AI is a tool that can sharpen storytelling | Letter

Joseph Earp’s piece on artificial intelligence and storytelling misses the mark (29 March). He casts creativity as a kind of untouchable genius and AI as its pale imitation. But storytelling is not a solitary act of divine inspiration – it is a craft, shaped in the doing and often improved through collaboration.Used well, AI is neither genius nor fraud. It’s a tool – like a piano is to a composer, or a chisel to a sculptor

Bridget Phillipson eyes AI’s potential to free up teachers’ time

AI tools will soon be in use in classrooms across England, but the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has one big question she wants answered: will they save time?Attending a Department for Education-sponsored hackathon in central London last week, Phillipson listened as developers explained how their tools could compile pupil reports, improve writing samples and even assess the quality of soldering done by trainee electrical engineers.After listening to one developer extol their AI writing analysis tool as “superhuman”, able to aggregate all the writing a pupil had ever done, Phillipson asked bluntly: “Do you know how much time it will have saved?”That will be our next step, the developer admitted, less confidently.In an interview with the Guardian, Phillipson said her interest in AI was less futuristic and more practical. Could classroom AI tools free teachers from repetitive tasks and bureaucracy, allow them to focus on their students and ultimately help solve the recruitment crisis that bedevils England’s schools?“I think technology will have an important role to play in freeing up teachers’ time, and in freeing up that time, putting it to better use with more face-to-face, direct teaching that can only ever be done by a human,” she said.“This is less about how children and young people use technology, and more about how we support staff to use it to deliver a better education for children

How and why parents and teachers are introducing young children to AI

Since the release of ChatGPT in late 2022, generative artificial intelligence has trickled down from adults in their offices to university students in campus libraries to teenagers in high school hallways. Now it’s reaching the youngest among us, and parents and teachers are grappling with the most responsible way to introduce their under-13s to a new technology that may fundamentally reshape the future. Though the terms of service for ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and other AI models specify that the tools are only meant for those over 13, parents and teachers are taking the matter of AI education into their own hands.Inspired by a story we published on parents who are teaching their children to use AI to set them up for success in school and at work, we asked Guardian readers how and why – or why not – others are doing the same. Though our original story only concerned parents, we have also included teachers in the responses published below, as preparing children for future studies and jobs is one of educators’ responsibilities as well

Hyundai facing legal action over car that can be stolen ‘effortlessly in seconds’

The motor manufacturer Hyundai faces legal action over allegations it failed to warn its customers that one of its most popular models of electric cars could be stolen “effortlessly in seconds”. Elliott Ingram, an expert in digital security, was stunned when a CCTV camera installed at his home recorded a hooded thief stealing his Hyundai Ioniq 5 car in less than 20 seconds.The thief is believed to have used a device, available online, to mimic the car’s electronic key. It is the latest in a spate of thefts involving the vehicle, and many owners now resort to a steering lock. Ingram’s car was later recovered by police, but he is terminating the lease and seeking compensation from the motor company

‘Love the car, not the CEO’: how Europe’s Tesla owners feel about their cars - and Elon Musk

Tesla showrooms across the world are expected to face anti-Elon Musk protests on Saturday, as Musk’s senior role in the Trump administration has contributed to a European consumer backlash by some Tesla owners and prospective buyers.It follows a 44% drop in Tesla sales in Europe on average last month, according to the research platform Jato Dynamics. Tesla’s European market share fell to 9.6% last month, the lowest it has registered in February for five years.However, in the UK the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders reported an almost 21% rise in the number of new Tesla cars registered in February, with the Model 3 and Model Y proving the second and third most popular after the Mini Cooper

‘Incel’ accounts using self-improvement language to avoid TikTok bans – study

Advocates of “incel” ideology are rebranding as “Sub5s” and adopting the language of self-improvement to push their content on TikTok, according to a study.Hateful material is banned from the social media site but accounts disseminating the beliefs are said to be hiding behind new terms and “socially palatable” language.One of the fundamental tenets of the involuntary celibate, or incel, ideology is the belief that society is organised based on a looks-based hierarchy.Pseudo-scientific theories about self-improvement and attractiveness that are often misogynist in nature are now being promoted and “normalised”, it is claimed.Anda Iulia Solea, a researcher at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Portsmouth, said this included a theory referenced in the Netflix drama Adolescence that suggests that 80% of women were attracted to 20% of men