Retail sales growth slows in Britain, but beats forecast as consumers splash out on technology – business live

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.Growth in retail sales across Great Britain has slowed, as consumers snapped up technology but cut back on supermarket spending.Sales volumes grew by 0.3% in September, new data from the Office for National Statistics shows, down from 1.0% growth in August

Retail sales growth slows in Great Britain despite tech spending lift

Sales growth in shops in Great Britain slowed last month as an increase in purchases of technology was tempered by the largest monthly fall in spending at supermarkets this year.Retail sales volumes grew by 0.3% in September, beating analyst expectations of a 0.3% drop, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). However, the monthly growth rate was still down on August’s 1%

AI-generated child sexual abuse imagery reaching ‘tipping point’, says watchdog

Child sexual abuse imagery generated by artificial intelligence tools is becoming more prevalent on the open web and reaching a “tipping point”, according to a safety watchdog.The Internet Watch Foundation said the amount of AI-made illegal content it had seen online over the past six months had already exceeded the total for the previous year.The organisation, which runs a UK hotline but also has a global remit, said almost all the content was found on publicly available areas of the internet and not on the dark web, which must be accessed by specialised browsers.The IWF’s interim chief executive, Derek Ray-Hill, said the level of sophistication in the images indicated that the AI tools used had been trained on images and videos of real victims. “Recent months show that this problem is not going away and is in fact getting worse,” he said

AI mediation tool may help reduce culture war rifts, say researchers

Artificial intelligence could help reduce some of the most contentious culture war divisions through a mediation process, researchers claim.Experts say a system that can create group statements that reflect majority and minority views is able to help people find common ground.Prof Chris Summerfield, a co-author of the research from the University of Oxford, who worked at Google DeepMind at the time the study was conducted, said the AI tool could have multiple purposes.“What I would like to see it used for is to give political leaders in the UK a better sense of what people in the UK really think,” he said, noting surveys gave only limited insights, while forums known as citizens’ assemblies were often costly, logistically challenging and restricted in size.Writing in the journal Science, Summerfield and colleagues from Google DeepMind report how they built the “Habermas Machine” – an AI system named after the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas

Pakistan beat England by 152 runs to level series: second cricket Test, day four – live

Simon Burnton’s piece has landed so that’s my cue to get outta here.Congrats to Pakistan and their spin-twins who “humbled” England’s batters. A thoroughly entertaining Test comes to a swift end which means it’s all to play for when they meet for the decider in Rawalpindi next Thursday.We’ll be back to bring you all the action and hope you’ll join us then.Thanks to everyone who contributed across the Test

Pakistan spinners humble England for first win in seven Tests to level series

England’s already remote chance of turning the second Test around evaporated on a steamy Friday morning as they threw their bats around – literally, in one case – and their wickets away, allowing Noman Ali and Sajid Khan to bowl Pakistan to their first home Test win for 12 games and three and a half years.If a successful run chase looked unlikely at the start of the day, with England’s openers already dismissed and 261 still required, it did not take long for it to slip beyond the realms of possibility altogether. In the end, England did not even get halfway to their target, with Noman taking eight second-innings wickets, including seven on a dizzying final morning, as the tourists were bowled out for 144. Pakistan won by 152, avoiding a dreaded series whitewash and setting up a series decider in Rawalpindi next week.Throughout England stuck true to their assistant coach Paul Collingwood’s promise on Thursday evening that they would not abandon their mantra of playing attacking shots and looking to score rapidly