Trump to consider final proposal on TikTok as US ban deadline looms

Donald Trump will consider a “final proposal” over the sale of TikTok’s US operations on Wednesday, according to reports, as a Saturday deadline looms for the Chinese-controlled app to find a buyer.The White House is finalising plans for a deal involving US investors, possibly including the tech firm Oracle and the private equity firm Blackstone, CBS News reported. Even Amazon has thrown in a last-minute bid to buy the popular social media app, according to multiple reports.TikTok’s parent, the Beijing-based ByteDance, has until 5 April to sell the app’s US unit or be banned in the country, under an executive order signed by the US president.The potential transaction, which is reportedly a “final proposal”, will involve new investors such as Blackstone joining existing non-Chinese shareholders in ByteDance in providing fresh capital to bid for the business, Reuters reported

UK needs to relax AI laws or risk transatlantic ties, thinktank warns

Tony Blair’s thinktank has urged the UK to relax copyright laws in order to let artificial intelligence firms build new products, as it warned a tougher approach could strain the transatlantic relationship.The Tony Blair Institute said enforcing firm copyright measures would strain ties with the US, which is poised to announce tariffs on UK goods on Wednesday.Warning that geopolitical considerations require “urgent and adequate attention” while AI policy is being drafted, TBI said: “Without similar provisions in the United States, it would be hard for the UK government to enforce strict copyright laws without straining the transatlantic relationship it has so far sought to nurture.”The thinktank has said that if the UK went down the route of demanding licensing of all UK content used in AI models, it would simply push that development work to other territories where there are less strict copyright laws. To enforce a strict licensing model, the UK would also need to restrict access to models that have been trained on such content, which could include US-owned AI systems

OpenAI raises $40bn in deal with SoftBank that values it at $300bn

OpenAI has raised $40bn (£31bn) through fundraising led by the Japanese group SoftBank, in a deal that values the ChatGPT developer at $300bn.OpenAI said the funding round would allow the company to “push the frontiers of AI research even further”. It added that SoftBank’s support would “pave the way” towards AGI, or artificial general intelligence, the term for AI systems that can match or exceed humans at nearly all cognitive tasks.“Hundreds of millions people use ChatGPT each week,” said the OpenAI chief executive, Sam Altman. “This investment helps us push the frontier and make AI more useful in everyday life

AI firms are ‘scraping the value’ from UK’s £125bn creative industries, says Channel 4 boss

The chief executive of Channel 4 said that artificial intelligence companies are “scraping the value” out of the UK’s £125bn creative industries, and urged the government to take action.Alex Mahon told MPs that if the government pursues its proposed plan to give AI companies access to creative works unless the copyright holder opts out, it would put the UK creative industries in a “dangerous position”.Speaking on the work of Channel 4 at a culture, media and sport select committee meeting on Tuesday, she said: “AI is clearly absolutely critical to the future of our industry, and many industries. The debate of the day is we need very clear terms. UK copyright law is very, very clear

How Tesla became a battleground for political protest

Over the weekend, protesters gathered at Tesla showrooms in hundreds of cities across the world to demonstrate against Elon Musk laying waste the US government in alliance with Donald Trump. Their goal: stigmatize Tesla’s cars. One sign in Manhattan read: “Burn a Tesla, save democracy.” Protesters are using the commercial democracy of consumer products to influence US political democracy.My colleagues Dara Kerr and Edward Helmore report:In New York City, several hundred anti-Tesla protesters gathered outside the EV company’s Manhattan showroom on Saturday

Donkey Kong champion wins defamation case against Australian YouTuber Karl Jobst

A professional YouTuber in Queensland has been ordered to pay $350,000 plus interest and costs to the former world record score holder for Donkey Kong, after the Brisbane district court found the YouTuber had defamed him “recklessly” with false claims of a link between a lawsuit and another YouTuber’s suicide.William “Billy” Mitchell, an American gamer who had held world records in Donkey Kong and Pac-Man going back to 1982, as recognised by the Guinness World Records and the video game database Twin Galaxies, brought the case against Karl Jobst, seeking $400,000 in general damages and $50,000 in aggravated damages.Jobst, who makes videos about “speed running” (finishing games as fast as possible), as well as gaming records and cheating in games, made a number of allegations against Mitchell in a 2021 YouTube video. He accused Mitchell of cheating, and “pursuing unmeritorious litigation” against others who had also accused him of cheating, the court judgment stated.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news emailThe court heard Mitchell was accused in 2017 of cheating in his Donkey Kong world records by using emulation software instead of original arcade hardware