young girls in the UK in an attempt to attack Keir Starmer, a former health worker who exposed a major paedophile ring has told the Guardian.Sara Rowbotham, who gathered evidence that led to the imprisonment of nine men in Rochdale, said the tech billionaire had launched a “political swipe” at the prime minister that overlooked the plight of abuse survivors.The Tesla owner, who will have a key role in Donald Trump’s incoming administration, on Friday called on King Charles to step in and dissolve parliament after Labour rejected a call for a national inquiry into child grooming.Musk triggered the row on Thursday over Starmer’s handling of child abuse in Oldham after he suggested the prime minister had failed to bring “rape gangs” to justice when he was director of public prosecutions.Rowbotham, who made hundreds of referrals detailing the abuse and sexual grooming while working for the NHS in Rochdale between 2005 and 2011, said: “What is [Musk’s] motivation for interfering? It seems very political

Trolling the UK: the issues enraging Elon Musk, world’s richest ‘pub bore’

While Keir Starmer was trying to enjoy a family holiday in Madeira over the new year, Elon Musk was trying to spoil it. The world’s richest man has been using X to lob insults and slurs in the direction of the prime minister, while teasing the prospect of donating tens of millions of dollars to the Reform UK party.This potentially gamechanging money has meant his comments – which have been compared to those of a “pub bore” by some users on his own social media platform – have provoked (arguably unmerited) political reaction and media debate. So what issues have been enraging Musk?It was New Year’s Eve and 5.48 in the morning in London when Musk turned his attention to the “Pakistani-ancestry grooming gangs”, an issue to which he seems to have been new

Halal tech: how Muslim-friendly websites and apps blossomed in 2024

Amany Killawi made a breakup playlist every time she was dumped, three in all. The playlists, which feature songs such as Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know and Apologize by OneRepublic, would make good soundtracks to romantic splits, but that’s not what they were. The playlists came together after Killawi was told by three different banks and payment processors they would no longer work with LaunchGood, the crowdfunding platform for the Muslim community she co-founded.Stripe said its banking partner instructed the company to cut ties with LaunchGood after five years of working with the crowdfunding platform. Stripe also told the company it couldn’t be associated with any international humanitarian work in sanctioned jurisdictions like Syria – a prerequisite for a crowdfunding platform that caters to the Muslim community

Nick Clegg, former UK deputy prime minister, leaves Meta

Nick Clegg, Britain’s former deputy prime minister and Meta’s current president of global affairs, is leaving the company after six years.“It truly has been an adventure of a lifetime!” Clegg said in a post on Facebook. “I am proud of the work I have been able to do leading and supporting teams across the company to ensure innovation can go hand in hand with increased transparency and accountability, and with new forms of governance.”Clegg joined the Facebook parent company in 2018 as the social media platform’s vice‑president for global affairs and communications. At the time the company faced intense scrutiny over the Cambridge Analytica data scandal and its role in the 2016 US presidential election

Tesla shares fall as company reports first decline in annual deliveries

Tesla reported its first decline in annual deliveries on Thursday, as the automaker handed over fewer-than-expected electric vehicles in the fourth quarter and incentives failed to boost demand for its ageing lineup of models. The company failed to meet quarterly delivery targets multiple times in 2024.Deliveries for 2024 were 1.79m, 1.1% lower than a year ago, below estimates of 1