NEWS NOT FOUND
AI could destroy democracy as we know it | Letter
Your editorials and articles about AI, including Rafael Behr’s piece (Keir Starmer is right to gamble on an AI revolution, but it might not pay out in time, 15 January), are thoughtful contributions to the debate about this fifth Industrial Revolution. Much of it has considered how democracies might govern AI. Little, however, has been written about the elephant in the room: how labour markets transformed by AI will affect democratic governance itself. Since the second Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century, the prevailing national political superstructure of industrial capitalism in the global north, apart from the interlude of European fascism, has been various forms of parliamentary democracy. Those structures developed, in large part, because organised labour could bargain with capital for a share of the wealth that human labour creates, and built political parties to represent working people’s interests
Who banned TikTok? Politicians toss culpability like a football
The United States of America deleted TikTok early on the morning of 19 January. A government formed “by the people, for the people”, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, has made scant evidence available to those people as to why. As those in power at the 11th hour realize how unpopular such a paternalistic move might be, each is doing their best to lay blame with the others.Why did the US ban an app used and beloved by some 170 million Americans? For fear of China’s propaganda and data collection. It’s a far-reaching, unprecedented move
TikTok users posting cat videos do not threaten UK national security, minister says
TikTok users posting videos of cats or dancing do not pose a security threat to the UK, a cabinet minister has said, as he defended the government’s decision not to ban the Chinese-owned video platform.The government has allowed the app to continue running in Britain, as it stopped working in the US before a federal ban comes into force.Britain’s approach to China threatens to be one of a number of sources of tension between Downing Street and the incoming Trump administration, with the UK looking for a rapprochement with Beijing while the US president-elect threatens further trade tariffs.Jones told the BBC on Sunday: “We always keep all of these technology issues under consideration, whether it’s for national security or data privacy concerns – we have laws in place and processes to do that.“We have no plan from the UK, so we won’t be following the same path that the Americans have followed, unless or until, at some point in the future there is a threat that we are concerned about in the British interest
Should I be worried about my obsessive TikTok use? My ‘For You’ page doesn’t think so | Emma Beddington
As the US TikTok ban looms, users of the app there have been posting farewell messages for their “Chinese spy”, satirising the security concerns behind the ban as they offer up heartfelt appreciations of the ultra-targeted content on their For You pages.There is a lot, they claim, to be grateful for: their “Chinese spies” have soothed and amused them, steered them towards splitting with unsuitable partners and toxic workplaces, helped them recover from divorce, changed their political perspectives and sometimes their entire lives. “My ‘Chinese spy’ was brave enough to tell me I’m an autistic lesbian and I should leave my husband. And I don’t know if anyone will care about me that much ever again,” reads a typical post, over dramatic footage of the grieving author. A commenter below claims the algorithm knew they were gay four years before they knew themselves; another says the app accurately diagnosed them with a skin condition that two dermatologists missed
Would you let AI choose your outfits?
Our writer explores the possibilities, with surprising results…My friend walks into the village hall, scene of my son’s third birthday party, a mixture of panic and incredulity creeping across his face. “I didn’t realise we were dressing up,” he says, taking in my outfit. I feel myself blush. I’m wearing a mint-green tulle midi dress with sheer sleeves that balloon precociously and a tiered skirt that puffs out in such a way as to give me the appearance of either a Quality Street or a three-year-old at her own birthday party. It’s not, if I’m entirely honest, the most practical of outfits for serving chocolate cake to 18 sticky-handed toddlers but, as I blurt out to my friend, keen to dispel any confusion, the avant-garde look wasn’t actually my choice: it was AI’s
‘Young women can fall pregnant very easily’: inside the wild west of smartphone fertility apps
Observer analysis finds unregulated products being promoted as contraception despite concerns about their accuracy Apps promising to help women “take control” of their sex lives by predicting the days when they are fertile are putting users at risk of unplanned pregnancy by making misleading claims.Millions of women in the UK – including 69% of 18-24-year-olds – have used smartphone apps that track their periods. Many also tell them their “fertile window”: the days when they are most and least likely to get pregnant.But the quality of the data used to make these predictions varies drastically and is often limited and unreliable, experts warn. Most apps use just the dates of the user’s past periods and standard cycle information to predict when their next one will be – and, by extension, when they are likely to ovulate and be at their most fertile
Farage claims chance he could be PM within four years is up to 25% – as it happened
Lady Oppenheim-Barnes obituary
Trump ally says Peter Mandelson’s US ambassador job will not be blocked
UK MPs withdraw report criticising current Bangladesh regime over ‘bias’
Market turmoil has calmed but Rachel Reeves faces more challenges ahead
Rollercoaster week for the chancellor ends in relief … and a lesson learned that fortunes can change very fast